Crater Palace Hotel Aden

... in a traffic lane off the Yemen coast, heading for the Bab el Mandeb* so there are several ships in sight. We seem to be going slightly faster than a similar container ship over to starboard, so perhaps the Captain's tactic is to have that as a decoy (like the old joke, we don't need to go faster than the pirates, just faster than a slightly more convenient ship at hand ...

... parked the boat. We gathered up our stuff and admittedly dilly dallied around a bit too long. We leisurely walked over to our parked boat and as we approached, we realized that the guys were struggling to keep the boat from getting stuck in the sand. The waves were crashing over the side of the boat and filling up the inside with water. This boat was pretty big, not just a little motor boat, so this was definitely a problem. In ...

... decided that since we were foreigners we must have an armed escort follow us the entire way. Although there has been no trouble around here lately the government has decided not to take any chances. The old part of Aden was build withing the crater of an extinct volcano and by climbing the surrounding cliffs you can get a wonderful view of the city below. One interesting place I visited here was an old, ruined Tower of ...

... so that you don't flood the bathroom. After you have drained the water, you transfer your clothes to the spinner to wring them out. You run the spinner for three minutes and then you do the process all over again 2 more times(wash, drain, spin). You can imagine how gratifying it is to have a finished product!!

... included a few so that you can get an idea of what Aden looks like. Also, this time we left in the morning, so we were able to stay on the beach for most of the day and read, lay out, swim, play Frisbee, and paddle around in an inner tube that one of the other teachers brought. It was great fun. <br><br>Then on Friday, we had an appointment for an Arabic lesson at the Islamic Center here in town. Another Canadian Muslim teacher studies there and he arranged for us to ...

... coming in half-way through and when that happened, everyone would cover up. It was still an all-female event, but you have no idea how just two stupid men can ruin a whole party! When the time came for the groom to enter, they made an announcement, the dancing stopped, and every single woman wearing a colorful revealing dress rushed to throw on her abaya, her veil, and in many cases, her nikab. The room turned from colorful and sparkly to black. My ...

... in for my flight and the attendant said "we don't have you in the computer. You have to pay $500 to get on the plane", I mostly was thinking "Oh...well, at least I have my passport". But then the realization set in that I would have to spent the night in Frankfurt, arrive late for orientation, etc., so I frantically rushed around and bought a phone card to call my director. With the clock steadily ticking away before the plane took off, I tried over and over again ...

... avaient mal aux yeux, ça les change des tchadors!!! Le summum est quand il y a eu une danseuse style danse du ventre. Ils avaient la langue qui touchait par terre!!! Il y avait un client, un gros poussah du style Arabie Saoudite, qui s'approche du chanteur et qui jette des billets en l'air en faisant des grands gestes, genre je me la pète. Mouais, bof!! Ca fait j'ai plein de pognon et je l'étale. A Aden, je me suis baladé dans un souk assez loin ...

... y a eu une queue de poisson et que c'est juste ça. Le bédouin veut rentrer dans le 4*4. Le chauffeur l'empêche en le prenant à la gorge pour l'étrangler. Les autres remuent leurs armes. Là, tu vois le traducteur sortir de la bagnole et venir se protéger derrière nos 4*4. Pendant ce temps un autre bédouin veut monter dans la bagnole. Le chauffeur fait mine de sortir le pistolet à sa ceinture. Tout s'est passé en 3 minutes. Les flics débarquent ...

... dumped our bags at a hotel then headed for our most-anticipated destination: 'The Sailors Club'. Though in England such a name would be the exclusive domain of the country's gay-bar districts, The Sailors Club was a most heterosexual affair, not to mention delightfully tacky and a touch seedy. It was actually a beautiful location, right on the sea shore with the waves lapping up against the balcony upon which we sat. It was mostly open-air, with just the bar and the ...