New Adventure

The start of a new adventure has begun.  I am currently on a layover headed to my new destination of China!  I am headed back to the Far East for another teaching position.  A new position in a country that is about 9.6 millions square kilometers big but with only one time zone.  A country that has fertile lowlands along the coast located in the tropics but then a northern area usually dipping below freezing in the Winter.  A vast desert is located to the Western side of the country along with grasslands close to the Mongolian border.  Of course you can't forget about the various mountains (Himalayas isn't the only mountain range) and rivers (biggest 1900 km long) that stretches throughout the country.  Let's keep it simple and say it is a very diverse country with many different places to visit.  

The city that I will be living in is called Jining and is located in Shandong providence.  According to the highly reputable source of Wikipedia the population in 2010 was around eight million people. The funny part about this population is that my new boss says the town is considered a "small town."  I guess once you take into consideration that China is the most populated country in the world (around 1.3 billion in 2013) its not to hard to think about.  This city is known for its coal mining and being a key spot for the spread of Confucianism.  This is because Confucius was born just up the road from my city in a city called Qufu.  

I will be teaching at a private school for students of all ages.  Some people know these schools as "cram schools" which is essentially school all the time.  For the students In Asia school is very competitive and to not be going to classes at least six days a week or fifteen hours a day during the weekdays then you will not be a good student.  It is a different perspective then what most people are familiar with in the United States but they have been educating their people a lot longer.

The standard language is known as Mandarin Chinese.  Right now I know about three phrases.  Not knowing a language has never stopped me from visiting or moving to a country and this time around I have a great opportunity to learn the language.  Part of my contract includes 12 hours of one-on-one lessons a week.  Living for an extended period of time in a place I always pick up what I call “survival” language but in China I hope to get beyond that level of language.  It won’t be an easy language to learn but I will share how it is coming along once I start.

So that is a quick overview of my new destination.  Ahead of me I have about fourteen hours on two different planes in order to reach my city.  I am excited and can't wait to get there. Once figuring out how to circumnavigate the "Great Wall of China" (censorship and blocking of websites) I will write some more and go into more details and what it is like in China.  I will write later.           

Ma'a salama Yemen

As most people have realized now I am no longer in Yemen.  My time there was cut short because of political problems.  A quick little synopsis for people who are curious about what happened in Yemen.  There is this political/ militant group known as “Houthis” who for many years have been battling the government.  This group has had many wars with the government and its allies but for the most part these wars took place in the North part of Yemen.  Well not too long ago the government cut the countries fuel subsidies and this didn’t go over well with the people.  The Houthis decided to march down south to the capital and try and get public support in order to get control of the government.  So my western friends along with me did leave Yemen while the Houthis had the city surrounded. For them to bring the battle to the capital was going to be the big issue and we weren’t sure what was going to happen next.  Plus a couple days before we left it did start getting bloody and real close to where we lived. It is a good thing we left when we did because the Houthis did eventually take control of the airport and went into the capital fighting (since writing this they have taken the capital and started moving south controlling different cities along the way).  With Yemen being the hot bed that it is there are multiple scenarios and things that might happen in the future.  I could write many posts on the political along with tribal situation in Yemen but I won’t do that.  Instead I will share some stories of Yemen from on the ground and among the average citizen in Yemen.

I was in Yemen for about four months and in that time I was able to see a lot of the capital.  Sana'a is a very old city that has a rich history and along with that some amazing sites.  On multiple occasions I was in the “Old City” which is a very unique place.  This spot has very narrow streets and the building themselves are very old with some neat architecture.  Down in the “Old City” is a traditional ‘souk’ (open air market) and so walking through people are yelling what they are selling and trying to get customers to buy their products.  Plus while walking through it’s not uncommon to have donkeys walking through or a motorbike to come speeding by taking someone somewhere.  A pretty funny contrast but at the same time understandable. Being able to speak the local language of Arabic was a great benefit because striking a conversation anywhere was easy but in the Old City was pretty fun.  Majority of the people were curious why I was even in Yemen and what I thought of the place.  Plus walking through hearing how the salesman would try and get people to buy things was pretty neat.

One memorable spot near the Old City was this little tea shop. This tea shop only had one type of tea ‘shae ma haleeb’ (tea with milk) and of course only one size.  I would have to say it was the best tea I have had in a long time.  It simply was this older man who made the tea one cup at a time and he is the only one who has his recipe.  Sometimes the wait was a while but it didn’t matter and everyone would wait for their tea because it was that good.  Plus the view from outside his shop was pretty neat watching all the cars drive through the silo with the old buildings in the background. I was outside that little shop on multiple occasions and it was a real neat environment. 

I would have to say the best part about being in Yemen was interacting with the everyday Yemenis. Words can't describe how generous and willing to help these people are.  Some people barely had enough food to feed their own families but they were still willing to give it to me and have me over as a guest. Even with the fact that they are the poorest country in the Middle East it didn't matter. It is hard to portray an accurate description through words but it is something that I will never forget.

Before finishing with some pictures just a little note.  It has been a while since I have posted and even longer to include pictures.  This isn't because I had forgotten but another reason altogether. Freedom of speech isn't in every country around the world and some places I have to be careful of what and when I do say it.  Plus I think more importantly for safety on my part.  I have been and lived in places where kidnapping a foreigner such as myself would be beneficial in multiple ways.  Of course I am always aware of my surroundings but having pictures of areas where I am located open to the public isn't the smartest.  I am still going to be travelling and will continue to be posting about my next location.  For now here are some photos from Yemen.  I will write later.  

Weekend trip out of Sana'a to Manakha 

Water silo but mainly used by cars because not much rain

Breaking of fast during Ramadan (Muslim holy month)

Dar al Hajar