I came across this descriptive writing of a working trip that a non Muslim doctor took to Yemen. I thougt it was very descriptive, which was nice as I have only lived in a few cities in Yemen:
http://www.doctorsreview.com/node/200
Filed under: Personal Accounts of Yemen | Tagged: trip to yemen, what is yemen like | Comments Off on Descriptive narrative of a visit to Yemen
If you are thinking of making hijrah/moving overseas, obviously you will need a passport.
Even if you are not leaving anytime soon, I highly recommend getting your passports now. It can save you a lot of headache in the future from having to rush and get them at the last minute (like we did).
Here are some resources that can be helpful if you’ve never had to get a passport before:
Where and How Do You Get a Passport?
Source: US State Department site
To obtain a passport for the first time, you need to go in person to a passport acceptance facility with two photographs of yourself, proof of U.S. citizenship, a valid form of photo identification such as a driver’s license, the correct fee, and form DS-11 (http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds11/ds11_842.html) filled out but NOT signed. Passport acceptance facilities include many Federal, state and probate courts, post offices, some public libraries and a number of county and municipal offices.
For more information, please visit the Passport Services website
http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html
Or, contact the National Passport Information Center by calling 1-877-487-2778.
Can I get a passport online?
You CANNOT get a passport online if you are applying for the first time. You can only renew your passport online.
For information on renewing a passport or obtaining one for the first time, please visit the following website
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/get_840.html
For general passport information, please visit the following website
http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html
How Long is a passport valid for?
If you were 16 or older when your passport was issued, your passport is good for 10 years.
If you were 15 or younger when your passport was issued, your passport is good for 5 years.
How much does it cost to get a passport?
For U.S. citizens age 16 and older: The passport fee is $55. The security surcharge is $12. The execution fee is $30. The total is $97.
For U.S. citizens under Age 16: The passport fee is $40. The security surcharge is $12. The execution fee is $30. The total is $82.
For more information, please see the U.S. passport fee schedule at the following website http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/fees/fees_837.html
How do I check the status of my passport?
The National Passport Information Center is the only office that can check the status of your passport.
To contact them please call this toll free number:
National Passport Information Center 1-877-487-2778.
Please visit the following website for more information
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/status/status_2567.html
Do I need a passport/visa to travel to a specific country?
Details for Yemen can be found here: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1061.html:
ENTRY/EXIT REQUIREMENTS: Passports and visas are required for travel to Yemen. Visas may be obtained at Yemeni Embassies abroad; all travelers to Yemen can also potentially obtain entry visas at ports of entry. Travelers to Yemen are no longer required to have an affiliation with and arrange their travel through a Yemeni-based individual or organization to enter Yemen. However, individuals may be asked for supporting evidence of their character, purpose of visit and length of stay. Upon arrival at ports of entry, travelers may be issued a visa valid for a maximum of three months.
Yemeni law requires that all foreigners traveling in Yemen obtain exit visas before leaving the country. In cases of travelers with valid tourist visas and without any special circumstances (like those listed below), this exit visa is obtained automatically at the port of exit as long as the traveler has not overstayed the terms of the visa.
In certain situations, however, foreigners are required to obtain exit visas from the Immigration and Passport Authority headquarters in Sanaa. These cases may include, but are not limited to, foreigners who have overstayed the validity date of their visa; U.S.-citizen children with Yemeni or Yemeni-American parents who are not exiting Yemen with them; foreigners who have lost the passport containing their entry visa; foreign residents whose residence visas are based on their employment or study in Yemen, marriage to a Yemeni citizen, or relationship to a Yemeni parent; or foreign residents who have pending legal action (including court-based “holds” on family members’ travel). The loss of a passport can result in considerable delay to a traveler because Yemeni law requires that the traveler attempt to recover the passport by placing an advertisement in a newspaper and waiting a week for a response. All minor/underage U.S. citizens should be accompanied by their legal guardian(s) and/or provide a notarized letter in Arabic of parental consent when obtaining exit visas to depart Yemen. In all of these more complex cases, obtaining an exit visa requires the permission of the employing company, the sponsoring Yemeni family member, the sponsoring school or the court in which the legal action is pending. Without this permission, foreigners — including U.S. Citizens — may not be allowed to leave Yemen.
