Every city has its quirks, the things that people who grew up there will never notice but outsiders pay attention to for a small period of time before also acclimating to the culture. In some cases it is accurate to say that every country has its quirks, but I think that it makes more sense to look at cities or regions since countries can vary so vastly across their landscapes.
One of the most common sites in Sanaa and around Yemen, especially in the afternoon and evening, is the site of men with bulging cheeks. They chew qat like fiends, every single man. Women do too, but in the privacy of their homes and not in public usually. Qat is a green leafy plant that is grown around the country. When you pick it, you chew the soft leaves, which are usually the smaller ones near the top of the branch. You just keep adding qat to the wad held in the side of your mouth between your teeth and your cheek. If you pick the leaf off and stick it in your mouth, you can do this without making too much of a mess. A lot of guys just pull the leaves off with their teeth and this results in not only a huge bulge in their cheek but green bits stuck in their teeth. Lovely, right? Like so many things, it's amazing what you can get used to. I noticed today that I have become used to the strange combination scent of sweat and qat. You'll have to come to Yemen to get the effect. :)
Restaurants around Sanaa don't have menus, with the exception of some of the nicer, more expensive restaurants and probably the KFC-Pizza Hut combo on the other side of town. The food selection isn't particularly extensive though, so once you go to a restaurant once you learn what they do or don't have or are willing to make. Every restaurant serves chips (french fries) - one of the world's universal foods, to be sure. Here in Sanaa, it is a very popular thing to serve chips with hot sauce, which is delicious. A few places even mix up vinegar and salt and hot sauce and occasionally another spice or two and add it to the chips. I would recommend that you try this, it's good. Fuul is another popular dish, made out of some sort of bean mixture I think, sometimes with bits of potatoes and onions. I guess the best summary would be to say that you eat a lot of "dip" type foods with bread. You get a big dish or a couple of them, put them in the middle of the table, and all eat out of it together. Silverware can be had at any restaurant upon request, at least all the restaurants I've been to in Sanaa. (Not guaranteed to be washed but they do at least rinse them!) Another funny thing I've noticed is that restaurants almost never have their own beverages. Sometimes they might have tap water (which we avoid), or if they're a juice store (this is common) they will have juice. Most restaurants will also brew you a cup of tea upon request, usually "Yementon" tea (Lipton turned Yemenian) with loads of sugar and mint. But otherwise, if you want a bottle of water or a coke or something similar, you ask the owner for it. He will then send another worker or more often a young child down the street to one of the many little shops that sell beverages. They come back with the drink and so far as I've experienced just charge you exactly what they paid for the beverage, no markup. I think this is because most Yemenis don't order drinks with their dinner. I'm not sure that this is the case everywhere, it just seems to be a trend in the places I've frequented - the cheap but delicious places.
At first when we arrived, I was surprised that a country with former British influence would have traffic that drove on the "right" side of the road - literally, the right side. But while the steering wheels of the cars are on the left side similar to the States, it is a bit of a misnomer to say that traffic drives on the right side of the road. Traffic just drives. Sometimes, especially in heavy-traffic areas of Sanaa, the cars more or less stay on the right side. But generally speaking you just drive wherever there is space to drive. Careening through the mountains on the roads that run a couple of feet from the sides of the cliffs, cars pay no attention whatsoever to where they are on the road. You just use the road. Traffic lights are of course unusual - roundabouts are much more common. On the few occasions where I've seen traffic lights, no one follows them. There aren't really any traffic laws here either. Well, I think that technically there are a couple, but the easiest way to sum them up would probably be to say that 1) if you're a foreigner, it's your fault; 2) if you're a local, who knows. Go pay to fix your car. The only time there are traffic laws is when a security or police officer is present. At that time, some measure of traffic "norms" seem to come into existence, at least until the officer leaves.
If you were to come to Yemen, another thing you might notice is that almost all the cars are white. Passing car dealerships (I've only seen a few of these and the highest number of cars held by any of them would not top 20), the only option is white. Most of the cars also have a thick yellow or blue stripe running horizontally down the middle of the car. I'm not sure where in the process between buying and driving the vehicle these stripes get added, but they're quite common. In Sanaa, it would not be a complete shock to see a colored car - there are a number of very old Toyota models that are blue or red, and then the wealthier parts of the city boast nice new cars, sometimes SUVs, in various muted colors. But brightly colored cars? Haven't seen one yet. And a colored car outside the city is quite unusual. However, the cabs here have a funny pattern. They are white, but then random parts of their bumpers or possibly their hood will be painted yellow. It's an odd combo, but they're all like that.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The cats
Animals are instant giveaways on how developing or poor a country really is. One of the first things I noticed in the Dominican Republic was how crazy thin the dogs were. They were everywhere (not really pets but they weren't "wild game" either) and they were clearly starving. When even the animals are starving, the creatures that eat the trash of the trash and often a number of items that aren't meant for any type of consumption, you know poverty runs deeper than you're likely to see or understand from a cursory glance.
The same can be said for Sanaa and throughout Yemen. When we first arrived in Sanaa, I was struck by two things: First, there are cats EVERYWHERE. Literally. I'm used to seeing dogs in other countries, but here, it's cats. The second thing I noticed is that there wasn't a well-nourished one in the bunch. As a matter of fact, the few that looked mildly healthy, I've been told, are probably pregnant - thus the "meat on their bones" in a very literal sense. They cry constantly for food whenever it's around outside, they'll hiss and snip and fight each other for a scrap of meat in particular, and sometimes they sound so terrible that they don't sound like cats at all. More like sick children trying to meow like cats.
Sadly, the cats in Sanaa looked almost healthy to me when I got back in town yesterday. In a few cities we travelled to on the Red Sea, the cats looked like some creatures out of a Disney film...many hairless, some with eyes of different sizes or dialated to different sizes, and they really didn't look like cats at all. Beyond scrawny, they were more like deformed creatures with the head of a cat.
