Thursday, August 16, 2007

I'm Back!

Okay, so ya'll are wanting to know how my trip to Yemen was... well...


August 4:
5 am - Got up, got dressed, left for the airport.
7:30-ish - plane took off.
8:10-ish, Yemen Time - Stepped off of the plane into a beautiful country.
I LOVE it here... it's so poor, but so beautiful. Anyway, today after the P's picked us up, we got our permits to go to Mahwheet, then went to the P's, talked, ate, and played Mau. Then we left for the Old City and spent a while shopping there.
Then we went to a restaurant - they served us bread, then baked fish (literally, a baked fish). And then the kibde... liver. Surprisingly, I really liked it - even after Joy and Grace told us what it was.


August 5:
This morning, the place where we were staying was out of water. :P
The P's came by and we left for Mahwheet, talking, singing, playing games, and counting sheep, cows, and donkeys on the way. I took LOTS of pictures at the villages along the way.
When we got to Mahwheet, we got settled in the hotel, which, BTW, has European toilets and bathrooms in each room - a "Wow" in Yemen. We ordered dinner, then sat in the Majlis for a while. After dinner we played Bus Stop in the Majlis.


August 6:
For breakfast we went to a Yemeni restraunt, and ordered kibde, beans, peas, bread, and tea. YUM! Then we drove up to an overlook and sat/climbed around there for a while before heading back to the hotel and packing up. We went down to a wadi and hiked there for a while, then drove back up to the city. We drove back to Sana'a, unpacked and ate. We watched Bride and Prejudice after dinner... it's hilarious...


August 7:
After breakfast, we drove to the House on the Rock overlook, took a few pictures, shot a BB gun. Then we drove down to House on the Rock and climbed/looked around there for a while.
We drove back to the P's and ate lunch. Joy, Grace, Nate, and I decided to play badmitton. Heh... Nate got it onto the neighbor's awning, and after we FINALLY got it down, we didn't feel like playing. The parents had a meeting, so we watched Merry Christmas Mr. Bean and Babette's Feast.

August 8:
Mom, Dad, and everyone else left this morning back to Dubai. Mrs. P picked me up and took me to their house, then Joy and I talked for a while. We planned our movie, played Mille Bornes, Take Two, and the dictionary game. After lunch, we worked out our schedule, then went to the mall, walked around and got ice cream. This evening we watched Facing the Giants.

August 9:
This morning after quiet time, Joy and I walked to the store, then beaded, talked, and drew. After lunch we played Phase10, then got ready to play frisbee.
End score:
Flying Monkeys (them) - 16
Prickly Platypuses (us) - 15
We made a brilliant comeback though, from the end of the second half when we were at 4-8.
And the Flying Monkeys had some pretty stupid cheers... Like really stupid.

Then in the evening some people came over and we roasted stuff over the fire.

August 10:
After Church we played with the toddlers, then went out for pizza. Megan came over and we filmed a few movie scenes, then played Phase 10 and baseball.

August 12:
Yesterday Anna and Megan came over and we filmed the movie. In the evening we went to a little Indian boy's birthday party.

Today we made lunch, ate breakfast and went to Bayt Bose for the day with some friends and their 4 kids. We hiked, explored, and played with the kids. Then we loaded stuff we'd videod onto the computer. The P's have Macs and they're driving me craaazy....

August 13:
This morning we went to Coffee Trader for elevensies. It was yummy and we had a fun time. IN the afternoon, the V's came over and after lunch Grace gave us the "Manners Test," which got pretty amusing after a while. We played silent football, James had to apologize to Mrs. P for stealing her best china cup the other day... We also played a game like psychiatrist.
I read Nory Ryan's Song in the afternoon when Joy and Grace had orthodontist appointments, then we watched MirrorMask in the evening.

August 14:
This morning we got ready and put sunscreen on, then left for the pool, picking up some people on the way. We were throwing around splat bombs for a while, then raced (I got second, really suprised!). We played Water Polo after that, stopped when we were tied, 9-9. More splat bombs, then showers, tehn we left. On the way back we were talking about music.
IN the evening we went to a Yemeni wedding, well, it was just a blessing for the groom, but it was still a good experience.
We came back and had burgers and baboos for dinner, then checked mail and played around with Photobooth. I guess Macs aren't ALL bad, but they're MOSTLY bad.

August 15:
This morning we burned the DVDs and put pictures onto my jump drive. Then we watched A Cinderella Story. Kinda quoteable, but had a really mushy ending.
After lunch we went and played frisbee. For my part, it was a better game than last time. Then we came back, changed, and left for dinner at a Greek place, then bowled. Fun!

August 16:
Last night and now there's this strange emotion... I dunno what it is. Is it that I'm excited to go home, but sad to leave Yemen? Or is it something else, something... well, I won't say.
Later - I still can't figure it out. We've not taken off yet, but just sitting here looking out the window at Sana'a and the moutnains is making me sad.
I know I'd like to work in the Arab world some day... is God trying to tell me it's Yemen?
It's like in Painting Pictures of Egypt, by Sara Groves:
"I don't wanna leave here, I don't wanna stay, it feels like pinching to me either way..."

Later - I got to wait in the first class lounge before we boarded. It was sweet.
Now I"m listening to "Concert Hall" On the airplane. And it's the processional from Pomp and Circumstance.


Anyway... I'm working on getting a photobucket album together of my trip to Yemen.

Could ya'll pray for me? I dunno what for... but yeah.

Kyleigh

4 comments:

BananaBint said...

Yeah!!! A post!! Finally!! (: So it sounds like you had a good time in Yemen! What was the best thing that you did there?

Kyleian said...

Hmmm... well, I liked playing Frisbee, swimming, the bonfire... Bayt Bose... all of it...

Anonymous said...

Sounds fun! Yeah, I'll pray.
Glad to see you back in the world of blogging.

Cait said...

Careful what you say on here Ky. About M.