Two Weeks In...

Dan and I have been in Yemen for two weeks now. We started working as soon as we got here (literally, the day we landed after 14 hours in the air and almost as much time in airports) and have been working since! However, last weekend we were able to go the Bab al Yemen and walk around the Old City. For those of you who don't know, the weekend here is on Thursday and Friday, because Friday is their holy day.

~ Bab al Yemen - "The Gate of Yemen" - the gate to the Old City ~

Once inside the Old City, we walked around the Souk (or bazaar) and saw where you could buy almost anything you wanted - as long as what you wanted was spices, curved swords (called Jambiyyas--a traditional part of male Yemeni dress), figs, dates, nuts, or puppies. No, just kidding, no puppies. Here are some pictures from inside the Old City:

~ on the left you can see a Souk and then in background are what the buildings look like in the Old City ~

~ more Old City buildings ~ After walking around the Old City for a little while, we left and headed for our first trip to a grocery store. On our walk from the Old City, we took some pictures. This first one shows the mountains in the background. Sana'a is on a plateau surrounded by mountains on all sides. It's very beautiful, and the mountains are one of my favorite parts of this city. Soon, we will post some pictures from the roof so you can see the how the mountains circle all the way around Sana'a.

This next picture is a view of the entire Old City from a bridge.

And last but not least, me! Here I am on a bridge with the Old City in the background.

Well, that's about it for now! The next post will be pictures of the building where we work, and hopefully soon we will take some of the apartment and the building where we live. Things have been very busy but great!