Yemen is the poorest country in the generally accepted definition of the Middle East region. Big cities can be deceiving sometimes. Sanaa certainly has its share of poverty that you could see instantly, but little things like the size of the animals or the color of the hair of a child give you insight into the reality of the homes or what life is like off the main drag. But I think that in many ways Sanaa has it much better than the rest of the country.
The same can be said for Sanaa and throughout Yemen. When we first arrived in Sanaa, I was struck by two things: First, there are cats EVERYWHERE. Literally. I'm used to seeing dogs in other countries, but here, it's cats. The second thing I noticed is that there wasn't a well-nourished one in the bunch. As a matter of fact, the few that looked mildly healthy, I've been told, are probably pregnant - thus the "meat on their bones" in a very literal sense. They cry constantly for food whenever it's around outside, they'll hiss and snip and fight each other for a scrap of meat in particular, and sometimes they sound so terrible that they don't sound like cats at all. More like sick children trying to meow like cats.
Sadly, the cats in Sanaa looked almost healthy to me when I got back in town yesterday. In a few cities we travelled to on the Red Sea, the cats looked like some creatures out of a Disney film...many hairless, some with eyes of different sizes or dialated to different sizes, and they really didn't look like cats at all. Beyond scrawny, they were more like deformed creatures with the head of a cat.
Yemen is the poorest country in the generally accepted definition of the Middle East region. Big cities can be deceiving sometimes. Sanaa certainly has its share of poverty that you could see instantly, but little things like the size of the animals or the color of the hair of a child give you insight into the reality of the homes or what life is like off the main drag. But I think that in many ways Sanaa has it much better than the rest of the country.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Pictures from Manakha
Manakha is located in the Harraz mountains, about 2200 meters above sea level. Manakha is famous for its enormous ravines and fog-topped mountains, its beautiful terraced hillsides, and its male dancers, said to be the best in Yemen. View pictures online at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=88437&id=509602661&l=d48caf606f. Haven't had a chance to post captions yet but I will try and do that tomorrow if I have time.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
A little Yemeni politiking
We visited the Yemeni parliament today. A few of the individuals we met with included the President of the Parliament, the General Manager of the Media, and the lone female Parliamentarian among her 300 male colleagues. I can't say as the visit was in any way surprising. The President of the Parliament was very welcoming, thanking us for being the "true ambassadors" for Yemen to the world (because, he said, most of the people the rest of the world considers ambassadors won't stay here, so you're really it.). We had the opportunity to ask "any question you want." In answer to the ultra-basic question, "what are some of the problems in Yemen that the Parliament is trying to fix," the answer amidst laughter was simply: "What problems? We have no problems." And after a few moments we realized that was the extent of the answer that was going to come. One student posed a more specific question: "We know that the water shortage in Yemen is a huge problem. What is the Parliament doing to address this problem?" And the answer was equally concise: "We cannot control the rainfall." At which point one of the professors got a little riled up and began expanding in Arabic about sustainability, infrastructure to hold more water, etc. The answer was not elaborated upon. And in regards to future increases in female representation in Parliament, it is as expected: there very well might be more, and there is a move from the President to expand female representation to 15% of Parliament, but it will be done where the parties consider it in their best interest. Of course you must have the party's endorsement to run for office.
We did get one amusing answer to an equally amusing question. One of our guys asked, "Can members of Parliament chew (qat) during session?" At which the Manager of the Media laughed and said, "Yes, of course, only in the afternoon sessions." This question was followed up with, "Do you see the qat culture here as a problem?" and he answered, "Yes. It is a big problem." But then in far more words essentially said what can be done about it. Another question about the large amount of water that is used for growing qat when it is desperately needed elsewhere was posed, and he said there has been some movement to limit the amount of water that can be used for such purposes. That might be one legislative initiative worth following. Since all legislation is introduced by the President and then voted on by the Parliament (with the ruling party voting as a block in agreement with any of the President's proposals), it will only move if the President so desires.
Our conversation with the one female member of Parliament was of just as much originality. Still, she was very gracious and hospitable and most eager to share about the role of politics and Parliament in Yemeni life. We also met the leader of the opposition party, an amusing old man who died his hair red (which doesn't work well for Yemenis I must say) but who of course would never miss an opportunity to talk to the foreigners.
All in all an amusing experience. I would recommend it.
We did get one amusing answer to an equally amusing question. One of our guys asked, "Can members of Parliament chew (qat) during session?" At which the Manager of the Media laughed and said, "Yes, of course, only in the afternoon sessions." This question was followed up with, "Do you see the qat culture here as a problem?" and he answered, "Yes. It is a big problem." But then in far more words essentially said what can be done about it. Another question about the large amount of water that is used for growing qat when it is desperately needed elsewhere was posed, and he said there has been some movement to limit the amount of water that can be used for such purposes. That might be one legislative initiative worth following. Since all legislation is introduced by the President and then voted on by the Parliament (with the ruling party voting as a block in agreement with any of the President's proposals), it will only move if the President so desires.
Our conversation with the one female member of Parliament was of just as much originality. Still, she was very gracious and hospitable and most eager to share about the role of politics and Parliament in Yemeni life. We also met the leader of the opposition party, an amusing old man who died his hair red (which doesn't work well for Yemenis I must say) but who of course would never miss an opportunity to talk to the foreigners.
All in all an amusing experience. I would recommend it.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Our Resident Frenchman
The students at the language school here hail from a number of different countries. Probably a good half of us are Americans, but the others come from Great Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Mexico, etc. Some of the most amusing conversations I've ever heard come about when there's a table or bus full of us from the US, England, France and Germany. Somehow in a mix of Arabic, English, French and German, we manage to have great dialogues about the West's involvement in the current problems in the Middle East. No matter what twists and turns the conversations take, they always end the same way: We blame the Belgians. For everything.
