arrival

20 December. 08

I got to the school at 1 am Yemen time, instead of 6:30 because of flight delays and, of course, my suitcase did not come. So I am the female of no clothes and no books and no electronic adapters.

This, after 19 hours without sleep, was a bit much last night. It took me forever to fall asleep - 2:30 or 3:00? There's no heat and it gets very cold at night so I slept with my coat on. At 5 am the call to prayer began. It was quite a thing. competing prayer calls, timed gun shots. I wish I had brought my tape recorder. It is other-worldly.

Just woke up. I have a lovely roommate named Amelie from France who is here for 8 months to learn arabic. Her parents are visiting right now for the Christmas holiday. She is very friendly and has been generous. Right now I am sipping on Amelie-made coffee and eating a coconut macaroon that she gave me. Apparently Yemeni coffee is frightening, she says. She mostly subsists on instant Nescafe and goodies from France.

The people, so far, have been amazing. I have already made friends with a family who lives near the language school and with a young guy who goes to Cornell who is visiting his Yemeni dad over the break. The school folks, those I met at 1 am when I came in are also very very nice and welcoming. So far at the school I have only met men. Men here are tiny - smaller than me - and the older ones have terrible teeth from qat chewing. I will try to take some photos of Yemeni fashion to send when my power source arrives. The women on the streets are mostly entirely covered: long black gown, heads covered and a little black piece of gauzey fabric for their face below the eyes. Amelie is loaning me a black dress thing that I'll wear with my scarf. No one thought anything of my head being uncovered last night.

The school began twenty years ago and has expanded in the past few years. The picture above is of the street on which my dorm is located. The building directly ahead is a private home (if you can see the posters, they are of Ali Saleh Yemen's president, from the presidential election last year; he won with over 70% of the vote; he's been president for over 30 years). The school buildings on this street are the tall buildings to the right, in shadow. The mud wall in the foreground separates out another private home. The men's clothes are traditional, common Yemeni garb.