This Week: Missing Tacos, Manakha, Hajjarah, and Hoteib

Wednesday was my first rough day in Yemen. I woke up craving a breakfast taco and it just went downhill from there. Other favorite things currently missing are avocados, queso (esp. with guac and pico in it...), veggie burgers, tofu, bicycles, my garden, ecstatic dance nights, PSC, and my favorite people. Also, I have a class to myself (just my Professor Nabil and I), which is great because I get to speak a lot and also get to focus on things I am particularly having a hard time with while moving quickly through things that are easy for me. Very efficient. But, I also feel as though I am obligated to keep things from him because that is the "culturally appropriate" thing to do. I mean I have to wear "appropriate clothes" to class because he is a Yemeni and that is respectful (and I am totally cool with that), but I feel like we have kind of developed a friendship now, and I am limited in what I can tell him about myself. Slightly frustrating, but class is fantastic besides that.

Anyhow, so after my pity-fest and reading comics in my bed for a couple of hours, I went up to the roof and ate a bowl of Cheerios, drank some apple juice and looked out at the view. The view completely mended my bad mood, seriously. Looking out at the city and the mountains in the distance was just perfect enough to motivate me to get my 5 hours of homework done before class.

Friday, five of us: Stijn, Kamal, Maxim, Alyse, and I went with Aiman and Professor Fadl to Manakha, Hajjarah, and Hoteib. All of these places are perfect examples of how Yemenis have attempted, yet again, to build beautiful structures in impossible places. We left Sana'a at about 8am and headed southeast into the Harraz Mountains, where we saw (drove and climbed) some of the largest mountains on the Arabian Peninsula. We arrived in Hajjarah where a young man named Mohammed immediately grabbed my hand and declared himself my tour guide.


Hajjarah was important for two main reasons, it was a major suq on the road between Hodeidah and Sana'a and also a place where Jews and Muslims lived peacefully together in the past. "before all of the Jews left for Israel," my tour guide explained. There were even stars of David still carved into doors of some of the oldest houses in the village, and the people there would not remove them because "it is a part of the city." Here is the oldest house in the village, over 200 years old.
Simply lovely.

Alyse and I bought some scarves and other hand embroidered crafts from the locals.
We then went into the city of Manakha were we arrived at a hotel to eat lunch, chew qat, and watch some traditional Yemeni dancing/ were forced to dance.

Now, on to my favorite part of the trip, the small village of Hoteib. This is an Ismaili Pilgrimage site on the eastern side of Jebal Messar. Ismaili pilgrims come to Al Hoteib to visit the tomb of the 6th century (H) Ismaili scholar Hattem bin Ibrahim bin al Hussein al Hamadi. Thousands of pilgrims visit every year from Pakistan, India, America, and other places. The Bukhara Ismailis of Bombay financed the paved road to the village because of their yearly pilgrimage there ( and thank goodness for that road!!).

The tomb at the bottom of Jebal Messar.

The small masjid at the top of the mountain, and yes, we climbed up there.
Stijn and I, climbing the eroded stairs to the top as the huge cloud moved in on us.
That cloud rolling over the mountain (and onto us) adjacent from the masjid was perhaps the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life.
Alyse and I at the masjid atop of Jebal Messar!!Professor Fadl
Aiman
Kamal
Maxim and I
The ride home jamming to a sweet variety of Arabic music!! What an amazing trip.

Al-Mahweet trip

This past weekend, Friday, about ten other students and I went with one of the Professors here, Abdul Kafi, to Al-Mahweet. The bus drove us two hours northwest of Sana'a through some of the most beautiful villages, mountains, and farmlands I have ever seen. We stopped a couple of times and got there about 2 hours later. We had packed food, so when the bus (van?) dropped us off we hiked for about twenty minutes before we stopped and had lunch on the edge of a mountain. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! It was so absolutely breathtaking, as was the rest of the hike.
This was our first view, and Matt enjoying it.
Here are Styn, Asil, and Abdul Kafi on the edge of the mountain, some qat chewing happening.

The entire area is extremely mountainous, and as you can see the crops (mostly qat, corn and coffee) are grown in terraces built into the side of the mountains. They are all cascading with life, and although the weather was cloudy and cool the majority of the day, it was still unbelievable. And many of the houses are in little communities on the tops of mountains, but the only water is at the bottom of the mountain. So, most of the families trek up and down the mountain together daily for water. (and I'm telling you you wouldn't want to do that 4 hour journey everyday)

These are some kids from one of the little villages we walked through whom we played soccer with for about 20 minutes.This is Maxim and I, one of my favorite Frenchmen here, taking a little istaraha.