American women who also hold Yemeni nationality and/or are married to Yemeni or Yemeni-American men often must obtain permission from their husbands for exit visas. They also may not take their children out of Yemen without the permission of the father, regardless of who has custody (see Special Circumstances section below).
For more details, travelers can contact the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen, Suite 705, 2600 Virginia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037, telephone 202-965-4760; or the Yemeni (Mission to the U.N., 866 United Nations Plaza, Room 435, New York, NY 10017, telephone (212) 355-1730. Visit the Yemeni Embassy home page for more visa information at http://www.yemenembassy.org/.
TJ Tip:
When taking pictures for your passport, be sure to hold on to the negatives so that if you lose a passport and the picture is pretty recent, you can just get pictures made from the negatives, insha Allah. This is handy if you have a lot of kids and don’t want to cart them in to get pictures taken.
Filed under: Moving to Yemen: A Mini Guide, Passports | Tagged: getting your passports, hijrah checklist, how to get a passport, how to get your passports, making hijrah, making hijrah to yemen, mini guide to moving to yemen, moving to yemen, planning your hijrah, teaching esl in yemen | 2 Comments »
Be sure to pay special attention to the exit requirements as not knowing them can cause you delays in leaving Yemen.
ENTRY/EXIT REQUIREMENTS: Passports and visas are required for travel to Yemen. Visas may be obtained at Yemeni Embassies abroad; all travelers to Yemen can also potentially obtain entry visas at ports of entry. Travelers to Yemen are no longer required to have an affiliation with and arrange their travel through a Yemeni-based individual or organization to enter Yemen. However, individuals may be asked for supporting evidence of their character, purpose of visit and length of stay. Upon arrival at ports of entry, travelers may be issued a visa valid for a maximum of three months.
Yemeni law requires that all foreigners traveling in Yemen obtain exit visas before leaving the country. In cases of travelers with valid tourist visas and without any special circumstances (like those listed below), this exit visa is obtained automatically at the port of exit as long as the traveler has not overstayed the terms of the visa.
In certain situations, however, foreigners are required to obtain exit visas from the Immigration and Passport Authority headquarters in Sanaa. These cases may include, but are not limited to, foreigners who have overstayed the validity date of their visa; U.S.-citizen children with Yemeni or Yemeni-American parents who are not exiting Yemen with them; foreigners who have lost the passport containing their entry visa; foreign residents whose residence visas are based on their employment or study in Yemen, marriage to a Yemeni citizen, or relationship to a Yemeni parent; or foreign residents who have pending legal action (including court-based “holds” on family members’ travel). The loss of a passport can result in considerable delay to a traveler because Yemeni law requires that the traveler attempt to recover the passport by placing an advertisement in a newspaper and waiting a week for a response. All minor/underage U.S. citizens should be accompanied by their legal guardian(s) and/or provide a notarized letter in Arabic of parental consent when obtaining exit visas to depart Yemen. In all of these more complex cases, obtaining an exit visa requires the permission of the employing company, the sponsoring Yemeni family member, the sponsoring school or the court in which the legal action is pending. Without this permission, foreigners — including U.S. Citizens — may not be allowed to leave Yemen.
American women who also hold Yemeni nationality and/or are married to Yemeni or Yemeni-American men often must obtain permission from their husbands for exit visas. (This can be the case for American women married to Americans as well-TJYemen). They also may not take their children out of Yemen without the permission of the father, regardless of who has custody (see Special Circumstances section below).
For more details, travelers can contact the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen, Suite 705, 2600 Virginia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037, telephone 202-965-4760; or the Yemeni (Mission to the U.N., 866 United Nations Plaza, Room 435, New York, NY 10017, telephone (212) 355-1730. Visit the Yemeni Embassy home page for more visa information at http://www.yemenembassy.org/.
