Sept 19

Sept 19 Tuesday was again classes as usual, nothing extraordinary. I found a little kitten one the street near the student housing amongst some kids. Petted it for awhile and told the children that I wanted the kitten and they picked it up and gave it to me. It was really friendly. First friendly cat I've encountered here in Yemen. All of the cats and dogs I've seen are really wild and just roam the streets scavenging for food. I wanted to take the kitten but I didn't have anything for it, and wouldn't have been able to make it to the supermarket to buy the litter and food for awhile. Haven't seen the kitten since then. Returned to the student housing in the evening and went up to the mafraj to hang out with Bayan and Matt. We watched this really strange reality TV show that I have never heard of before called "Starting Over", we couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a joke, but I don't think so. We all had a good laugh from it, it is 3 years old I guess and just airing now on Arabic TV. We get a lot of old shows, Dharma and Greg, Frasier (I can feel like I am back in Seattle), Friends, Seinfield, etc. Then for dinner we all met up at the institute... Me, Matthew, and Byan to meet up with Sandra and Yudid (both from Germany) and her teacher Taha all went out to a Syrian Restuarant on Al-Zubairi street named Al-Sham. We decided to go for the "Touristic Menu" which included soup, appetizer sampler, main course, tea and water, and dessert for about $5. The food was really good, good lentil soup, good shwarma although I was expecting s shwarma sandwich like I would eat in Seattle, but it was a plate of food. The appetizers were good. We were joined for almost the entire meal by the owner of the restaurant, a Syrian gentleman who has lived in Sana'a for 30 years now. He spoke English really well, along with French as he worked in Paris for a number of years. Then I guess he worked for a dutch company installing radio equipment for the airport in Sana'a and never left. He has never returned to Syria either for he says his government will graciously host him in a "5-Star cell for the rest of his life". He told lots of really corny jokes in English throughout the night... Then left us alone for the main course to go host other guests. It was a nice large restaurant with fish tanks full of goldfish, and a little fountain, as well as canopy like structures above as if you were outside. Then later he returned for the dessert and tea time and the conversation got a little more heated when him and one of the German girls and Bayan started to discuss politics and religion, particularly Islam. He was very hilarious still though because he wouldn't let anyone talk, he would always put up his hand and say "Excuse me, excuse me, let me talk!" and then continue... We stayed there quite late and then headed back. I split off to the internet cafe to use Skype, but then returned to the mafraj at the student house to hang out with Byan more on his last night, as well as Matthew.