NUMBER 1:
So - when i first told someone that i had a 'driver' that picked me up and took me to and from work every day i realised that when it came out of my mouth it sunded very posh. it evoked images of limosuines and men with caps, or at the very least a decent car and someone to hold the door open. that it NOT what i have! so as i said before - my driver drives a car that was probably condemned in a civilised cuntry in 1982 and ressurected in sana'a. so far in 4 weeks of return journeys we have run out of petrol twice, lost 2 hubcaps (which of course we had to go back and look for each time), lost the exhaust and had to drive to work sounding like a tractor at 5 mph, the passenger wheel is definitely on its last screw (any bump and i'm sure its going to fall off), oh - and the back door doesn't open. but all that could be bearable until the other day! i got into the car at work and when we got onto the main road i realised that we were going extremely slowly. said - 'is there something wrong with your car' (in my best arabic of course!) to which the reply came - 'o its ok - no problem - just the brake has broken'. now - that is not really what you want to hear in sana'a. bad enough in a law-abiding road-rules country, but i am reliably informed that in yemen not only does no-one obey the rules, but there are non rules except don't break your car or hurt anyone! and my driver admitted to 'buying' his liscence! so this 'no brakes' scenario does not sit well with me. inevitably we get stuck at a junction behind a water truck that does something stupid, slams on his brakes, forcing us to slam on our non-existent brakes. this starts a large cloud of smoke and noxious gases forming inside and outside the car. i start to make noises about possibly getting out of the car before it explodes, but no - the driver expertly manoevres round the truck and turns to me and says with a big smile on his face "don't worry doctora clare - no problem!"
the next mile was spent taking as few breaths as possible and the ngels protecting me were kept extremely busy........!!!
the next day the 'taxi' that is actually a taxi but was probably condemned around the same time as the car turnedup to take me to work.............
never a dull moment!!!
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
A day in the life of..............
Thought it might be interesting to give you a run-down of my day!!
6.30am (yes - 6.30!): alarm goes off and i realise that i forgot to turn the hot water on! so a luke-warm shower has to suffice!
7.30am : little man from downstairs phones to tell me - 'doctora fee' whatever that means - but it is my cue that my ride has arrived!
7.35: hold you nose and gulp down some sort of 'tea' that old man mohammed kindly makes every morning! don't think it is tea. or coffee. there are suspicious things floating in it!!!!
7.40: get into 'taxi'. now - it was a taxi the first day. but it hasn't been a taxi since. i think that someone decided their mate could do with a few bob and decided to be my driver! the journey always consists of much prayer. every time we hit a bump i think my wheel is going to fall off. the car was probably condemed in a civilised country in 1982, but they are still getting their money's worth here in sa'ana.
8.00: arrive at the TB centre. am presented with an egg sandwich. the first few days i managed to get it down, now i am sneaking it into the bin!! o - and don't forget the mango juice. it is in fact quite good!!
8.25: 3 minute window between the cleaners finishing and the public getting in for going to the toilet. if you don't make the window, you regret it the rest of the day and cross your legs!!!
8.30: patients start a coming. and cough and splutter and spit right in your face!! it is gross, but the amount of poverty and sickness is quite sobering and overwhelming actually. more prayer - protection from TB please!
12.30-13.30: depending on the patient load that day, the working day is over!! what a hard job!! haha! my 'taxi' takes me home and officially i amnot supposed to leave the house the rest of the day!
13.30: quick bite to eat (i have now politely decline old man mohammed cooking my lunch after some gut rot from his last attempt) and out to explore! now please don't worry! i don't go off the beaten track, i cover up, i stick to main raods and places where women are. its ladies day in the park on monday and tuesday were you can take your veil off and hoik your black dress up! i've found a nice ice-cream place, a good coffee shop, a reasonable supermarket, this internet cafe, and when it all gets too much KFC!!! its wierd what can make a good find in this city!!!
i have also met some lovely folk on my travels and they have been great at inviting me round for dinner. i'm even going to do some washing tomorrow praise the lord!!!!
18.15: quick, before the evening call to prayer i have to be back home and lock the door till the next morning!!
18.20: evening entertainment involves handwashing clothes (takes up alot more time than you would expect), cooking dinner (not so easy with one pot and a dodgy large saucepan!), typing up some research stuff, watching DVDs and reading. o - and i have watched more trashy american TV on 'dubai one' than i have watched all year!! you have got to love doctor phil - we need to petition to get him on UK TV!!!!