Filed under: Entry/Exit Visas | Tagged: yemen entry requirements, yemen exit requirements, yemen exit visa, yemeni visas | Comments Off on Yemen Entry/Exit Visa Requirements
Employment Opportunities with Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studieshttp://www.ycmes.org/employment.htm
|
|
Director of English Language CenterFinance Officer and Accountant Experienced English Language Teachers –European Relations OfficerStudent Affairs CoordinatorExecutive Secretary InternshipMarketing/Finance InternshipPart-time Library Intern
|
|
Filed under: Job Listings/Sources | Tagged: employment in Yemen, jobs in yemen, yemen employment, Yemen Jobs | Comments Off on Job Opportunities with Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies
The 25th annual Sana’a Book Fair is going on October 15-26.
There are 400 publishing houses participating in the book fair, according to a news brief.
I have never personally been to one yet, so I am not sure if they have English books or not, I thought I had heard a sister say that they did have them, but not sure.
If you are interested in going, its on Shariah Sitteen, at the Sana’a, Exphibition Center (not sure if that’s the correct name). If you are heading west on Shariah Sitteen, its after City Max, on the same side of the street, maybe 1/2 mile away (not too sure, but its not too far afterwards). You’ll see lots of cars and signs.
I am not sure of the hours. If I go, I’ll post here, insha Allah on what I found.
Here is a write up on last year’s book fair: http://www.yobserver.com/culture-and-society/10013125.html
Filed under: Events | Tagged: sana'a book fair | Comments Off on Sana’a Book Fair
Here are some Yemen job opportunities from the ‘net:
Filed under: Job Listings/Sources | Tagged: employment in Yemen, yemen employment, Yemen Jobs | 2 Comments »
I know that many hear of the Arabic toilet (I guess they use them in other parts of Asia and Africa as well) but may not know exactly what it looks like. I know it was hard for me to envision this foreign object before coming to this part of the world, so I found a few pics on the net to help erase the mystery for others:
Picture Source: http://w2.byuh.edu/alumni/blog/images/blog/asian_toilet.jpg
Some mirhads, like this one, flush. Others do not. So you need to flush with like a bucket of water. They can get really smelly if you don’t flush, so its a must.
This is an average one like the ones that I have seen, but in older buildings they can look really nasty or just be not too much more than a hole in the floor. Fortunately, all the ones that have been in the houses we have lived in have been pretty decent and clean up pretty easily.
This is typically how a bathroom will look in Yemen (below), with a mirhad and a toilet. Sometimes there will be just a mirhad and sometimes just a toilet.
Picture source: http://www.clipfile.org/marcia/archives/toilet.JPG
Filed under: Living in Yemen | Tagged: arabic toilet, mirhad | Comments Off on The Mirhad (Arabic Toilet)
I meant to publish this earlier, but insha Allah, it will come in handy next go around.
These are just my observations from this year and years past.
As you can imagine, like Christmas, things quiet down a bit.
From the First Day of Eid:
During Eid, you will find restaurants open, from the smaller ones to the big guys: KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. The really small, restaurants may not be open.
Restaurant = mata’am.
Small neighborhood grocery stores may be open, though they may open up later.
Fun City and similar parks are definitely open.
Second Day and On:
This Eid, we didn’t go out until the second day and a lot of stuff was still closed.
Happy Land was not open in the afternoon, but we drove by later in the evening and it was open.
Most of the stores on shariah computer (aka shariah mogadishu, shariah sakhr) were closed except a few. Most non-food type stores remained close.
Can’t remember if the “sarfs” (money exchanges were open the first day of Eid) but a few were open by the second day. Don’t count on Western Unions to be open until like the 4th of Shawwal.
Third Day and on
A great deal more stores are open, but many still remain closed.
Shawwal 4th
Markaz Libby mall, which was open (the mall itself) on the second day of Eid; its stores, we were told would open up on Shawwal 4th. I suspect this was the case with the Yemen Mall as well; the stores were not open with the exception of a fun center by the second day of Eid.
