EARS, Inc. Blog

Just made a quick trip to Dubai. Saeed picked me up at 7:30 we stopped at an ATM on the way to airport. I asked at the counter to upgrade my flight. He said that I should go through to the lounge and he would find me. I went to passport control. The guy called another official over, one who spoke English. Apparently I was to register with the Police. I said I didn’t know, that no one told me. He showed me where it was stamped (very lightly) on my passport.  I asked what could be done. He said to give him my passport and $25. I did. He said wait over by those benches. And then he left. About 15 minutes later he returned and had paid my fine. I got my passport stamped and went through to the gate. About and hour and fifteen minutes later the guy I spoken to about the upgrade shows up and says it’s $350 in cash, I gave him $400 and he said he would bring me the tickets and the change.

They were about to call the the flight and he showed back up with my upgrades and said he would bring me the change.

I boarded the bus, which drove for 10 minutes to the plane, then boarded. Got to my seat and a guy asked if I would take his seat as he wanted to sit near his friend. I changed. Right across the aisle a man was brought in who first off smelled of dried blood and other not so nice things. He was carried to the seat. Quite clearly not well, on an IV of what I learned later was antibiotics and wounds on his face and his leg which was primitively imobolized, was bleeding. He had three brothers with him. Saudi’s I think by their white robes and turbans. The brothers and flight personal were arguing. The man next to me a Lebanese gentleman translated part for me. Apparently the airline had help transport this man from the hospital and had spoken to his doctor. But now they didn’t want to fly him. They checked with their doctors and the risks of a bleeding wound at 35,000 ft for 2.5 hours was not something they wanted to deal with. The wound was actively bleeding and the man was have urgent needs to go to the bathroom which required at least two fo the brothers.

The argument when on for 1.5 hours. It was an interesting situation as the man couldn’t get the medical treatment he needed in Sana’a. The brothers seemed adamant.  Eventually the airline prevailed and the man was taken away in an ambulance. The bio-haz team came in and cleaned the blood and whatever from the seat.  I arrived in Dubai at 3 and by the time I had gone through passport control, and gotten to the hotel it was 4:30. I was exhausted and had a migraine. I took a shower rested for half and hour then went down and got a cap to go to the store to pick up the audio device we needed to plug into the computer we had bought for the youth radio station. I got back to the hotel, ordered some dinner, watched some tv and went to bed at 9pm

Up at 4am to get dressed and downstairs to get a cab to the airport. Went to the Business class lounge for an hour then out to the gate, more sit and wait. Bus to the plane, again a long ride. On the plane, no next to me. Arrived in Sana’a got through quickly with a little hassle about the audio equipment. Saeed was there to pick me up. To the Embassy to cash a check, to the workshop, caught up, catered lunch arrived…long day, by the end there were tempers and strong feelings. We diffused the event and are dealing with a zillion practical issues, from rehearsal in the space to cables and connectors, to power outages, to sound effect items, to dress for the final performance. Also, invites, certificates, speech for the m.c., musicians and more. Lots to deal with. ….but it is okay.

Lots still to get d

Gee what happened to the daily posts??? Well it’s getting busier, at least that’s my excuse. Let’s see, Sunday was a day of writing and acting at the workshop. Samer is getting to know the process and is working with Kerry and the writing groups. I am working on improv and microphone techniques.

Monday, writing mostly today. The place is a hive of activity and everyone seems enthusiastic and excited. The food poisoning we were all suffering from last Friday’s buffet seems to be wearing off. I was actually able to exercise in my room and felt better. Kerry and I are really hooked on Dexter now and are racing through season two.

Tuesday, Samer took the groups while Kerry and I had business at the Embassy. We got back around 11 and things seemed well in hand. Samer and I met with some professional musicians. More Dexter in the evening.

Wednesday, suppose to have final scripts today in rough draft form, which in fact we did. Some auditioning with Samer, Kerry to Embassy to do some business, I worked with Mohammed to come up with a handbook from the course. Samer and I interviewed an actress. At noon we went to a wonderful restaurants with the students on the invite of the President of the Youth Union. A fabulous meal of soup and mezzas and lamb and fish with dessert of fruit and a sweet cake know as lady of the plate.

