A Life Far Removed from Durian Trees

I don't really read motivational/love-makes-the-world-go-round/cheesy messages from people but this is a good one... A Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee A professor teaches his students a lesson about what's really important in life. By Laura Bankston When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember this story about a mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee... A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and po...

Found it! Finally decided on a sofa set at Turkish City, in the Al Asbahi area. It'll be made locally and delivered in a week. We picked a pattern and sent a chair from the dining table so they could match the wood. It's a little kitcsh but I'm happy we found something comfy, in the same colour scheme, nice pattern (S' choice) and not overkill. Our driver M was impressed by S' negotiations skills, and couldn't believe the discount we got. "Boss, I learn a lot from you. Next time I go buy furniture, you come with me." Next project: carpets & curtains. But that should be easy. Our shipment should leave the UK soon, by air freight, and customs here usually takes a day (vs. 4 months++ in Angola) so I'm optimistic for December. Ten days until we go on holiday! And then a few weeks of work and the year is over. Can't believe how quickly it's gone by...

Did quite a few things over the weekend. On Thursday mornings, I go to a pottery class. Here's my first creation. It's made from Yemeni clay and should be done next week. It'll be sent to a local kiln when it's done. I find it really therapeutic, especially after sitting in front of a computer all week, crunching numbers and writing market reports. Afterwards, we went to KFC for lunch - S' favourite restaurant in the entire world (really!). They even had Hot & Spicy! Slightly different from Msian Hot & Spicy but still pretty good. Very clean, bright and airy. There is a Baskin & Robbins and a nice park next door. On the way home, we drove by the new Al Saleh Mosque, which is absolutely beautiful. At night it's lit up beautifully as well. I haven't been inside yet. It was officially opened this last Friday. Some famous sheikhs from Saudi Arabia came - we saw their convoy making its way from the Movenpick Hotel to the mosque on Friday. We were at t...

Hmm...a little disappointing. First of all, the sushi "spread" was tucked away in a little corner on the eighth floor of the Sheraton Hotel and you had to eat it in the smoke-infested Hollywood Club, which is what you would call a nightclub in Malaysia. Secondly, there were only about 10 sushi items available, six of them containing crab sticks, which S hates. But otherwise, the fish was fresh. Then, at about 8 p.m. a Filipino band with two very sexy (and talented) singers comes on stage so if you're hoping for a quiet, romantic meal, this ain't it! On top of all that, the clientele at the pub are horny blokey guys who are openly ogling the Filipina singers. Between songs, the ladies would walk the floor, flirt with them and rub their bald heads. After dinner, not keen to go back to a TV-less house, I watched S play pool...by himself. Are we lame??? S said if there was one thing he learned at university, it was how to play pool. And I think he's good. The Sheraton...

Getting used to the altitude and environment in Sana'a is not a trivial matter. S and I don't sleep well here, probably because of the thin air. I've had lucid dreams almost every night and S makes weird breathing noises when he sleeps; they get so bizarre and loud (like he's scared of something) that I have to wake him up. This morning I got my first nosebleed in my entire life. And a few weeks ago, I had a triple whammy infection (gastro-intestinal, bacterial and fungal) and the doctor sent me home with 6 types of meds that made me miserable for 10 days (water tasted funny, no appetite, gastric pain, headaches). On top of that I had to submit a stool sample! So since coming here, I've been googling all sorts of physical ailments to see if these things are normal. Today I learned that nosebleeds are normal, unless you get more than 1 a week. Thank goodness for the internet. If not, I would have gone to the doctor (again) and looked like a hypochondriac in overdriv...

For those of you who like pictures, we are BACK IN BUSINESS! No, our shipment hasn't arrived - I bought a memory stick reader for my camera (didn't realise they had invented those). Haven't had a chance to write these last few weeks. Busy with work and was in Dubai/Abu Dhabi for a week for a conference. Didn't take any good pictures unfortunately because then I hadn't discovered this neat gadget called the meh-mo-ri-stik-ree-derr. Anyway, back to today's adventure in Sana'a. We finally bought a dining table and it came today. Got it locally - couldn't get away from MDF but this is GOOD MDF apparently. I hate to generalise but this is a nice generalisation. The Chinese got it right. I love ROUND dining tables, because they are: 1. Egalitarian - who likes sitting at the head anyway? it sucks 2. Inclusive - you can see/talk to everyone and vice versa 3. Flexible - you can seat 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 people 4. Practical - for Asian dish-it-up-yourself cooking, i...