Oct 7

Sat Oct 7. So after my rip van winkle esque sleep, until maybe 11:30... 8pm - 11:30am! I got a call from my first teacher, Faris, didn't really know what he was talking about, I just understood that there wasn't going to be class today, and I'd see him tomorrow... Which was okay because I really didn't accomplish anything this weekend, homework-wise, because of the trip to Shihara. I just sat around at the house all day... Talked to Markus and Matt for a bit. I guess Matt's friend from his school just arrived yesterday, or the day before. Iram, she's a British Muslim of, I think, Pakistani descent. He asked if I met or saw her at the institute today, to which I laughed as I had done absolutely nothing since after dinner last night... He met up with with someone working at the British Embassy to see about an internship last night, and then went over to the Bayt at Talabat (girls house) to talk with Iram until about 3am I guess. Then as he was walking back he was like alright Ryan's still up (you can see our windows/lights from the street), and came up to my room with the lights still on, door open, clothes still on, just passed out on top of the bed. He said he tried to turn off the light for me but couldn't find the switch. It's because (in our house at least) you'll find literally dozens of switches. It is bizarre. Most of them seem to do absolutely nothing. One controls the overhead lights, and a few control the electrical sockets on the wall, but the others I have found no use for. Besides talking with them I just did a bit of homework. For iftar (the fast break meal) we went to the super friendly Salta place in Bab Al-Sabah. Like I said before, it is a whole lot of younger guys that work there, and all of them are from Ta'izz down south. The restaurant was really packed when we first got there, but somehow we always end up the last ones in the restaurant. We all had our own bowls of fahsah (salta with meat) which was strange because normally you just share a communal bowl. They also just randomly brought out some shafoot for us (the spongy ethiopian bread, with a spicy milky sauce over it). The fahsah was okay, except i kept getting little chunks of bone (or something) which was a first. As I said we were the last ones there, and they cleaned the whole restaurant, stacked all the chairs moved the tables, and then sat down on the ground to eat themselves. After we finished eating they then insisted we sit down on the ground and eat with them also... We told them No, no, khalaas (finished) but they kept insisting, so we obliged them and they ran off to get some more spoons so we could more shafoot with them. We each just had a few bites and said that was enough. I think the price was about 1500 riyals between the three of us, and is was funny as we were discussing the price and swapping money in English and one of them told us in Arabic "no, you have to speak arabic! 1500 if you speak Arabic, but 5000 for English!" They are pretty funny, so it is enjoyable to go there... But I miss the old fahsah place I used to go to, I haven't been there since before Ramadan, since the day of the election I think. It's on a side street, so I never make it down there, but I never see it open now. After that I had class at the institute with Ismail. This time I called him before I left the house so that way I wouldn't sit there for 20 to 30 minutes waiting for him. Of course he says he's on the street right now, and should be there in 20 minutes, like usual. I continued playing Spider Solitaire for a bit longer before I went to meet him. Markus also has class at night right now, at 8 o clock even... Ismail and Markus haven't seen each other since their big fight in the garden of the institute... Class was good, we spent a lot of time talking about the trip and learning some new relevant vocabulary. Then during the half time break we went to the corner store, saw Hassan, who I went to the wedding with. I haven't seen him since the beginning of Ramadan, since it isn't open during the day time... Before I'd always go there to grab something to drink or eat. We then sat in the garden, and then Markus and his teacher Ahmed came out too, they both said Assalamu aleikum, and Ismail just drank his Fanta and didn't say anything... It was strange. Anyways, we finished up the second hour of class. Got back to the house and did a lot of homework, waiting for my Mom to call at about 2am my time, for our once a week actual telephone conversation (instead of on the internet) for about a half hour.