Month: July 2008

Categories
Arabic teaching

Now I’m confused…

I was chatting with someone I had met online (a brother of a friend from college) and he asked a question that has made my head spin. He has taught English in a variety of places so I was picking his brain about that. Out of the blue, he asked me if i had ever considered the Peace Corps. I admitted that I hadn’t, and we went on…

Afterwards, I couldn’t shake the implicit question about joining. It has some appeal, but there are some things that don’t. If I joined it, it would be another opportunity to live in a different culture, and everyone says that it is a great experience. On the other hand, it would be another 2 years of being poor…

They have positions in Morocco and Jordan. Those are the only places they work in where my language could possibly be of any use. It probably wouldn’t help much in Morocco though… If I went to either, I could continue my Arabic studies with no problem (which I could see being attractive again in the future). On the other hand, it might be a good thing to go someplace totally different. I dunno…

There’s always the option of just getting some certification and teaching for pay of course, but with the Peace Corp there is always the potential to do more.

At this point, I have a lot I want to accomplish (like being able to walk a couple of miles again) before I even consider anything like that. Still, I’ll be wondering about it…

Categories
odds and ends photography

My progress

I haven’t written much of the book I’m supposedly working on. I knew that was going to be a problem, and here it is. It’s mostly an issue of finding the right way to present the information, nothing seems quite right… I’m not sure if I should write a narrative or simply present situations. I’m also not so sure about first or third person… Anyway, I’ll figure it out and things will go more smoothly Inshalla…

I am making some progress on the physical front. As you may or may not know, I came back here a physical mess. I could hardly walk 100 yards without weaving all over the place. I still don’t know what lead to my rapid deterioration in that regard, but I think I’m getting better. My muscles were just weak in general. That’s all getting better with some targeted exercises. I bought one of those wheels for doing core exercises. Gawd, that thing is brutal. My shoulders, abs, chest, and back are feeling it right about now.

I’ve also managed to get my digestive things under control as well… I think. I’m now taking some probiotics and they seems to have taken care of the GI issues. It’s nice to be able to eat again and not worry about the results…

So things are improving, slowly… I even have a job! It’s a short term thing, but it should be good. I am scanning about 2500 old negatives, hopefully it’ll go quicker than I think it will… Things are looking up!

Categories
Culture politics Yemen

The fighting is over!

The president of Yemen has announced that the long standing fighting in the north has ended. Woo hoo! Now I can go back! Just kidding of course. I was talking with a friend of mine that I met in Yemen last night. I asked Dana if she missed Yemen. She said, “I did for a little while, but then I got over it. No really, I’m really over it…” I don’t think I’m there yet, but I can see that day approaching.

UPDATE

There is now a new press release (here) that says a couple of hours after the president made his declaration, the rebels seized a village where there has been sporadic fighting. I doubt that there will ever be a “neat” victory on either side, that part of the world doesn’t lend itself to that…

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Categories
Culture Yemen

I’ve decided…

I’m going to write a book about my time in Yemen. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, hell, I think that every westerner that goes there thinks about it. With a few encouraging words from members of my family I’ve decided to give it a go.

Now’s a good time to do this since there’s not really anything else to take up my time. The thing that has been holding me back is myself of course. Writing something as long as a book is an intimidating prospect. I’ve never tried anything this long before, of course I had never been that far out of the US before I went to Yemen, so what the hell. The only way I’ll know if I can do it is to start writing. Who knows what will become of this project. If nothing else, I hope that this will help me sort out what I learned over there. I’ve often approached creative works in the context of puzzle solving. I’ve found that taking pictures, sketching, and writing have helped me understand things better. Here’s hoping that this will do that as well.

Hey, it’ll keep me off the streets for a while:-)

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Categories
Culture teaching travel Yemen

Schools in Pakistan

I just finished reading a book called “Three Cups of Tea.” It’s about an American man named Greg Mortenson and his mission to build schools in impoverished Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has quite a story to tell and his accomplishments are really something. I never encountered danger like he did, of course he jumped right into that trouble with both feet while I have been more circumspect. Mortenson sounds like the guy we wish we all were, helping other people, facing insurmountable odds and making things happen in places that really need help. His Central Asia Institute (click here to go to the site) is one of the best charities I can think of. They do things the right way. Instead of swooping in and handing things out like so many charities do, he goes in, asks if they want a school, makes the village contribute to it, and also makes them provide sweat equity. That way the locals are invested in the project and he can be sure that everyone is on board with the goals.

