TravelStream™ news feed for member burgaska on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/burgaska en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 24 Aug 2007 05:37:12 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/indonesia_07/1187948040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/indonesia_07/1187948040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/indonesia_07/1187948040/tpod.html Fri, 24 Aug 2007 05:37:12 -0400 Jakarta, Palembang and Sekayu.

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Jakarta, Indonesia

Made it!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1172660880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1172660880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1172660880/tpod.html Wed, 28 Feb 2007 06:12:56 -0500 Study in Yemen.

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Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

So for those of you who have been following my blog and perhaps have wondered where I have been for the past, oh, 5 weeks or so, I am currently in Abu Dhabi, UAE. I arrived here 4 days ago to attend a student conference, Education Without Borders 2007 which pooled together over 800 students from over 100 countries to discuss international issues plaguing mainly the developing world such as access to education, response to natural disasters, and poverty. More remarks on the conference to come...

I depart from the lovely city of Abu Dhabi in 2 hours to enter the hellish chaos that is Dubai. Abu Dhabi is manageable, calm and actually receives a nice onshore breeze, even in the heart of downtown. Birds song is audible, not muted by the cacophony of car horns. It would be delightful to remain in Abu Dhabi for a few days, but alas, I must return to Dubai for work and to see friends...

on ward to Dubai!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1170446640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1170446640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1170446640/tpod.html Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:40:05 -0500 Study in Yemen.

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Sana'a, Yemen

The title of my entry explains it all. My life in Yemen the past 3 weeks has been quite fulfilling and I really didn't feel up to writing anything on my blog. My apologies!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1170448260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1170448260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1170448260/tpod.html Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:36:12 -0500 Study in Yemen.

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Sana'a, Yemen

People here question if he is a martyr; many believe he is but explain that all is in the hands of God, for He is the only one who truly knows. Regardless of the skepticism, piles of posters of the martyr are for sale nearly every 100 feet throughout the old city where Saleh presidential posters once lay. As I sift through the pictorial options, the seller, a boy who looks roughly 8 years in age and clearly should be in school, tugs on my abaya, points to his collection, and proudly states "Saddam." The posters vary in quality, pixels, scenery and graphic layout. This one shows him in the countryside. This one he is pointing his finger towards the sky, mid-shout. This one he is holding a crying child whom he is kissing.

All say "martyr" in bold script.

And before Saleh, Nasrallah probably found a home with these vendors. The ratio of Saleh to martyr posters is not even, though an increase in vendors of the past 3 weeks has accordingly produced an increase in martyr posters covering city walls, motorbikes, and bus windows.

When I returned to Yemen, shortly after Eid Adha (the Muslim holiday just before the Islamic New Year) I tried to refrain from asking people about their eid. To some, Eid this year was just the same as last - a break from work, time spent with family and time to worship. To others, Eid Adha marks the time of the execution of a martyr.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1170361440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1170361440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1170361440/tpod.html Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:26:27 -0500 Study in Yemen.

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Sana'a, Yemen

The dark grey sky opened its gates today, rain pouring forth on the city of Sanaa below as children skipped over puddles and men raced for cover. To onlookers, my actions might have resembled that of a mental patient escapee (though such things as psychological disorders and thusly psych wards do not exist in this country). My face posed towards the source with my arms akimbo, I strolled slowly on my way home taking in every moment of this glory. Each drop that landed on my face slightly widened my grin. The normal cracking dryness of the air became moist with the steamy scent of rain - unusual for Sanaa but in my case, very much welcomed.

Once, during class, my teacher asked me to translate the sentence "I am scared of the rain." A student in the class inquired as to why you would be afraid. My teacher explained that rains many times bring floods. This said in a country with X number of days of sunshine a year. Then again, Australians may similarly tilt their heads in awe towards somebody like me who fears snakes in an area where few snakes inhabit. To each their own.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1168719360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1168719360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1168719360/tpod.html Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:20:34 -0500 Study in Yemen.

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Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Layover in Sharjah
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1167611520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1167611520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1167611520/tpod.html Sun, 31 Dec 2006 19:41:02 -0500 Study in Yemen.

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Cincinnati, United States

Thanks to another grant awarded by the Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati, I will be returning to Yemen early January to continue studying Arabic. I need to graduate soon, me thinks...
meh.
onward ho. to yemen!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1167610740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1167610740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1167610740/tpod.html Sun, 31 Dec 2006 19:29:14 -0500 Study in Yemen.

