Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is at Shumaila Hari. (You know, the blue box….) A little expensive for our big family, but one box is 560 riyals……..

Speaking of macaroni and cheese, when we first got here, I couldn’t find a suitable cheese, so I used the triangle type cheese.  Then I discovered the cylinder canned cheeses (Kraft, Happy Cow, etc) and began using those for a more homemade macaroni and cheese taste.  They are good but don’t quite give you that Amreeki cheese taste.  Shumaila Hari is getting so many more American products now such as Cracker Barrel Cheese and Kraft Shredded cheese in the bag, masha Allah, however, the prices of these items (to me) is extremely high and only doable for a splurge every now and then, but still, they are here, masha Allah…………………….

Here are a couple of things that I have seen before, but just now getting around to check out the prices:

(This is from Shumaila Hari)

Heinz Soup (canned). At Shumaila Hari they have a lot of varieties.  I saw maybe one or two flavors at City Mart.  This soup is 400 riyals (~2dollars) for a 71 gram can.

Rice Sides from Knorr. Its not very efficient for my large family but I used to buy things like this in the states and so was happy to see them here. It is 600 riyals/bag and they have a wide variety of flavors like chicken broccoli, chicken fried rice, mexican rise, cheddar broccoli, red beans and rice, mushroom, beef, and several more.

This week I found eggs for 395 riyals (for a tray of 30) at Shumaila Hari.

Also, they have moved their household appliances upstairs.

For those in Sana’a, here are a few new things that I have noticed at Shumaila Hari (off of Haddah Street):

Kraft grated Parmesan Cheese and Kraft Parmesan and Romano grated cheese. (in the green cylinder canister) A little on the expensive side: 1800 riyals. Located in the dairy/juice refrigerated section.

Hershey’s Chocolate Chips Semi Sweet or Milk Chocolate: 1000 riyals. Located in the dairy/juice refrigerated section.

Arm and Hammer Baking Soda: two sizes, the small size (8 oz) was 310 riyals. Located on the tea/coffee aisle but on the end section near the produce.

Rold Gold Pretzels: 1000 riyals (located in the snack aisle). They also have tortilla chips.

These items may be available elsewhere but these are the first time I have personally seen them here.

Living in Sana’a and found some new items in the stores? Let me know and I’ll post them insha Allah.

Still looking for cornmeal. I know its here (a friend once gave me some), but can’t find it. On the Hijrah to Yemen group, a few sisters suggested getting popcorn ground up into cornmeal. One sister said, you have to get creative.

Another sister was looking for grits. I purchased something that resembled grits here a few years back but didn’t really like them. Semolina is sold here and some use that for a breakfast grain/cereal.

Well, on April 1, we got our first rain for the new Gregorian year. I thought’d be interesting for us to track just how much it rains here, which is not a lot. There are about 1-2 rainy seasons per year where it will rain for days and then no rain to be seen for months. Also to note, which I mentioned on my weather page, it typically rains only in the afternoon before/around Asr time. This year, I’ve noticed that it has rained as early as about 11am…..

My intent is to tally up the days of rain that we receive….

April 1, 2008: Light rain/drizzle

April 8, 2008: Thunderstorm, hail.

May 1, 2008: Light rain and light thunder and lightning.

May 2, 2008: Heavier rain than yesterday.

May 3, 2008 Still heavier rain

May 5, 2008 Heavier rain, hail, lightning

May 7, 2008 light to heavy rain

May 8, 2008

May 9, 2008

May 10, 2008

May 11, 2008 started out heavy then lightened up pretty quickly

May 15, 2008

Thought the rain was gone, but it is back:

May 29, 2008

May 30, 2008 Rain, loud crackling thunder, lightning

May 31, 2008 Hail; lightning

June 11, 2008 Light rain, lightning

For a little more info on the weather here as well as a video of flooding last year (2007) in Sana’a, please see my weather page.

I received a comment on my blog in regards to my Glad to Be an American post, so I wanted to elaborate/clarify a few things in case someone else felt the same as the person who commented/was offended.

A comment was made about surprise being shown that I was glad to be born in a kuffar country:

My reason for writing the “Glad to be an American” post was to simply state that this is the will of Allah that I was born in the United States and that I am not going to deny the benefits that He allowed me to have by virtue of being born there. As I said in the post, I was not encouraging Muslims not to live in a Muslim country, but rather think about the blessings that they had in America and enjoy them while they are in America and one day, insha Allah, Allah would allow them to make hijrah.

Allah knows best, but I do not think that I am better than anyone else based upon my nationality (or upon anything else for that matter). I was simply trying to show some of the ways that I had benefitted because I was American. I made mentioned of the fact that people at first assumed we were Somalians but once they found out we were American, we received better treatment. I did not mention this because I think that I am better than Somalians, but to show that racism exists outside of the United States. People sometimes think that all Muslims will be treated better (or equal) in a Muslim country and I was also trying to show that that was not necessarily the case.

I also mentioned some of the things that I have seen here in Yemen and was not trying to put down the people or say that I was above this, I was just trying to illustrate some of the conditions that I have seen and was glad that I had not grown up in such impoverished conditions. I am keenfully aware that one or more bad turn of events (authu billah) could turn my life around so that I might find myself possibly in the same conditions or worse regardless of my nationality or financial status.

Here, I have absolutely no experience. We rent and I have never come across anyone who has bought a house, except for maybe in Damaaj. That’s not to say you can’t buy one here, I just don’t have knowledge of prices and requirements and so forth. If I do come across any helpful information on the subject, insha Allah, I will post it here.

However, based upon my experience of being in  Yemen, in general, I do have a few tips:

1. Come to Yemen first. I would suggest trying to come here first and renting initially so that you can see the different areas. There is new construction going on all the time here and nicer outlying areas with beautiful homes, masha Allah. But things work differently here so its not really like in the states where you can just call a real estate agent and have them find you something, which brings me to my next point:

2. Find a native Yemeni to help you. Take the time to find someone you can trust. The system here is highly corrupt and compared to say the US, may seem quite backwards. There is a lot of baksheesh (bribery) and you might think you are paying a bonafide fee for something and it just landed in someone’s pocket. And there all kinds of loops and hurdles to go through. We’ve experienced that with just paying a phone bill or getting an electric problem fixed. I am not saying this to scare anyone off, but its a reality and you often need a Yemeni, even if you can speak Arabic, because they have been through the rigamarole all their life so they can sometimes take you straight to the place/person you need to be/talk to and possibly help you cut through the red tape.

 Here are a few articles from the Yemen Observer, one of Yemen’s English newspapers

Food prices spiraling out of control

Qat: The plague of Yemen

Water scarcity: Yemen’s worrying reality

Curriculum Reform Project to train English language teachers

Socotra nominated for New Seven Wonders

There is a nice description of what it’s like to be a student in Damaaj here:

Brief Description of Damaaj, Yemen

Below is an example of a furnished house, (comes with carpet and curtains, no stove/refrigerator), 5 bedrooms for around $350.00/month. Although not the most expensive (there are some apartments renting up to $1200; in Markaz Libby, the rent is around $800.00/month) you can find new unfurnished places in multifamily units for around $150 - $200, they are much simpler in design than this, but still really comfortable.
This is a 2 family villa (one family on top, the other on the bottom) with a small yard and carport area.

Yard and Carport areas

Living Room

Entry Way (1 of 2 in this particular house)