First Post

Asalaamu aleykum! I have arrived to Yemen in one piece!
Things began very smoothly, my mom drove me to the airport at 3:30am on the 6th. The flights went fine, and everything went as planed. I arrived in London not too long after. I had about 16 hours in London, and since I bought two seperate tickets it was necessary that I pay to have my luggage held while I left the airport. It was about $12 per bag. Then I found my way to the "tube" or the subway system and made my way to the Baker Street area without any problems. It cost me $8 one way from Heathrow. London is a very expensive city. I was able to meet up with my relatives outside of Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum as planned at 10:30am. We did the wax museum which was fun... Got my picture taken with Tony Blair, George Bush, the Beatles, etc. Then we hoped on a double decker bus to drive through the city and see some of the sights on the way to the Eye of London. The huge ferris wheel on the Thames River. It had really great views from there. Then we hoped on the bus again to see the sights and head towards a place where we caught a cruise down the Thames, which was also very cool. The weather was great in London, by the way. And then we caught a taxi to the famous Harrod's department store where they bought me a few gifts to take with me to Yemen (some English biscuits and a keychain). Then I eventually headed back to the airport to await my Dubai departure. I really liked London a lot. It is a beautiful city. Reminded me of Paris. But in English. And really really expensive for everything.
No problems with my flight to Dubai, I fly Emirates airlines, which was really nice, I thought. Good food and service. I slept basically the whole way through the flight to London and also the flight to Dubai. Only waking when the brought around the food. In Dubai I was able to meet up with my friend Abdulla at the airport at our agreed upon time. He brought his friend Muhammad who served as driver and tour guide for the day. He had a really nice car too... We drove around watching the movie Crash on DVD while seeing the sights. Interesting. We picked up some breakfast from a Lebanese restaurant, but many things were closed that day because it was Friday (the holy day like Sunday). And they don't really like to be outside of some place that is air conditioned for very long at all... Nor did I. The heat and humidity is incredible in Dubai. As soon as I stepped outside the airport it hit me like a ton of bricks. Thankfully everywhere is air conditioned, they are even planning on making air conditioned bus stops. We saw all the big sights, the "old" souq (old for Dubai) and all the new projects they are building. The man made Palm Islands in the desert. Saw the beaches, the seven star Burj al-Arab. Then we went to a few different malls. Mercato, a really extravagant and beautiful Italian themed mall. Then to Ibn Battuta Mall (he was the Muslim Marco Polo but traveled much further) which was also highly decorated with different areas of the world (ie one portion is China, Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, etc). This mall was even complete with three Starbucks, so it was truly like I never left home. Then we went back to Abdulla's house and watched some TV and they went to the neighborhood mosque for Friday prayer. Then two more of Abdulla's friends came over and we had a really big meal, too much really! Then all of us hit the road again so they could show me around. It is a really amazing city. Very different. So modern, and so mixed. There are many Europeans, Hindis, Muslims, etc. You see a European guy wearing a Speedo on the beach one second, and then another a women fully covered in black except her eyes and carrying a Coach, or Fendi purse. Very strange.
Anyways, I was supposed to fly out n the 9th at 7am, but someone in my super tired, jet lagged state I misread the time and thought it was actually 9am departure. So I woke up at 6:30 to catch my flight and soon realized that I was totally wrong and couldn't make my flight... It ended up being okay... I had a $150 charge to reschedule my flight. But the first available was September 11th. So I had to stay in Dubai for two more nights. Thankfully Abdulla was gracious enough to let me sleep at his house for that time. We didn't do a whole lot those next two days, went to the mall, say an American movie at the cinema, went to an internet cafe, watched TV, played Playstation 2. Really it felt like I was still in the US (until I stepped outside, of course). All in all it is a very safe place, you can use English any where, in fact even the Arabs need to know English in order to do anything.
