PLEASE NOTE: I am no longer in Yemen.

PLEASE NOTE: As of 2009, I am no longer in Yemen and thus cannot answer questions about the current state of affairs or prices, etc.

 

 

 

 

Cats Need a Home

A sister asked me to post this in hopes that her cats could find a good home in Yemen before she leaves (which is soon, insha Allah) ………..

Please contact her if you can help:

2 cats looking for home
1 black and white 1 yr male
1 black 5 month old female
 
very friendly and clean
plz contact me at 
m_lampiris@hotmail.com

700569560

“Yemen ‘stops issuing visas at airports'”

“Yemen is to stop issuing visas to foreigners arriving at international airports, state media has reported.

The move was to “halt terrorist infiltration,” Saba state media said.

The change will affect Western visitors, including those from the US, Canada and Europe, who had generally been able to get visas at airports.”

Full story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8471768.stm

Sister moving from Yemen, items for sale

Posting this for a sister who is moving from Yemen and wants to sell some items………………

I am selling looking for best offer.. 

• Sofa
• bedroom
• computer, desk
• bookcase(2)
• washer
• oven
• kitchen stuff
• treadmill
• household stuff
• Portable DVD player and more.

you can email me at m_lampiris@  hotmail.com or call 700569560

Timeline of Recent Events in Dammaaj

I’m no longer in Yemen, but came across this today about the most recent events in Dammaaj, Yemen.

Timeline of Events in Dammaaj from Madeenah.com.

Goodbye Yemen!

As of July 28, 2009,we are no longer in Yemen!  Its bittersweet for us as we will miss our home of almost six years, but happy that our whole family is finally back together after 4 years, masha Allah.

So obviously I won’t be providing “real time” updates as one visitor put it.  🙂

Insha Allah, I’ll be around on the blog for the next few months as I didn’t get the chance to finish reorganizing it. So if you still have general questions, I may be able to answer them. If you’ve written or commented recently, insha Allah, I will try to respond soon.

I hope that it (the blog) has been beneficial and will continue to be beneficial for some time.

1/9/10: Comments have now been closed.

Voltage Converters/Regulators

A visitor had requested to know a little more about the voltage regulator I spoke of (in a post on the electricity here in Yemen).  I suggested getting one if you will have American  electrical products (computers, etc) for the purpose of being able to use them here (110) (as 220 is used here), but also for the purpose of protecting your products from surges/jumps in the electricity which could fry your electrical products.

 

Here is a picture of one.

(Voltage Transformer/Converter)

This one doesn’t have a meter/needle on it. Ours has a meter so that you can see the power that’s coming in (you can see if its dipped below 220, which is  helpful because then you know that maybe you shouldn’t turn on quite so much stuff at that time.

 

Also, make sure that it says 110 on it (if you will be using American products) because some are only for 220. We purchased one that stays on for 15 minutes after the power turns off if its been charged up for around $60.

 

Update: after a little more searching, I found  one that show a meter:

(Voltage Regulator)

If you are electronically challenged (like me) , here’s a FAQ page about them:

http://www.voltageconverters.com/faq.htm

 

 

What is the difference between a voltage converter and a voltage regulator?

 

A voltage regulator functions as a voltage converter as well as a voltage stabilizer.
A voltage stabilizer will stabilize the electricity to fixed current.
This unit is usually used in countries where the voltage currency is not stable.
The voltage regulator will stabilize a voltage fluctuation between 75v-130v to 110v (+- 4%).
The voltage regulator will stabilize a voltage fluctuation between 180v-260v to 220v (+- 4%).

 Source: http://www.voltageconverters.com/faq.htm

 

BOTTOM LINE

Instead of just a transformer/converter (to be able to use 110V products), you will probably want to get a voltage regulator  (to convert as well as stabilize) for Yemen because the voltage currency is NOT stable here.

Cultural Differences: Children

One thing that I have noticed in the middle East is that children here seem to be, for the most part, fearless.

When we were in Egypt, I remember looking across the field from our house to a building across from us and there was a little girl, no more than 2 or 3, sitting between the balcony railings side straddled, on the fourth or fifth floor.

You see children here as young as 2 or 3 walking down the street by themselves.  I remember one time     seeing a cute little couple, perhaps a little boy and his sister, (he looked about three and she looked about 2 or  younger) walking down the street together, he having his arm around her. It was cute, yet scary as this was a pretty busy street.

This is a picture of a girl on the third story (US stories)  in our neighborhood. Its not uncommon to see the children walking from one window to the next on this little piece. ………………..

More President’s Masjid pictures

We usually come upon the masjid on the sabieen side and got a chance to view the south side……

 

Yemeni “Graffiti”

Some artwork that we saw on the outside walls (gates surrounding the house)) of some private homes during a recent walk………