Watch out!

Inshallah, this is my last week teaching Technical English. We've spent the week working on writing paragraphs, which has been a lot of fun but also pretty challenging (see last entry). To teach the students to write a topic sentence, I would write an outline on the board and request a opener. It worked pretty well as I picked really controversial subjects (like "Should the USA have invaded Iraq?") and write pro and con arguments. This would undouptly start a plethora of angry sentences against the action that I would read out loud, agree with, then coldly reject. Eventually the students would get the idea and finally someone would write "There are a lot of different opinions about whether the US should have invaded Iraq" and they would get a round of applause and a prize. Perhaps in a month we will have worked them down to supporting sentences.

Next week I will go back to teaching Basic English again. Some of the new students just bribed me with chocolate cake and coke in a plea for me to be "easygoing" with them. (a very popular term here to to the fact that it is highlighted in the Cambridge Interchange Series that everyone in Yemen uses for teaching English). They were lucky because it was chocolate cake, so their little scheme will probably work pretty well. Actually, they are not my students but rather the students of another teacher. However, many of them approached me and asked me to teach them instead, saying that they had "heard about me." I was really flattered!!! I told them to speak with the boss and hopefully there will be a switch, otherwise, I am sure that whoever I teach will bring much joy. Here is a washed-out picture of me with two of my hopefully-future students. The one on the left is the Yemenese version of John Travolta.

As a goodbye gift to my technical students, I have prepared an exam where they have to write "should" and "could" statements based on the safety icons like this one, to allow them to practice writing statements such as "You shouldn't get to close too the rotating bar or your body could get sucked into the machinery and unless you are Elastagirl you are pretty screwed." (To my students: if you write that on your exam you flunk.) Took me the better part of an hour to find some really gory ones, and this one was my favorite. Hopefully they will find it amusing on what is generally a pretty dreary test day, especially considering that it is their Saturday. (We work Saturday to Thursday, with only Fridays off. Thank God for religion.)

In my hunt for icons, I came across this classic: http://www.safenow.org/. Brought back some good memories.

It's the Term That Never Ends!

This is the term that never ends
Yes, it goes on and on, my friends
Some people started teaching it not knowing what it was,
And they'll go on and on a'teaching it forever just because
This is the term that never ends
Yes, it goes on and on, my friends...

This term has been extended for yet another week due to the upcoming elections. This is the second time that this has happened, I should be on break by now. I guess that I really don't mind teaching it, but if I read one more bloody article on Gas and Oil I am really going to lose it.

Here is a sample of what I am having to read 45 copies of every other night:

Distallation or pick of oil and gas is a complex operation includes: rifining, distillation and distribution. After finishing the well which exsits at the oil and gas field and contains crude oil or natural gas, that have to pumped to plant of process by using a huge pumps that have a different characteristics to pump the hydrocarbons from the well...

After two hours of this I was nearly in tears.

I actually caught a plagiarist today and I got really excited tracking him down on Google. He was pretty slick because he didn't just lift it from one paper but rather from a bunch of different sources off the web. It was the most exciting thing that happened after reading 45 paragraphs on the oil and gas industry that I almost felt bad turning the essay into administration, considering that the student brought me my only bright spot of the day.

And the winner for the worst paragraph in the class is this masterpiece:

Oil Field Development

The oil and gas is very important to use in our live and we take oil and gas from field on from under ground to our plant and do many process for oil and gas to separate energy from another one and take that fuel to used take the natural oil to used as fuel and use the gas as fuel for transportation and as fuel for factory in the generating.

I would point out that there isn't a topic sentence nor is there a concluding sentence or supporting arguments due to the fact that the entire paragraph is, in fact, one sentence.

It’s All Okay, Teacher

I gave a quiz yesterday, and when one of my students handed his in, he told me “It’s okay teacher, you can take as many marks off as you want.” Gee, thanks, I’ll do that.

“It’s okay” is sort of the unofficial mantra of Yemenese students. If you’re late, gazing out the window, sleeping, or just don’t feel like coming to class this can be remedied by a reassuring “It’s okay, teacher” and a slight nod of the head. I am curious what the Arabic translation is because once I learn it I think that I could get away with murder.

This is due to the fact that they manage to pull some sort of Jedi Mind Trick when they say it. I have had students bring me their homework a week late and after I already handed out the answers, and when I point this out they simply utter those three magic words and before I know it my hand is reaching to take their assignment before I can stop myself.

There was one time that I took my students outside for an activity and while I was supervising them one of the students wandered off and answered his cell phone. When I went over to yell at him he gave me the Yemen “wait” gesture (bring all your fingers together to make a point, then hold up your hand in front of your face) and told me “Okay, it’s okay, Teacher” and continued talking. I walked away and it took me about ten seconds before I turned back and confiscated his phone after I came to my senses and realized that actually it was NOT okay.

Now we know how those guys managed to get past security in 2001:
“Hey, you can’t take that on the plane!”
“It’s okay, I can go ahead.” Nods.
“Uh, yeah, it’s okay. You can go ahead.”

Just goes on to prove how weak-minded myself and the rest of America are.

Well, it’s okay, I guess.

Surreal Yemen

I just nearly got decapitated by one of the massive “Safety First” signs that was hanging on the wall as it was blown off by the wind. They laminate those posters and then attach wooden poles to both ends to get the thing to lay flat, so I really was in peril. When I went to rehang it I couldn’t find the nail. Either it fell out or it never existed.

And that is just one of the many surreal things that’s going on around here. I am currently trying to teach oil and gas terminology to a group of oil and gas engineers. For you computer people out there, try to imagine teaching computer terminology to a group of students—you have to tell them what a loop is, a statement, etc. Now imagine your mother (who presumably knows about as much about computers as I do the oil and gas industry) teaching the same material and you will see the problem here. A “loop” is suddenly something that is found in a bit of string. For example, one of my students asked me what “spud” meant. I told them that it was a potato. They all looked really confused and I told them to use it in a sentence. The word from their readers refered to people spudding in wells.

Today I asked my students what they had learned in thier other class and was pretty appalled when they all started shouting “F*ck you! F*ck you!” at me. Turns out that they were trying to say “vacuum”. Fortunately we got that one cleared up before I turned in my resignation.

Meanwhile, my class at the main center is going really well where I am continuing to teach regular, basic English. Today on the plate is the grammar of “going to”. I am going to have them practice this one by pretending that they are physic and having them make physic predictions for each student. I am hoping that I will teach full time at the center instead of working at both places as the main center is quite a lot less strange…

It's getting pretty surreal outside Yemen as well. As far as I am concerned the only thing stranger then the JonBenet Ramsey case ten years ago is the fact that it has made front page on all major websites for the past few days, even through there is nothing to report that is more interesting then "John Mark Karr got on the plane..." "John Mark Karr got off the plane..." John Mark Karr reportedly had a drink on the plane..." This breaking news was briefly interrupted by Tiger Woods victory in some golf thing and finishing it up with the news that "Hillary" might run. This wouldn't bother me if it wasn't for the fact that there was a deadly train crash in Egypt, a war (which is admittedly in ceasefire), and Iran was testing bombs and Korea is about to start testing nukes again. Nope, change the channel; let's hear about what John Mark Karr picked out of his nose in LA this morning instead...

Cafeteria Workers Write the Darndest Things

Today the menu said that we would be having "chicken, rice, vegtables, homos and bread". I guess that must be one of the ways that the punish people leading alternative lifestyles in this country. Needless to say, I avoided the meat.

Students Say the Darndest Things

I just had a student approach me urgently and say “Teacher, I need to know a word. I need to know the word for a man who can not give birth.”

Assuming he meant impotent, I gave him the proper word and he skipped away happily.

Earlier, in class, I had the students practice memo writing and one of my students was obviously very proud that he knew the meaning and usage of the verb “to erect”. His memo stated that he needed to erect a volleyball court and needed people to help with the erection. I read the rest of the memo, trying to hide my childish urge to giggle every time the word “popped” up, but lost it near the end of the memo when he called for people to “help me with my erection”. I decided that it wasn’t worth it to explain to him why he shouldn’t use the word that way and just crossed it out on the paper.

Just Another Manic Monsoon

I think that the rain here is just as heavy as the rain in Samoa, but it’s hard to tell. One thing that is for sure… it is a lot worse here because Yemen isn’t designed for heavy rainfall like Samoa is. With the exception of the thatched Samoan roofs, they do quite well to build the triangular shaped metal coverings complete with rain catchers and water tanks. Yemen, on the other hand, is known for an architecture style that includes flat-roofed houses. When it rains, the water pools at the top and eventually will leak into the home, having no where else to go.