21.00ish: bed time!! yes i know - that will shock and surprise most of you, but quite frankly with the 6.30am start and the lack of any company but my own it is the best plan!!!!
and it all starts over again - 6 days a week!!!
so i have settled into a rountine. life is much slower than normal - but i think it is good for me to slow it down and learn to spend time by myself. i'm gradually meeting more people and getting out and about a bit more and life is interesting!!!
will very much look forward to my wee break in marakech though..........2 weeks to go............!!!!!
6.30am (yes - 6.30!): alarm goes off and i realise that i forgot to turn the hot water on! so a luke-warm shower has to suffice!
7.30am : little man from downstairs phones to tell me - 'doctora fee' whatever that means - but it is my cue that my ride has arrived!
7.35: hold you nose and gulp down some sort of 'tea' that old man mohammed kindly makes every morning! don't think it is tea. or coffee. there are suspicious things floating in it!!!!
7.40: get into 'taxi'. now - it was a taxi the first day. but it hasn't been a taxi since. i think that someone decided their mate could do with a few bob and decided to be my driver! the journey always consists of much prayer. every time we hit a bump i think my wheel is going to fall off. the car was probably condemed in a civilised country in 1982, but they are still getting their money's worth here in sa'ana.
8.00: arrive at the TB centre. am presented with an egg sandwich. the first few days i managed to get it down, now i am sneaking it into the bin!! o - and don't forget the mango juice. it is in fact quite good!!
8.25: 3 minute window between the cleaners finishing and the public getting in for going to the toilet. if you don't make the window, you regret it the rest of the day and cross your legs!!!
8.30: patients start a coming. and cough and splutter and spit right in your face!! it is gross, but the amount of poverty and sickness is quite sobering and overwhelming actually. more prayer - protection from TB please!
12.30-13.30: depending on the patient load that day, the working day is over!! what a hard job!! haha! my 'taxi' takes me home and officially i amnot supposed to leave the house the rest of the day!
13.30: quick bite to eat (i have now politely decline old man mohammed cooking my lunch after some gut rot from his last attempt) and out to explore! now please don't worry! i don't go off the beaten track, i cover up, i stick to main raods and places where women are. its ladies day in the park on monday and tuesday were you can take your veil off and hoik your black dress up! i've found a nice ice-cream place, a good coffee shop, a reasonable supermarket, this internet cafe, and when it all gets too much KFC!!! its wierd what can make a good find in this city!!!
i have also met some lovely folk on my travels and they have been great at inviting me round for dinner. i'm even going to do some washing tomorrow praise the lord!!!!
18.15: quick, before the evening call to prayer i have to be back home and lock the door till the next morning!!
18.20: evening entertainment involves handwashing clothes (takes up alot more time than you would expect), cooking dinner (not so easy with one pot and a dodgy large saucepan!), typing up some research stuff, watching DVDs and reading. o - and i have watched more trashy american TV on 'dubai one' than i have watched all year!! you have got to love doctor phil - we need to petition to get him on UK TV!!!!
21.00ish: bed time!! yes i know - that will shock and surprise most of you, but quite frankly with the 6.30am start and the lack of any company but my own it is the best plan!!!!
and it all starts over again - 6 days a week!!!
so i have settled into a rountine. life is much slower than normal - but i think it is good for me to slow it down and learn to spend time by myself. i'm gradually meeting more people and getting out and about a bit more and life is interesting!!!
will very much look forward to my wee break in marakech though..........2 weeks to go............!!!!!
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
You'll never walk alone!
well - i will never walk alone if my hosts here have anything to do with it!
for those of you worrying about me - I AM OK!!! i am not going out after dark and the only place i go by myself is down the big main street completely covered in my very flattering shapeless black sack and headscarf! (although there is a pretty design on the arms to make an attempt at being feminine!)
for those of you that have no idea what i am talking about - apparently someone got fed up at last with the yanks and bombed them somewhere in the city last week and the foreign office have put out a travel warning! but believe me - i'm nowhere near american compounds!
in fact - the TB centre couldn't be any further away! it is hilarious - i have been trying to write up some of my research and talk about the 'efficiency in the lab!' between prayers and friends coming in for a wee kiss, and patients storming the lab for results i don't know how they get through any work! and here i am in the middle of it trying to time how long it takes them to read a slide and decide if this kissing episode is going to take long so i should stop my stopwatch, or is it just going to be a wee peck!!!
for those of you worried about my loo roll situation - i have found a supermarket with loo roll! although i will have to go out by myself to the supermarket to buy it - which is the lesser of two evils?!! haha! thanks laur for your gross suggestion that i wait till i run out, then resort to usung my hand, then 'paint' myslef brown so i don't stick out on my walk to the supermarket! i think if they don't see any difference they might smell one!!
