Please forgive my typos...
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Wednesday night here is the beginning of the weekend. It seemed like all the other nights before it but it was different in many ways…
If a person wishes to study Arabic abroad, I think they should clarify what they are looking to get out the experience. This was a topic brought up earlier by Evan. I think many people are attracted to Yemen for several reasons – It’s inexpensive, you receive one on one instruction, and you have to communicate almost solely in Arabic which helps reinforce your learning.
Just thinking of Yemen evokes images of the exotic. Yemen has many things to offer the aspiring student of Arabic, but excitement isn’t it. To be honest, Sana’a is rather boring and has absolutely no nightlife – or so I thought…
It’s called Tourist City. I believe it’s mainly a place disaffected Saudis and bored expatriates frequent. Wednesday night I finished my class around 8:30pm and was unlocking the door to my room when English Tom popped into the common area for my floor to announce that it was time to leave for the Palestinian club.
I was actually quite hungry at the time and had intended to find some chicken and then hit the internet café to make my chess plays but an evening with English Tom is better than food so I put my things away and joined the other students on their pilgrimage for booze and dance music.
There were eight of us in two taxis. The first sight that greeted me was a guard with a suspiciously Russian looking automatic weapon. It is his job to keep out the local populace. After checking to make sure we all looked foreign (I guess that’s what he was doing) he waved us on in.
Tourist City is a gated community that houses at least two dive bars, the Russian club and the Palestinian Club. It turns out that the Palestinian club didn’t open until 11pm but the Russian club was open so off we headed to the Russian club. Along the way, English Tom pointed out that the American Embassy was right across the street from Tourist City – coincidence?
Shortly after our arrival English Tom went to the gate to try and help get Hadda(sp?) into the club. I don’t quite have the full story on her. From what I gathered, she is the daughter of an Arab diplomat. I don’t believe she is very popular in Sana’a as she has lived in many places and isn’t particularly fond of behaving in the manner Yemeni society expects.
After a couple of beers (about $5 for a small and $7.50 for a large), everybody was ready to head off to the Palestinian club where we were allowed the privilege of paying 1,000 Riyals to get in. It was as we were waiting to get inside that I noticed that one of our students, Laura, was having problems walking. I don’t know what she drank at the Russian club, but Hadda was practically holding her up. Unfortunately for her, she made it into the Palestinian club but the effort must have taken her remaining energy because within about five minutes English Tom was taking up a collection so that Hadda could take Laura back to the school.
The Palestinian club was actually nicer than the Russian club. It’s roomier with more tables at which to sit, fog machine, lighting effects and a bar staff that actually moves like they get paid.
I don’t dance (neither did the other guys by the looks of things but that didn’t stop them) so I stayed at the bar while everybody else hit the floor. While everybody else was dancing, I noticed an older gentleman at the bar that looked more Indonesian than Arabic but who appeared to speak Arabic well. I remember thinking that he was acting the ass towards the barmaid but then went back to watching my fellow students boogie on the dance floor.
Somehow, the ass at the bar had managed to insist on buying one of our female students (whom I’ll call Aussie Girl) a drink and wanted to take over to one of the tables to talk. Shortly after, Aussie Girl, deciding she’d had enough, began heading back to the bar followed by ass-man. English Tom showed up right at that moment and began arguing, in Arabic, with ass-man about leaving Aussie Girl alone. I pulled Aussie Girl behind me and English Tom, and waited to see what would happen next.
Circumstances definitely didn’t disappoint when one of our newly made, drunken Saudi friends wrapped his arms around ass-man, picks him up, and carries him off! Now that’s entertainment!
Shortly thereafter, ass-man made his way back to the bar and proceeds to harass the barmaid but pointedly ignored us. Alas, the damage was done and soon English Tom and I left with Aussie Girl and American Tom for home.
So, if you are dying to have an overpriced drink and the chance for a little excitement, Tourist City is the place for you!
Thursday, March 02, 2006
With the memory of last night firmly in the back of my head, I woke up bright and early (well, for me anyway) and headed off for the internet café to call my wife.
I installed Skype on her PC before I left and most the PCs at the internet café have Skype so we can talk for free. The only problem is that due to the time zone difference, I have to make it to the internet café no later than 10am to make the call at a reasonable time in Seattle.
Evan showed up around 11am and soon we were off on another lovely adventure! There are two (that I’ve found thus far) rather modern supermarkets in Sana’a. Evan, who has become desperately tired of eating out, wanted to visit one of them to buy things he could prepare in the kitchen at the school so off we went.
Along the way, Evan decided that he could not end the day without eating at Pizza Hut (which later English Tom declared to be crap). Understanding Evan's situation, I agreed to accompany him and we began looking for Huda Street. This wasn’t as easy as it sounds because for some reason, the Yemenis decided not to put any signs up identifying it as Huda Street. Man oh man we walked a long way on Al-Zubari Street before finding out that we had gone way too far and had to double back.
Huda Street is a very long street. I suggested jumping in a taxi van but Evan wasn’t jiggy with that idea so we walked. And we walked. And we walked. We finally passed the Shumaila Hari Supermarket when Evan decided to give up on Pizza Hut and eat at a place that seemed suitably western for his tastes. As it turns out, we never would have found Pizza Hut as it’s not actually on Huda Street but on a street branching off of it.
Later that evening Evan and I were hanging out in the mafraj with Aussie Girl when English Tom invited us to the British club - yet another place where one can have a drink in Yemen but as a non-Brit I couldn't actually get in without English Tom. I begged off but Evan, with our failure to find Pizza Hut weighing heavy on his heart, was tempted into accompanying English Tom but the promise of a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich and relatively cheap beer. Although it was hard to resist English Tom (and the BLT) I bowed out due to the need for some quiet time.
BTW, if you come to Yemen and bring a surge protector to use with your laptop, be sure the surge protector is for use with 220 voltage and not 110. Um, er, uh… just trust me on this one.
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