Arriving in Sana’a

Onward to Dubai and Sana’a

With an 0210 departure from Singapore to Dubai, I was sleepy even before the flight departed.  The Emirates flight was full. Fortunately I was comfortable enough to get a little sleep.  

Connecting in Dubai upon arrival at 0510 was slow.  Transit security comprised of one x-ray station which meant long queues.  The airport was very busy and cleaners couldn’t keep up keeping the toilets clean.  

I had revised my itinerary some months back and have a 1h45 connection instead of 3h05.  So, combined with remote gate operations, there wasn’t much time to do anything except proceed to the gate for my 0655 departure to Sana’a.  

I sat to an English man working in the petroleum industry.  Despite several trips to Yemen, he had never touched the local currency.  I guess everything is done for him, and whatever expenses he pays at high-end places are probably in USD.  

Arrival  

I cruised through immigration with a free 3 month stay whereas most foreigners had to queue three times.  It’s quite usual in this region to go to three different counters:  once to change money to pay for the visa, second to pay the visa fee, third to enter the country).  

Luggage was x-rayed as it entered the building from the aircraft container.  It slowed the process down.  

Back to School  

Once I exited the secure area, I found Mohammad from my school waiting.  I didn’t feel too good.  The altitude at 2250m had caused me to be breathless and have a headache and neckache.  Doing three flights in a row and missing out on sleep didn’t help.  

At the school, I met the principal of CALES (Centre for Arabic Language and Eastern Studies), Jameel.  CALES is a college within the University of Science and Technology.  

I paid him for my course and accommodation and resisted his attempts to upsell me to do double the course hours.  I had enrolled for 2h per day, five days per week of private lessons in Arabic.  

My home for the month  

With payments made, Mohammad showed me to my room in the hostel building next door.  I have my own very huge room on the fourth floor (huff, puff, pant pant), sharing the only sitting toilet in the college with two other people!  

The room rent for a month is about the same as a one night stay in a First Class hotel.  

The bed and pillow was rock hard.  Kinda like the green sponge that has no give that is used for floral arrangements.  One of my priorities would be to invest in a new pillow!  

The college and hostel are located in highly-decorated medieval buildings in Old Sana’a. These old buildings typically have an internal stairwell with big steps as if it had been built for horses.  The ground floor was traditionally for domestic animals. The next floors up are living areas for the extended family and the very top is always a mafraj or lounge for the men … the room with the best view.  

In the case of my hostel, there was a shared kitchen upstairs with a nice view of old town.   Apart from the ornate exterior, the buildings are also decorated with stained glass panels (often semi-circular) above the windows. So beautiful to wake up to the coloured lights on the white wall next to my bed.  

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Orientation  

I was supposed to rest till 1500 when Mohammad would get me for an orientation.  But I was kinda OK, so we went around 1300 to Medan Tahrir where he showed me various services including food outlets.  We had lunch together and I paid.  

I was starting to wilt in the afternoon.  After a rest, I met Aaron from the US.  He took me out for another orientation, this time of the neighbourhood.  It included food places and the internet shop.  

We got back around 2100.  You’d think that the tiredness would mean that I’d sleep well.  Perhaps it was the time difference and the altitude.  I woke twice and had to take a sleeping pill to help me sleep till the morning.