I felt comforatable in Sana'a, enjoyed the weather and felt I had become oriented to Yemen in the mere three days I was there being introduced to my school and surroundings. On the 22nd I took a Yemenia flight to Aden, a short 45 minute plane ride south.
Yemenia is a decent airline despite what everyone told me prior to my flight, saying it was a no hold bar kind of airline where anything goes. Except for the annoying three year old French girl who kept kicking my seat, I found it to be enjoyable. They even played music all during the flight, my favorite was the Godfather theme song playing prior to landing.
My first impression of Aden? HOT. And humid. Mind you a week ago I was in subzero weather of the United States under a blanket of snow. Aden is a city built into the crater of an extinct volcano. Mountains surround the city which has beaches lying on the sea. The people are very laid back here which is nice. I have shed the abeya (big black dress) and veil I wore in Sana'a...you need to pay me to wear that in this heat. I have no idea how the women here do it.
The director of the school, Shukri, was the man who greeted me at the airport, wearing his skirt and with the biggest wad of qat (I'll write more about this stuff later) I have ever seen stuffed into his right cheek. He along with a random guy in the passenger seat drove me to my apartment, which to my surprise is private. I thought I would be sharing housing, but I have my own place here. It's nice...two bedrooms one sitting room, kitchen and bathroom with a 'throne' toilet. Not the normal hole in the floor so traditional of Yemen. I still have no idea how to get the hot water working properly.
At first Shukri took me to the wrong apartment, one floor up where a man named Abdullah lives. Shukri knocked ont he door, Abdullah emerged and greeted me as if I were going to be living there. I had joked to my friends and family about how I was being sold into white slavery and it was at that moment that I actually thought I might be! However, it was an honest mistake, and Abdullah is a sweetheart. He came down the following day to introduce himself properly, gave me his number and told me if I needed anything I could contact him.
I only had one day before my classes began and I spent it getting oriented, cleaning, unpacking and lesson planning. This was also the day I experienced my first real bit of culture shock. I don't know if it was from the jet lag or the fact that this place truly foreign to me...but I did feel quite uneasy. My mom called me which seemed to make the feelings subside and today I'm better. But it really did blow there for a while.
I also feel homesick not for the United States, but for Egypt. Strange.