Too much, but then on to the Old Sana’a with the students who gave us a 2.5 hour tour and then Saeed drove us home, full and exhausted.

Arranged with Saeed to pick up Chris Friday at 10:50pm

Thursday couldn’t sleep, up at 5:15.  I better look at Chris’s itinerary. Yikes he comes in tonight. Call to Saeed. Change of plans. Saeed got the car for us for Thursday and Friday Free. I will buy him a computer before we leave as a gift.

Took a hotel car with Samer to get cash at an ATM. I could walk next time. Cash machine wasn’t able to dispense more than $100.

Met with Ibriham, Kerry and Samer, re translations and methodolgies. It’s been rough get translations on time and in a format we can deal with. Samer and I continued after to talk about the actress interview, we had not had a good methodolgy and will wait till after we know the casting issues to make any decisssion. I have to really get better at staying out of Samer’s way in terms of the production.

Kerry and I finished Dexter Season Two…Will we be able to find season three??? I have Heros season one…which I had started in Seattle, but didn’t finish.

Went with Saeed to get Chris at 10:15pm. We got back to the Hotel at 12:30am. Checked Chris in, he will get an upgraded room tomorrow.

Couldn’t sleep for a couple of hours…then to bed.

Thursday was a day off. Kerry and I went to the Old city with Saeed. Pictures next time! We at a great local resturant where they lay a plastic cloth on the table bring you half a lamb or a whole fish or in our case both, with middle eastern dishes like hummos etc. You mainly eat with your hands, there are sinks to wash off in, lamb soup and fresh fruit round off the meal. Three of us for $25.

We had an easy rest of the day, finishing season 1 of Dexter…now we have to find Season 2 somewhere.

Friday, we lay low as the evening would be going to the airport to pick up Samer and then the Oriental Express buffet (a benefit for UNICEF) pool side.

Getting into the airport is quite a procedure and we waited in line in the car for 10-15 minutes and then were waved ahead as we are foreigners.  Saeed talke to the guard and we were allowed to go inside and waid for Samer, but Saedd could not. We waited about 5 minutes and out he came.

After getting settled we had an hour before the buffet and each took it easy. The buffet was huge with food from all the countries the train would run through and a huge dessert bar. It began to drizzle and we moved the table undershelter, I ate entirely too much. There was belly dancing after and we moved the table back out as the rain had stopped. We left as soon as there was a sign that things were winding down…ohhh I ate too much.

Saturday, Not feeling great. Met Kerry and Samer for breakfast then met in the Lobby at to leave and were dealyed as we need to print out some stuff for the workshop. I had found some Arabic tongue twisters on line in transliteration and want to use them for speech work and now that Samer is here it will be easier.

We greeted the group and after introductory remarks they got to work with Mohammed, Kerry and Saeed. Two of the students and myself went to the Ministry of Youth to meet with the President of the Labor Union who had promissed to help us purchase the two new laptops we are buying for the group. He was on the 4th floor and the elevator was small and hot and stopped at every floor. We arrived and waited for about 5 minutes when the President and ‘entourage’ came in beckoned us into the office. We were then invited to the back office off the President’s Office as there was a meeting with lots of people in the main office. He came in a met with us for 15 minutes providing us with fresh Papaya juice. We exchanged greetings and told each other how we were committed to helping Yemen Youth.

The students returned to the workshop with Saeed and Hussain, who had appeared (he is responsible for Shabab net Radio) and myself went to the computer store. For the last three days I had been gathering cash, so I had 200 1000 RYls that’s about $1000. The computer store doesn’t take cash. Hussain will pick them up at 5 and pay the amount for the President of the Union ($400) after they have had ms office loaded on them.

I came back and during the acting portion, Samer let the tongue twisters, and I talked about comedy, doing a lazzi to demonstrate the serious persuit of an objective, rather than just playing silly.