We have one lone resident Frenchman in the group. Normally I'm not one for stereotypes, but this guy, Christoff, fits the American stereotype of a Frenchman in every possible way. One of the first days I was here, he had written down the name of the city where he's from and was passing it around, asking people to try and pronounce it. After four or five people gave it a whirl, he shook his head, curled his upper lip and announced in his thick French accent, "You say it like a bas-turd." Whenever he hears anyone complain about anything, he curls under his bottom lip, wrinkles his nose and starts to sniff, then shakes his head before mumbling something along the lines of "Poor ba-by." He mocks others almost constantly, though I have noticed that if you just don't respond he appears mildly annoyed or confused and lets it go. I guess in this way he reminds me more of the resident 10-year-old bully on the playground than a 34-year-old Frenchman. And I suppose he doesn't always enjoy being surrounded by so many Americans all the time, lol. But it's this very mix of cultures and attitudes and languages
and outlooks that makes the experience so rich.
We have one lone resident Frenchman in the group. Normally I'm not one for stereotypes, but this guy, Christoff, fits the American stereotype of a Frenchman in every possible way. One of the first days I was here, he had written down the name of the city where he's from and was passing it around, asking people to try and pronounce it. After four or five people gave it a whirl, he shook his head, curled his upper lip and announced in his thick French accent, "You say it like a bas-turd." Whenever he hears anyone complain about anything, he curls under his bottom lip, wrinkles his nose and starts to sniff, then shakes his head before mumbling something along the lines of "Poor ba-by." He mocks others almost constantly, though I have noticed that if you just don't respond he appears mildly annoyed or confused and lets it go. I guess in this way he reminds me more of the resident 10-year-old bully on the playground than a 34-year-old Frenchman. And I suppose he doesn't always enjoy being surrounded by so many Americans all the time, lol. But it's this very mix of cultures and attitudes and languages
and outlooks that makes the experience so rich.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Blood Tests in Yemen
When you visit Yemen, if as an American citizen you are planning to stay for more than 7 weeks, you are required to take an HIV blood test administered by the Department of Interior Health. (This is contrasted with EU citizens, who only need to take a blood test if they are going to be in the country for 3 months or longer. One of the guys here said it's because Americans can strike up relationships faster than Europeans. An amusing rationalization for the difference...) The follow up is that, if you test positive, your trip to Yemen is done. Which I find mildly amusing that it's only a problem if you stay that long...why not test for it when you enter the country the same way they test for swine flu?...but I digress.
A bunch of us went to the Dept of Health this morning. We went through the routine of handing over our passports and 6,000 Yemeni Riyals (the equivalent of $30 USD, a small fortune compared to the prices of everything else over here), then got to label our own vials for the blood samples. After that the men and women were seperated by a partition so that only a woman would touch the women and vice versa.
I should preface this story by stating what many of you already know. I have the world's weakest stomach when it comes to anything involving blood and medication, and I am somewhat notorious for getting hurt in the most stupid ways possible. However, despite the fact that I have a history of bad reactions to any medical "procedure" involving blood withdrawel, I had to have a bunch of shots and tests before going to West Africa at the end of last year and was fine for all of them, so I thought maybe I had adjusted and medical work wouldn't bother me anymore. And to an extent, I was right. The actual blood withdrawel was no problem at all. No problem until about two minutes later when the whole world starting spinning and I apparently passed out on the hospital floor face first. The left side of my face looks like a little kid who fell off of her bike, with scratches and cuts all over. And when I finally become coherent enough to start listening to the conversations behind the curtain, I heard the nurse tell the little girls something along the lines of "just be stronger than the Americans and you'll be okay." I feel like I should be mildly embarassed about all of this, but to be honest it keeps striking me as funny and it makes me chuckle every time I think of it, even as I sit here on my bed with my laptop in hand and a wicked headache. So to my fellow Americans, I am sorry I gave the impression that we are weak. But look at it this way - the bar is low. You can easily surpass their expectations! :)
In other news, a few of the students here went to a get together at the embassy last night. In the return trips, somehow Ben, one of the guys in the group, got left behind. After wandering the streets . looking for a taxi, some man he had never met before came up and started talking to him. Ben had no idea what he was saying but after about five minutes the man grabbed him by the arm, pulled him over and motioned for him to get in the bed of the truck, then took off. Ben said he was quite certain he was going to end up as the next kidnapped tourist or in jail (taxi drivers here - even though this guy wasn't a taxi driver - are known for just driving their passengers to jail instead of to their requested destination if they had some reason to believe the passenger has broken the law), but amazingly Ben ended up back at his residence. God is good, eh?
A bunch of us went to the Dept of Health this morning. We went through the routine of handing over our passports and 6,000 Yemeni Riyals (the equivalent of $30 USD, a small fortune compared to the prices of everything else over here), then got to label our own vials for the blood samples. After that the men and women were seperated by a partition so that only a woman would touch the women and vice versa.
I should preface this story by stating what many of you already know. I have the world's weakest stomach when it comes to anything involving blood and medication, and I am somewhat notorious for getting hurt in the most stupid ways possible. However, despite the fact that I have a history of bad reactions to any medical "procedure" involving blood withdrawel, I had to have a bunch of shots and tests before going to West Africa at the end of last year and was fine for all of them, so I thought maybe I had adjusted and medical work wouldn't bother me anymore. And to an extent, I was right. The actual blood withdrawel was no problem at all. No problem until about two minutes later when the whole world starting spinning and I apparently passed out on the hospital floor face first. The left side of my face looks like a little kid who fell off of her bike, with scratches and cuts all over. And when I finally become coherent enough to start listening to the conversations behind the curtain, I heard the nurse tell the little girls something along the lines of "just be stronger than the Americans and you'll be okay." I feel like I should be mildly embarassed about all of this, but to be honest it keeps striking me as funny and it makes me chuckle every time I think of it, even as I sit here on my bed with my laptop in hand and a wicked headache. So to my fellow Americans, I am sorry I gave the impression that we are weak. But look at it this way - the bar is low. You can easily surpass their expectations! :)
In other news, a few of the students here went to a get together at the embassy last night. In the return trips, somehow Ben, one of the guys in the group, got left behind. After wandering the streets . looking for a taxi, some man he had never met before came up and started talking to him. Ben had no idea what he was saying but after about five minutes the man grabbed him by the arm, pulled him over and motioned for him to get in the bed of the truck, then took off. Ben said he was quite certain he was going to end up as the next kidnapped tourist or in jail (taxi drivers here - even though this guy wasn't a taxi driver - are known for just driving their passengers to jail instead of to their requested destination if they had some reason to believe the passenger has broken the law), but amazingly Ben ended up back at his residence. God is good, eh?