for those of you worrying about me - I AM OK!!! i am not going out after dark and the only place i go by myself is down the big main street completely covered in my very flattering shapeless black sack and headscarf! (although there is a pretty design on the arms to make an attempt at being feminine!)
for those of you that have no idea what i am talking about - apparently someone got fed up at last with the yanks and bombed them somewhere in the city last week and the foreign office have put out a travel warning! but believe me - i'm nowhere near american compounds!
in fact - the TB centre couldn't be any further away! it is hilarious - i have been trying to write up some of my research and talk about the 'efficiency in the lab!' between prayers and friends coming in for a wee kiss, and patients storming the lab for results i don't know how they get through any work! and here i am in the middle of it trying to time how long it takes them to read a slide and decide if this kissing episode is going to take long so i should stop my stopwatch, or is it just going to be a wee peck!!!
for those of you worried about my loo roll situation - i have found a supermarket with loo roll! although i will have to go out by myself to the supermarket to buy it - which is the lesser of two evils?!! haha! thanks laur for your gross suggestion that i wait till i run out, then resort to usung my hand, then 'paint' myslef brown so i don't stick out on my walk to the supermarket! i think if they don't see any difference they might smell one!!
Friday, 11 April 2008
Ghat, pee and all things yemeni!
halleluhia!!
i have finally worked out how to sign in with the arabic commands! thanks erica for your help but nothing came up looking like what you found! thanks ayoub for your idiot guide instructions!!!!
sa'ana, yemen!
so day 1 started interestingly - i woke up to find that the door handle was broken and i was stuck in the bedroom! after trying to take off the hinges and the door handle and failing at both i had to phone dr nasher (one of my hosts) and he had to come to get me out! they had to knock a hole in the wall coz i had left the key in the front door! in the meantime i had to pee in the wastebin (it was that or pee out the window!) !!! when i got back they had moved all my stuff to the next room which was fine, but i hadn't had a chance to get rid of the pee! i fear they are all now laughing at me!!! the hole in the wall will remind me every day!!!
then i visited the hospital. its wierd. in some ways they have equipment as sophisticated as us, but in other ways they are as restricted as morocco. the paediatric ICU was HOFFIFIC! little babies dying alone. can't think too much about it...!
then i went shopping with docotora nagla (my other hostess) who bought me a black dress and headscarf so i was properly yemeni! only then she said it made me more beautiful and i would attract more attention - coz black is my colour!! haha! anyway - i am sitting in it now and feeling part of the furniture!!
today dr nasher (who is lovely but has chewed too much ghat and is a bit crazy!) took me with two of his freinds on a tour of sa'ana and then left me with his friend's family! which was very cool - did the traditional yemeni friday lunch thing and had alot of fun finding out how yemeni women are not quite as modest as they first appear!! one of the brothers was married to a slovak girl, who was so glad to see another white face that she talked to me for about 1 hour solid!! a great bit of insight into how daughters-in-law are really treated!
then they insisted i chew some ghat with them. they say that it is like caffien - a stimulant that makes you know how to solve all the problems of the world! i think it is more like dope. but tastes like you are a goat eating a bit of leafy tree!! think it will be my first and last try!!!!
start work tomorrow so will see how life settles down into a routine then....!!!!
27 degrees and sunny - anyone jealous? i have a spare room for any visitors.........!!!
i have finally worked out how to sign in with the arabic commands! thanks erica for your help but nothing came up looking like what you found! thanks ayoub for your idiot guide instructions!!!!
sa'ana, yemen!
so day 1 started interestingly - i woke up to find that the door handle was broken and i was stuck in the bedroom! after trying to take off the hinges and the door handle and failing at both i had to phone dr nasher (one of my hosts) and he had to come to get me out! they had to knock a hole in the wall coz i had left the key in the front door! in the meantime i had to pee in the wastebin (it was that or pee out the window!) !!! when i got back they had moved all my stuff to the next room which was fine, but i hadn't had a chance to get rid of the pee! i fear they are all now laughing at me!!! the hole in the wall will remind me every day!!!
then i visited the hospital. its wierd. in some ways they have equipment as sophisticated as us, but in other ways they are as restricted as morocco. the paediatric ICU was HOFFIFIC! little babies dying alone. can't think too much about it...!