This problem is one of the reasons why my friend is leaving his current place, and I always thought that he was exaggerating when he talked about his water problems especially since he wasn’t at ground level but rather about a half floor up. I was at his place helping him pack when the rain started. First, the roof leaked and caused a small waterfall that went down his front stairway and started to flow into his apartment. We tried to make a little dam but it was quickly washed away. After giving up the hallway for lost, we worked for a while and I went into his kitchen to get some more plastic bags for padding and found that a small lake had formed. The reason? Well, there was a “light well” outside his kitchen that had a area that was about 6 inches deep and about 10X10 feet, and after an hour it had completely filled up and the water was coming under the door. There was a drain, but it was blocked. After about ten minutes of rooting around in the filthy rainwater we found it and the water subsided. I never had these problems in Samoa, where it rained twice as much.

Moral: Being prepared for stuff like this really does make a huge difference. Samoa, I applaud you.

Things here are pretty quiet and good otherwise. Sorry that I don't have more exciting things to publish to this Blog, but all in all I guess that that is a good thing.

Castles in the Clouds

We’ve been having a lot of rain here, pretty dramatic stuff. The day will start out blue and beautiful and then the wind will pick up and we will get angry rain for about two hours. The other day it got so bad that they had to cut classes short and send the trainees home on busses due to the fact that the streets were quickly filling up with water. Tonight we are going to try to get to the Old City and take some pictures. There is a main road that runs through it that turns into a river during the rainy season.

Last night the power went off and we spent the first half hour doing class in the dark, or rather in the quickly fading twilight. The power popped back on right before it got too dark to read. I had gone home to rest before class, and it’s funny how much you rely on electricity without thinking about it. I walked to the kitchen in to make some oatmeal but the power on the water heater was out so I made a sandwich instead. After that, I walked into the TV room to eat while watching the news and pressed the "On" button about three times before I remembered that the power was out. I walked back into my room and decided to make coffee instead. I poured water into the coffee maker—you can see where this is going. After that failed I decided to listen to music and pressed the power button on the radio… well, you get the idea.

Yesterday morning we were waiting for our driver and I commented to the other teacher, Hutham, on the beauty of the day. She pointed to clouds that were comming over the mountains that surrounded Sanaa and said that that meant there would be rain later, and she was right. I noticed that there was small structures dotting the mountains. I asked Hatham about them and she told me that they were military installations. I asked her if they were currently operational and she said that they were. What did they protect against, I asked? She told me that they protected Sanaa. “From what?” Hutham just shrugged. I smiled and told her that hopefully they would never be used.

“They will be,” Huthham told me. “Someday.”

“I hope not,” I said.

“They will be,” Huthham repeated. I asked her what she meant and she just smiled cryptically. I couldn’t help but get the feeling that she knew something that I didn’t.

May creatures all be of a peaceful heart

Not to sound like a total Space Cadet, but I have been doing a lot of reading in Buddhism recently, and I just wanted to share with you one of my favorite quotes. This is from the Karaniya Metta Sutta (or the Sutta of loving kindness) and was translated by Ñanamoli Thera and taken from the Access To Insight Website:

In safety and in bliss
May creatures all be of a peaceful heart.
Whatever breathing beings there may be.
No matter whether they are frail or firm,
With none excepted, be they long or big
Or middle-sized, or be they short or small
Or thick, as well as those seen or unseen,
Or whether they are dwelling far or near,
Existing or yet seeking to exist.
May creatures all be of a peaceful heart.

مشجولة!!

One of my students gave me head scarf, and here's a picture of me wearing the thing. The odd thing was that after I put it everyone oohed and aaahhed and told me how beautiful I looked. I thought that was really odd-- shouldn't it be the other way around? Wouldn't they be tired of seeing women with their heads covered? Is my hair really that messy and gray?

Anyway, the student that gave it to me had my name embroidered in it, but also strangely had his own which sent a very odd message to me. Not that I think that any Yemenese man within their right mind would want to have anything to do with me as I would bring a ton of shame into their family (being loudspoken and completely unable to cook.) He was pretty mortified that I had put it on right away, but what did he expect! Anyway, the next day people were pretty surprised that I wasn’t wearing it. I am not sure what they had expected either. The thing was pretty uncomfortable and kept slipping off. Most women here tell me that if I don’t have to cover I shouldn’t bother.

“مشجولة” means busy (mash-ghoul-a), and that’s what I am these days. I picked up an extra class at MALI during the 6:30-8:30 shift, so basically I am going for fourteen hours a day. This is only for five weeks, however, and then MALI is really going to owe me one. I am pretty glad to be working at MALI, it gets me a foot in the door at that community. Also, because the students are so diverse you get more a taste for Sana’a life. The students at YLNG are friendly and bright, but they are also terribly busy and don’t really have time for socializing. Plus, they are all men and it is very challenging to have male friends here in Yemen if you are a woman. After my first day at MALI I met a very charismatic woman from Gaza who promised to invite me over.

So, things go on as normal. Everything is wonderful, and I am having a great time.

Ooops

"Ooops" is one of the words that I actually had to teach my class, which surprised me, being the klutz that I am. I figured that they had heard it about a zillion times by now from me alone!

So I was teaching yesterday and one of the assignments was to listen to a phone conversation and correct an email address that is shared. In the book, there was a yellow piece of paper that the email was written on and I asked the student what that particular office supply was called. They gave guesses and I wrote “Post-It Note” on the board, and explained that sometimes products take on a brand name as their common name, and could they think of any? The class came up with Kleenex and Q-Tips and then drew a blank. Not thinking, I blurted, “how about Tampax?” My own horror at what I just said was eclipsed by the look of confusion on my students faces and I quickly stabbed the play button and started the listening before anyone had a chance to write down this new vocab word that I had unwittingly given them. It occurred to me later that not only did the entire class not know what this word meant they probably didn’t know what happens monthly to a woman that would cause the need of this particular item.

This was just slightly worse then last term when I had the students do some creative writing in class. We were playing the game that Sarah and our friends used to play back in grade school where you write the first line of a story, pass it to your friend, and they write the next line and fold the paper so that you can only see what they wrote. They pass it on and so on. Anyway, one of the students had written that the main character “ran away and quit his job and became a huge rubber.” I burst out laughing and told him that he meant “robber” and that a rubber was something very different. “What is it?” my students demanded. “Well,” I said, “in England it’s an eraser, but in America its a… um…” I stopped suddenly and turned bright red as I realized where I was going with this. “Well, it’s something very different,” I finally said lamely and quickly signaled my student to keep reading. “It’s a condom, right?” he offered brightly. I confirmed this with a nod and then stabbed my finger at his paper to get him to read and the rest of the class shared snickers at my embarrassment.

Thank God I have a class of guys, otherwise I might be on a plane back to Samoa right now.

Apparently the World is Going to Hell in a Handbasket

Well, I am back at YLNG and teaching Technical English. My classes consist of explaining to students that a light is "burnt out" rather then "broken" and needs to be "replaced" rather then "fixed". It's actually rather fun and proving to be quite easy. I thought that the next three months were going to be hellish. You see, before the break there were six different groups and they were at six different English levels and there were six different teachers to teach them. As any teacher will tell you, the amount of classes doesn't really matter, it's the amount of prep needed that will kill you. Anyway, I thought that I was going to be teaching all six different levels and was wondering how the hell I was going to manage to prep for all this and still be able to sleep. The first day I didn't even bother to plan something out. I figured that I would just do intros and some assessment to find out what the students needed. When I got to class, it was a bit of a shock because the classes had been scrambled up like eggs. In any given class I have 2-4 students from each level. I quickly learned that although this made teaching the class more of a challenge, overall my job was easier. You see, because the classes were so mixed they were basically all the same level and I could literally teach the same thing six times in a row. In addition, YLNG decided that six hours of teaching was too much and brought in another teacher, so now I only have three hours of teaching and I get three hours of prep time.

So in my spare time, I have been reacquainting myself with the news. Although I have CNN on the TV at home, they are pissing me off because every time that I turn on the channel they are doing some sort of "human interest" story. For instance, the other day I switched it on and there was a half hour segment interviewing some woman who returned to Beirut to start "a new life" and was complaining about the fact that she had to turn around and go back to New York after only being there for three weeks. I mean, I felt sorry for the woman, but at least she had somewhere else to go, and at least she got out of there! What about the people that were stranded… or worse, the people that actually LIVE there that have no where else to go and whose entire personal worth is in their house that just got bombed? I think that the problem here is that CNN is still an American station and when I sit down to watch it is about 2AM on the East Coast and they don't want to bother with the really good stuff. So in other words, I spent the last two weeks pretty uninformed.

