Sept 25

Sept 25 Monday, same old same old in the beginning. Class from 1 to 3, sitting around doing homework afterwards waiting to be able to go out and get something to eat... Finally the time came and we went to a fairly large restaurant over by the bus station up to Hasaba. Had some typical chicken and rice, which was really tasty. We were joined at out table by another guy, he looked like a foreigner, but we didn't really talk. Then outside the restaurant we got to talking (in Arabic) that he was a Russian who was studying Arabic in the east in Hadramout. And funnily I asked him if he knew Hassan's brother, and sure enough he did. He was in Yemen for another week or so before he returned to Moscow. That's one thing about being a foreigner in such a strange place like Yemen, you get to meet all sorts of random people from all over the world, for whatever reason. In a place like Florence, Italy, you'd probably never really talk to other foreigners or tourists just because there are so many its not a big deal at all seeing them around. Then we headed to a different tea place near our usual one, but the tea just wasn't as good, more bitter. We talked to some guy briefly who welcomed us to Yemen. And then this woman fully covered started talking to us, but we didn't know what she was saying, we started walking down the street, and then all the sudden she started running after us saying "come on, come on" in English, and then she just went on her way... I have no idea what it was all about, but I think she was the first crazy woman we've encountered. I grabbed my stuff from the house and headed out to meet up with Ismail, but as I tried to cross Tahrir Square everything was blocked off. They had the square surrounded by military and weren't letting people past. Then I was spotted by my 'friend' Ahmed from the other day, who seems to now think that we are 'brothers' and he lead me to another way to go, but it was still blocked by guards, he talked to them for a minute, and they asked to see my passport, which I of course don't have because the school has taken it. Ahmed did most of the talking, and then they guard started walking me through, leaving Ahmed behind. The square was basically empty, but they sat up some sort of VIP seating area in front of a stage, and then the guard offered me a seat there to watch whatever it was (I had no idea what this was all for at the time) but I said no that I had to go to my teachers house, and I needed to just walk to the old Jewish Quarter, he understood and let me go through. Finally made it to Ismail's about 15 minutes late because of the events in Tahrir, but it wasn't a big deal because we of course didn't start until after 9pm. Everything was as usual, with desserts, tea, water and his son bringing us everything. I stayed until about midnight again and then luckily for me I ran into Ahmed on my way back... He had also called me about 6 times during my lesson, thanks to Markus giving him my phone number. He thought I went to the ceremony because he told the guard I wanted to see it, thus why he was offering me a seat for the event. I guess it was just some boring speeches by ministers anyways, so nothing really worth watching. So of course I am obligating to sit and talk to my 'friend' for awhile. Matt passed by, and got caught by Ahmed for awhile too, but was lucky enough to get away with a good excuse. Then we went to the tea place to grab a cup of tea and we talked for quite awhile. I mean he isn't that bad too talk to, he speaks all in Arabic and I can understand him pretty well. He is just a little weird. I ended up talking to him until about 2am, when I was able to escape to get some juice and food before I returned to the house to do homework until about 4am.