Category: Uncategorized

I made my reservations in Malta for Christmas and New Year’s last night. I had to bag the whole Italy thing since it was going to be way too expensive. A hint for anyone looking for a warm getaway in the winter, Malta is crazy cheap in the off season. The flights are pretty reasonable too. I’m going to spend a total of $600 for 3 weeks in a hotel, and 1 1/2 weeks of that is with two people! And that also includes two holidays! Granted, this isn’t exactly the best place on the island, but they seem to be a lot better than a Motel 6 or something like that. I’ll be staying in St. Julians, which is in the heart of the urban area of Malta and a quick bus ride to most things on the island. Beth (my cousin) and I will have a blast…

Isaac

Made my first cal to Yemen today. I had to confirm that someone would be there to pick me up at the airport. Those of you who might want to call me once I’m there may think about stocking up on international calling cards, preferably ones made specifically for the middle east or Yemen. I used a standard calling card that I had floating around. It had 120 minutes on it for domestic calls and 6 minutes for calls to Yemen. Yeah, it was 20 times more expensive to call Yemen than anywhere in the US… I’ve seen some cards made especially for this sort of thing and I’m sure that you can get better rates than that. In any case, I’m glad I made the call, being met at the airport is a much better idea than trying to go at it alone! Only two more days!!!! I can’t believe it!

Isaac

So I’m going back to DC tomorrow (at my mom’s house right now) to finish packing. There’s still a bunch of little things I have to take care if before I go and I hope I remember them all. It’s getting really close, right now I’m much more worried about the flights going smoothly. I’ll deal with living in Yemen when I get there I suppose.

Isaac

Got in from Connecticut last night, going down to my father’s for a Christmas/Thanksgiving get together tonight. I’ll be back up on tuesday to finish the packing…wow. It’s almost time for the biggest trip of my life. Gotta say I’m psyched, a whole new world awaits!!

Isaac

So much to do and so little time to do it… The place is starting to look a little empty. Most of my cds and almost all of my books have been packed up. The stereo is gone (thanks Jenny!), and I just have assorted crap and junk strewn about. I think I’ll need another case to put stuff in, but I might not, it’s a little tough to tell right now. I’m finally starting to “get” the fact that I’m moving to the other side of the earth, it’s starting to sink in…

Saw Jenny and Jaime today, just need to catch up with Giane next wed. and I think I will have seen everyone I needed to see before I head out. I got home around 12:30 tonight and realized that I needed to finish my laundry if I wanted to sleep on sheets, plus I needed to clean up the upstairs. Catching the train tomorrow will find me a bit bleary eyed. It’s funny, I don’t really worry about that now. When I was working I really worried about it and I seemed to need more sleep. Getting up at weird hours doesn’t faze me, I’ll just take a nap if I get tired:-) Tomorrow I’m in Connecticut, come back on thursday, go to dad’s on sat. and come back up here to finish packing on monday… Whew! It’ll be nice to settle into a regular schedule once I’m in Yemen:-)

Isaac

I’ll be at dad’s place today, and then I’m off to my mother’s. I’ll be back sat. night, off to Jenny’s on sunday (yay!), and then I catch a train to Connecticut on monday. Then it’s back to dad’s for the final amount of moving crap… Things just really busy. The final flurry before the big trip!

Isaac

Every once in a while I wake up with an inexplicable song in my head. This morning it was “Rocky Top”, a song I barely know and probably haven’t heard in 4 or 5 years. I shrugged it off and settled in for a nice day of baseball watching. What does Jon Miller (announcing the Cardinals/Padres game) bring up? Rocky Top, he even hummed a few bars. Talk about random… Weird

Isaac

Doing your best Bowie impersonation at the top of your lungs when “Moonage Daydream” from Ziggy comes on.

I’m an Alligator! I’m a momma poppa coming for you. I’m a space invader, I’ll be a rock ‘n rolling bitch for you!

Now that’s fun!

Isaac

So I bought the rest of the stuff I need for the computer. 2GB of RAM, larger faster hard drive, external DVD burner, and an enclosure for the one I’m yanking out of the computer. Then I ordered some more jeans, I only have 3 pairs of “casual” pants right now. I’m thinking about buying some more shirts, but I doubt I’ll do that. the only other expensive thing I will get is some train tickets for my trip up to Connecticut. With any luck I’ll actually have enough money to pay for all of this:-)

Isaac

If you’re interested to see what an American student in Yemen experiences, you should check out this blog. Ryan is from Washington state and is there for several months. He’s at a different school than I’ll be going to, but he seems to be experiencing lots of interesting things. And there isn’t even the hint of danger, food poisoning, etc. Check out the prices of the food! Living expenses are quite low over there, I think my budget will be just fine.

Isaac