Marhaba! I made it to Yemen last week. Nothing nefarious has befallen me, merely atrocious internet connections. Better articulated thoughts to come soon, but I figured I needed to post something up here 1. to replace Bernard Parks and 2. to assuage any fears that I might have been kidnapped.
Facts, thoughts, pictures, other things:Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world, maybe 12th poorest (dreadful internet connection = no fact checking). Definitely the poorest in the Middle East. Sana'a, the capital, has been continuously inhabited for at least 2500 years (there is a school of thought that Shem, the son of Noah - Noah as in Noah and the Ark, built this city. Also, this is where the Queen of Sheba hails from).
This is the alley outside of the place where I'm staying, right near the old city in an area called Bab As-Sabbah (Morning Gate):
and this is my school (part of the outside of it, anyways), the Yemen Language Center (those are pictures of Yemen's president on the building):
I have 4 hours of Arabic lessons each day, in a class of 5 with 2 teachers who only speak Arabic. I am able to have small conversations with the many friendly Yemenis who talk to me in the city, which is really the best way to learn the language.
So, Yemen has remained surprisingly immune to western influence; traditional culture is absolutely abundant, and there are NO McDonalds here. Not one. Most men wear traditional dress consisting of a thaub (a long dress, basically) and a belt with a jambiya wrapped around their waist, plus a sport jacket. A jambiya is a special Yemeni dagger that functions to display one's manhood as well as one's tribe, social rank, and other info. Don't worry; people don't actually use them in fights or anything. Usually, that is. Which reminds me that Yemen does have the highest small arms per capita rate in the world (need to fact check this as well - something like 3 arms per capita. The AK-47 is the weapon of choice, but you're not allowed to carry them around Sana'a anymore.). This is a guy with a jambiya:
and these are some guys on a motorcycle, near a camel (not pictured). Both the motorcycles and the dashboards of cars, taxis, and dubabs (buses) are frequently covered in big shaggy goat skins. You better believe that I'm going to cover my own Mazdatron dashboard with the skin of a goat when I get back.
Yemeni food is delicious; we are fed breakfast and lunch every day in a garden with meals that usually include yogurt and honey, bread, pita, fruits, rice, meats in oily but delectable sauces - fairly standard Middle Eastern delights, I guess. I've had several kebabs for dinner, and I often dine in different Palestinian restaurant that are quite amazing - the pita bread with which we eat our bowls of meat is literally the size of the table. And it's all ridiculously cheap.
Qat chewing is ubiquitous here (at least amongst the men), and many fellow students have already taken up the habit (I will not be partaking!). Qat is a leaf of sorts that acts as a stimulant, so men buy up bags of it every day and start chewing in the afternoon. The wad of qat stays in one's cheek for hours in order to secure the full effect, so by late afternoon and evening when you walk around Sana'a, nearly everyone has one cheek full of the stuff, whether they're working or not. Kinda crazy, and also kinda sad - average per capita income for a family is around $860 US, and the average daily qat habit can easily cost $500 a year. It's a homewrecker, not to mention a tooth wrecker (nasty green unbrushed teeth...Yemen is not the model country for pearly whites). This is a qat seller that I see every day:
The old city in Sana'a boasts a great soukh. This is the spice market where I bought some anise:
The people here in Yemen are extremely friendly. I am not going to be kidnapped. Being a foreign woman in Yemen is...interesting, however; I still haven't figured out exactly what my role is, or should be. Most Yemeni women wear black baltos (long loose black dresses) and burkhas (not quite the Afghani version you're picturing - these include a black headscarf covering all the hair plus a black veil covering all the face except the eyes). People here are quite conservative, and the students at my school respect that by making sure their dress is conservative as well - arms and legs covered, nothing tight or translucent or revealing. I bought a balto and am wearing it as I write (I tried on the burkha but as of yet do not intend to purchase, let alone wear one). They are comfortable, particularly in the heat of the day. I've walked around a little by myself, but it's better to walk with a man. I've realized the gender divisions make it somewhat difficult to have easy Arabic conversation opportunities with people - when I'm with others, everyone in the street is extremely friendly and talkative (I've been welcomed to Yemen a ridiculous number of times now), but when I'm alone, people are generally silent.
This is Tahrir (Liberation) Square, with me (wearing the balto) on a horse and Marzouk from the language center on the right:
Weekends here are Thursday and Friday. This past weekend, I visited a hammam, went to a display for a street children's rehabilitation NGO, and wound up randomly at the home of the director of another NGO here where, inshallah, I will wind up doing a bit of work over the next few weeks. It was a classic Traditional Yemeni Cultural Experience (oud playing, sheesha, qat chewing, lounging around in the mufraj [those rooms with comfy cushions on the ground]), but it wasn't contrived at all - just a slice of normal life on a Thursday evening with some Yemeni folks. On Friday, I went hiking a few hours west of Sana'a with some colleagues in an area called Mahweet. People in this country like to find the highest point of land around, then build their houses right into it:
The descent of the mountain was a bit intense, as the guides didn't seem to remember where the trail was. We were in the company of goats and their goatherds who were better at descending than the Westerners:
This is me, on a cliff:
And these are our two guides, teachers at the center. In Yemen, it is very very common to see men holding hands, and it does NOT indicate anything more than warmth and friendliness.
That's the cliff we were exploring:
And these are some of the kids we ran into as we were hiking out:
I have many more tales to tell, and they will be better told when I'm more awake and have less baby powder in my eyes (explanation to come later). Until then, please enjoy toilet paper and shorts on my behalf. Sana'a is grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat.
You pick out the fish you want grilled up for you...
...and then you eat with gusto.
More soon. Ma salaaama for now, asdiqati.
