Livin' the vida loca...in Yemen

So today I flew to Yemen. Or, rather, two days ago I bid America adieu and embarked for Yemen. My trip was looooong:
-Seattle to JFK – 6 hours +
-6.5 hour layover +
-JFK to Amman, Jordan-11 hours +
-7 hour layover +
-Amman to Yemen- 4.5 hours
___________________________
= far too long

My flights on Royal Jordanian airlines( for a total of 15.5 hours) were surprisingly luxurious. The plane was huge, 8 seats across, and astoundingly spacious and comfortable. We had multiple hot, delicious meals, hot towel service, coffee and tea service throughout, a nice variety of free Jordanian reading material, and duty-free shopping options throughout the duration of the flight.
Then I arrived in Jordan. Once again I was laughed at when I tried to get Yemeni currency(I have subsequently found out that it is illegal to export Yemeni Riyals which greatly explains a lot of the reactions I got when I tried) Wild. In an inexplicable display of Arabic prowess I was able to get through customs, get on a bus to a hotel, get a room for a nap and shower, negotiate a wakeup call, have dinner, and then take a bus back to a different terminal of the airport, get back through customs again, AND find my gate. It was all very whirlwind and exciting! While at the hotel I saw a Yemeni couple, Basaam and Amal, that I recognized from JFK, desperately hoping they spoke English I decided to invite them to have dinner with me. They spoke great English! They were delighted to dine with me! They gave me their phone number and address in Yemen and I’m going to meet up with them later! Great success!

Back at the airport an American guy, Matt, approached me and tentatively inquired if I was going to work for Amideast. Yess! How utterly thrilling to have a compatriot to go through the perils of international travel with. Later we found another guy, Ben who would be working with us as well. Neither of them went to the hotel and had both(separately) sat for 7 hours at the airport, suckers! Ha! I’ve been blatantly rubbing it in for two days now.


When we arrived in Yemen the plane essentially pulled right up to the main entrance of the terminal. I could clearly see it outside my window on the right side of the plane, no more than 150 feet away. They wheeled some stairs up to the side of the plane and upon disembarking we were buffeted by balmy, fragrant winds. Going down the stairwell we were immediately ushered onto a bus. “huh” I thought, “I guess that wasn’t the terminal after all...” Matt and I briefly discussed where we could possibly be going instead but decided to leave our fate up to Allah, when in Yemen…After waiting an excessive amount of time the bus finally pulled away from the plane, and in a move that rivaled even the most outrageous of American laziness PULLED UP TO THE TERMINAL 150 FEET AWAY. It was astoundingly absurd. Matt and I just started cracking up. Okay Yemen, Okay.

This is, quite truly, nothing like what I expected. It was exceedingly difficult to prepare for a trip like this- there is shockingly little written material on life in Yemen. Most of the info I got was from googling things like: Yemen+ food+ can I wear t-shirts? Or from stalking peoples internet blogs and then inundating them with questions via email. Soo.. not particularly helpful.

My apartment is right on the Amideast compound which is extremely convenient. It is a small, upper level apartment that I’m sharing with another new teacher, Katherine(South African!) we have a small dining area, bathroom(no hot water!) and kitchen. As I was prowling around last night I found a secret hidden door in the kitchen that REVEALED A HUGE TERRACE!( I’ve been rubbing in the fact that I have a terrace to the boys to no end. They are PISSED that they don’t have one, that I keep mentioning it every five minutes, and that I refer to it as a terrace not a balcony or porch) I’m going to get some plants and another chair or two and have a magical oasis of my very own!