Hello from Yemen
Trip Start
Jan 10, 2007
1
19
72
Trip End
Jul 03, 2007
Sanaa,
Yemen
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Not wishing to disturb my roomate, I staggered into our shared bathroom, whispering into the receiver. It was my taxi calling, "Hello, I pick you up at 6:00?"
"Seven o'clock. SEVEN. In the morning."
That silly incident ruined the meager amount of sleep I was trying to catch before my journey. I went back to bed, and laid awake cursing my flight schedule.
I was flying on Air Arabia, the region's discount airline (200 USD for a roundtrip ticket?!). There is a fixed schedule linking all major cities, which leads me to wonder: Is there only one plane? That's why I had to catch a taxi to the neighboring Emirate at seven in the morning, and why I have to skip three days of school just to visit my friend Kim for the weekend. The plane only flies Tuesdays/Saturdays. Hope the it never goes down...the entire fleet will be lost!
The cab driver then charged me 10 dirhams more than we had earlier agreed--but it was too early in the morning for me to throw a tantrum so I just handed over the cash. Ah, they always strike when you are most vulnerable.
The flight itself--on that lucky airplane!--was actually the nicest flight I've ever had. I put on my hijab in the bathroom (defering to the more conservative local culture). The woman sitting next to me took notice.
"In these clothes, you are beautiful," she assured me, which is a pleasant change from the attitude in Dubai. She then shared her fruit cup and Fanta with me, and I shared my package of dates in return. I take one step out of Dubai, and the world regains it's sanity.
The plane suddenly went into a nosedive, and we landed. (Ooops,almost missed the landing strip! Thud.)
In Sanaa, I was lucky...an American woman who knew what she was doing took me under her wing and helped me cross customs. And they only charged me 30 dollars for my entry visa, which is half of what I was told (karma compensates Liz for the rip-off taxi ride). Yes. The world has regained its sanity in Sana'a (its "sana'aty").
So, today I hung around with my friend Kim and her roomate Alex, who are here studying the Arabic language. She took me around town in a taxi, and different buses (which are more accurately labled "mini-vans"--and I do mean "mini"). We also tried running around the block tonight--our mistake. Between Kim's cold, her roomate's stomachache, and my asthma...we made a pretty pathetic running team.
I forget I'm "disabled" sometimes. Not to mention that Sanaa is located 8000-9000 feet above sea level so I was already short of breath.
Well, if I manage not to kill myself here...then I will update this blog!