Maxim again, but what is best about this picture is in the background where you can see "prince" Kamal looking over his "dynasty."
Tobias, also checking out the amazing view. By the end of the hike, we were all very tired and slept the majority of the ride home, although it is very tricky so sleep in one of those tiny bus/vans, (fifteen passenger vans=buses or Debabs in Yemen) especially when the landscape is something you could never get sick of looking at.

Also, we had to go through about 3 checkpoints on the way there and another 3 on the way back, which was a very strange thing for me. Ahh, back to studying. Ma' Alsalama!

مستشفى يمني (Yemeni Hospital)

If some of you had not already heard, I had the pleasure of getting a nasty little bacterial infection I could not shake this week. After a few days of throwing up etc. the stomach cramps and dehydration was becoming a bit too much for me to handle, so I visited the Science and Technology University Hospital ER. Much to my surprise, the hospital was pretty amazing-- everything seemed very up-to-date and the staff was very professional. But, I was very happy to have known Arabic as the majority of the staff only knew medical related English. And the whole trip, iv, meds, dr.'s visit and all--$30!

I was given an IV for fluid and nausea medication, given about 3 prescriptions (antibiotics, and meds for before and after meals) and assured by all of the doctors, nurses and fellow students that pretty much everyone gets sick sometime while they are in Yemen and that it was 'just my time.' Alhumdulilah that's over.

But in all reality, the sanitation and water situation here is dire. As the poorest country in the Middle East (BBC), it has become almost impossible for them to deal with the water shortage and quality (even the Yemenis drink only bottled water!). Infrastruture is lacking big time, water is usually delivered by a large tanker truck to each facility individually. It is also estimated that "Total water demand of 3,400 Million cubic meters (MCM)/year exceeds renewable resources of 2,500 MCM/year, thus leading to a steady decline in groundwater levels, varying between 1 m per year in the Tuban-Abyan area and 6-8 m per year in the Sana’a basin," as reported by the World Bank. This means that literally running out of water is in the foreseeable future. The lack of infrastructure and inability to provide for the rapidly growing population can also be seen in the widespread power-outages that usually happen multiple times a day for up to two hours at a time. Also important to note, The World Bank predicts that Yemen's oil and gas revenues will plummet and fall to zero by 2017 as supplies are depleted.

Enough on that for today! Moving on! I began classes this week, I am sitting in on a class on the politics and future of Yemen with Professor Robert D. Burrowes (University of Washington) that seems promising and a private Arabic class with a Yemini Professor named Nabil who is absolutely amazing! I have also received a language partner named Karima (a native Yemini girl about my age) who I will chat with once a week. Besides all of this 'formal' education I have become pretty good friends with the guards (as have most of the students) and they love chatting with us and also I have made friends with one of the local scarf shop owners and I go and sit and have tea with him in his shop and chat. I'm learning so much more than I ever could have imagined and FINALLY got over being too nervous to talk, now it just comes out whether or not I really know what I am talking about. The light bulb has arrived!

This weekend we are taking a trip!! I will tell you about it soon/take lots of pictures!! Don't worry.
Myself, Franny, Aliya, Jessica, Hesham (Guard), Amer (Friend who works for the College).
Again, Aliya, Jessica, Franny
One of the campus buildings, the Guest House, where some students live and we have all of our meals.
Franny and I at the Qat Chew (I'll have a whole blog up about qat soon).
Doing what we do best, relaxing in the Mafraj after Arabic class and homework.
A view of one of the the suqs (markets) from above.

July 7th, a busy day in Yemen/Womens Wedding in Sana'a

Well, to begin, this is a photo of my bathroom I forgot to include in the last post. The best thing about Yemini bathrooms is the shower, that really just consists of the whole bathroom. And when you are done showering you just squeegee the water into the drain. Amazing! Efficient! I dig it!
This is a photo from the roof of my place. The dust was heavy today and it was around dusk, so there will most definitely be better pictures, but for now this will give you an idea of how amazing it is to wake up in the morning, make yourself a cup a shai (tea) and sit on the roof to watch the sun rise over the mountains right after the pre-dawn call to prayer.