then i went shopping with docotora nagla (my other hostess) who bought me a black dress and headscarf so i was properly yemeni! only then she said it made me more beautiful and i would attract more attention - coz black is my colour!! haha! anyway - i am sitting in it now and feeling part of the furniture!!
today dr nasher (who is lovely but has chewed too much ghat and is a bit crazy!) took me with two of his freinds on a tour of sa'ana and then left me with his friend's family! which was very cool - did the traditional yemeni friday lunch thing and had alot of fun finding out how yemeni women are not quite as modest as they first appear!! one of the brothers was married to a slovak girl, who was so glad to see another white face that she talked to me for about 1 hour solid!! a great bit of insight into how daughters-in-law are really treated!
then they insisted i chew some ghat with them. they say that it is like caffien - a stimulant that makes you know how to solve all the problems of the world! i think it is more like dope. but tastes like you are a goat eating a bit of leafy tree!! think it will be my first and last try!!!!
start work tomorrow so will see how life settles down into a routine then....!!!!
27 degrees and sunny - anyone jealous? i have a spare room for any visitors.........!!!
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Packing
If someone is looking for a nice wee earner i have just thought of a good idea - bag packing! and not in tescos either! there are bound to be many many other people out there like myself who absolutley HATE packing! I have gotten everything that i need all nicely laid out and planned, but trying to fit it into a bag is another matter!
add this to the fact that i was just handed four big boxes of assorted urine containers to take to the lab in Yemen. well - you should have seen kaz and I trying to fit these into the biggest holdall i could find in Speke! Needless to say after many different combinations of squeezing things in, i have decided to leave 200 of the biggest ones in liverpool! Royal mail can take them or something!
also - i then received an email to say that i may or may not have some questions asked about my urine containers as i try to clear customs in yemen - how am i going to explain it?! no idea! smile sweetly and deny knowledge of any earthly language?!! it works with speeding tickets in morocco! (not that i have ever got stopped for speeding ;) )
anyway - i will continue trying to fit the square peg in the round hole!!!
clare
add this to the fact that i was just handed four big boxes of assorted urine containers to take to the lab in Yemen. well - you should have seen kaz and I trying to fit these into the biggest holdall i could find in Speke! Needless to say after many different combinations of squeezing things in, i have decided to leave 200 of the biggest ones in liverpool! Royal mail can take them or something!
also - i then received an email to say that i may or may not have some questions asked about my urine containers as i try to clear customs in yemen - how am i going to explain it?! no idea! smile sweetly and deny knowledge of any earthly language?!! it works with speeding tickets in morocco! (not that i have ever got stopped for speeding ;) )
anyway - i will continue trying to fit the square peg in the round hole!!!
clare
Sunday, 30 March 2008
One week to go!
Hi guys!
So I know that those amongst you that know that I have technological special needs will be very amused by the fact that I have created a blog to keep you up to date on my adventures in the middle east! But I thought it was time I got over my fear of these blessed machines and gave it a go!
I have 6 days to go until I leave the grey skies, and no - I am not ready! I have to find a whole bunc of urine pots and other associated lab stuff, I have to find out how I am going to transport this, and I have to find a way of getting it through Yemeni customs. I wonder will a smile work ths time?! I also have to unpack, do my washing, and repack. I am going home to Belfast for 3 days, I have a 5000 word essay to submit, and I have to download all my literature searches in pdf format. remember the special needs?! it is going to take a miracle.
So all in all it is a very good thing that my moto in life is taken from the words of the good man Jon Bon - "I'll sleep when I am dead!"
But I am invigorated from a great time in Marakech, and I am excited and full of anticipation about what the next weeks and months have to bring!
Just need to empty the washing machine first.........
So I know that those amongst you that know that I have technological special needs will be very amused by the fact that I have created a blog to keep you up to date on my adventures in the middle east! But I thought it was time I got over my fear of these blessed machines and gave it a go!
I have 6 days to go until I leave the grey skies, and no - I am not ready! I have to find a whole bunc of urine pots and other associated lab stuff, I have to find out how I am going to transport this, and I have to find a way of getting it through Yemeni customs. I wonder will a smile work ths time?! I also have to unpack, do my washing, and repack. I am going home to Belfast for 3 days, I have a 5000 word essay to submit, and I have to download all my literature searches in pdf format. remember the special needs?! it is going to take a miracle.
So all in all it is a very good thing that my moto in life is taken from the words of the good man Jon Bon - "I'll sleep when I am dead!"
But I am invigorated from a great time in Marakech, and I am excited and full of anticipation about what the next weeks and months have to bring!
Just need to empty the washing machine first.........
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