Dress Shopping in Sanaa
Tonight a few of us went dress shopping in downtown Sanaa. All the women here at the school have been invited to a women-only Yemeni celebration tomorrow and we were told we needed to dress for the occasion. After talking to women at the school, we discovered a few relatively surprising things. First of all, when the women here get "dressed up" for celebrations, they dress in western style clothing (only for other women to see, of course). Secondly, the "western style clothing" they wear is....ummm, well.....let's see. Let's start by saying the dresses are almost all very bright colors and mostly covered in some manner of sparkle - sequence, glitter, etc. Then imagine stores (mostly little shops) overflowing with dresses that are mostly over-the-top tacky. They range from the most showy prom style dresses to oversized can-can doll/ballet recital poofines (is that a word?) to what might possibly be the most slutty languerie-style "dresses" I have ever seen. Upon further conversation, we discovered that yes indeed, the more sparkling and over the top and the more skin you show at these things, the better. (Kinda funny for a culture where the women go out in public with only their eyes showing, wouldn't you say?) So we did it. We went into these dress shops - all staffed only by men of course - and bought dresses. I bought a little black sequenced dress with a gigantic gold flower sequence pattern, and gold stelletto heels with straps that wrap halfway up my legs. The entire outfit cost less than twenty bucks. Which is good cuz I would never wear in the states! lol I am ready to party Yemeni style. *shakes head* I am not girly enough for this. I am falling in love with this country but seriously someone let me wear jeans and a t-shirt without thinking such an outfit makes me look promiscuous, lol. As if I don't stand out enough already....
So I was excited to come back to the Middle East without blonde hair. For those of you who haven't seen me in a while, my hair is a deep red, almost maroon these days. I love it. And I was thinking, wonderful, I won't stand out as much without the blonde hair! I neglected to think about the fact that red hair is actually more uncommon here than blonde. Either makes people stare, but I can't tell you how many times I've been walking by a group of guys and even if they are respectful enough to not say anything to me, sometimes I still see them nudging each other and saying "Akhmar, akhmar" - "red, red." Oh well. Today before walking downtown a group of us were outside one of our buildings and a bunch of the Yemeni kids from the area were outside with a football. Somehow we all ended up playing a little game of football with them (as much as can be played in a narrow alleyway leading out to a street). Being very much ourselves, we yelled and cheered and ran after the boys and pulled our baltus up to our knees to kick the ball. In less than about two minutes, we had succeeded in creating a massive traffic jam from the cars who were just stopping to stare at the strange foreign women who were out playing with the kids. (Kids are very well loved and taken care of here by their parents, but the parents never "play" with them, at least not in public.) But the best part was this little old half-bent Yemeni man who stopped at the end of the alleyway. He started cheering with us, and stood there for the full time we played, helping us stop the ball from going into the street and smiling ear to ear watching the kids play. He also barked at the cars to get them to keep moving. It was really funny.
I continue to be impressed with the helpfulness of the people here. I often hear people talk about how they don't like other countries because they worry about getting ripped off when buying stuff or whatever. And yes, negotiations are part of life here, especially for foreigners. But I have to say that the people here have been very fair to us. While you might have to barter, at least they're doing it face to face. It's not like in big cities in the U.S., where you would have to worry about things like pickpockets or your purse getting stolen or a rented car broken into. That stuff doesn't happen here. If you buy something that is a little heavy, like a case of water, the shop owner will jump out his store window to carry it back for you, or summon a little boy running in the streets to come and help you. I say all of this not to try and romanticize the culture here (certainly there are things that I dislike as well), but to point out that so many of the stereotypes that the West has been fed are incredibly misplaced. I hope as you read these blogs you'll become a little more curious about this part of the world and be willing to look beyond the typical western news reports or political or religious stereotypes and see the people who are here. Sure there are still huge cultural differences. But you might be surprised at how much they are actually like you.
So I was excited to come back to the Middle East without blonde hair. For those of you who haven't seen me in a while, my hair is a deep red, almost maroon these days. I love it. And I was thinking, wonderful, I won't stand out as much without the blonde hair! I neglected to think about the fact that red hair is actually more uncommon here than blonde. Either makes people stare, but I can't tell you how many times I've been walking by a group of guys and even if they are respectful enough to not say anything to me, sometimes I still see them nudging each other and saying "Akhmar, akhmar" - "red, red." Oh well. Today before walking downtown a group of us were outside one of our buildings and a bunch of the Yemeni kids from the area were outside with a football. Somehow we all ended up playing a little game of football with them (as much as can be played in a narrow alleyway leading out to a street). Being very much ourselves, we yelled and cheered and ran after the boys and pulled our baltus up to our knees to kick the ball. In less than about two minutes, we had succeeded in creating a massive traffic jam from the cars who were just stopping to stare at the strange foreign women who were out playing with the kids. (Kids are very well loved and taken care of here by their parents, but the parents never "play" with them, at least not in public.) But the best part was this little old half-bent Yemeni man who stopped at the end of the alleyway. He started cheering with us, and stood there for the full time we played, helping us stop the ball from going into the street and smiling ear to ear watching the kids play. He also barked at the cars to get them to keep moving. It was really funny.