The book isn’t great literature or anything, but it is a great story. I really identified with the urge to teach people in places like that a little about the world. He was dealing with much worse situations than I did, but the thought is the same… I also liked to see one of my theories in action, that is what we do makes a very large impression on people. Being in Yemen taught me a lot of things and I will always remember how grateful people were for me just being there. Having someone from the US actually come there and talk with them meant a lot to them and I like to think that their ideas about Americans moved in a more positive direction. They understood that Yemen was more than a little out of the way for us and they were very happy to share their culture with me.

It’s a good read, you should pick it up!

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Categories
Culture Yemen

Being at home weirdness #44563

I was sitting in the reception of my cousin’s wedding thinking to myself that I need to buy a suit. The last suit I got was for my mother’s second wedding, and that was a while ago. I have no idea if it fits, but I do know that I don’t like it. I also know that I need one for job interviews, etc.

My mind then drifted back to my last weeks in Sana’a. I remember hearing the shelling in the distance and wondering what would happen to that place. The bombardment had calmed down tremendously, but it was still ongoing… With all of the troubles the government has, with all of the problems the Yemenis have, I laid awake and listened and wondered.

Then my mind came back to the reception and I realized that I didn’t give a damn about the suit…

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Categories
food Yemen

Here we go…

This article scares me a little. They have closed down what we have always called “the sketchy Chinese restaurant.” This is the place over by Shamalia Hari. I have never heard of anyone eating there, but it was well known that you could buy alcohol there. I always figured that they had to be pissing off a certain segment by doing that, but you know that they were making quite a bit of money doing it.

As usual, that article leaves me with quite a few questions. The headline says Chinese restaurants, but it only talks about one. It also says that it is illegal to sell alcohol in Yemen, but I don’t believe that is the case. I believe that it is illegal to sell alcohol to Yemenis, but not illegal to sell to foreigners. There are other restaurants there that serve beer and other types of alcohol, but there are also bars like the Sheraton, the Movenipick, and the Russian club. I don’t know about the hotels, but the Russian club will not allow ay Yemenis in at all. They do a pretty brisk business, but if someone is looking for a lucrative business venture there, it would be very tempting to sell to the general public.

I have seen Yemenis drinking in a restaurant and I have seen them coming out of the one that was just closed. If this restaurant was closed for selling to locals and/or underaged folks then I can sort of, kind of understand the police closing it down. The worrying thing is that it seems to be widely believed that the new religious police were instrumental in closing this place down even before they are officially formed. It is a strong signal that the more conservative elements in Yemeni society are gaining strength.

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Categories
odds and ends

I’ll be out of town…

I’m going to my cousin’s wedding up in Connecticut so I won’t have good internet access until after the 4th. It should be great up there, looking forward to seeing the family and a great wedding. I’ll be back soon!

Categories
Yemen

Some new Yemen things going on…

First off, the American military has finally gotten around to charging one of its Gitmo prisoners with mastermining the Cole attack in 2000. It has only taken them 8 years to get to this point… It should be an interesting trial, the guy says that he admitted things under torture. It sounds like they can probably get him for helping with the Cole, the other stuff might get dicy for the prosecution because of the whole torture thing… Oh, and one more thing, why oh why do they say he’s a Saudi of Yemeni descent? Why don’t they just say that he’s a Saudi? Why drag Yemen into it whenever they get a chance? It’s just like how the western media always, always says that Yemen is Osama Bin Laeden’s ancestral homeland even though he was born in Saudi Arabia. Why does no one over here just say that they are Saudis? Why do we care where his father is from?

Along those lines, there was a letter sent to congress and the Canadian parliament by a large group of Americans and Canadians of Yemeni descent. You can read it here.In it, they outline the case that the Yemeni government, headed by Ali Abdulla Salah is in league with Al-queda and blame the Whahabi nation of Saudi Arabia for fostering terrorism. It’s a theory I’ve heard before from several people that should know about these sorts of things. The basic gist is that the government of Yemen uses the threat of Al-queda to extort money from various governments. Whenever something goes badly in Yemen, the government inevitably blames al-queda even though there is usually a better explanation. More than several people have theorized that the government is behind these newer, incompetent attacks in order to make sure the foreign aid keeps coming in. Al-queda also makes a convenient scapegoat for any civil unrest that goes on. The Yemeni government is loath to admit that it doesn’t have control of the country…

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