Three Days in a Row

Ahlan-wa-Sahlen,

I can't believe I'm updating my blog for third day in a row. The fact of the matter is though that I went out to dinner with Tim and Ryan, and we were right near a internet cafe so we all decided to stop in.

All is well. My third day of class went great. I am starting to learn verbs. They will be quite useful considering it is hard to string together a sentence without them. I also went to the a gym today. It was a little hole in the ground place with free weights. Quite a site. There were a bunch of skinny Yemeni boys trying to become Arnold Scharwzanagger. You should have seen the place, the walls were covered in pictures of body builders with 50% of them being Arnold. I fit right in with my skinny little arms and bird chest.

Other than that there isn't too much exciting to report. Daily life is good. I hit up the supermarket yesterday and got some pasta, tuna and Arabic fruit loops. They aren't too bad, as long as you go in expecting them to taste a bit funny.

One thing I'd like to touch on is animal cruelty. There are no actual house pets over here as I mentioned before and unfortunately, the children are quite brutal to the dogs, cats and goats that roam freely. Today for instance I saw one boy swing a metal rod at a pack of four cats. Then on my way back from lunch I witnessed a little boy spitting on a cat as it ate scraps of chicken and to top it all off on the way back from the gym I watched a little boy drag a baby goat down the street by one leg.

On a similar topic, the Yemeni children over here are the toughest S.O.B's I've ever seen. Today Tommy and I watched a couple of 4 yr olds scrap it up in the street. You'll see kids 2-3yrs old hitting each other with sticks, all alone without their parents and they don't cry a bit. A toy most these kids consists of a tire or a metal rod with a wheel at the bottom. If they are lucky they'll have a cheap-o football which they all use and the most fortunate have bikes. There is nothing like seeing a three year old kid though stand right in the way of a honking car and walk away unfazed. It would be quite amusing (I know this is kind of sick) to put five American four year olds in a ring with five Yemenis and let them have at it. I can guarantee you who would come out on top.

I'll leave my rantings at that for now. I hope all is well in the States. Quite a nice performance I saw by the Bobcats this weekend, especially the ladies, 4th freakin place! Congrats. Also what about Alan Culpepper with the win at USXC's going away. I wouldn't have expected that.

Take care all!

Maa-Salaama