I continue to be impressed with the helpfulness of the people here. I often hear people talk about how they don't like other countries because they worry about getting ripped off when buying stuff or whatever. And yes, negotiations are part of life here, especially for foreigners. But I have to say that the people here have been very fair to us. While you might have to barter, at least they're doing it face to face. It's not like in big cities in the U.S., where you would have to worry about things like pickpockets or your purse getting stolen or a rented car broken into. That stuff doesn't happen here. If you buy something that is a little heavy, like a case of water, the shop owner will jump out his store window to carry it back for you, or summon a little boy running in the streets to come and help you. I say all of this not to try and romanticize the culture here (certainly there are things that I dislike as well), but to point out that so many of the stereotypes that the West has been fed are incredibly misplaced. I hope as you read these blogs you'll become a little more curious about this part of the world and be willing to look beyond the typical western news reports or political or religious stereotypes and see the people who are here. Sure there are still huge cultural differences. But you might be surprised at how much they are actually like you.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
"Two Americans Tested for Swine Flu." Sort of.
I don't know if any of you picked up on this, but there was international press coverage about "two Americans in Sanaa who were taken to the hospital and tested for swine flu." According to the article, the source, a member of the hospital's medical personnel who asked to remain annonymous, said the Americans exhibited, and I quote, "50% of the symptoms of swine flu." Which, incidentally, means they exhibited a fever. But anyway...
The two Americans were two of the guys here at the school where I'm studying. After going to the hospital to get checked on because of a high fever (at least half of us here have been down sick already in the first week we've been here), they returned to the school, only to have someone come back after them to request that they come back to be "tested" for swine flu. When they got back to the hospital, several men from the Ministry of Public Health showed up with clipboards to ask them questions. After quite some time, the man in charge stood up and announced, "I think no of you have swine flu!" and with that, the "test" was over.
We all got quite a kick out of the press story though. If only all the stories in our lives could be told with such finesse.
In other news, a bunch of us were invited to the marhkez of the guy who owns/runs this school today, and we got to hear some sweet Yemeni music played on the Uud while overlooking Sanaa at night. Talk about beautiful. There is a visiting professor here from William & Mary College who also plays and is checking out Sanaa in the hopes of doing some musicology research here in the future. While there I met a guy who runs an NGO here in Yemen who has invited me to come check out what "a Yemeni nonprofit looks like." While fully realizing many things are set in motion for targeted purposes, I am interested in checking this out and hope I'm able to before the summer ends.
masaa'a il-khier
The two Americans were two of the guys here at the school where I'm studying. After going to the hospital to get checked on because of a high fever (at least half of us here have been down sick already in the first week we've been here), they returned to the school, only to have someone come back after them to request that they come back to be "tested" for swine flu. When they got back to the hospital, several men from the Ministry of Public Health showed up with clipboards to ask them questions. After quite some time, the man in charge stood up and announced, "I think no of you have swine flu!" and with that, the "test" was over.
We all got quite a kick out of the press story though. If only all the stories in our lives could be told with such finesse.
In other news, a bunch of us were invited to the marhkez of the guy who owns/runs this school today, and we got to hear some sweet Yemeni music played on the Uud while overlooking Sanaa at night. Talk about beautiful. There is a visiting professor here from William & Mary College who also plays and is checking out Sanaa in the hopes of doing some musicology research here in the future. While there I met a guy who runs an NGO here in Yemen who has invited me to come check out what "a Yemeni nonprofit looks like." While fully realizing many things are set in motion for targeted purposes, I am interested in checking this out and hope I'm able to before the summer ends.
masaa'a il-khier
Monday, June 15, 2009
Pictures from Buker
Pictures from Buker, Yemen - check them out at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86729&id=509602661&l=94008cf106
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Pictures from Zakatin
An old village in the side of a mountain that currently boasts a population of four. Check out the pics at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86496&id=509602661&l=4f174baa39
.
.
"Tiffany! You keep saying this!"
During one of my classes today, my professor gave each of us a series of words that we were supposed to conjugate in certain ways and add information to in order to talk about ourselves. So we went around the room, talking about all sorts of basic things like where we live and what time we do certain things, etc., and all was well until I started to talk about my work. Granted, I didn't even try to explain what I do. Trying to explain nonprofit organizations is difficult enough in the Middle East without getting into fun terms like "grassroots mobilization." The only thing I attemped to communicate about my work is that back in the United States, I work most of the time in an office from about 8 or 9am to 5pm (sure we all work at home too and no one only works 8/9-5, but again...my Arabic vocabulary isn't there yet). My grammar construction was going along just fine until we got to the last part of my sentence about work. My professor kept shaking his head, and he would ask me to repeat something. Then he would ask it in a different way. (These are Arabic-only classes unless the professor absolutely cannot communicate the meaning of something through your existing Arabic vocaulary or through pictures. They're quite adept at this, I must say...it's impressive.) Finally, after several minutes, our exchange ended like this - in English:
Professor: "Ahhhhh, Tiffany!" (he said it exactly like that too, it was pretty hilarious)
Me, mildly frustrated: "What am I missing??"
Professor: "You keep saying you work from 8-5! You keep saying this."
Me: "How else am I supposed to say that?"
Professor: "No, you say it correct, but you keep saying you work from 8-5."
Me: "I do."
And I wish I could describe to you the look of utter confusion and surprise that spread across his face at that moment. It was almost comical. After what felt like a full minute of silence, he said, "This is correct? You work from 8-5?" "Na'am." ("Yes" in Arabic.) After another pause his eyebrows raised slightly and then he said softly and simply, "Oh."
And with that, he stood up, turned around and started talking about something else.
That whole exchange sparked a conversation between me and some of my fellow language students about what sort of hours Yemeni people work. Were those hours strange because I am a female, or is that really considered a long day? I have noticed that oftentimes there are different people working at a shop from one hour to the next. Likely they are all men from the same family. Often you walk into a shop and there's no one there, but the man in charge is never far and always shows up right when you walk inside. Occasionally even a woman or young female child will be around to help if a woman comes into the shop. But at any rate, I really don't know what a typical work day is. I DO know that Yemenis make sure to carve out several hours a day to chew qat....
You never know what differences in culture will end up surprising people.
