Local Surroundings

It has been a little over two weeks since making it to Yemen.  Majority of that time has been spent at work getting used to the new curriculum and simply how the school runs.  I will write about work another time but instead will give a little layout of where I am in Yemen.  

I am in the capital of Sana’a.  Sana’a itself is a pretty big city and there is a lot to see.  I live on the edge of the Old City, which is one of the main places to visit in Sana’a.  It is an area with very old architecture and a souk (open air market) that stretches on for a long time.  Since it is an old city there wasn’t much thought in urban planning when building and so the Old City, especially in the souk is a big maze where the roads curve all over the place.  I have been in the Old City on a couple different occasions.  One time we were on a roof of a café and so it was a nice view.  One of the gates of the Old City is about a five minute walk in one direction while in another direction it is a five minute walk to work.

On the way to work there are quite a few little shops, vegetable stands, and a bakery.  That is where I have been doing most of my shopping for food and any home accessory.  The locals along the street are real nice and they do know where I live and work.  This is because the college also does host Arabic students and so they are used to seeing foreigners walking along this particular street to school.  Plus the President of the school does know everyone along this street and so the first time meeting people, they usually ask if I am a part of his school.

Besides around the school I have also ventured out to an area known as Ha’ada.  It is about a fifteen to twenty minute taxi ride depending on traffic.  This seems to be a little bit newer than where I am living and has more restaurant options.  I have been out in Ha’ada for lunch and dinner a couple of times with some of my co-workers on different occasions.

Besides the Old CIty and Ha'ada, I have been out walking around.  I don't know exact names of the areas but simply out seeing a little bit of my surroundings.  Obviously there is more to explore but those are the areas I have seen so far.  Tomorrow is the start of a new week.  The work week here runs from Sunday through Thursday with Friday and Saturday being the weekend.  Off to cook some dinner.  I will write later.  

Layover in Dubai

Before making it to Yemen I had two different layovers.  One of these layovers was in China while the other one was in Dubai.  Layover in China was only about one hour so simply enough time to make it to the next gate, but the layover in Dubai was about thirteen hours.  I landed in Dubai about midnight and after making it through customs and out of the airport it was close to one-thirty in the morning.  I made it to a hotel and then slept for a few hours.  After sleeping I had about six hours before my plane left.

I knew I would not have much time so I wanted to mainly see the Burj Khalifa and the gold souk.  The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world currently.  You need to be extremely rich in order to live in the tower and even restaurants are pretty expensive.  So I simply went by it and saw it from a distance.  It was pretty tall but there were other tall building close by and so it took away from the grandeur of the building.

 

Next I ended up out at these man made islands that are where a lot of the resorts are in Dubai.  The hotel that I stayed at the night before offered a ride into town and so that is why I ended up seeing Burj Khalifa simply driving by and then the shuttle went out to these islands.  The man made islands were an interesting thing to see but I wanted to get to the gold souk area and so I didn’t see much of them. 

‘Souk’ is the Arabic word for market.  After catching a ride over to the souk I walked around and saw a lot of gold and silver jewelry.  That particular day the price of gold was pretty high compared to the previous days according to the taxi driver.

Before heading to the airport I spent the last hour looking for an internet café or somewhere to print a colored paper.  My visa for Yemen was sent to me via e-mail and so I needed a color copy in order to present immigration when landing.  Coming from Korea there are pc cafes all over the place where they usually are playing computer games.  I didn’t think it would be that hard to find a place to print but I was mistaken and in fact there aren’t that many in Dubai.  A taxi driver said it was because wi-fi is available almost all over and so there isn’t really a need for them.

 

It was a very short trip to Dubai but I am really glad that was not my first introduction to the Middle East.  Everyone spoke English and every single sign has both Arabic and English.  I know that Dubai is a famous tourist destination and so that is how they make a lot of their money but it didn’t seem like I was in the Middle East. 

  

Tomorrow is the first day of work here in Yemen.  May 1^st was a holiday and Friday and Saturday are the weekends here in Yemen.  So simply have been resting up and doing a little bit of exploring.  I will write later.