Sana'a, Yemen, dictated by James

The day after I left Yemen, the US Embassy kicked out all non-essential personnel after the 3rd bombing on Western targets in the last few weeks.

Yemen was called Arabia Felix, meaning Happy Arabia in Greek. It is one of the world's oldest civilizations dating back to 1200 b.c. of the Minaean and Sabaean Kingdoms. Hadhramaut is named in the book of Genesis several times. Long ago Yemen was one of the richest places in the world at the center of the frankincense trade when the Romans invaded.

The people, the architecture and the honey--35 bucks a kilo from Wadi Do'an in Hadhramaut--was some of the best in the world. Al Qaida is not active in Sana'a, but they do stop by from time to time. Every woman wears a burka and every man wears a tunic, a sportscoat, and a large dagger on a belt called a jambaya. The children go out of their way to say hello, and if they beg, a local adult will throw pebbles at the kids until they run off. Every person can say, "welcome to Yemen".

Next door to the hotel--this camel walks in a circle to mill grain. A quote from the paper concerning the al-Husseiniah festival: "there were, and still are, many teenagers who can jump over six camels. What these young people need is some knowledge of sporting rules and then they might be able to compete on an international level and even break Olympic records."

An overlook outside Sana'a

two boys on the roof of a house watching tv.

Never thought I'd see it...

Traffic was stopped by a city bus on the opposite side of the road today. At least a 2 kilometer train of cars was behind the bus. A man stood in front of the bus with his back to oncoming traffic---silly us, we thought he was fixing something. A closer look revealed a line of liquid going down beneath the bus. Then he zipped up his pants. He had stopped traffic to pee in the middle of the road during morning rush hour.

Walk-a-Thon

Most walk-a-thon's I have attended involve real exercise, usually healthy food at the finish line and a generally healthy atmosphere. But unless that atmosphere has been cultivated as the norm, a walk-a-thon can be a very different event in another culture. In Sarajevo, cigarettes, high heels and stops along the way for the pekara (bakery) and coffee were the norm. In their defense, this was the very first walk-a-thon type event in Sarajevo and I don't know that most people knew what to expect. It was sponsored by the International Womens Club and Avon in efforts to raise money for a mammogram machine for the hospital in Sarajevo.

Sarajevo women wear high heels for everything--even to exercise apparently!

Grocery Run

March is still just too cold for a spring break. We debated for a long time (maybe too long) about what to do and where to go. Finally, we jumped in Buba and headed to Slovenia. The drive north to the Croatian border was depressing. The river was swollen and I've never seen a natural resource so dirty in my life--for miles and miles every inch of the river was covered in plastic bottles and plastic bags. I can't pinpoint where the trash is coming from, but it must be more than just the stray bottle flying out of the car. More than one person has told me that they have seen locals throw bags of trash in the river. It makes me angry because Bosnia is a beautiful place. Closing in on the border, every second house was bombed out and abandoned. After an hour wait at the Bosnia/Croatia border, we crossed the river and felt like we had landed in comparative paradise. Croatia is clean, clear and well taken care of. Proof what money and tourism can do to help a country bounce back from war.

The weather everywhere was so cold that we didn't do much that we would have liked. We spent one night at Lake Bled, a gorgeous mountain lake community in northern Slovenia. It's a place we would like to go back for sunshine biking. We did one great hike in Triglav National Park along a river gorge that was coated in icicles. We also stopped at a thermal spa near Ljubljana and enjoyed some morning water exercises with the geriatrics. Slovenia is a beautiful, less traveled European country. The mountains, rivers and cities are pristine.

But mostly, we just went out to get groceries: thai spices, coconut milk, tortillas, and other goods we can't get in Sarajevo.Lake Bled, Sloveniabuba tripping

gourmet pasta salad in bread bowls in the buba

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves on Kum Mountain near Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Buba made it to Triglav National Park!

This walkway is suspended over the river and was covered in about 1/2 inch of ice.

Every falling 'pop' made me cover my head in fear of falling icicles.

Goofing around

a sunny day in Sarajevo a few weeks ago

a bombed building that used to be part of our daily commute to school...just demolished today

another commute picture--demining the frontlines again

the sun is gone again and the snow is back for the 2nd day in a row

Must See

I usually fall asleep during movies, but these are 3 I recently watched that have really left an impact on me. The scenes and words and music keep replaying in my head, hours after the movie ends. I realize we aren't usually ahead of popular culture in Sarajevo, so please forgive me if these are "sooo last year" at home in America. I want the soundtrack for each of them:

• Darjeeling Limited (a colorful and musical feast for the senses. And Adrien Brody...)
• Into the Wild (gorgeous cinematography and a raw story full of love)
• Juno (a teen flick that redeemed itself with great music and a real, heartfelt story)
  

A Few Sarajevo Pics

My brother came to visit in early February. Here are a few more pictures of Sarajevo as I was out showing him around.Club Bill Gates

An original '84 Olympics parking pass on a Jugo!

For Sale: Open floor plan, light and airy. Great views.

The Buba and the Bobsled

The bridge that Austrian-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were driving over when they were shot by Gavrilo Princip, which led to the start of World War 1.

Vucko, the 1984 Winter Olympics mascot.

Where I shop for fruits and veg (and subsequently get ripped off!).

Hay truck in town

A Sarajevo rose--red clay filling in the spot where a civilian was killed.

Tokyo!

Decision made! We are going to be teaching at Seisen International School in Tokyo, Japan next year. The school is actually in a neighboring ward of Tokyo and we are told there are nice parks, cherry blossoms and easy bike routes to get to work. Sounds dreamy...

London

We've come to accept that flying from anywhere to Sarajevo will take us at least 12 hours. We were excited to have our first direct flight into Sarajevo on British Airways--only 2 1/2 hours flying time and we would be home with time to chill out. But, of course, something has to go wrong. 4 stops on the tube turned into an hour long train ride, which made us miss our Gatwick train. Thus, we missed our flight. 8 hours and $550 later (each!) we got a flight to Zagreb and then to Sarajevo. So long ease of travel...

The recruitment fair was an intense and exhausting whirlwind. After making connections with a number of schools, we scheduled 8 interviews for Friday starting at 9 and ending at 5. We interviewed with schools in Egypt, Japan, The Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany. It was a positive day and we felt like we had many job offers ahead of us. On Saturday, we were disappointed not to get our Holy Grail job, but we did walk away with 5 job offers--2 of which we are really interested in--one in The Netherlands and one in Tokyo. We are currently debating the pros and cons of each, but hopefully we'll have a decision soon.

The best thing that came out of this job fair was the exposure to different schools, administrations and curriculums. We learned a lot about what we want to see in a school and what we want to be as teachers. We even bumped into a few Oregonians--amazing how you can pick them out of a crowd in London!

We didn't get a lot of time to explore London, but we did find some time to eat curry, drink Strongbow Cider (for me) and Guinness (for James), enjoy the parks and spend double for everything we bought. London is painfully expensive.

A proposal no girl could resist

Only 4 days into February and love has sprung in the first grade!
I don't know about you, but I want to live with the squirrels. It's such a good thing.