Getting driving licences

Skiving from School

Today we had a bit of a lie in since we’re going to get driving licences- the traffic police don’t do anything till 9 and Paul’s language school usually starts at 8.30. We had to do it on a school day because they’re only open in the mornings on weekdays. Our friend, Hassan, is helping us to sort it all out. He assured us that it should only take about half an hour to sort out since he’s friends with the chief of traffic police. We’ve been warned by others that they often demand bribes and every foreigner who goes to get a licence has a different story to tell afterwards. One lady was even asked to take a driving test in a car with a door that wouldn’t stay closed unless she held it with her right hand.

The big boss

We picked up Hassan on the way to the traffic police and arrived at the traffic police HQ which is on the edge of the city. We were armed with all our documents and paperwork that might be asked for including passports, licence and a letter from the language school stating that Paul is a student there and that our residence visas are through them. We had no clue where we needed to go or how to ask but, thankfully, Hassan did. He took us up to the office of the big boss who is his friend and he took a look at the letter from Paul’s language school. On the top, he wrote a message which said something like ‘don’t ask these people to pay you any bribes, signed, the big boss’. Afterwards we found out that we needed to go over to the other side of the city to the driving school /licence center to sort out the licences. Hassan assured me that I should still make it to school for my second lesson.

Eye test

We arrived at the licence centre and, after seeing the note from the big boss, they took us straight to the office manager who sat us in his comfiest chairs while various people filled in forms for us and photocopied them millions of times. We both had to have 8 photos taken and we thought it would get sorted really quickly, but then we got sent back into the city centre to have eye tests at the hospital. The eye test was to stand on the opposite side of the room and read from a sheet which had E shapes pointing up, down, left and right. The trouble was, we didn’t know what we were supposed to say when they pointed at different characters and they didn’t understand what we meant by “Ε, W, 3, Μ”, but the fact that we were saying something in response led them to the conclusion that our eyesight must be good enough.

No camels allowed

We went back over to the licence center and assumed that the rest would be a quick formality but there we still lots more forms to be filled in and photocopied. We were supposed to have a lesson & a test about Yemeni road signs which are mostly the same as English ones and also mostly ignored. The man who’s job it was to teach us said, “You English people know the signs better than we do, so I won’t bother teaching you.” He tested us on a few but then told another of the many officials involved to make us the necessary certificate to say that we’d passed. Apparently the camel sign is not “Watch out for camels”, but “No camels allowed on this road”. There is also a sign which means, “no stopping here on wedding days”, and signs for “no stopping on odd days” and “no stopping on even days”.

Maybe they need some computers

After yet more forms & photos, it seemed that we were almost done since the licence itself was being filled in and stamped by multiple officials. The last guy to sign and stamp the licence asked for a bribe but Hassan would have none of it and went to get the manager to come and tell him off. Getting the last bits of paper filled in and photocopied before the 1.00 closing time was a bit of a rush but we managed it in the end. By the time it was done, we’d visited about 20 offices, filled in/ photocopied about 30 different sheets and had 9 photos taken each. People who don’t have a friend who’s a friend of the big boss must take days to organise it all and pay lots of extra money. If they devoted more effort to training drivers and less to paperwork, maybe it would be a bit less crazy on the roads round here.

First day of Ramadan

Today is the start of Ramadan – we know this because last night the mosque sermon went on for ages and the imam was shouting, "RAMADAN, RAMADAN, RAMADAN!" Also, it was completely quiet until about 10 am instead of the usual symphony of car horns and motorbikes.

We took the opportunity to catch some extra sleep as well since Paul was ill yesterday with bad diarrhoea. After lunch we did some Arabic study & Paul caught up on what he had missed at language school yesterday, which included learning vocab for the fruit & veg market and the fish market. We thought it would be good to practice these phrases at the market and restaurant, but we thought it best to leave it until sundown when muslims are allowed to eat & drink during Ramadan and the restaurants open.

While we were driving to the market, the mosque prayer call started, which signifies that people can start eating and drinking. Suddenly everyone was driving crazily, trying to get to somewhere they could eat. The traffic police had a supply of dates they were handing out to drivers who couldn't last until they got home.

We got to the fruit & veg market and found the deaf boy who helps carry our fruit & veg in his wheelbarrow. Paul managed to practice his phrases like, "Excuse me, I would like half a kilo of bananas" We then went to the Arabian Nights restaurant and Paul tried out his new phrase, "What kind of fish is this?" to which the waiter replied, "roast". Perhaps Paul needs to learn the word for species. It was a delicious meal, which cost £4 for both of us because this is a high quality restaurant! Usually it is cheaper.

We then went to the grocery store and bought a few provisions but, about halfway round the shop, Kira, who had been grumbling a bit during the evening, had explosive diarrhoea which splurted out of her nappy, all down Paul's leg, onto his sandaled foot and all over the shop floor. "Help, Kate!", he shouted down the shop aisle. Kate took her out to change her in the car while the shop assistant mopped the floor and mopped Paul's foot.

On the way home, Kira puked all over Kate and all over the car we are borrowing from a friend here. We abandoned plans to visit another shop and went straight home to clean up the car and Kira again. Paul felt queasy as well, but that was just because of the smell that Kira had produced which was probably caused by giardia –a parasite which spreads very easily between people and we have both had it the last few days. Thank God that Kate is a doctor and is used to handling gross things such as this.

After that had been done, Paul went out to the local shop to refill our water bottles with "dubba" water- filtered water which is meant to be safer to drink than the tap water, though Paul is having doubts about that after this last week. By the time Paul had completed this job and Kira had gone to bed (after another bout of diarrhoea) and we had prayed for her, Hassan phoned at 11pm asking if we would like to come out and look at some houses which might be good for us to rent. (he is an estate agent) Local people do not sleep at night during Ramadan, but we do, so we put him off until the following day.