Start looking for Western Unions to be open, maybe check on the third day of Shawwal.
Moral of the story:
Don’t expect things to be truly back to normal for about 7-10 days after Eid/Shawwal 1.
Filed under: Eid in Yemen | Tagged: what's open on eid? what is open during eid? | Comments Off on Is anything open during Eid?
Thought I’d pull together a little help for those times when you need something and don’t know what the name of it is in Arabic. Its very small right now, but insha Allah, I’ll be adding to it as I can….. And its just the transliterated Arabic for now…………..
A
Airport – matar
B
Bank – “bank,” masraf
Blanket – batanniyah
C
Cell phone – mo-bile, telefon sayyar
Chicken Pox – judayri, judari
Corner – rukn
D
Dentist – tabeeb asnaan
E
electricity – kah ra bah
F
G
Grocery store – bagaalah, subermarket, dukaan
H
hospital – mus-tash-fa
I
Intersection – jowlah
J
K
L
M
Matches (as in to light a gas stove) – kabreet, thiqaab
Mustard – mustardah, khardal
N
O
owner (say of your apartment building) saahibul beyt
P
Q
R
S
superintendent (as of an apartment building) ma-sul
T
tailor – khiyaat
turn around (as in tell your taxi driver to do so) – dowar
U
V
W
Water – ma’a
Water storage tank (typically underground) – wyat
X
Y
Z
Some helpful phrases:
Ishtee (I want)
Shuf (look!) or shufee for females
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: arabic vocabulary, arabic vocabulary list, mini english/arabic dictionary, what is --- in Arabic? | Comments Off on TJ’s Mini English Arabic/English Dictionary
Another sister living in the Middle East and I were discussing how difficult it can be to keep the kids’ bellies filled during the day. Things they snacked on/ate in the states can be kind of expensive over here and I have definitely not learned how to cook “Yemeni.”
Here are some of the ideas that we shared with each other:
Ramen Noodles
In Yemen, there are several brands, but the biggest selling brand is probably “Indomie” (in-doo-me).
They are typically 30-50 riyals a pack. (about 25 cents a pack). We mostly eat them by themselves, but sometimes we mix them with rice.
They are sold probably in all grocery stores, big and small. A big box of 40 runs around 1500 riyals at Shumaila Hari. They tend to be more expensive at the smaller grocery stores.
Rice
As I have said before, I don’t know how to make Yemeni seasoned rice. But you can get seasoned rice from any local restaurant here. Its about 150 riyals for a “nafr” (basically for a tray full). We sometimes get 2-3 for lunch and a nafr or two of “mushakil” (a seasoned potato dish), with some salad and flat bread and it really fills us up. Occasionally, I’ll spring for some chicken to go with it. They usually stop selling the lunch stuff around 1/1:30.
If you want to make rice at home, Maggi makes a white rice seasoning which is pretty good that you add to the rice while cooking.
Lunchmeat Sandwiches
They do sell deli fresh lunchmeat here, but its kind of on the expensive side Imaybe 1500-2000 riyals per kilo). So sometimes we’ll splurge and sometimes (most of the time) we buy the canned luncheon meat. It comes in cylinder cans usually (the big size) and the big size is about 700 riyals.
We usually chop it up into cubes and skillet fry with green peppers and onions. Since the meat is kind of expensive to get the big can (which we need for our family size) we usually have this for dinner with some “shibs” (french fries). You can find “shibs” stands all over the place these days, but I often prefer to go to a restaurant to get them for sanitary reasons.
Cheese Sandwiches
These are a winner with the kids. We make sandwiches with flat bread (we call pita in the states) and the popular triangle shaped processed cheese (brands such as Milkana, Happy Cow, President, Penguin). They come in a cylinder cardboard container with 8 triangle wedges per layer. An American sister introduced us to eating the cheese sandwiches with jam; sounded disgusting to me, but was pretty good, masha Allah.
