Al hayah helwah

Quite a few things since the last post:

- S' aunt and uncle came to visit. Took them to the usual spots plus the military museum and the Saleh mosque, which was a first time for us.

- Bought a treadmill and an elliptical trainer. Takes too much time to go to the Movenpick if you want to exercise every day. Feel guilty about spending all that money so I HAVE VOWED TO EXERCISE EVERY DAY AT 6 AM...

- Hillwalking last Friday. It was nice to get out but still sore.

- Found a fellow Malaysian. He's 39 going on 29...good fun. Called us lame because we still haven't been to lots of "cool" places in Sana'a. So our New Year's resolution is to go out more!

- Arabic teacher gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on December 5. No classes until February.

- Discovered smoked beef and smoked chicken breast at Shumaila Hari supermarket - great for deli-type sandwiches! I've also acquired a taste for non-alkie beer, which is widely sold in Sana'a. There's lots of different types too (ever heard of mango-flavoured non-alkie beer?), so we've been trying them out.

- Trying times for my cleaning lady - first, the kidney stones. Then car accident while in a taxi ("Madam, my head broken but I am ok now" i.e. big cut and bump on her forehead). Then a friend from her village committed suicide and she had to go to Hodeidah to identify the body.

- My younger sister now works in Libya - very proud of her and it's nice that we have lots more to talk about. Hope she visits next year and we're planning to go see her.

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