I would like to think that I am the type of person who can be out in public and mind my own business, but, I am not. I was reading TIME magazine over someone's shoulder on the bus last week, and the name of the article was "Is Yemen the next Afghanistan? Why Yemen is becoming a haven for Al-Qaeda" (or something really close to that, I was trying not to be too obvious about sharing the magazine). Ironically I was on the way to my Arabic class and my teacher is Yemeni. Khalid's stories of Yemen are the reasons I originally started to pay attention to what is going on in Yemen and how it is presented.

KM and I used to joke about traveling to Yemen, because, well, mostly because we like traveling and laughing. When Khalid talked about Yemen in class, he made it sound really amazing. He said all the people were incredibly friendly and asked all kinds of personal questions, too personal by American standards. I think that was the part that got me the most, because I think talking to people from other countries is fascinating. I also like the idea of going to Yemen because rarely do you hear about people traveling there, so I figure it would be quite a cultural experience. Lastly, there was an episode of Friends where Chandler is trying to break up with Janice, so he tells her he is going to Yemen. She follows him to the airport so I believe he has to actually get on a plane and yells "Oh my god, I'm going to Yemen!" in a typical panicking Chandler voice. Anyway, I always found that funny and it was doubly funny when I thought about KM and myself going to Yemen as well.

When news of the kidnappings in Yemen broke last spring, travel reports went crazy. Each one of them said Yemen was too dangerous to travel in. At first I was fairly confident that the media was exaggerating the situation, and it would still be fine to travel there. After all, there is crime in every city. Weeks passed and more and more people warned against going there. KM and I decided that Yemen 2010 should be postponed indefinitely. As the TIME magazine article indicates, it is probably not the safest choice right now.

But my friend DG is currently living in Yemen for a few months... and I have looked at her photos... and spoken with her several times... and on the whole everything is lovely there.

*This does not mean I think it is wise to disregard travel and safety warnings. It is always important to do your research!