where is my luggage?!?!

we arrived safely in sana'a around 11 am june 12th. after getting our visas, we went to baggage claim to get our bags. kyla got both her bags. then we were waiting for my ONE piece of luggage to come. and we waited and waited till we were the only ones there. of course, my luggage did not come! i was a bit ticked off but learning from my past experiences, i had packed what i needed so i was mentally prepared to do what i did last year (to read about last year's experience in africa, go to http://sarwathinafrica.blogspot.com/). anyway, the guy at the airport said there were two more flights coming in from aden that day so i'd get my luggage later in the evening.

we were picked up by a driver from cales. the weather was warm but not super hot and it wasn't humid. we were taken to our dorm which was like 10 feet away from the school. our dorm was an old building...a tower house. the first floor was originally used to keep livestock and grains. now one of the rooms was converted to a lobby with a t.v. and one computer with internet access. the rest of the first floor still looked like it could be used to keep livestock. our room was on the 4th floor but in reality, it was more like the 7th floor. no elevator. the steps were humongous...kinda like you'd find in an old fortress. i like to consider myself fit but oh my goodness! i was sweating and panting like i had climbed a mountain. it actually reminded me of the last 45 minutes of climbing mt. kilimanjaro when we had to step over huge boulders to get to the top. anyway, our room was simple...2 beds, 2 desks and 2 small chests. the bathroom was a squat toilet and there was also a kitchen. after checking out our rooms, we went to the school to meet the director, jameel. after doing all the paper work, we went back to our dorm to sleep. it was probably around 2ish. around 4 pm, the school was gonna send a guide to show us around the old city. so at 4 pm, we went with our guide, abdur razzaq who was probably no more than 18 years old. his right cheek was bulging out 'cause he was chewing qat which is a plant that the yemenis chew for hours and keep in the side of their cheeks. it's a stimulant drug. while he had that in his mouth, he also smoked a cigarette. kyla told him it was bad for his health. i don't think he understood. anyway, we didn't really pay attention to what he was showing us 'cause we were still tired and just wanted to sleep. i was kinda annoyed 'cause he'd take us to some shops and tell the shopkeeper we were from america. i like to tell people i'm from india so they don't jack up their prices. anyway, it was still beneficial to us just to walk around the old city. the market place reminded me of khan al-khalili in egypt. sana'a reminded me very much of cairo except that it is much cleaner, a lot less polluted and a lot less crowded. the weather was also very pleasant. abdur razzaq pointed out a small joint to eat. kyla and i decided we'd eat our dinner there later.
it was around 5 pm by the time we got back to our dorm. i called the airport to enquire about my luggage. the guy said it would come tonight and my luggage would be dropped off at cales. i asked if he wanted my name but he said, 'no. i know you.' okay...i guess i must have left an impression. hehehe.
we ended up not going out for dinner 'cause we were so tired. so we just ate the bread and cheese we bought to eat for breakfast the next morning. the bread and cheese was my only meal of that day besides the date cookie and juice i had on the plane that morning.
around 9 pm, i tried calling the airport again 'cause i realized that cales was closed and i wanted to tell the airport to drop off my bag at the dorm but nobody picked up. so i tried calling jameel on his cell phone but it wasn't working. i called the school but didn't think anyone would pick up but someone did. i wasn't even prepared to speak in arabic but was forced to because the man on the line knew very little english. it took about 10 minutes of explaining in broken arabic that someone from the airport was gonna send my bag to the school and i wanted him to deliver it to me. i only lived next door. after hanging up, i kept looking out the terrace hoping to see a truck stop in front of the school with my suitcase. but by 11 pm, i made peace with myself to spend the next month living out of my backpack and went to bed.