So thankfully I made the flight this morning. Abdulla's driver took me to the airport, and he came with also. The flight was pretty late taking off, at least an hour. It was a very crowded flight too. This flight was a little scary at times... Fine until we came close to Sana'a and all of sudden there was quite a bit of shaking and turbulence. And we as came down to land (we were almost touching the ground!) the pilot abruptly pulled up and back into the air to circle back around again a few times before making another landing... Apparently there was another plane going to land. I don't know it was very strange and I've never experienced that before. Then comes customs... I thought that since I had obtained a scanned copy of the visa that I didn't have to wait in the Visa line, so I just went directly to customs... They are extremely slow and after about 30 minutes they told me I had to go to the Visa line, where I waited for another half an hour to obtain the original copy of the visa and then returned to customs... They were chatting me up in Arabic, happy that I was coming to study the language. By this time I was literally the last person out of customs on that flight. Then I found Osman from my school, he had a sign that said "SIAL" so it was easy. The airport is extremely small, so everything is easy to find and get around with. Osman was pretty friendly and we took a short drive to the school. There I met the director and talked with him for awhile so he could get to know me (speaking all in Arabic, of course) and what I am looking for in terms of my studies since it is one-on-one. Then I was to take an Arabic placement test so they could get an idea of my level. It took quite awhile actually, and there were some things that I wasn't familiar with. While I was taking my test a guy came and introduced himself, a fellow student here name Marcus from Switzerland, and he offered to show me around after he got out of his class and I finished my test. He took me to the Student Housing and I was able to pick out my room. The place is pretty nice, I have a wardrobe, a small desk, and bed... Bathroom down the hall with western style toilets which is a good thing. There are only 5 people living here right now I guess. Another American who I haven't met, Marcus, and two Brits. Very small, many of the students elect to stay in hotels or their own apartments since it is so cheap. This seems fine though, it is only around the corner from the school.
After I dropped off my stuff he showed me around the new part of town a little bit, exchanged some money then we took a bus out to one of the nicer restaurants. Got some pretty good kebabs, with rice and Arabic bread. All in all it was about $3.50 for both of us, and he insisted that he pay since it was my first day in town. During our ride on the "bus" (actually a small van that they fill with people) to the restaurant we were talking with a Yemeni university student who studies English, and practiced our Arabic, then at the end he insisted that he pay for our fare which was very nice of him. In US dollars it is about 10 cents each. We headed back towards the school, and he took me to his favorite tea house. A tiny hole in the wall, but with pretty good tea. Everyone is pretty friendly, expecially the children. I can't walk from the student house to the school without at least half a dozen or more "Hello!" "How are you?" "Asalaamu Aleikum!" And most Yemenis don't even really notice us walking down the streets, I thought maybe because I am a foreigner I would attract a lot of stares and strange looks, but not at all. Doesn't seem like the even notice, unless they want to sell me something.
After that I had to return to the school to meet with the director again and discuss money and class schedule. He was running late though so I talked to one of the teachers here, Ismail, who is supposedly the best one here, and who will be teaching me for two hours per day. He talked to me all in Arabic again, and said I was advanced and "why did you come to study Arabic? You are done, very good!" Of course it's not true, but hey, it's nice. Eventually meet with the director after I explored on my own for a little bit. I guess I will be meeting with Faris from 8am to 10am, and Ismail from 1:30 to 3:30. At least for now. Then I went out exploring on my own again, trying to get my bearings, find an internet cafe, etc. Sana'a is a really, really busy, lively and active city. Very noisy too. There are people everywhere. They drive really crazy, basically wherever they feel like and they honk the horn for anything... To give a warning to pedestrians, to say hello, to get other cars to move, whatever. So there is constant noise from cars, children, people. I didn't want to venture too far though and end up lost on my first, and as I was headed back to a main square I heard someone yelling my name, Marcus who was hanging out with a Yemeni friend of his in the square. So I joined them for a little bit. And since it was my first day in Yemen his friend insisted that I go see Bab al-Yemen one of the main gates to the Old City of Sana'a. We got there and it is pretty impressive, again it was a very active area. Then we were invited in to a shop to see a camel turning a wheel to make oil... The first time I have seen a camel, I think, at least not in a zoo. He was busy eating though, and wasn't working then. I thought it was like a tourist trap and they would invite us in to look at it and then ask us for money when we left, but surprisingly no, and then the boy took us to a place where we could climb on top of Bab al-Yemen to sit and hang out. Again, no charge, just being hospitable. Neither Marcus nor the native Yemen had ever been up there, so it was a first for them too. Marcus has been here for three weeks now, and had studied here two years ago also. We just hung out on top of Bab al-Yemen for awhile, watching the people and talking in Arabic.
Then they wanted to go to a cafe in Old Sana'a... Old Sana'a is a 500 year old maze of small streets and alleys and many things for sale, again very busy and alive. Well, even with out native Yemeni leading the way we didn't find a cafe, and ended up lost and went in a complete circle accidently which lead back to Bab al-Yemen. It is that confusing there! He lead us back to the student housing which is just between the Old City and the new. Marcus had homework to do, and I really, really needed to take a shower. Our bathroom is okay. It is a hand held shower head, just like I had in Italy. The water runs really hot though... we don't have very strong cold water.
Yeah, so I am typing all of this from my laptop in my room and will be able to save it and send it at an internet cafe tomorrow...