First off, I was wondering why all my friends were suddenly bitching constantly about the heat. Then I read that there is a heat wave that is paralyzing the nation and there had been a national emergency called in New York. Also, even my more conservative friends are writing to warn me that Samoa might be underwater in about ten years. I guess that a lot of this is due to the "Al Gore Movie" although I doubt that even Al Gore has the power to alter the weather to make his point. One of my more conservative friends here was railing against the government claiming that they had covered up most of the evidence that could suggest that global warming could be a problem. (The weather here, by the way, has been quite pleasant although a little rainy.)

Plus, we are starting to look at a full-scare war in the Middle East involving yria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Iran with the US right in the middle bogged down in Iraq. Now so far, everyone that I have talked to seems to be okay with me being American due to the back that I didn't vote for the guy. However, I have started telling people who ask that I am a Canadian from Vancouver, just to be on the safe side. But I read today that Syria is calling up its reserves. Of course, all this drumming could be because it happened to be the Syrian Army National Day. And everyone is ignoring North Korea again, which is generally about the time when they start to do crazy things like fire rockets into the Sea of Japan.

I remain safe in Yemen. I honestly feel safer here then I did in Samoa, which is about to join Atlantis, or in Seattle, which is possibly within range of Kim Jong-il's rockets.

My First Demonstration! Oh Boy!

My friend got a warning from my embassy that there would be a protest which of course acted more like an invitation to people like me. A group of people would be meeting at Old Sanaa University and march towards the Lebanon embassy to protest Israel’s bombing of Beiruit. The first thing I thought was “that’s silly, why are they going to the Lebanese embassy? They should go to the Israeli embassy” and then I came to my senses. So easy to forget that I am not in America, even with the call for prayer reminding me five times a day.

My friend told me that these things “always start on time” so I aimed to be there a touch early. I hopped a shuttle and got there at 8:45, fifteen minutes before anything was set to start. I felt pretty conspicuous standing there, so I walked into the university and sat on a bench. Just when I was about to give up and go home, there was a racket outside and this gold-painted jeep that was covered with faded pictures of various figures and loudspeakers on the top drove up and started blasting Arabic music. I went outside and took a look at the protest mobile. It was painted (or rather, had been painted a long, long time ago) and was covered with various picture of important people who had been the cause of past demonstrations. There were four loudspeakers on the top, and a mess of fake flowers decorating the hood. I wondered if this guy rented out or what.

I stood around for another half hour while people slowly drifted in, greeting each other. I was the only westerner, and felt very conspicuous. There was a group of women there but they didn’t seem to want to have much to do with me. After a while my discomfort turned into sheer boredom and I headed to a local café and bought some bread in exchange for the privilege of being able to sit down and eat it. Finally, after a half hour, they got moving and I ran to catch up.

It was my first protest in about two years, and pretty much what you would expect except that instead of saying things like “Hell no we won’t go” they yelled “God is Great” and a few other remarks about various groups beginning with H. Everyone was very kind to me. At first I was a little shy with my camera, but when I dragged it out people started to point out things that I could take pictures of and the kids started begging to be in the shot. I have found that if you have encounter a group of camera shy people skeptical of westerners, the trick is to take a few pictures of the kids. People warm up to you right away.

After about an hour of marching we got to the Lebanese embassy. There was a bit of a tussle as the cops made a human wall to keep the less important protesters back while the featured protesters were able to walk up to the embassy and start making speeches using the protest-mobile. I hopped up on a ledge and got a good view from up high, snapping pictures with my crappy broken camera. At one point there was smoke and I jumped to try to photograph it and some kids saw me and called out to the crowd and they parted like the Red Sea. The kids pulled me through eagerly and I rushed ahead, nearly rendering myself blind when I almost walked into a smaller flag that was being burnt. Seriously, my eyelashes are a bit shorter. They burned it and stomped on it and I photographed it and everyone cheered and asked me where I was from. I told them I was Canadian.

So all in all, the protest was pretty much like the protests in Seattle. A useless outlet for anger and a way to make people think that they are doing something. Afterwards everyone all went off to chew qat and I was left alone wondering where the hell I was. A hour of marching can really take you out of the way.

Getting back to my non-existent Gypsy Roots

Went to my first “girl party" last night. One of the admins at my school decided to throw a party and she invited all the teachers. I couldn’t wait to go because this was my big chance to see “how the other side lives”, even though I am technically a member of the other side.

Now men are not allowed at girl parties, so this is when the burkas come off and the girls finally get a chance to really show their stuff. As I said, I am not sure what is worn under those burkas but tonight gave me a bit of a hint. The women would show up, fully veiled and immediately shed their black armour and out would come hair, bright clothes and jewelry. I sat there looking around and realized that although I had talked to these women dozens of times, I couldn’t recognize any of them. I poked one of my housemates and asked her to identify everybody.

I was amazed. With all that cover, you assume that these girls are shy. They are not shy. The music was turned up and the tables where moved aside to that everyone could jump up and give a quasi-bellydancing type dance. How could these woman possibly go back under when they seemed so happy to strut their stuff?

The room got hot and one of the woman expertly opened up the windows without so much as letting the curtains fall open for a second. I realized that even the windows in this country are designed for modesty. They have a special window at the top above eye level so that you can open them without the risk of anyone peeking in. As we were in the sitting room, most of the windows were fogged (like a shower door) so that you couldn’t see details inside.

I got into a conversation with a female Yemenese coworker who spoke of her travels in Egypt. What did she wear there, I asked. She said that she wore jeans, short sleeves and didn’t cover her hair. I asked her if she preferred it and she said that she did. I asked her then why she wore the veil in Yemen and she didn’t even seem to understand the question. It would be shameful, I suppose.

Anyway, after about an hour of this and practicing my limited Arabic, I got bored and grabbed my roommate’s hand and proceeded to read her palm. About halfway through I realized that the entire room was watching me, fascinated. Once I was done with Becky about twenty pairs of hands were shoved in my face and I spent the next two hours reading palms. Fortunetelling is probably another thing that isn’t exactly encouraged in Islam, so I made a big deal of the fact that only Allah knows the future. They agreed with me and demanded to know who their future husbands anyway.

Now I don’t really believe in palm reading and stuff (although I do have an interesting theory regarding Tarot and AI that I will share with you if you would like) but I must say that I saw patterns that I had never seen on a western hand. My skills at reading is basically limited to the information in a 50 cent booklet picked up at the candy isle of a grocery store that I didn’t even bother to read all the way through. Basically, you have three lines on your palm—the head line, the heart line and the life line, going from the top to bottom. Head line is your career, your life line is your heath and wellbeing and the heart line is your relationships. If it is a deep line the attribute is strong, if it has a lot of little branches you tend to get distracted in that area. The only other thing that I can do is to see how the heart and life lines connect and tell you how attached you are to your family.

But a lot of these girls had love and life lines that ran parallel to each other, even sometimes meshing. One woman had no love line, which I had never seen before. If you look at your own palm chances are that the two lines will form a ‘V’. This was interesting to me as intermarriage (especially between cousins) is very common here, and often a marriage will basically leave you in the same house with only a new roommate and a loss of your virginity as a difference. This would explain why the life line and the love line run together. To a lot of these woman, love and life/family are the same thing. What good is a love line when you husband is probably going to be picked for you by his parents? Most of the women had a strong head line (career) which would suddenly break off. This generally means that they have a lot of talent which is unused. In a society of housewives, is that surprising? (Anyway, as I said, I don’t believe that crap.)

Anyway, I was saved by the arrival of dinner (yummy!) and then we took off. It took me five minutes to find my burka. (I had to wear a long black robe, although I didn’t cover my hair, because I was wearing a Samoan dress with *gasp* no sleeves.) Took me a good ten minutes to find my burka from all the others. My roommate helped me look and asked me what it looked like. I told her it was black. (Ask a stupid question…)

Party On!

Well, the semester is over and now I am supposed to be on vacation, but in reality I am learning about the hell that goes into working as a teacher. I remember back in my college days how nice I thought it would be to have a job where you could go home and forget about it. Then when I got that job, I thought how nice it would be to be in a job where you were helping people and making a difference.

But all the students did really well and the pride that made up for that was all worth it. Specifically, the food at the party that they threw for all the trainees was worth it. We had a “trainee quiz” where they went around with a mic and asked impossible questions about thermal dynamics and such. My guys rocked. I was so proud!!