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Cincinnati, United States

According to Reuters, Saddam Hussein's daughter Raghad asked the Yemeni government to allow for Saddam's body to be buried within its borders until the occupation of Iraq has come to an end, at which point Saddam's body would be returned to Iraq. The Yemeni government did not respond to her request. Since the time of this request, reported yesterday, Saddam's body has been buried along side his sons Uday and Qusay in his hometown of Tikrit.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1166504040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1166504040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1166504040/tpod.html Tue, 19 Dec 2006 01:01:44 -0500 Study in Yemen.

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Toledo, United States

While in Toledo, I tend to spend my days performing tasks which normally do not occupy a large portion of my time outside of the bubble that is t-town. This amounts to me turning in at an hour that only those who watch the Lawrence Welk show while enjoying a prune milkshake go to sleep at, just after saying to their significant other "Oh Bessy. I am just utterly exhausted. Sweet cheeks, would you remind me in the morning to take my crazy pills?"

That time is around 9:35 p.m.

My days consist of feeding my unhealthy obsession with CSPAN and its spawned, and equally as cherished, child CSPAN 2 (oh how I love thee), drawing intricate cards and create a cacophony of frustrations mid-card design remembering the tediousness and the close proximity of a Hallmark store, solving/attempting to solve logic puzzles with Paul, and signing my soul away in the endless completing of scholarship, grant and graduate program applications. The occasional skip on the treadmill or flop of my feet on the stationary bicycle in my basement is used less to maintain a healthy lifestyle physically, but more of a mental divergence. Christ almighty I need this sometimes.

And so on to that which I really want to discuss... (Most likely half of the readers have long since exited this page to browse fark, kabobfest, or the like. While other sites provide information in a streamlined, upfront fashion, I strive to entertain and subsist off of verbosity.)

The U.S. Army just 4 days ago released a revision to the doctrine of counterinsurgency. Its a grand 282 pages (and you think I am verbose...) and you can obtain this document at http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24.pdf

Counterinsurgency, in theory, only refers to military action against combatants; however, in practice this of course does not hold true. The updated doctrine states, in its Foreword that "Soldiers and Marines are expected to be nation builders as well as warriors. They must be prepared to help reestablish institutions and local security forces and assist in rebuilding infrastructure and basic services. They must be able to facilitate establishing local governance and the rule of law. The list of such tasks is long; performing them involves extensive coordination and cooperation with many intergovernmental, host-nation, and international agencies." I am curious to see if all this is covered in depth within this report or perhaps this is a pipe dream as to what soldiers should strive to be?

This statement struck me as odd: "It is our hope that this manual provides the guidelines
needed to succeed in operations that are exceedingly difficult and complex. Our Soldiers and Marines deserve nothing less." No mention that civilians perhaps more so deserve such attention, as if the ideas that are within this manual are completely theoretical.

Upon further reading of this document, I will most likely write more. Or maybe something else on CSPAN will strike my fancy in the mean time.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1161631080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1161631080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/burgaska/yemen/1161631080/tpod.html Mon, 11 Dec 2006 07:50:27 -0500 Study in Yemen.

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Sana'a, Yemen

It looks as though I am staying in Yemen. Actually, it doesn't look as though I am...I am. My original departure date has passed and, well, I am still here. There is something about Yemen - a lot of things - that are keeping me here. Sure, life here is different and very difficult at times, especially when you have a cold and the last thing you want to do is tie a piece of cloth around you head that pushes against your throat triggering your gag reflex.

And on nights like this when you spend hour upon hour sitting, lying, sprawling out on the carpeted floor of the mafraje (roof-top lounge) with three of your close friends discussing everything from marriage to Jay-Z following iftar with a mound of qat in your cheek, you begin to feel that this is home.

I look back on my first night in Sana'a in awe. I have never had culture shock before...not in Japan, UAE, Turkey, Oman...never until I arrived in this foreign land o' Yemen. Describing my culture shock is difficult because I cannot pinpoint what affected me so greatly. The layout of the old city? (grid city planning has forever made me fearful of curves, "chaos," and streets that end without being forewarned) The status of women? The lack of food available during the day during Ramadan? The call for prayer that woke me up at 5:00 in the morning consistently for a week? Not knowing the local language? The lack of water/proper plumbing/mattress/electricity at times and other things I take for granted? Getting sick the 2nd day here? But alas, this has long since passed and I am now in love with Yemen.

Somehow I, of all people, have turned the children who hang out by the hotel into very violent little buggers. I can no longer leave the hotel without my arm being twisted behind my back or without being challenged to arm wrestle. Seeing a woman in hijab and abaya being pulled in every direction by Yemeni children wielding a toy gun in their other hand (imagine what pain I would be in if children here were not obsessed with plastic Kalashnikovs), must be a strange sight to see for the neighbors in the area. I am corrupting children without barely speaking their language. Scary or skill?

And so the electricity just shut off...my cue to conclude. Cheers!
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