Ali's Second week in Happy Yemen

Jom3ah mbarakeh 3aleena wa 3leekom. It's my second week here, and although I avoid getting out of the hotel (ella lal shaded el awi), there are still somethings to talk about.

Sana'a is more than 2500 Meters above sea level in a desert-mountain settings. So there is not much oxygen, no humidity, and the air pressure is low. Weather is mostly spring like but DRY. At night it gets cold sometime – desert night cold, the kind that sneaks into your bones! Lack of oxygen makes you feel that you are not getting enough out of inhaling, A Yemeni guy told me that he would only need a four hour sleep in Amman to get the rest he needs due to what he called the (abundance) of Oxygen. That was explained by a Medical student friend of mine who told me that your red blood cell count well increase in Yemen in an above-natural count to grab what ever oxygen available in your lungs, so when you leave Yemen to a city like Amman, you will feel like SUPERMAN !

The dryness is a killer to my beautiful skin, my face and hands are shedding skin like an apple tree in the fall. Another problem is that my allergies are surfacing here, not sure why since we are in a 2.5 KM above sea level desert! Someone pointed out the fact that the Gasoline that they use here is (ALLAH 3ALEEM FEEH) especially for a TANAKEH worth just above 3JD (compared with above 13 JD in Jordan!), so the air is filled with (ALLAH 3ALEEM FEHA) cars' exhaust emissions! But, to tell you the truth, the mixed combination of a runny nose and the dry weather has renewed an old passion of mine, nose picking (TANKEESH)!

Back to Sana'a streets, I am living in an area called (7addah) which is to Sana'a what 3abdoun is for Amman... Mo5ayyam al 7osien is slightly worse than here. But to be fair, there are a few decent places here -not a lot of options- but a person can live a good living here.

Back to the weapons issue, we went to (Al Fa5er) the other day, which is a fancy Lebanese ran Yemeni food restaurant. The place is really great. There was this Yemeni Giant who had a Janbieh (khenjar) in his belt, three Daggers, a big cowboy like pistol, and had a HUGE machine gun on his shoulder. His scruffy bearded face and large build suggested that he just came out of the Afghan war. I later learned that he was a Sheikh's body guard. The problem appeared when he came for Maghreb prayers with us, he (EN3AJAG '3EER SHEKEL) with the weapons he had – didn't know to put what where, and ended up praying in a form close to what the Holy Qur'an told us about War Prayer!

Last but not least, today is a national holiday for the revolution of Oct 14^th. There are lots of those vacations happening, the revolution of the north, the revolution of the south, the union revolution, the (north la7alo and south la7alo again) revolution, the unity PART II revolution, and so on. We saw great fire works coming out of a mountain top over looking Sana'a. With each explosion, the entire desert surrounding Sana'a would light up! Reminded me of Allah's words

(يكاد البرق يخطف أبصارهم كلما أضاء لهم مشوا فيه وإذا أظلم عليهم قاموا)

(Al Baqarah 20)

Sub7an allah, 3allam al ensan ma lam ya3lam

Missssssssss u allllllllll. Take care and see you soon . be in Amman on 18^th inshallah. Salam

Ali Al-Jafari