The flat bread is 20 riyals per piece (10 cents) but this price doubled from 10 riyals when we first got here.
Beans
Ok, you knew this would be on the list, didn’t you? I didn’t eat too many beans in the states, but they know how to season them here. You can get a nafr of beans for about 100 riyals (50 cents) and you can get them “dry” or “soupy.”
Beans are a staple here and if you cook them regularly you will definitely want to get a pressure cooker. I finally got my first one here a few months ago and I love it. I remember when we first got to Damaaj, a sister started making beans in her pressure cooker at about 3/4 pm and I was like are those going to be finished for dinner? Yup. Pressure cookers are great and you don’t have to spend all day cooking beans. We usually make chili (without the chili powder, I just add more cumin) and we serve it with shredded Kraft processed cheese and eat it with the “big roti” as we call it.
Dry pinto beans runs about 280 riyals per kilo as do lentils. You can also buy canned ful madammes, already seasoned. Amazingly, six kids got full for lunch (or breakfast) from ONE CAN! Happy Day! They eat the beans “yemeni style” as we call it; they tear off pieces of bread, dip it in the beans and eat it.
Fry Bread
They sell fry bread at many restaurants in the morning. (Not sure what its called here, will check, insha Allah) It’s usually made with black seed. I think its around 10-20 riyals per piece. When we get it, we usually buy shamam (cantelope juice) or lemonade or a fruity, creamy drink made with Vimto (juice concentrate). The juices run about 40 riyals – 100 riyals per cup with lemonade being the cheapest I think.
Soup
We sometimes buy Maggibrand soup mix; the Spring Vegetable is pretty cheap, around 120 riyals per packet, we usually need 3-4 packs. The kids dip the small roti bread in it so it makes it more filling.
Veggies
I haven’t seen any celery here at all, so we cut up carrots and cucumbers into sticks and eat with my yogurt/ranch dip. It’s a winner with the kids, alhamdulillah. Carrots and cucumbers are pretty cheap, I think a kilo of cucumbers is about 250 riyals.
TJ Yogurt Ranch Dip (hee hee):
carton of yogurt, one veggie Maggi cube, parsley, and dill if I have it, and a little pepper.. Mix it up in a blender, or by hand. If you let it sit in fridge a few hours before serving, its even better
Yogurt
Lately, we have been eating/drinking a lot of yogurt. A good size tub of yogurt is maybe around 100 riyals and a liter sized one is not that much more.
Here are some things we make with yogurt: (I don’t recommend the “Yemaany” name brand as it tasted kind of funny to me”
Yogurt Smoothies
Yogurt, 1 tablespoon of jam (or use fresh fruit) and a little sugar. Blend in blender/food processor til thing and “drinkable.”
Flavored Yogurt
We make our own flavored yogurt by mixing yogurt and qishtah. Qishtah is a thick cream (almost the texture of pudding, but maybe not quite). It comes in cans in flavors of strawberry, banana, honey and plain. The kids dip flat bread in it and eat it or just eat it with spoons.
Haqeen
To me this is kind of sour (reminds me of barbecue flavored loosely) like buttermilk, but not lumpy. The first time we had it, we mistakenly bought it thinking it was yogurt. Well, it didn’t go with what we were having but now we use it to make what I call Sunshine potatoes (I made the name up, but there really is a dish called Sunshine Potatoes, though don’t know how they are made–saw it in google) and a dip kind of concoction I made up (inspired by what my son told me Yemenis eat something like this) with the haqeen, a can of tuna, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a few seasonings (salt, pepper, maggi cube) . Again, the kids dip big roti bread in and eat.
Haqeen is about 80 riyals per container.
Potatoes are around 250 per kilo.
Filed under: Meal Ideas for Foreigners in Yemen | Tagged: cooking in yemen for foreigners, haqeen, maggi cubes, what to eat in yemen, yoghurt recipes, yogurt recipes | 2 Comments »
Living In Yemen (Sana'a) 
You must be logged in to post a comment.