This kind of gives you an idea of how most Yemini men dress, thobe (long white robe), kufi (hat), and scarf. Often they are also wearing a beautifully embroidered belt with a curved dagger and case tucked in the front called a jambiya and maybe a coat of some sort.
This is a funny truck parked outside of an electronics store I went to buy an alarm clock at, but what I would really like to draw your attention to is the man standing on the round covered platform in the distance on the right side of the photo. This is the traffic cop who controls the intersection. There is one of these guards at each major intersection to direct all of the cars/cabs/bicycles/motorcycles/scooters on the street. Other than this (what seems like a feeble attempt to organize traffic) the roads are absolutely nuts. No stripes, no speed limits posted, and drivers use their horns a couple of times a block instead of blinkers and also to warn pedestrians (who are somehow not terrified to walk in the road as well).
Anyhow, on to the good stuff! The day these photos were taken was July 7th, 2009. Which happens to be Unity Factory Day which is a national holiday here where traditionally workers celebrate by turning their factories into places of rest and recreation instead of work for a day. This day also brought many people out to Tahrir square in protest. While all around Yemen people were doing the same (representing multiple causes--including issues of workers rights, problems with water shortages, oil depletion, education, general dislike of government policy and handling, but mostly north versus south politics--as Yemen existed as North and South Yemen before 1990). To put it into perspective read the below clip from a blog on Yemen news I read often, it was pretty peaceful in Sana'a, but elsewhere in Yemen it was a different story: http://islamandinsurgencyinyemen.blogspot.com/2009/07/al-sahwa-has-piece-from-al-mukalla.html

"I don't think it is as simple as saying the people in the North support the government and the people in the south support the southern movement, which is essentially what this paragraph says. I think there is a danger in seeing this as essentially a two-sided conflict, which is convenient and neat but bears little resemblance to reality. There are many sides and the motivations of the people in the street and the groups ostensibly leading them are incredibly diverse, which is why the Southern Movement can include people like YSP leaders and Tariq al-Fadhli.

The civil war in 1994 is often described as north versus south, but like so much else in Yemen this confuses geography with analysis. There were a number of southerners that didn't support the secession, even though they were in the YSP - and numerous others that weren't in the party. And now, 15 years later, there are numerous northerners that are just as frustrated with the government as are people in the south. The difference is that their frustrations and grievances can't be directed into historically valid channels. "

But, here is what I personally witnessed--on accident.

It was heartening to see the people of Yemen participating in peaceful protest, to see that they are active and paying attention.

Also on this day a public execution was held--I know is sounds intense, but please do not worry. I stayed far away from that end of town at that time. You can read more on the trial and sentencing here and elsewhere on the web: http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090706/API/907061086

On a much lighter note, we had a "womens party" this day also, where all of us ladies drank tea and juice, and had henna done. No boys allowed! Sometimes I wish every day was a Womens Party.
And finally, this is Shumaila Hari, the craziest grocery store on the planet if you couldn't tell by the trillion miniature Yemeni flags and banners! They have everything here, everything except tofu (which apparently you can find at the Russian Grocery store!).
And, now, about the wedding. One of the female professors at the university here was married tonight and a few of us girls went dress shopping (oh, the dresses!!) and then threw our baltus and hijabs on and had Aiman and Reem bring us over to the party. The wedding parties here are held separately, men and women, and when you walk in they hand you a bag with a water bottle and soda and tissues. Then you go and sit among the women after changing into your "party clothes." So, essentially, I spent my evening in a room full of nearly 100 beautiful Yemeni women in the most outrageous dresses (from lacy, beaded, long prom-like gowns to short dresses with sections removed from the belly area and sequined!), makeup, and dance-moves grooving to Tamer Hosni. It was a blast!

Random fact: people in Yemen love Akon.

It is now 3:00 am and the street wedding that is taking place in the alley right outside of my bedroom window just won't end, I may never get to sleep because the Yemenis know how to party...

End of time in NJ and first bit of Yemen

Okay you guys, I'm really tired, so this will be short, but I'm saving all of the really good stuff to finish posting tomorrow when I have time to write on it. So, here below is where I was staying in NJ, adorable, right?
And this is their high school a couple blocks away. Its amazing and behind it is the water and its like a Gothic castle or something.

This is my room in Yemen. The amazing windows at the top of the room are carved and painted wood layered over stained class. Much more impressive in real life.

And, Finally, this is the view from my window. Also more impressive in real life. BUT there is also a really thick screen on the window that kind of muffles the wonderfulness of it all.
I will post much more tomorrow about interesting things I have done and such, but for now I would just like to express how much I like it here. Before I arrived, I was seriously terrified. Unfortunately everything you read in the news/ on the U.S. gov travel website isn't necessarily true. They forget to include how wonderfully kind and hospitable the people are and how especially full of life and friendly the women are here. YES, almost everyone here wears niqab (even most of the girls at the college including myself wear the wear balto--the black floor length robe that zips or buttons up the front) and head scarves, but honestly its nice. I really feel comfortable dressing this way. I was surprised at how independent rather than restrained I felt after the first day wearing it. It is also interesting how differently I know/meet women here. When clothes, hair, breasts, butts, and makeup are no longer a factor you get to know someone so much more fully so quickly. You notice how they speak, what they say, inflection in voice, and many other things with more of an acute attention to detail. There is no immediate distraction from the things (personality, ect) that end up making or breaking a friendship. It is very interesting, and nice.

More tomorrow.