The next day my boss requested that I make an appearance at what I thought was the opening ceremony for a new high tech hospital in the region. What it actually was was a talk on hip replacement surgery. Fortunately, the guy who introduced the speaker didn’t have a very good grasp of English and said that the speaker was actually going to do a talk on “head replacement”. This sent us into giggles whenever he said “hip” imagining it was head. (OK, you had to be there. I mean, we are really scraping the bottom of the barrel for entertainment here in Yemen.) Anyway, the talk perked up once he started showing xrays of people who had fake hips screwed into their hip bones. Made the ride home a lot more fun as well considering that everyone in Yemen drives like they are on a suicide mission. Good food there, too, especially the pudding.

But the BEST food was the food I sampled at French Bastille Day Party that my French roommate snuck me into. As I have told my friends, underneath this wanna-be hard-core roughing-it development aid worker is a little rich girl screaming to get out, and she headed right for that red wine. I decided to let her have it—after all, I owe her. I never let the bitch spend any money. I got to rub elbows with all sort of people including the French and Japanese ambassadors. (Although rubbing elbows was pretty much all I did—it was pretty crowded in there.) My friends got me out of there a gin and tonic short of my making a total fool of myself and we staggered home with me singing and greeting the guards in Arabic—much to their amusement as they were just as bored as I was during the head replacement talk.

Finally, Yemen continues to be very safe. What is going on in Lebanon right now is terrible but it is also having no impact on life in Yemen. I continue to live in a very safe part of town, have a very safe job and generally live a very safe life.

Everything is Fine

Just want to say that Yemen is (at the moment) not being affected by the situation north in Gaza and Lebanon, and I am fine.  Thanks to all the people who have shown concern!  I will keep you posted, although right now all I can say is that life is very normal here (by Yemen standards, anyway!)

I have some time off from work now so I will be checking email sporadically.

The Old City

This is me, Sonia, Mirium and Marty in front of the stunning backdrop of Sana'a's old city. Please check out the following video that Marty took which includes the call for prayer. Warning: there is sound, and it's a bit loud, but it isn't as loud as when you are actually there!
Click here for the MySpace Video.

Goodbye Earl, I mean Tim!

Well, my manager Tim is back to Wales for a few days for a family emergency and even though it's only for three weeks I don't know what we will do without him... We had a send-off at Al-Khaima (The Tent) and took this charming picture. See you soon, Tim!!!

A Wedding Night in Yemen

Ah, the singing finally stopped. Back to the normal noises of people blasting their horns which sound so peaceful in comparison to what was going on before.

There is a wedding going on tonight and it is (was) driving me crazy. Yes, I know that it is a cultural event but although I haven’t been to a wedding yet I understand that they are pretty silly. Hopefully I will be invited to one and be able to speak about it first-hand, but for now I can just talk about what I have seen looking out the window.

First, they string lights over the street. See picture to see what I mean. Then at around 3’o clock all the guys get together and they sort of parade around and people throw confetti over them and they sing and do a “dance”. I put “dance” in “quotes” because the dancing is a bunch of guys standing in a line and soft of kicking their feet and holding their arms in the air while people yell and whoop. Then the guys go off somewhere and you think “Thank God that’s over. Now I can get some work done.”

And you are wrong. So wrong. Because then they come back.

They come loudly marching down the street banging drums and stuff. First there is a sort of chant that is done over loudspeaker. They have two loudspeakers in different parts of the city (I am guessing that one is at the groom’s and one is at the bride’s) and they chant at each other for a while. It’s a really cool effect for about five minutes. While this is going on, the men come back and do another “dance”, this one consisting of walking around in a circle and holding your Janbia (a sort of strange curved knife that all the men carry, do a google image search on Yemen and it will probably be the first thing that pops up) over your head. And then the singing starts.

How to describe the singing? Well, when I was a kid my mom had a harmonica. Every now and then I would get my hands on that harmonica and start to make what I thought was beautiful music until my mother would run out and scream at me and then hide the harmonica in a place where she thought that I would never find it. Well, the singing sounded a lot like that harmonica. Plus you have drumming. And this goes on for a few hours.

They did, however, have some sort of a flute thing going on, and I wanted to find out what a Yemenese flute looked like and how it was played so I got dressed and went out to the street. But during the time it took me to cover my arms and ankles and find my shoes and camera they had all moved inside. I wandered around and tried to peek at the party but girls aren’t allowed. A guy came out and sort of shook his stick, yelled at me in Arabic and closed the gate in my face. So much for famous Yemenese hospitality.

I don’t know what the girls do, but the guys sit around and chew Qat. One of my friends said that he didn’t understand what the big deal about a Yemenese party was because the guys just sit around and chew Qat which is pretty much what they do every day anyway. There is also a procession which apparently involves a lot of kissing of the groom and a lot of speeches. In other words, it sounds just as boring as a Samoan wedding. What is with these traditional societies? After thousands of years you would think that these things would evolve into something resembling one of those cool fish that glow underwater and have their own bait in their mouths but instead they resemble more like the two toed sloth who hasn’t bothered changed since the first time it evolved.

Well, anyway, since the wedding seems to be over (I hope) I am going to get some sleep.

A Big Milestone For Group 73

I just found out recently that my old Peace Corps group just lost another member. I take a bit of credit for this since I was the one that was the first to leave willingly after working there for a while. The rest of the people were like "Hey, Tima left, her head didn't explode, she seems happy, maybe...." OK, so I am probably giving myself too much credit. But this is an important milestone because it means that my group, group 73, has officially lost the MOST people off all the other groups that are currently serving. GO 73!!!!!

Update: And another one bites the dust. Poor Pete (half visible in the white shirt next to Mike with the flower in his hair) bangted up his shoulder and is away on medical leave. Will there be anyone else?

Happy 4th!

Obviously, 4th of July isn't celebrated here, so I don't have any big plans. There was an embassy party last night but I couldn't get invited because it was just for important people and I guess that a drop-out Peace Corps working for a Yemense company who is contracting for a French company doesn't really qualify. Seriously, the woman on the phone just laughed at me when I asked if I could come. Well, pooey on them anyway. I will celebrate the same way I do everyday, by going to class and making fun of my government.

Anywho, here are a few more gems from the homework I graded last night:
"Since the first man put his leg on the moon, the space centure was
started."

And my favorite, from when students had to write about a best friend:
"Once I had an accident when I was traelling to Shebam. As soon as [my friend] new about that horrible accident, he came to visit me and slept with me in the hospital."

I guess that person would be my best friend too.

Big Mistake

Asked my students to submit an outline for a paper they had to write.

"But Teacher, we already have to read so much science stuff!!!!"

"Ok, fine," I said. "Then write an essay about the stuff that you are reading." Big mistake.

So here is Mahmoud's Outline (or at least part of it:)

I. Introduction:
It is a type of saturated hydrocarbons, with three general formula of CnH2n+2

II. Body
A. The classification of Alkalines
1. Chain alkalines
2. Aromatic or Cyclic Alkaline
3. The Alkyl Group
B. Physical Properties
1. C1 - C4 are gasses
2. C5 – C16 are liquids…

And it goes on. Boy, I just can't WAIT to read that essay. Should have made them write about the Palestinian conflict or bears or beavers or something more interesting then that.

As the Term Finishes...

Not much new to report, I have been working really hard at YLNG getting the current batch of trainees out the door.  I get two weeks off, then I am going to be teaching "Technical English", which hopefully isn't' a fancy way of getting me back into teaching computers.  I've gotten really close to my trainees, even the ones that give me a hard time and I think that they have really warmed up to me.  The fact that I never pass up an opportunity to take a shot at Bush (no FBI, I am not speaking literally) helps to indure me to them, I think.

They are pretty liberal too, which surprised me.  One assignment I gave them was to write responses to "Dear Abby" letters.  For instance, one of the letters was a woman saying that she didn't want to have children.  Rather then telling the women to lie down and do her duty my student suggested that she "convince [her husband] about your desire.  Why don't you tell him about kid's problems"  My favorite answer, however, was written as a joke.  The letter was from a mother whose 12 year old daughter had a boyfriend.  Mahmoud wrote:

Dear my daughter, I love you so much.  But I don't want you to go with any boyfriend until you marry.  You should wait until you get your favorite husband.  This is our religion, and this is our custom.  Any one who lets his daughter or his sister to commit adultery the God will enter him in his fire for ever and he will never get out from that fire, My daughter if you want your father to enter in this fire you go to this boyfriend.  But I am responsible for you so we will leave this country that is full of adultery and we will live in our country that has a conservative society.  We will leave from now soon.