Professor: "Ahhhhh, Tiffany!" (he said it exactly like that too, it was pretty hilarious)
Me, mildly frustrated: "What am I missing??"
Professor: "You keep saying you work from 8-5! You keep saying this."
Me: "How else am I supposed to say that?"
Professor: "No, you say it correct, but you keep saying you work from 8-5."
Me: "I do."
And I wish I could describe to you the look of utter confusion and surprise that spread across his face at that moment. It was almost comical. After what felt like a full minute of silence, he said, "This is correct? You work from 8-5?" "Na'am." ("Yes" in Arabic.) After another pause his eyebrows raised slightly and then he said softly and simply, "Oh."
And with that, he stood up, turned around and started talking about something else.
That whole exchange sparked a conversation between me and some of my fellow language students about what sort of hours Yemeni people work. Were those hours strange because I am a female, or is that really considered a long day? I have noticed that oftentimes there are different people working at a shop from one hour to the next. Likely they are all men from the same family. Often you walk into a shop and there's no one there, but the man in charge is never far and always shows up right when you walk inside. Occasionally even a woman or young female child will be around to help if a woman comes into the shop. But at any rate, I really don't know what a typical work day is. I DO know that Yemenis make sure to carve out several hours a day to chew qat....
You never know what differences in culture will end up surprising people.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Pictures from Hababah, Yemen
Here's the link to my first set of pictures from Yemen - they're of Hababah, an old Yemeni city.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86319&id=509602661&l=10a258a455
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86319&id=509602661&l=10a258a455
Friday at Hababah, Zakatin wa Buker
Friday is the equivalent of a Sunday in the United States - the religious day and the day when all the schools are closed. We didn't have Arabic classes today, but our professors didn't get the day off. Instead, they took us up into the mountains. Some of my fellow students and I spent the day in the Haraz Mountains and visited three particular sites.
Hababah - a city that lies on the Shibam plain between Thula and Shibam. People still live in this ancient city, though I think most of the houses and rooms are abandoned. It was like a walk back in time, like the secenary from some old movie. I'm going to try and post pictures of all of these places soon, so watch for them. And we got to sit through our first Yemeni security checkpoint on the way there...talk about exciting, lol.
Zakatin - a small village with a fortress that has a population of four. (Literally. We met them all. They were very friendly and the wife even prepared and served us all shay (tea) with mint, the common Yemeni beverage of choice. It's so sweet I think even U.S. southerners might not be the biggest fans...but I could be wrong about that.) The fortress is now used to house animals and seeds. Again, amazing pictures to come. Both of these cities/fortresses are made out of stone and rocks but for some reason have elaborate and colorful doors throughout, and all are locked with padlocks. Usually one person carries around all the keys on his belt or in her butla. We found it funny that the doors were locked, because the Yemeni people don't seem to steal from or cheat each other on much of anything. Plus it's not like tourists are taking over Yemen these days. Maybe as a precaution against the powers that be, who knows.
Buker - an historical village, in front of Zakatin, not far from Kowkaban, perched on top of a rocky "hill" (as the locals call it...but it was a little more than a hill in my opinion and you'll probably agree when you see the photographs!). Buker is famous for its houses that are built into the sides of the cliff. Buker was essentially destroyed during Yemen's civil war in the 1970s. But today, there is a new village built over the mountains in front of the old village. When you climb up to Buker, the view is beyond amazing - reminded me of the Grand Canyon in many ways, but really more beautiful. Apparently this village was very important in the history of Yemen as a lot of Immams and rulers were born and died here. We were joined by a handful of little kids who scamper over the sides of the mountains with no problem, many of them barefoot. It was one of the longest walks I've ever taken for the sake of lunch, lol (a few of the guys carried a cooler up and down and up again through the mountain pass to get to the other side) but totally and one hundred percent worth the effort. One of the guys checked the altitude when we were not quite at the height of the mountain and we were 3000 kilometers above sea level, so I think we got close to 10,000 feet above sea level altogether. I even got to the point where I quit noticing that I was walking on shifting rocks that were often less than a foot from the side of the mountain drop off. Not too bad I guess. My balance must be getting better. :)
I am going to try and post pictures on my Facebook page and will post a link here when they are available.
Hababah - a city that lies on the Shibam plain between Thula and Shibam. People still live in this ancient city, though I think most of the houses and rooms are abandoned. It was like a walk back in time, like the secenary from some old movie. I'm going to try and post pictures of all of these places soon, so watch for them. And we got to sit through our first Yemeni security checkpoint on the way there...talk about exciting, lol.
Zakatin - a small village with a fortress that has a population of four. (Literally. We met them all. They were very friendly and the wife even prepared and served us all shay (tea) with mint, the common Yemeni beverage of choice. It's so sweet I think even U.S. southerners might not be the biggest fans...but I could be wrong about that.) The fortress is now used to house animals and seeds. Again, amazing pictures to come. Both of these cities/fortresses are made out of stone and rocks but for some reason have elaborate and colorful doors throughout, and all are locked with padlocks. Usually one person carries around all the keys on his belt or in her butla. We found it funny that the doors were locked, because the Yemeni people don't seem to steal from or cheat each other on much of anything. Plus it's not like tourists are taking over Yemen these days. Maybe as a precaution against the powers that be, who knows.
