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.
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