To his credit, he laughed as I read it.  I think that he was trying to shock me.

According to another one of my students, In 20 years "people will be eaten by spoons and forks".   My other favorite from one of my more cheeky students is that "Yemen will be making loans to the USA."  Could happen!

Fun and Love at the Park

Last night I was invited to the Park by my Arabic teacher, Jamila (means beautiful).  It was a very unique and very Yemenese experience.

 

"That's great Kim,", you interrupt, "but why don't you show pictures?"  Well, two reasons.  The first is that I forgot my camera.  The second is that I would not have been allowed to take picture even had a brought a camera.  I wished out loud that I wish I had a camera, and Jamilia turned to me and asked "Why?"  She said it in the same way she might have if I wished that I had brought my cell phone while on an airplane.  It was the same "duh" response.  Turns out that it is not allowed to take shots in that setting.

 

Which is a big shame because it really was a site to see.  There were at least a thousand woman there identically dressed in their black baltos.  Most of the women did not cover their faces and so it was a real party and the only men around were the ones running the rides.

 

The rides were a disaster waiting to happen.  Among other things that were probably put together-- and being run-- by men chewing and high on Qat, the local stimulant drug that all men chew.  There were two rides that everyone but me went on, the first was something where you sit in a car and go around in a circle and the second was one where you sat in a swing and went around in a circle.  When the ride stopped, the woman would run up the the "safest" possible moment to grab their vehicle/chair, sometimes jumping on while it was still moving and pulling the former occupant off.  Then everyone would fight over the ride and finally the guy running would get bored and start the ride and everyone would run away to avoid getting kicked in the head.  A good time.

 

I had to leave a bit early to work on lesson plans, and outside the main gate there was a crowd of about 200 men looking worried and waiting for their wives to come out.  THAT would have been worth capturing on film!!

Politics Break

The latest bill to be passed in the House was named "Declaring that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror, the struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary."

It's a non-binding resolution that will reenforce America's committment to the wars in Iraq and Afganistan, and God help the man who votes against it (such as Jim McDermott, my hero.)

Yes it passed, 256 yeas to 153 nays.

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/votes/?votenum=288&chamber=H&congress=1092

The only thing that gives me hope is that this shows how desperate the goverment is getting.

Finally, some pictures!!

Went to the national Museum of Yemen today with my class and finally got some pictures taken. You can view the link here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=e1iyj8p.jbxrfs1&x=0&y=-tmupbc

Note: if it asks you to log in, take a closer look. There should be a link that allows you to view photos without logging in. Look for the link below the "Sign in" button that says: View Photos without signing in

There are also only 16 of them rather then the 50+ albums that I usally make you go through. No pictures of me, tho! (Pretty ironic considering that for the first time in a year and a half I finally have a fast connection where I can upload 300 pictures in the blink of an eye.)

A Day In My Life

So what is a day like for me? Pretty busy, actually, and here’s my schedule.

I wake up at around 6:30 AM. (Actually, to be fair I am woken up at around 5:30 to do yoga and stretches and review my lesson plan but more often then not I just hit the snooze and go back to sleep.)

When I do make it up, I take a quick shower and have my tea and oatmeal. I have to be out of the house by seven to catch the taxi to work. MALI pays for a car to take us to and from the gas company where I work.

Once there, I have about a half hour to get my lessons together and get to my eight-o-clock class. I love my class. I have 14 students six days a week for about four hours a day. We spent about half of that working through the book and the other half working on activities. My students are there from 8-4 and they get pretty burnt out when they are in intensive learning settings every day. So I try to have a lot of games and other things to stir things up a bit. As I said before, when I am doing my job right it’s more like I am babysitting then anyone else.

Right now the schedule is a bit brutall; we have class from 8-12:30 then another class from 5:25-6. I don’t mind too much, as that extra time lets me do work such as planning lessons and working on the internet during that time, but by the time I get back to MALI I am pretty exhausted. I have an Arabic class from 6:30-7:30, and last week I just had to break down and cancel the thing because I was exhausted and hadn’t studied. Basically I am away for 12 hours a day and still need to find time to eat and study.

That is my schedule from Saturday to Thursday. Friday is my day off, and unfortunately it’s everyone else’s day off as well and so all the jobs are closed (Friday is the Muslim holy day.) But at the same time it’s nice to have a day where I can’t do anything. I get out early of work early on Thursdays and generally go shopping at this time. There is a store called Shamil Al-Hairi that I love… especially coming from Samoa! It’s basially the Fred Meyers or the Wal-Mart (depending on your region) of Yemen. I love to go there and just wander around the beauty product aisle, marveling that there can be so much different types of shampoos and soaps (especially for a population of woman who have shown there hair to probably only about a dozen non-family members, if that!).

A lot of ex-pats here complain about the lack of variety of goods, about the people and about the general decrepit state of the country. But coming from Samoa, it all looks great to me. We have at least ten different types of ethic restaurants in this town, including Chinese places and Korean. We even have a Pizza Hut! The only thing that really gets to me is the taxi drives who blow their horns for every occasion, including giving a honk when approaching intersections to warn any unseen pedestrians or motorists. A good idea, you might think, until you stand on a street and it sounds like the middle of NYC traffic jam 24/7.

I live with three other girls: Becky, Miriam and Sonia. They are from America, Australia and France respectively, so we are a pretty diverse group. We have what can best be described as a college dorm type setup—we each have our own rooms which serves as a living/sleeping/studying area and then we have a common kitchen and room that we share. This means that in order to hang out all I have to do is walk out of my room. The walls are made of concrete which makes them a bit challenging to hang pictures on but makes each room a virtual sound vacuum. I have different hours then the other girls so I even get a few hours all to myself after I get back from work.

Right now I don’t do much outside of work, mostly due to the fact that I am learning Arabic and can’t speak to anyone outside of my house and work. But I have made a few friends and we enjoying touring the local restaurants and hunting around the dozens of stores. Fortunately most of my friends already speak Arabic (giving me hope that I can learn it) and they can do most of the translating for me.

I know that I am still in my “honeymoon” stage with Yemen right now, but I am still in love with this country. No, no pictures yet, I will try to get some up soon I promise!!!

Bowling, Yemenese-Style

Marty (with the green bowling ball), Marium, Becky, Tali (smoking), Zamzam, Cyanne (in front in the veil), Tim, and I'm the whore of Babylon on the right.

Arabic

Not much new, most of my time has been spent learning Arabic and teaching.

The format of the class turns out to be the same format that was used during the Samoan training for the Peace Corps, except that my students are more advanced in English then I every dreamed I would be in Samoan. I like to think that they have a bit of a head start having grown up with English all around them which I didn’t hear my first Samoan words until shortly after I discovered the existence of the country.

Here is some of the Arabic that I have learned:

صبح الخير! أبا كم
أبا أمريكية
أسكن في اليمب الآن
أتكلم أانجليزي, و ادرس عربي

Hello! I am Kim. I am an American. I live in Yemen now. I speak English, and I am learning Arabic.

OK, so I have a way to go. But I am learning pretty quickly. It’s actually been really tough not being able to speak Samoan. Very few people on the street speak English, and I have found that in my head I have two languages: English and “not English”. Imagine if you suddenly couldn’t use 90% of the words that you had in your vocabulary. It’s pretty annoying! But the other teachers here speak quite naturally and quite fluently and I so I have hope. Also, Arabic is a lot more constant rich then Samoan, and I find that it’s easier for me to pick out the words that I know.

On My Own

Got sick of being dependant on everyone in the house to accompany me on such tasks as buying toilet paper and Diet Cokes and so I decided to take Friday (a day off here) to try and understand the city of Sanaa.

Navigating the city is challenging for a few reasons. The first is that everything looks the same. All the buildings have the general same architecture and when I look at it all I really notice is that it doesn’t look Samoan. Also, all the signs are in Arabic. I am not talking about the street signs (which don’t exist, another reason why it is hard to find your way around) but rather the store signs. Because I can’t read them I can’t use them as points of reference. Finally, a lot of the shops close for prayer and other events and a closed shop looks completely different from an open shop. The storefronts are basically garage doors and there are no windows. When you open you open the door and that becomes your entrance as well as your display. So on a Friday morning when everything is closed you can think that you are in a different city even if you’ve lived here for a year.

