Settling In

Pictured above: our living room and short doors.


This morning we woke up at 4am to the call to prayer which sounds like a man who smokes about 3 packs a day screaming at the top of his lungs "aaaalllllaaaaahhhhhuuuuu akbar" over and over for about 10 solid minutes. We also had our first real meal, saltah which is a veggie stew that is put in a cast iron pan then placed on a fire until it is lava hot then topped with a fenugreek froth this is served with a nice soup and hot fresh pita bread. We treated our new Belgian friend Taiz to lunch, with drinks (bottled water) and way more saltah than we could eat; the total came to 950 Yemeni rials--not a bad deal as we are getting 199 rials to the dollar. I also bought some cigarettes for 150 rials (and will now be able to say "I remember when smokes were 75 cents a pack").



The Yemeni people are amazing; the children are so cute, they all walk up and say "allo" or "welcome to Yemen” and we reply "sabah al khir" or "salam alikum" and they smile the biggest toothy smiles. The men here all wear the jambia (the curved dagger right in front connected to a large embroidered belt--that also often has a cellphone attached). Most women wear the burka, and some even wear scarves that cover even their eyes.