Filling in the Gaps

Asaalam-u-Aleykum everyone,

It's me again. While sitting in bed this morning at 5:15am after being rudely awakened by what seemed like the loudest call to prayer yet, I was thinking about all the things I left out yesterday. So because I didn't fall back to sleep until about 7:30am I made a list so that I would remember some random things I wanted to mention.

First off, I have yet to chew qat. This the the leaf which every male in Yemen age 8 or so and up apparently chews. It is a natural stimulant, which from what I heard is similar to taking aderol or something. Anyway, because I want to be able to sleep at night I have refrained from chewing so far. It seems quite gross to me because these guys, all over, in shops on the streets jam the leaves into their cheeks and proceed to chew on it for hours. It turns their mouths all green, at least on one side. They look like chipmonks, it is absolutely amazing how much they can fit in their cheeks. Seriously they'll have raquetball sized lumps just sitting there in the side of their mouths. Crazy. Plus most people are pretty much addicted to it. As crazy Mohammad said, he chews three times a day and if he doesn't he can't process, he'll have headaches and the sweats. But verbatim he said that when he chews he can do anything, even be the president of Yemen, haha.

Second, the clothes Yemenis wear. Well most women where the full "burqa" I guess its called. Its is a hijab which covers their hair and neck. Then a full length black garment, with a "nikab", the piece that covers their face. All of them wear black. It is quite ridiculous because the little Yemeni girls are very cute and they can wear whatever they want until they hit puberty and then all of a sudden they are forced to adhere to the strict dress code. Also it is not appropriate for men to sit next to women on the bus or converse with them in public if they are not your wife (zowja). As for the men, they typically will sport a loose male skit type of garment, with a collared shirt, a sports coat and the belt with the jambiyya. Or they will where the one piece long following garment, usually still with a sport coat over it and their jambiyya. Most also where I scarf on their heads or around their necks. I think the sport coat is definitely the key to topping off the outfit, that and the jambiyya. I actually got a sweet red and white scarf yesterday that I am currently sporting. Oh, the men also all wear sandals, another thing I picked up today. My purchase of sandals was my first haggle experience in Yemen. The guy wanted 4500 rials and I got him down to 3600 by the end. They felt nice when I tried them on so hopefully they don't fall apart. The box says they are "Crazy Men" - Italy. Haha! I can't see myself sporting on of the full length garments or skirts, but I am definitely going to pick up a sport coat on the street. So at least I'll have the scarf, coat and sandals, with some khakis and a tshirt.

As for sleep it has been going alright. I've been knackered (picking up the British dialect) at nights but am usually awoken by the call to prayer. I haven't been able to sleep in, which I think is partly due to the altitude because I remember in Boulder I had trouble sleeping for the first 2 weeks or so. Plus Old Sana'a is a loud city and all of the buildings are packed together so the sounds from the street echo loud and clear up to my second story bedroom.

There are also a lot of cats (qitta) and dogs (kalb) around town, but they are all strays. No one actually has pets unless the are used for something. For example, donkeys and camels which are used for physical labor.

My dorm is quite nice. Most the buildings in Old Sana'a have five or six stories. It is almost like an apartment building the way it is structured. The doorways are very short, probably b/c all the Yemenis are short, but the ceilings in the rooms are about 20ft high, kind of odd. I like it though, plus I have stain glass windows in my room which you will see in my pictures hopefully in a couple days. The only not so nice thing is the bathrooms. My room is right next to the bathroom. In the bathroom we have the toilet which is pretty much just a porcelain hole in the floor and the shower is right next to it with nothing dividing them. It is going to take some getting used to.

As for the weather, it is amazing. Literally perfect. It gets up to about 75 and sunny during the day and down to about 50 at nights.

And for today, I had my second class which went very well. I got a good amount of homework to do tonight, so I'll have to start buckling down because starting next week I'll have 4hrs of class a day plus a good two-three hours of homework. So pretty much Arabic will be my job which I look foward to because I hate not being able to communicate better with everyone.

As noted before I hope to put up pics later this week. The hidden seihk Daniel (he is from Berkeley, California and literally converted to being a seihk (sp?) 9 months ago so he wears a turban and has a huge beard). Actually yesterday the police were looking for Daniel because he didn't get his visa renewed. He told me that there is an internet cafe where you can hook up your laptop, so if I find that I'll definitely put up my pics.

Ma'salaama!

Also keep up the comments. It puts a big smile on my face when I hear from everyone.