So I announced that I was going out by myself to check out the main shopping street, Hadda street (sort of the Ave for Sanaa). Cyanne decided to send me out on a scavenger hunt and buy various things from useful stores. Unfortunately these so-called Yemen experts forgot that everything is closed on Friday until about 4PM, so the hunt was pretty much a failure, but I still managed to find all the stores and confirm that they were in fact closed.

I wanted up to the old city, about an hour walk and decided to head in. I wouldn’t have tried it if it wasn’t for the fact that I left armed with my trusty GPS and the compass that Ram gave me as a goodbye present. I pulled out the GPS and stood there trying to look inconspicuous while I waited for it to calibrate. All day, by the way, I saw not one westerner. I was the only unveiled woman there, and I soon realized that I was standing there with a device in my hand that looked (with it’s little raised antenna and me glancing at it nervously every ten seconds or so) like a bomb trigger.

I marked the position of the front gate and headed in. The old city is huge and pretty much a maze. Everything looks EXACTLY the same, even to people who have lived there for a while, and all the streets will bend into subtle u-turns and dead ends without any warning. I didn’t have a hard time, however. I had a map of the old city which would have been useless if it wasn’t for the fact that all the mosques (about 20 in all) were marked. The mosques, with their huge towers, were easy to spot and I could sound out the Arabic well enough to figure out which one I was looking at. By hopping from mosque to mosque like a character in frogger I was able to get around without switching on my detonator-shaped GPS (I would still be there if it wasn’t for the compass, however).

(I decided not to bring my camera. Next time, I promise!)

A Night out in Sanaa

Just got back from my first experience clubbing and I can say that clubbing in Yemen is just as lame as clubbing in Samoa or Seattle or anywhere else that I might imagine.

Yes, it’s the same lame music, the same flashing lights, and the same posing people tramping boredly around the dance floor. Yes, when I arrived they were playing some Arabic music, but this quickly changed to what my friend Jacob would call “bum-chicca-bum” music as if they felt that us foreigners would be more comfortable with this.

After a while, I snuck into the bathroom and stood in wonder at the mirrors and the shine. It was easily the nicest bathroom that I had seen in more then two years. I marveled at the flush toilets and the toilet paper that was neatly folded to make a little triangle and resisted the temptation to put it back into the same shape. (I was also tempted to go back a few mintues later to see if it magically transformed back to that shape after I used it, like something out of 1001 nights.)

When I returned from the bathroom, the DJ apparently took my absence as a cue to play some traditional Yemenese night club music and the patrons even decided to perform a traditional Yemenese dance. Or rather, it would have been traditional if the men weren’t so drunk and horny and the woman weren’t dressed in shirts and shorts to tight that they were threatening to burst out of with every wiggle. (Traditional Yemenese dance is pretty much as boring as traditional Samoan dance (see “A Easter Adventure”) however since it is done in groups and consists mostly of kicking and stomping the floor as you dance around in circles it’s a bit more fun to watch.) Apparently those girls had shown up earlier in the full burkas and then tossed them off to reveal clothes that made us suspect that they were prostitutes, leaving me to later gaze in curiosity at every black-veiled woman on the street, wondering exactly what they are hiding under there.

Miss Kim!! Teacher Kim!!

My head is all messed up due to the schedules in this country. The week starts on Saturday and ends on Thursday. I arrived on a Thursday morning and started work on Saturday. As a result what feels like, say, Wednesday is actually Monday. So I spent most of my first week feeling like it was going by really slowly. I can’t believe that I have only been here a week!

I am working at a local natural gas company, and we are training people to work with internationals at various spots. To do this, they need excellent speaking and listening skills, especially when conversing with people who are also speaking English as a second language. (The head of the training center is a wonderful Frenchman.)

The gods smiled on me when I got this assignment… it is probably one of the better teaching jobs in Yemen. To begin with, I have access to the best facilities and teaching tools… the office that I am in is comparable to my situation at Microsoft. Plus there is free tea and coffee, free soda and a free lunch everyday (sound familiar to anyone?) But the best part is that I am working with some of the smartest students in the country. These 90 students were picked out of a pool of more then 16,000 applicants, and so I am working with the best of the best. They are all college educated and without question brighter then I am. It is a bit of a shock to work with students who are so sharp. The first day, I allocated 20 minutes for “introductions”, which included a 5 minute section where I would allow the students to ask me questions. “Do you have any questions for me?” is practically a rhetorical question in many of the classes that I have taught in the past and I wasn’t expecting anyone to actually ask anything. Wrong. They questioned me for 45 minutes on topics ranging from my first thoughts about Yemen to what life is like in Samoa, requesting me to speak a smattering of the language and asking about the housing and the food. I finally had to cut it short to start the lesson, something that I don’t think that I have ever done before.

I have had so much fun with this class. Unfortunately, during the next session I am being moved to another group, a more remedial group. I requested this change simply because my students that I have now are so bright that I feel I am not challenging them enough. We will still be at the same center, but I will miss them nonetheless. I am sure that I will like my new students just as much.

Today we had an “activity day” where we played various games including a scavenger hunt and logic puzzles. I ran the logic puzzles, which consisted of matchstick puzzles (where you make roman n umber equations like “XI – IV = V” and have to move one matchstick to make it work: “XI – V = VI”). We also played Su Duku puzzles, previously unheard of in Yemen but imported from Samoa via Seattle by Dylan (thanks Dyl!) and which also proved to be a great hit. I lost my voice eventually but it was a real thrill to be called over with a “Miss Kim!” to to see a Yemeni adult grinning like a child to show off his latest solution and receive a pat on the shoulder and a “good job” from me.

I really love teaching here. I can’t say it enough. I really love Yemen. There are a lot of things that I don’t like—the honking of the cars takes a definite first and being the only unveiled woman (all the woman wear the full burka here, but I am asked not to in order to model a “western woman”) wandering the street… but I still love it.

My Arabic isn’t going all that well, and I think that most annoying thing is that I can say everything that I want to say in Samoan, and subconsciously I think that should be enough. My teachers and friends assure me that I just need to be patient and that I will have a breakthrough in reading, and that things will be easier after that. I can’t take the busses by myself because I can’t read the signs and I can’t find my way around the city because I can’t identify the landmarks. Everything looks the same to me, but it just gives me greater motivation to learn.

I get a week off now, and I am going to spend that time at MALI observing classes to get a better idea of the way that MALI teaches, and I also hope to pick up some more Arabic during that time.

A bunch of firsts!!!

First time riding the buses.  I didn't even realize that they were buses until we got into one.  The buses here are little minivans that shoot around the city, making impossible U-Turns and blasting their horns for the slightest reason.  There are only two rows of facing seats in them, and the women aren't allowed to sit with the men so often people aren't allowed to get on.  It is a pretty efficient system, however—the buses are always full and there are a ton of them.  And the ride is only 20 Rials—that's one penny.  (Divide by two then multiply by .001 to convert rials to dollars.)

We were taking the buses for my first trip Old City of Sanaa, and it blew me away.  I had the day off teaching due to the fact that it was "Unity Day", which celebrates the 1992 unity of the north and the south.  I don't have the pictures right now, but it really was like the set of a movie.  Small streets winding through endless markets…  I went with a few of the other teachers and one of the first things that we had to do was return the key.  They had lived in the old city for a while and had to return their key for the apartment.  We walked in and headed up a long flight of stairs and I discovered that the air really is a lot thinner up here as I was huffing and puffing after just one flight.  But once we got to the top it was all worth it.  It was a beautiful view of the old city and  you could see the entire city of Sanaa.  And just as we got there, the call for prayer went off and all the mosques around us started blasting Arabic chanting.  It was wonderful.  As I said, I will try to get pictures because I really can't describe it right now in words.

I had my first experience of buying something (a coke) at a shop by  myself for the first time.  I know that this doesn't sound like a big deal but remember that no one speaks English here, they are not used to foreigners and I hardly speak any Arabic.  My friends were looking at a furniture shop and I jumped away for a minute and it was my first time on my own.

Finally, at the Old City I had my first experience buying falafels at a local restaurant.  They were incredible, but they led to my first case of food poisoning and my first day of trying to teach when I couldn't stand.  Canceling classes here isn't really done.  Thank god for Cyanne who combined our classes because I couldn't stand and could barely speak without my stomach going haywire.  But I feel fine today—15 hours of sleep will do that for you!!!

Click

So people who spoke with me right before I left Samoa heard me say that although Samoa was a wonderful country, we never really “clicked”. I liked Samoa and I could see why people would want to live there. But there was never really this feeling on my part of “this place is great and I want to spent my life here”. I had a “click” in Palestine after about a week and I had my Yemen “click” last night. Yes, I know it’s soon.

