One Month!

Hello all,

I can’t believe another week has already went by. Time is truly starting to fly. So, there isn’t too much exciting to talk about from the week. I pretty much just studied, went to class, and ran a couple of times.

In the beginning of the week, on one of my runs I thought my jeans had been stolen because when I finished they were not where I had left them. But today, after our soccer game as I was leaving my old buddy who works at the football field gave me my jeans. I guess someone picked them up because I had set them under the bush and gave them to one of the old guys who look over the “complex”. Anyway, at first I felt pretty stupid after I had just written on my blog how trustworthy Yemenis are and how they don’t commit crime because they fear God, yada, yada, yada, and then my jeans were stolen. But now it looks like my theory is correct, my jeans weren’t stolen, but to the contrary someone picked them up and turned them (thinking they had be left) in so that they could be returned to their rightful owner.

I also learned about the “tribal system” in Sana’a earlier in the week from my teacher Ameen. He was telling me that there are three jobs which are looked down upon among the “tribesman” (Not literally tribesman, like carrying spears, and such, it is more a way of life which is respectful and based on tradition) of Yemen. These three groups are butchers, barbers and drummers. Supposedly, the people in these fields have “dirty mouths” and do not live respectful lives. Therefore, the other people who are proper tribesman look down on them and their professions. According to my teacher, who I think was embellishing this phenomena a bit, people will not marry others who work in these three jobs. It does not make much sense to me though, because they are still proper Muslims that do not deserve to be categorized as being “crude” just because of their profession. I told my teacher this, but he said that it was true that the people that work in these three fields are “all” the same. Crazy thinking. Yet when I was talking to Crazy Mohamad on Thursday while chewing, he said that what my teacher was talking about isn’t really upheld/believed anymore in Sana’a.

On Wednesday, I had my Level 1 test, which I got a 97 on, how do you like them apples? My teacher said it was the highest score any student of his has ever gotten on this test, so I felt good about myself. That good feeling didn’t last long though because five minutes later I went outside and realized that I still have a long way to go as a tried to listen to decipher a conversation at lunch. By the time my second class was over on Wednesday my mind was completely spent and I was quite thankful it was the weekend.

As for my weekend it went great. On Friday night, a bunch of us went to Fun City, a Western style amusement park on the outskirts of Sana’a where they have a pretty nice bowling alley. We bowled three games, amongst the most Westernized Yemenis I have seen so far during my stay. Then we went over to “Southern Fried Chicken” and I got a DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER AND FRIES. The reason I capitalized this is because while I like the food in Yemen, there is not much variety, the same dishes are served for the three different meals each day and I’m starting to get a bit sick of it. So the good old fashioned American style fast food was much welcomed. From the bowling alley we caught a cab over to the café which shows football in Tahrer and watched the second leg of Real Madrid v. Bayern Munich. The game was exciting, especially considering Bayern scored one of the fastest goals in history, 10s into the first half. I also met a guy from Washington state, who guys to UW and has been studying in Yemen for 6 months. He was quite friendly and I talked with him for a while before the game started. He was totally “Yemenized”, with the mowra (skirt), sandals, shawl, chewing qat and smoking sheesha. He actually leaves in a week though so I probably won’t see him again.

Thursday was good ole Qat chewing day. After lunch, Danny and I got Crazy Mohamad to get qat for us and we started chewing in the dilapidated mafraj around the corner at 3pm. This was by far the best chew yet because I was speaking Arabic for almost four hours straight. While the after effects qat are quite annoying, it is worth the practice you get from the social setting it provides you with. When we finally finished chewing a bit past 8pm we grabbed dinner, than headed to a wedding for a little. It was in this huge tent, and all the men were sitting on cushions along the walls, with the groom at the head in a big throne. Then in front of him, people were dancing in a small circle. We didn’t stay long because after watching for 15min it isn’t that exciting because they just keep dancing and chewing qat mainly. Plus, we didn’t know anyone there. In the end, I was up till about 4:30am because I was wired from the qat, plus I received an e-mail from Georgetown saying that I would hear by the end of the week. So that got my adrenaline pumping when I checked my e-mail at 2:30am.

Finally, as for today, it was football day. I did not wake up until about 12ish and wasn’t at all productive. Oh, our school director also bought us official CALES jerseys; check my pictures out to see them. They are sweet but we are not allowed to keep them (we’ll see about that). As for football it went well, although I was tired from not getting much sleep last night. Our last game we actually played the Al-Ahli club team (one of the best in Yemen) 6 v. 6, except they used four of their players, plus their coach and his son. We played two 20min halves and unfortunately ended up losing 4-2, I did have both of our goals though. Once again we attracted quite a large crowd when we started playing the club team, which was a lot of fun because they were quite loud. We played until 6pm and by that time I was completely knackered. My feet hurt from playing in Frees once again, I was clobbered in the shin, and I was just plain fatigued. All in all though it was another great weekend.

On a final note, I got my first notification from graduate school. I got a letter from the Jackson School at the University of Washington saying I have been placed on the waiting list. I guess this isn’t good, but it isn’t bad either. In reality UW is probably at the end of my list on where I want to go because I’ve never seen it and don’t know too much about it to be honest. As for my list of where I want to go, it currently goes like this: 1. Gtown, 2. U of London, 3. New York University, 4. George Washington, 5. U of Michigan, 6. U of Chicago, 7. U of Washington. I swear UW isn’t on the end of my list because they waitlisted me. It is also going to depend a lot on if I am accepted to any of these schools, will I receive any financial help, in the way of a scholarship/fellowship, financial aid, etc.

Other than that, I am done for now. I need to do a bit of work before I head to bed. I hope everyone is doing great in the states and if you are still reading this after a month I thank you because I know the content is starting to lag a bit.

Rich

NEW PICS!

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=142501996/a=89187610_89187610/t_=89187610

P.S- We got wireless downstairs in our dorm!! Awesome.