Buker - an historical village, in front of Zakatin, not far from Kowkaban, perched on top of a rocky "hill" (as the locals call it...but it was a little more than a hill in my opinion and you'll probably agree when you see the photographs!). Buker is famous for its houses that are built into the sides of the cliff. Buker was essentially destroyed during Yemen's civil war in the 1970s. But today, there is a new village built over the mountains in front of the old village. When you climb up to Buker, the view is beyond amazing - reminded me of the Grand Canyon in many ways, but really more beautiful. Apparently this village was very important in the history of Yemen as a lot of Immams and rulers were born and died here. We were joined by a handful of little kids who scamper over the sides of the mountains with no problem, many of them barefoot. It was one of the longest walks I've ever taken for the sake of lunch, lol (a few of the guys carried a cooler up and down and up again through the mountain pass to get to the other side) but totally and one hundred percent worth the effort. One of the guys checked the altitude when we were not quite at the height of the mountain and we were 3000 kilometers above sea level, so I think we got close to 10,000 feet above sea level altogether. I even got to the point where I quit noticing that I was walking on shifting rocks that were often less than a foot from the side of the mountain drop off. Not too bad I guess. My balance must be getting better. :)
I am going to try and post pictures on my Facebook page and will post a link here when they are available.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Hospitality and Gender Relations
Among those of us who have travelled around a few parts of the Middle East, we have a general conensus: Yemenis are the friendliest people in the region and really take hospitality to a new level. It is not unusual here for a Yemeni shopowner to buy drinks for all the people in his shop. Of course there is an expectation that at least one person in the group will buy something, but unlike many other places, he doesn't attempt to rip you off. There are a number of different people from this part of our city who have met some of the students here and invited them to dinner or tea or to chew qat. You can ask anyone for help and they will help you. There is some bartering over prices but it is limited. Banks don't charge for exchanging money and always give you the correct rate; kids on the street will walk you somewhere if you get lost. And despite the fact that all the men walk around with jambias tied in their belts (a jambia is a J-shaped knife or dagger that portrays a man's family and class stature according to its ornamentation) and certainly sometimes make comments to the Western women (mostly just the commonly-known phrase "-ello, welcome to Yemen!" but also the occasional Arabic-accented "Oh my gawd," which I have to admit is mildly funny - probably had to be there), even the men are mostly respectful and will answer any question you may have. Yemenis are soft-spoken people, almost sultry in the way they speak. In that way they remind me a little of the Tamashek people in West Africa (JD, maybe you know what I'm talking about?).
So hospitality is certainly a characteristic of the Yemeni culture. It is interesting then to note how they act within their own culture - specifically with gender relations between the men and women.
Although many women have jobs, it is almost always "behind the scenes" kind of work. For example, here at this university, all of the teachers are male. The dean in charge of placing students in classes is a female, but she does not conduct classes herself. Many women work in the office and provide support, but the only two women that have a more prominent role - directing student affairs, essentially - are both Westerners. (One of them mentioned that since she has been here, she has seen three motorcycle accidents from men who were so busy staring at her blonde hair they just forgot they were on the street and rode right into a truck.) Tonight one of my fellow students and I ventured into the busy section of the old city to grab dinner. Most restaurants are small and have a men's section dowstairs and a women's section upstairs. The women's section is always older and they serve them last. But all the people working in restaurants are always male. I'm told some places have "mixed" seating, which means they have booths for families with curtains that can be drawn between the booths to ensure that men from one family don't see the women from another family. Yemeni women are notoriously curious, but only in the safety of the homes apparently. When walking around outside they always look straight at the ground.
And, like many other Middle Eastern countries, one of the cultural norms that makes Westerners uncomfortable is the common practice of holding hands everywhere you go. Grown men will hold hands with their male friends as they stroll down the street, and the same goes for women and teenagers of both sexes. They're not gay (homosexuality is illegal here); it's simply a cultural norm.
Today we had our first official "Qat" gathering. Welcome to the ultimate Yemeni social networking time. I would like to say that, despite the obvious popularity of qat, I'm not sure if I'll get used to seeing grown men walking around all the time smiling with bulging cheeks and green teeth. We'll see. More on the Qat culture to come. :)
So hospitality is certainly a characteristic of the Yemeni culture. It is interesting then to note how they act within their own culture - specifically with gender relations between the men and women.
Although many women have jobs, it is almost always "behind the scenes" kind of work. For example, here at this university, all of the teachers are male. The dean in charge of placing students in classes is a female, but she does not conduct classes herself. Many women work in the office and provide support, but the only two women that have a more prominent role - directing student affairs, essentially - are both Westerners. (One of them mentioned that since she has been here, she has seen three motorcycle accidents from men who were so busy staring at her blonde hair they just forgot they were on the street and rode right into a truck.) Tonight one of my fellow students and I ventured into the busy section of the old city to grab dinner. Most restaurants are small and have a men's section dowstairs and a women's section upstairs. The women's section is always older and they serve them last. But all the people working in restaurants are always male. I'm told some places have "mixed" seating, which means they have booths for families with curtains that can be drawn between the booths to ensure that men from one family don't see the women from another family. Yemeni women are notoriously curious, but only in the safety of the homes apparently. When walking around outside they always look straight at the ground.
And, like many other Middle Eastern countries, one of the cultural norms that makes Westerners uncomfortable is the common practice of holding hands everywhere you go. Grown men will hold hands with their male friends as they stroll down the street, and the same goes for women and teenagers of both sexes. They're not gay (homosexuality is illegal here); it's simply a cultural norm.
Today we had our first official "Qat" gathering. Welcome to the ultimate Yemeni social networking time. I would like to say that, despite the obvious popularity of qat, I'm not sure if I'll get used to seeing grown men walking around all the time smiling with bulging cheeks and green teeth. We'll see. More on the Qat culture to come. :)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Fii al-Yemen
Ironically, I have access to facebook here but the blogger access is sketchy at best. If I can get it to work I'll update in both places, but for now I guess my updates will come via FB.
I haven't taken any pictures yet because people here aren't very fond of them and I would prefer to make a few friends before snapping pictures. But to give you a taste of the way Sanaa looks, think of buildings made of stone that range in height from one to maybe six or up to eight stories. Amusingly, none of them seems to be particularly straight. A look at any of the buildings will reveal walls and roofs and all go at slightly different angles. I wouldn't be surprised at such structure for buildings built into the sides of mountains (as is the case with many buildings in Yemen) but it seems a little comical for those built in the city. However, for a city that claims to have existed for the past 2500 years and according to tradition was founded by Shem (Noah's son), I suppose the mere fact that so many of these buildings have continued on in their present form for so long more than makes up for being a little crooked.