Admittedly I was in a good mood because I just got back my luggage. Like a fool, I had packed a lot of really special stuff. (When you only own 75 pounds of stuff, it’s all pretty special.) Uni, my stuffed unicorn who I have had as long as I can remember, was in there as well as the goodbye presents and cards from my students and friends. Anyway I degrees but needless to say I was pretty glad to get the stuff back!

Anyway, on the way back I let out a cry of surprise that nearly got us killed in the taxi. (Forget terrorists, if I am going to die here it’s going to be in a taxi accident.) There was some sort of atmospherical phenomenon that I had never seen before. In the middle of the blue sky, there was a bright oval spot of light in the sky and all around it was rainbows. It looked like the sky was opening to heaven. If I was much younger I would have thought that it was the hole in the ozone layer. As I stared in wonder (and wished that my camera was one of the things that I had checked) I looked at the mountains rising above us and saw houses that lined the top. Arabic script was everywhere, from the standard typed stuff to the unreadable graffiti and stylized advertisements to the artistic pages of the Koran that covered the doors of the mosques. And there was a guy in a white robe and a dagger shoved in his belt chewing qat hiking up one of the hills. It was all so much to take in, and suddenly click. I felt that I had never been so happy to be anywhere in my life.

Yemen!

There is so much to say that I hardly know where to start! Yemen is wonderful, it is better then I ever dared to hope. Everything is perfect.

I am living in a house with four other girls and one guy. Skye told me that I was insane to pass up the offered studio apartment, but I chose this because I figured that amoung other things it would be safer. It was the right choice on my part. For starters, the house is already stocked with everything that I might need, which was a good thing considering it took me three days to get my luggage (which I did finally get!) I have a adorable little room, and there is a living room that is complete with a TV, VCR, DVD player and a ton of DVD’s that the other students buy. (DVD’s here are about $3.) There is a shower and a bathtub with hot water and a huge kitchen that has a water cooler in it. Yet with all it’s amities, the place still gives you a feel of “roughing it”. I feel that I am living in less luxury then I was in Samoa. The whole thing sort of has a college dorm feel to it, which was always my favorite type of housing.

One of the first people that I met here was Cyanne, an ex-pat from Hawaii and southern Illinois. We have a lot in common and became fast friends. She is really neat. She is a Muslin who goes out fully veiled (with the scarf over the face, most woman here dress like that but surprisingly I am not expected to—I don’t even wear a veil) and I found that looking at these woman they are quiet and meek. Not Cyanne, and not any of the woman that I have met. Cyanne is in your face, full of energy and is overall awesome. She gave me clothes, advice, and food when I first got here. We drink coffee together and go out shopping. She is exactly what I wanted in a roommate!

Yemen is very, well, tan. After Samoa it is a shock to see the amount of dust and lack of greenery that I became used to. Samoa was dirty, but it was more of a muddy dirt. This place is full of dust—a lighter cover that you feel that you can blow away. Samoan dust stuck. There are no bugs here either. The occasional fly and that’s about it. Some bug was flying around my classroom today and I was so amazed to see it that I just stared at it. I still jump at small shadows and dust bunnies thinking that they are cockroaches.

My students are brilliant. The company that I worked for picked 90 students out of more then 16,000 applicants and so I get the best of the best of the best. It’s a bit odd to be teaching people that are way smarter then I would ever hope to be, but they are great and funny. On the first day I asked if they had any questions for me. With a lot of my formal students I often felt that when I asked questions they were practically rhetorical. Not these guys! They questioned me for 45 minutes, asking all about Samoa. They wanted to know about the language, the people, the houses that they lived in and so on. They demanded that I speak some Samoan and asked me to do a presentation. I was blown away! Today we watched “The Day After Tomorrow” and had a debate about global warming. They were yelling and arguing and everyone had a great time. As a ESL teacher we are supposed to use the communicative approach so if I am doing my job right I am babysitting more then teaching. And my students are so fun that it hardly feels like work. The only problem is that they are so bright that I feel that I am not pushing them to their full potential!

And the FOOD!!!! Oh my God!! Every time someone complains here it makes me laugh. It’s all so wonderful and they don’t each much fried stuff, so it’s actually pretty healthy. The big cheap food is the vegetables. And Cyanne loves to cook! Plus we have Chinese and Ethiopian restaurants here that I hear are very good.

I’ve only been here for two days and it still feels like a dream.

Safe in Yemen!

Just a quick note to let you know that I arrived safely in Yemen, which unfortunately is more then I can say for my baggage.  Everything is wonderful, much better then I dared to dream.  I can not talk long, but I post more details to the blog later. 

 

Just so you know, this place is really safe.  I am living right in the middle of one of the more heavily policed areas and I am living with three other teachers in a wonderful hostel-like apartment.

And she's off...

All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside the door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye...

I'm leaving on a jet plane!
Don't know when I'll be back again,
Oh babe, I hate to go...

Hey everyone, this will be my last entry before I take off for Yemen. I am leaving at 12:45 Tuesday morning (Samoan time, that's about 3 in the morning Seattle time) and I will be getting in at 2AM in the morning on Thursday, Yemen time. I am not sure how that translates into Samoan time but I know that I will go from being way behind everyone to about 7 or 8 hours ahead. I am flying from Samoa to LA to Frankfurt to Cairo to Yemen. Yes, it would be a lot smarter for me to go the other way. Don't ask.

I will try to get to a computer as soon as I touch down so that you all know that I got there safe. Until then, wish me luck and keep an eye out!

The Girls of 386... and Wellington

From Left to right: ??, Tooa, ??, ?? Entole, Agnes, and Wellington at the bottom.

(Yes, Tooa is giving the photographer the finger. I'm not sure if this was her intent.)

Yemen approaches...

I thought that Yemen was a type of noodle.  – Wellington Seufale

 

There has been a rather interesting reaction in Samoa to my heading to Yemen, my favorite of which is the quote above.   Sarah, bless her heart, responded by immediately sending me a bunch of articles on Yemen and a report back from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) website.  She told me a few things about what it said, but the only fact that she gave me that really stuck was that there are no mosquitoes in Sanaa due to the altitude.   (I am SO there.)

 

The first people who were officially told were the Peace Corps.  They were incredibly understanding.   I had expected them to be disappointed or angry, I really should have known better.  They were excited for me and eager to hear about my new job.   They suggested that I talk with my job myself and let them know that I was planning on leaving.  I quickly gathered together my things and went to do so.

 

A strange thing happened then.  You see, I have a watch that Sarah and Dylan gave me and it's one of my more treasured possessions because whenever I look at it I think of them.    It was one of the last gifts that was given to me before I left.    Anyway, after I talked to the Peace Corps I did some shopping and a bit later noticed that my watch had stopped at 8:16 that morning.  Which begs the question: what was I doing at 8:16 that caused my watch to stop?  I did some math in my head.   I had arrived at the office at 8:07, and had looked at my watch to make sure that the office was open.  I went in and waited for a few minutes to talk with Jackie.   Then after some small talk I dropped the bomb, officially going past The Point of No Return.  In other words, the watch that Sarah and Dylan gave me as going-to-Samoa present stopped the minute that I told Jackie that I would be leaving Samoa.  Weird, huh?  (Fortunately it only cost me $12 tala to get it fixed.)

 

Headed back to work.  I had two people at my job to tell—my dean and the head of my department.  Since I was giving them a single week notice I understood that they would be pretty pissed at me.   I told my dean and she was disappointed but supportive.   She asked if I was sure that I couldn't stay a few more weeks and I assured her that this was not possible.  She told me that it sounded like a good opportunity and wished me luck.   I walked out of her office feeling like a real fink.

 

The conversation with my department head changed that that feeling very quickly.  She became quite angry and started out by telling me that I could not leave, due to some shadowy non-existent contract that I was bound to.   She told me that if I was to leave she would "write me up to the Peace Corps".  (I told her to go ahead.)  She called me irresponsible and she told me that "they" had not wanted me to come in the first place but had made room for me because I wanted to come.  In other words, she could not have made me more eager to leave the job had she stood up and thrown a rock at me.   If this was her trying to get me to stay, I wondered what she would do to me to try and get me to leave.  Needless to say, I left her office knowing that I made the right choice, and so for this conversation I am thankful.

