The first weekend

(It's long, I'm sorry, I really am)
As a special Happy Weekend! present, on Thursday morning all the students staying for over one month walked over to the Yemeni Health Laboratories for the HIV test required in order to obtain a residency visa. It was definitely not the hospital of a developed country but the needle was opened in front of me by the female doctor (female for the girls, male for the boys - we were separated by curtains even though all we were exposing was our arm). No bandaids for the boys either - tough love. My 'non reactive' results back today and hooray! I can stay in Yemen.
Also on Thursday was my first trip to the Shumaila Hari - the supermarket. Six of us piled into a dabub and headed to Hadda Street about 15 minutes away. The Shumaila Hari is two stories, but only a quarter of this is actually food. The upstairs has clothes only (although a guy at the gym told me that he bought his shirt, which has an angry gorilla on it and says "Unleash the Beast" - tempting) and half of the downstairs is appliances, etc. Most interesting is the cheese section and fruits and vegetable section, both of which are filled with a variety of foods that I have never seen before. Yemen is also well known for its honey, and there is a section of the food area devoted to the 15 or so different varieties of honey, which you order and they ladle into a glass jar. There are also armed security guards at the door, but a Baskin Robbins stand outside - that balances out right?
Overall, the military presence in Sana'a is very evident. Outside of every Parliament building and Government owned building there are at least two guards. Since there are 3 of these buildings in my neighborhood, the soldiers are hard to miss. Which I don't think I could ever do anyway, due to their incredible uniforms. There's the regular camouflage of course, but then there is also a bright purple camouflage, as well as a bright orange camouflage. The purple isn't bad, but the only place I can see the orange working is at Laser Tag.
13 June (Friday the 13th, actually) was my first excursion out of Sana'a and into the surrounding countryside, and it was amazing. We left at nine in the morning from the Markez and headed off in a bus with 14 students, 8 Yemeni staff from the Markez who spoke enough English to say "Everyone here?", but that was about it, and one absolutely insane driver. I have realized by now how much Yemenis love their car horns, but this man would be completely alone on a country road and honk his horn. Our first stop out of the city was Wadi Dahar, a Yemeni "Scenic Overlook" over a fertile valley that contains the Dar al-Hajjar, the imam's rock palace.
While I did get a picture with a falcon on my shoulder, I didn't realize that, when a man comes and puts a falcon on your shoulder without you asking, you still have to pay. Whoops.
Our next stop was Thula, a city on the UNESCO tentative list for inclusion as a World Heritage site, which it should be, as it was first settled in the 2nd century, and is the best preserved fortified town in Yemen. It is at the top of a hill and surrounded by a thick stone wall about 10 meters high, with four baabs, or gates, that were opened during the day.
The town was full of houses several stories high made of mud bricks and stones, and has several cisterns within the walls. It withstood several invasions by both the Egyptians and the Ottomans. It has become a tourist attraction, which means that there are small children everywhere either trying to sell you things on the spot or drag you to their parents' antiques shop. The view of the surrounding countryside was incredible. Most of the farming here is done with terraces built into the sides of the hills.
We left Thula and headed to Shibam for lunch at a hotel. We ate in a mafraj, which literally means 'room with a view' with couches on the floor and low tables. Everyone had to take their shoes off in the hall way, and the other rooms around ours were segregated into men and women.
I have never seen so much food. Johanne from Germany, Tina from Thailand, and I personally saw that an entire pan of honey cake did not go to waste. After lunch and tea, we rolled ourselves back into the bus and headed 350 meters practically straight up a mountain to the village of Kawkaban. There were several points at which I was convinced the driver was going to lose it and we would start rolling backwards. Kawkaban is a village on top of a mesa-like formation, 350 m almost directly above Shibam, at 2800 m above sea level. In times of war, the villagers of Shibam would flee up vertical (more or less) path up the cliffs to Kawkaban and take refuge within its 20 m high stone walls. There is only one door into Kawkaban, and it is still locked every night. Throughout its history, the town withstood invasions up until the invention of air power in the mid-1960s, when it was holding out against the revolution.
In both Shibam and Kawkaban, the prime attractions were the antique shops. Small children were constantly following us around, either asking for money to buy soccer balls or for pens. The main highlight of Kawkaban was the incredible view.
We also hiked down the cliffs to Shibam, but as amazing as the view was, my attention was primarily focused on the ground so as not to fall.
We finished the hike down the mountain in about an hour and headed back to Sana'a. On the way back (as well as the way out) we encountered several military checkpoints checking all cars on the roads. Nothing like the sobriety checkpoints in the states, these had armed tanks sitting in the crossroads. Overall it was a great trip, I know the pictures don't do any of these places justice, but enjoy them anyway!
Saturday signified the end of the weekend (weird, right?) so we had class all morning. But on the way home from lunch, I was accosted by a bevy of small children who had been playing soccer near the Markez and had let me try for a goal. The oldest, Ahmed, demanded that I come and play soccer with them later that day. I went to the gym first, and on my way home found myself in the most ridiculous dabub in the world, and I wish I had had my camera, because I'm not quite sure I am going to be able to do it justice. First of all, the inside of the dabub was unlike any of the others, which are covered in a cheap vinyl. The inside of this dabub was plush red velour. With Celine Dion on high volume. A giant stuffed heart with flowers around it was dangling by my ear. The normal white light had been removed and red mood lights were in place for the nighttime riders. And last but not least was the sticker on the window that said, in english, with giant red lips - "Kees Me!". The dabub was looking pimped out, until the driver turned around to collect his fare with a cheek that looked like it contained a softball. Incredibly unattractive.
Anyway, I arrived back in my neighborhood, walked through a small door into a courtyard to play soccer. Ahmed, Abu Bakr, Ibrahim, and Zait were waiting for me. Their ages range from about 6 to 9, Ibrahim and Zait are brothers, the courtyard has a mound of wooden chairs in the middle, and they all call me 'cat-ie'. A recipe for a great time. I was playing in my baltu and hijab (HOT AS AN OVAN) which meant that I could hide the ball under my baltu when no one was looking. Since the courtyard was small we played mostly keep away with no teams until Ibrahim kicked the ball through my legs. Then there was a new game - kick the ball through cat-ie's legs. Ahmed's mother came out to meet me, as well as the aunt of Ibrahim and Zait, who speaks about as much english as I speak Arabic. This was my first experience seeing women here without the full Yemeni garb. Because they were in a private home, both women were dressed in tee-shirts and jeans. I left after45 minutes for dinner, completely winded, and having promised several times to come back.
I can't believe how nice the people here are. Between my new friends next door and Mohammed and Ali (who we went and visited again) and my new friends at the gym, everyone is very open and everyone who knows I am here to study Arabic forces me to speak to them in Arabic, although a lot of them like to practice their english on me.
I've already started planning some pretty cool trips with friends here at the Markez, so not only will I hopefully have some good stories but I will have some awesome pictures.