The old city of Sanaa is not far from our buildings and a couple of us went there today. You can find many marketplaces in this area, as well as a large and beautiful mosque. Food is very cheap. A group of five of us ate a great dinner of hubz, dijaj, foula, ruz wa coca-cola (bread, chicken, foula - a dip type dish (for lack of a better explanation) made with lentils and other vegetables) rices and, well - coca-cola. The meal was far more than we could eat and cost a total of $7.50. For all the germaphobes in the world, Yemenia dining may not be for you. The waiter brought out a plastic sheet (sort of like a flat garbage bag), tossed it over most of the table, and tossed the bread on top. Everything you eat with your hands. Actually relatively clean by ME standards but it wouldn't pass any health inspector test in the U.S., that's for sure. Other goods are also pretty cheap. One of my roommates bought a beautifully designed cashmere scarf at a local shop and it cost her the equivalent of $5 USD, without much bartering at all. I bought the traditional Yemeni dress today, the complete outfit (meaning I can manage to walk outside with only my eyes showing). This outfit is usually only worn by women when they go outside the house. Inside they wear pants, jeans, skirts, just like women in many other countries. In fact, when they walk down the street, you can usually see the jeans peaking out from the bottom of their butla (dress). Just an interesting note since I don't think most people realize that.
Arabic classes have started as well. The Yemenis speak a dialect of Arabic very close to fusHa (the written form), which is nice. They do however have a few of their own conjugation patterns and they also speak very softly, with no hard consonents. That's a little different from the way I had been learning so I'm having to relearn to speak quite a bit, but it's fun.
My fellow Taaliba al-lugha al-Arabiia (Arabic language students) run quite the array of student interests or occupations. We have an associate dean from Harvard, a grad student from Mexico City who played piano in the national symphony, a guy from Great Britain who is working to build banking infrastructure in Iraq, several students from various disciplines, etc. Makes for conversation that is never boring.
One last note for the night. There is a deaf man who sells "lighters" on the steps of one of the popular streets in one of the main marketplaces. By "lighters" I essentially means something that looks exactly like a lighter from the outside, but is actually a tiny flashlight that projects an image onto wherever you shine it. The man is deaf so he communicates what he's selling by hand motions. A few of my fellow students met him yesterday when he was making a sign of hanging himself with a noose. Upon closer inspection they found he was selling lighters with Saddam's picture. Only fifty cents.
Rolling power outages are common throughout Yemen and usually happen multiple times a day. When the power goes out it takes the internet with it, and this is about the time of night when those outages take place, so I'm signing off. Anyway it is time for me to catch up on sleep - a total of about eight hours over the last three days is not quite enough for this Imbara'a. Good night!
I haven't taken any pictures yet because people here aren't very fond of them and I would prefer to make a few friends before snapping pictures. But to give you a taste of the way Sanaa looks, think of buildings made of stone that range in height from one to maybe six or up to eight stories. Amusingly, none of them seems to be particularly straight. A look at any of the buildings will reveal walls and roofs and all go at slightly different angles. I wouldn't be surprised at such structure for buildings built into the sides of mountains (as is the case with many buildings in Yemen) but it seems a little comical for those built in the city. However, for a city that claims to have existed for the past 2500 years and according to tradition was founded by Shem (Noah's son), I suppose the mere fact that so many of these buildings have continued on in their present form for so long more than makes up for being a little crooked.
The old city of Sanaa is not far from our buildings and a couple of us went there today. You can find many marketplaces in this area, as well as a large and beautiful mosque. Food is very cheap. A group of five of us ate a great dinner of hubz, dijaj, foula, ruz wa coca-cola (bread, chicken, foula - a dip type dish (for lack of a better explanation) made with lentils and other vegetables) rices and, well - coca-cola. The meal was far more than we could eat and cost a total of $7.50. For all the germaphobes in the world, Yemenia dining may not be for you. The waiter brought out a plastic sheet (sort of like a flat garbage bag), tossed it over most of the table, and tossed the bread on top. Everything you eat with your hands. Actually relatively clean by ME standards but it wouldn't pass any health inspector test in the U.S., that's for sure. Other goods are also pretty cheap. One of my roommates bought a beautifully designed cashmere scarf at a local shop and it cost her the equivalent of $5 USD, without much bartering at all. I bought the traditional Yemeni dress today, the complete outfit (meaning I can manage to walk outside with only my eyes showing). This outfit is usually only worn by women when they go outside the house. Inside they wear pants, jeans, skirts, just like women in many other countries. In fact, when they walk down the street, you can usually see the jeans peaking out from the bottom of their butla (dress). Just an interesting note since I don't think most people realize that.
Arabic classes have started as well. The Yemenis speak a dialect of Arabic very close to fusHa (the written form), which is nice. They do however have a few of their own conjugation patterns and they also speak very softly, with no hard consonents. That's a little different from the way I had been learning so I'm having to relearn to speak quite a bit, but it's fun.
My fellow Taaliba al-lugha al-Arabiia (Arabic language students) run quite the array of student interests or occupations. We have an associate dean from Harvard, a grad student from Mexico City who played piano in the national symphony, a guy from Great Britain who is working to build banking infrastructure in Iraq, several students from various disciplines, etc. Makes for conversation that is never boring.
One last note for the night. There is a deaf man who sells "lighters" on the steps of one of the popular streets in one of the main marketplaces. By "lighters" I essentially means something that looks exactly like a lighter from the outside, but is actually a tiny flashlight that projects an image onto wherever you shine it. The man is deaf so he communicates what he's selling by hand motions. A few of my fellow students met him yesterday when he was making a sign of hanging himself with a noose. Upon closer inspection they found he was selling lighters with Saddam's picture. Only fifty cents.
Rolling power outages are common throughout Yemen and usually happen multiple times a day. When the power goes out it takes the internet with it, and this is about the time of night when those outages take place, so I'm signing off. Anyway it is time for me to catch up on sleep - a total of about eight hours over the last three days is not quite enough for this Imbara'a. Good night!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
