Thanksgiving Update

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! We thought we'd give you all a tour of "Bayt Sabri" (the House of Sabri) today. Our apartment is in the 6 story building, located on the mezzanine. Looking out our bedroom window, we can see our neighbors across the way (they have kids you can hear most days playing inside).

The apartment might be small by American standards, but is quite large by Yemeni standards...

We have a kitchenette where Stephanie plans to make meatballs and chili. I've already made macaroni and cheese and tuna casserole. Most times, we eat out. It's actually cheaper in Yemen to do this as opposed to going to grocery stores (where the well-to-do Yemenis shop and things are more expensive). The opposite of how things are in the US. That's Stephanie peeking around the corner.

You might call this a living room, but in Yemen it is know as a "mafraj," where family and friends get together and chew qat. We don't use this part of the apartment as much as we might.

Outside bayt Sabri is a garden area where we have breakfast and lunch during the week. Usually eggs, bread and cereal in the morning, and chicken or lamb with rice in the afternoon.

Some views from our courtyard...

More of the courtyard...

You can see the Parliament Building from our courtyard as well -- we really are in the center of Sana'a!

This is a closer shot of Parliament, Yemeni flags adorn the building.

That's it for the moment. We hope you've enjoyed the tour of our neighborhood. Stephanie and I wish our families and friends a great Thanksgiving. It's sunny and in the high 70s here!