 

Afterwards, I started to tell the other Peace Corps volunteers.  I decided that I didn't to announce it and rather decided to tell people as it came up.   Now you might think that something like this wouldn't come up very often, but you are wrong.  A friend invited me to dinner the next week: "Sorry, I can't, I'll be in Yemen."  I was asked if I would be able to attend a dance practice Tuesday: "No, I'll be flying to Yemen."  "Hey Tima, what brings you to the office today?"   You get the idea.  Most people thought that I was joking.  The rest thought that I was insane.

 

I did inform the training staff right off, because sometimes they take people who ET (early terminate) a bit personally.   Leata, (the "mom" trainer) was very concerned once she found out where the country was and leaned towards me and warned me that I should be very careful.  "Because, well, there are a lot of, you know, Arabs there," she said in a whisper as if the people in Yemen could hear her.  The look on her face was so serious and terrified that all I could do was burst out laughing, I am ashamed to say.

 

My students were next and I was quite touched that all my classes—including my 184, who I tend to be very mean to—were very sad to see me go.    Wellington made the above comment and Werner asked me why I was going to Yemen to teach English when I couldn't spell.  I told him that he made a good point but that I was still going.   Sick of trying to explain where Yemen was and completely unable to create a hand-drawn map of the Middle East I started to carry a map around with me, and made Yemen the focus of a cheesy PowerPoint presentation (viewable here) to demonstrate creating tutorials for my Human-Interface class.   I've turned into a new celebrity at the school, with all my students whipping out their cameras and snapping pictures of me everywhere I go.  Unfortunately, I gave all my nice clothes to my family, and I am not wearing the new stuff I bought so that it can stay "fresh".  Dressed in the leftover stuff that is destined for the give-away pile, I look pretty shabby.   Plus my hair is in an awkward "teenage" state after a year of growth.  I can't wait to start covering it.

 

My family.  I knew that they would be the hardest to say goodbye to.   I was giving them everything that I was not taking with, from all my clothes (even my Wonder Woman shirt and my glow-in-the-dark XBox Tee, now THAT'S love) to my fire dancing stick to the sponges that I never used.   The Peace Corps was kind enough to drive me to Niusuatia with all my stuff (and my cat, Gigi) to give them everything and say goodbye.  Unfortunately, my family did not have their phone and so there was no way I could warn them.   So Tuesday afternoon Papu and I just drove onto their lawn in a Peace Corps vehicle with all my stuff in the back.  Talosia, my mom, was thrilled because she thought that I was moving in, as I had threatened to do in the past.   I told them no, I am going to Yemen and showed them where it was on the map.  They thought that this was hilarious and asked when I was coming back.   I told them that I wasn't coming back and Talosia got quiet while the kids started happily going through the stuff that I brought.  Then Talosia asked when I was coming back before I left for Yemen.  I told her I wasn't and she demonstrated her understanding of the situation by bursting into tears.   I followed quickly after.  My sister Anne just sat in a chair, shocked and dumbstruck and never said a word.  All I could say was "I'm sorry… I'm sorry."   I felt so terrible, among other things, for causing so much pain.  If there was a time when I would have taken it all back and decided not to leave it was when I saw the look in my sister's eyes as she stood up to say goodbye to me.   This was the hardest goodbye that I have ever said because I wasn't able to express how I felt, and I know that I will probably never see them again.   I mean, they don't even have email.  I am going to write them a letter telling them how much their love meant to me in the time that I was here.

 

I walked to the pastors house to say goodbye to Ruta (who was not expelled from the village after the Easter incident) and she greeted me by saying "Tima! What a surprise!"    I smiled and wiped some leftover tears away (the nice thing about Samoa is that when you cry people just think that you are very hot) and told her, "Well, if you think that THIS is a surprise, just wait…"

 

Just a few more days.  All my bags are packed and I'm SO ready to go!!!  

Yemen!

This Monday I received a contract from the Modern Arabic Language Institute (MALI) in Sanaa, Yemen.  I had interviewed about a week ago, and I didn't want to say anything until I actually saw the paperwork.  Yup, I'm going to Yemen!

I am going to be leaving in less then a week.  My flight leaves early Tuesday morning.  I fly to LA, then (thanks to some help from Andrew, Dylan and Ram) finally found a flight that will take me to Yemen and allow me to fly in at 2 in the morning.  I am going to be teaching English in the capital, Sanaa.  I'm so excited!!!  Working and living in the Middle East has been my dream ever since Palestine, and the more I read about Yemen the more that I think that I am going to love it.

The position includes (in addition to a paycheck) accomadations, arabic lessons and paid travel with visa.  It's a dream come true, I keep waiting to wake up!  And everyone can blame Mrs. Sarah Weed, who was the one who sent me the Transitions Abroad magazine that had the advertisement in it in the first place.  (Thanks, Sarah!)

You can see the websites of where I am going to be working here:
http://www.arabicinyemen.com/
http://www.mali.com.ye/

And here is an article about MALI from the Yemen Times: MALI Takes on the Market

My contract is until December (although it sounds like I can stay).  After that... who knows?!?!?

Woo hoo Yemen!!!!

Password? WTF?

Yes, I have password protected this site.

The reason for this is that I am not allowed to say certain things on a "public" site and by password-protecting it I can talk more freely. Yes the protection that I use is cheesy but I just need to thwart the morons. I have chosen a password that most people who know me should know. If you don't, then you're not reading this so it doesn't matter.

Anyway, now that it's password protected I can say stuff like this:

So I went to call Yemen the other day and was not able to get through. I called the SamoaTel people to ask how to call Yemen. The conversation went like so:

Me: Hello, I was trying to place a call to Yemen last night and couldn't get through.
SamoaTel: What's the country?
Me: Yemen
SamoaTel: Yes, what country is that in?
Me: Yemen. It IS a country.
SamoaTel: No it isn't.
Me: Um, yes it is. The country code is 967.
SamoaTel: 967... OK, wait. After a few minutes. Hey, Yemen IS a real country.
Me: That's right.
SamoaTel: Well, I've never heard of it. Please hold. Put on hold. Hung up on me by mistake. Not very hopeful for the SamoaTel help line. So I call back.
Me: Yes I just called. I am trying to call Yemen, country code 967.
SamoaTel: Oh yeah. Please hold. After a few minutes, comes back. I need to talk to the "boys". Can I call you back in 10 minutes?
Me: Sure.
An hour later...
Me: Hello, I called a while ago, I am trying to call Yemen, country code 967.
SamoaTel: Oh, hello again. I talked to the boys. You can't.
Me: Can't?
SamoaTel: No.
Me: But...
SamoaTel: We're trying to fix it.
Me: So, um, when will I be able to call Yemen?
SamoaTel: I don't know. Maybe sometime soon. Try back next Friday.

Let's hope that a Yemen/Samoa crisis doesn't arrise anytime soon that involves our embassy contacting the embassy there. Anyway, fortunately the guy that I needed to talk to in Yemen was willing to call me and we had a very interesting conversation.

(WHY did I need to call Yemen, you ask? Stay tuned…)

Tsunami!

Class is cancelled today because of a tsunami warning. There was an 8.0 earthquake off Tonga this morning at around 4AM. I didn't feel it, but a lot of other people did. The warning was cancelled about an hour ago, but it takes a while for the machine to start up here in Samoa. They are making an announcement in Samoan over the loudspeakers right now, and I am guessing by the cheers outside that classes aren't going to be resumed any time soon today.

Tonga Earthquake map from USGS

A Fun Activity

So let me tell you about something that happened in Savaii last week.

Two high schools, the Catholic Marist School and the Wesleyan Methodist School were in rugby tournament that the Marist school won. After the game, a rock broke the windshield of the parked Marist school van. This rock was probably thrown by a Wesleyan student, but no one knows for certain.

Because "they started it", the principle of the Marist school, Brother James, took his kids and brought them to a secluded part of the road and told them to get off the bus and gather stones. They waited in ambush for the Wesleyan bus to come around the corner, and the good priest instructed his sheep to start hurling their stones (rocks, really) at the unsuspecting bus.

The driver was hit in the face and veered off the road and hit a tree. A bunch of kids had to be taken to the hospital and the secretary had to be brought to the main island of Uplolu and attend the hospital here after a rock smashed her jaw. One student had a fractured wrist, but everyone was still walking. Oddly, the Samoa Observer article that came out the next day defended the Marist school, pointing out that the Wesleyan school's principal was away and therefore could not control his kids.

Both schools have been shut down and its. You can read about it in the Radio New Zealand article here: A fight with students from a rival college shuts down a school in Samoa

Now for the fun activity! Get your bibles out now!
How many of you can name parts of the Bible which would condone this behavior?
How many can name parts which would condemn it?