We ended at 1 and came straight back. Samer was going out with Saeed at 4 or 5. I got the my room and collapsed. Slept, woke up with bad tummy and migraine. Nursed that for 3 hours, ordered soup and salad,  I ate very little of it, took supplements, Chinese herbs and finally ibuprofen.  It’s 8:30 and now warm in the room, I will try to sleep.

We dropped Kerry at the workshop this morning and Saeed and I went to look at computers. EARS will purchase two laptops for the group. However it turns out that after going to 4 stores, none of them take credit cards. It means I need to get cash to pay for them. This is difficult as we are charged $5 per atm transaction, plus the limits on those for daily withdrawals and the Embassy only being able to cash a certain limit each week.  We went to the Moka bakery to pick up snacks for the break. Saeed’s tooth is still bothering him. He will go to the hospital to have it out today. Class was good and we ended the first week with a lot more to do but good spirit in the group. I think we have had 3 people drop but it is unclear. One person want to start today, but really it is too late, they may audit.  Saeed took us home with one stop where he and Kerry bought some things. Kerry and I relaxed the rest of the day and end by watching 2 episodes of Dexter.

Both Kerry and I skipped breakfast this morning. I was having some tummy issues. He hadn’t slept. Saeed was in pain from a bad tooth ache. We arrived and the morning went expected. One of the groups (the one with most of the leaders of the net radio sation) was having real group problems, after our break I spoke to them about leadership. They seemed to rally but we will see, we may only come out of this with three dramas not four.

We had a good acting class after the writing and Kerry and I both felt pretty good after class. Lots of pages for Ibrahim to translate.  We got back and did our own thing, mine being updating my personal website and setting up voicesofyemenyouth.com.

We had dinner together early in my room and watched 2 episodes of Dexter. Early evening.

Up early. Breakfast at 7:15. Saeed picked us up and dropped me by the Embassy and took Kerry into class. Saeed returned and picked me up we stopped for the mid morning snacks, and then went to the class. The groups were more focused today, although one group was having some issues. They seemed to be coming along better. We played some acting games, did a few improvs and ended well. There is still a long way to go.

The first day of writing at the workshop. Kerry lead off by discussing process and then they worked in thier groups for 2.5 hours. They were to come up with thier intent and a very basic outline. Afterwards, I took the class and we did some improvs. They weren’t the best today. We left and stopped to buy pomagranents and then back to the hotel. Saeed took the written work to Ibrahim to translate. I worked on my own and rested. Kerry spent the afternoon alone. The written material arrived via e-mail around 6 and it was clear it was a meager beginning and lacked specificity. We had dinner together and watched the second episode of Dexter.

The first day of the week…Saturday…The breakfast buffet has fruits including mango, watermelon, grapefruit and orange slices, sometimes other melon, kiwi, fruit salad (usually apples and watermelon in orange juice, can peaches, pineapple, mixed fruit and more.

There are a host of breads, there are cereals, juices, coffees, teas, an omelette bar, pancakes, beans, sausage (which are really hotdogs) boiled eggs. I will include a picture soon.

We ate and went into Shabab studios, Bart and Adam (from the Embassy) met us there. They are going to check the potential live broadcast place. Many issues about that still to be worked out. I lead a small vocal warm up regarding primarily breath and voice. The English vowel chart (as I know no other) as a basis for warming up.  Bart came back to capture some of the discussion about the subjects they want to write about. The following broad issues came out of the 2 hour discussion: Terrorism, Youth Idleness, Poor Education, National Identity.

While these topics at the moment are very broad, they will have to do the work to narrow down the subject and to target our audience of youth 13-25.

On the way back to the hotel, Saeed took us to an ATM then a  super market where we bought teas and I got toothpaste and a few munchies for the room. Then he took us to the hotel.

I did some online work, budget work, reviewed some acting notes, and around six thirty Kerry and I ordered dinner and watched the first episode of Dexter…what a weird show…:)

It’s our Sunday. I slept in and had a late breakfast with Kerry. Spent lots of time on my own, catching up, releaxing. At 1pm Kerry and I had a planning meeting and lite lunch. More taking it easy in the afternoon and then we watched Watchman and had dinner together. Then to bed. Odd to be on a different week, but I’m beginning to feel adjusted.