Tick Tock

I’ve just checked out of my hotel and they’re storing my bags for me until I come back for them before heading for the airport tonight. Eek! Itsy Bitsy’s mother works for Vietnam Airlines, and has offered to be helpful to me with getting my mountain of bags into the air, for which I am very grateful. If no one gives me grief about my carry on, I should be within the limits – 2 checked items, one carry on, and one “personal item”. I am the first to admit, however, that it looks truly ridiculous for me to be waddling around with all of my bags. If I saw me, I’d laugh. Instead, I try not to swear, somewhat unsuccessfully, as I wrestle with the bags. It’s fine, though – I’ve had a lot of clothes made here, which still counts as shopping, I suppose – so I’ve got to get it all home somehow. I don’t know that I’ll be shopping as much in Yemen. I’m sure they have lovely things there, most of those really cool, old, ancient-world type countries do – long histories of arts and crafts and all that. But first of all, the two week trip isn’t enough for me to really do much shopping as I’ll be working all the time. Second of all, I have a feeling that my mobility will be quite limited, so popping down to the market on the weekends isn’t likely to be as easy to do as it is here.

Anyway, now that it appears to be definite that I’ll be going, I have to really try to be as positive as I can about it. Any support for this not-very-easy task would be appreciated. I mean – we all have a hunch that this could be sucky, that’s not a newsflash to anyone. So a little help inventing a bright side, or at least not dwelling on the potential suckiness and danger, would be great. Because it is an interesting country, with an interesting history, and I’m sure that most ordinary people I meet will be like most of the ordinary people I met in Pakistan – quite nice and curious. People are so different at macro versus micro levels, after all. (I could get all philosophical about “us and them” versus “me and you”, but I won’t. I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend of mine to get preachy-sounding lately. Sorry ‘bout that.) Besides, going in with a really negative attitude is only going to make things worse, since those tend to function as self-fulfilling prophecies.

Thanks to my mom making a few phone calls for me, I’ve got an appointment for a massage the day I leave. I don’t think things will be as hectic as last time on the day I’m leaving, and I’m really hoping I don’t crack my chin on the door again, since that wasn’t fun. But since I’m taking the tiny suitcase as mentioned, it shouldn’t be such a problem – no 70+ pound behemoth to wrassle with. The tiny suitcase could well be *full*, but there’s just no comparison. Back to the massage, however, I’m very excited about it – it will make the long journey a little more comfortable.

I just thought of something. How on earth am I going to get my visa for Yemen in time? Well, I suppose that’s for someone else to worry about. Maybe the Paris office can do it for me while I’m there? Hmm…