- I hope you understand that I do not give too many details on names and certain events because Yemen is a wonderful and at the same time very conservative society so I prefer not to expose anybody online too much -
Hard to believe a place I will visit for a mere 10 days already has found a special place in my heart.
But so it was.
A dear friend of mine and I were chatting online at some point and she invited me to come visit her in Yemen where she currently works. I said I would like to come, but more as a courtesy reply than an actual answer, because I thought meeting her in Europe one day would be much more likely. However, discovering the costs were not prohibitive and that I could wiggle a couple of days into my busy holiday schedule (yes yes poor me!) I told her that I would actually come if she really meant it…
I arrive in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, on 12 February 2009 at 03.55 in the morning. Shell-shocked from the trip and the arrival time, I zombie out of the airport into the warm smile of what was to become one of my best buddies in the hotel I was staying. With some hands and feet conversation and my shameful Arabic mumbling I manage to discover his name and the fact that he has 3 girls and 2 boys. GOD it’s frustrating when you (almost) do not speak the language of the country.
I arrive in the hotel around 04.30 and want to go straight to sleep.
Obviously, a few loud voices disagreed with me. Especially one! About 10 meters from my hotel window there is a minaret and guess around what time the first prayer is announced… let’s just say I did not exactly manage to fall asleep straight away.
In the morning I saw my dear friend but she being… well, a she, I cannot exactly express my feelings of happiness of seeing her again because of man-woman interaction rules in Yemeni society. It makes me feel somehow uneasy during my stay in Yemen, but what better way than learning a country from the inside then by trying to put your judgment aside for a while by attempting to adapt as much as you can and see how it makes you feel over a certain period of time. Obviously, my stay is too short for that, but I can try my best.
I am enchanted by the colors of a splendid city, my eyes cannot grasp the entirety of the beauty of Sana’a, the Yemeni capital. Beautiful little children playing cheerfully on the streets, jumping up and down, and occasionally hopping onto a passing pick up truck for a ride of a few metres, just for kicks. Astonishing buildings in the old city centre, which is the second oldest (although Palestinians told me it was Jericho!) still inhabited human settlement after Damascus, an architectural marvel with a style so uniform and precious I have never witnessed before. Teenage girls, ladies and old women walking by in black burqas, sometimes they quickly glance and their eyes seem to smile at me. The loud and melodious prayers blasting out of the minarets, so much more enticing and pleasant during the day and evening than in the early early morning!
Now I would like to introduce you to a new friend. His/her name is qat.
I chew qat, some kind of green tobacco leaves. You chew them until almost dry, after which you move them into the corner of your mouth and stuff new fresh leaves in. Repeat the sequence until you run out of qat, after which you just suck the remaining liquid out of that ball of qat that will by now have formed in the corner of your mouth and keep it there for hours and hours. Don’t forget to drink because your mouth becomes horribly dry. When you become an expert chewer, your mouth will be so full that the cheek seems to explode. Many Yemeni men have even some sort of dimples on their cheeks when there is no qat in their mouths, which are actually overstretched pieces of skin because of making enormous balls of qat. I thought I was going to have hallucinations but during the different days I try it I notice different effects. Sometimes I feel I can take on the whole world and I feel like talking all the time, at other times I just become slow and my appetite is completely gone.
Apparently almost a third of the country depends on qat for a livelihood and one magazine writes that, because of its widespread use and influence on lifestyle on so many Yemenis, it is the Green Imam secretly ruling the country. In many country, it is considered a drug and is therefore illegal.
Countless other things happened that would make this too long a recount, so I will just tell you one little story and leave you to attend your things!
On 15 February, after a day of glorious sightseeing in the company of my dear friend, her driver and the only female tour guide in Yemen (see pictures), I went with two Yemeni hotel staff to a hammaam, a Turkish sauna.
It was the most wicked experience.
How cool to go somewhere and you have no idea how to communicate certain concepts, it is terribly frustrating but somehow quite fun too. So with many gestures and facial contortions I was dragged through a series of small steaming hot rooms where I was constantly scrubbed, massaged and stretched for about an hour. Every now and then, some bloke would come out of nowhere and throw a bucket of water over my head. Well, not just one, usually 4 or 5 in rapid sequence leaving me ehm, rather short of air to breathe. Is this the infamous “waterboarding” torture technique? Interestingly enough, the person who was my masseur for the occasion was actually a man who must have been about 60 years old. I felt really bad because he was scrubbing, massaging and stretching me all the time and for that he had to fold himself into awkward positions, both standing and sitting. To make things worse for him, he had to repeat to me every instruction or change of position a few times and/or explain it in gestures. Every now and then I glanced over at my two friends and gave them a thumbs-up or my “signature” blink of an eye and they would smile back, seeing I was enjoying the little treat.
What I did not mention yet was that at the very beginning of the massaging sessions, when the masseur tries to stretch the muscles in your legs, not only does he stand on the lower leg, he also slaps it a little. But as he moved upward he also spanked the upper leg and occasionally he hit my butt. So, for somebody who got his last ass whooping at least some 15 years ago I really really felt embarrassed and really had to stop myself from bursting out laughing.
What an amazing trip.
I feel so grateful that the world has many amazing sights and people, regretting my life will be too short to enjoy them all. I am mesmerized by Yemen as I am sure another Marelli was when he set foot some decades back (my late grandfather), and it makes me sad I cannot tell him just how wonderful the experience made me feel.
I wish you all the best, much happiness and love all over,
Your friend,
Fra
P.S.
Check out the photos on http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=228211&id=728315480&l=5e55c
For photos of the Sana’a city centre just go to Google and you will see some awesome stuff !!!!!
P.P.S.
I am now in Romania in Cluj-Napoca working for PATRIR ( www.patrir.ro ) One of the things they organize is trainings for people working and/or wanting to work in the humanitarian sector, so if you are interested and manage to spare some time in May check out www.patrir.ro/training and mail me for any questions !!!!! ciauuuuuuuuuu
