Johanne on the Road

Since Natasha complained yesterday that I haven’t been writing for a long time and that I haven’t even written that I am back again in Europe and about to stay for a little while! Eh oui!

Presently I am in Brussels and I enjoy walking around in this great city. Unfortunately, the weather is not good, but rainy… as usual in Brussels. But I just don’t care. Yesterday I went on a “comic walk.” Here in Brussels, there are numerous houses which are decorated with huge paintings depicting comic heros. So I walked through the city to see most of them. And today, I went to see the Royal Museum… Rubens, Magritte, … I love it!

Today I want to write about food in Yemen… since food takes up a very important part in my life, I was a little worried about my stay in Yemen. But in the end, I am very happy here, in some respects even much happier than in Syria, where eating out was always a little difficult because they only serve meat as main dishes (and only the cold starters are vegetarian).

Here, I get breakfast and lunch in the Markaz (center). In the morning, there is usually some bread (that the Indians brought here, who probably copied it from the British… it is called ‘ruti,’ like in India), jam, yogurt, tea, Yemeni coffee (which is actually made out of the shells of the coffee bean, and not of the bean itself. Same same but different to the tea they serve here). In addition, there is often some bean-stuff, very yummy. For lunch, the ‘menue’ changes often… sometimes, there are Western dishes, sometimes a mixture of Yemeni and Middle Eastern dishes (so I already had Fatoush once, my favorite salad). A few days before the menue caused some general cheers and my greatest despair because hamburgers and fries were dish of the day… oh yeah, some mid-westerners were so tremendously happy because finally they could eat something they usually eat (I am not being sarcastic here… that’s what they said themselves!) In general, people eat a lot of legumes here, especially lentils and small beans. This is also what I eat in the evening, when I am out in town with my friends since I haven’t seen vegetables in a restaurant yet. Usually, they serve the food with an enormous flatbread … oh, this is the best part of it. They bake it in a clay oven and it is simply delicious.

Yesterday we have come back from our trip to Hadramawt in East Yemen. It was crazily beautiful but also crazily hot, so everybody is happy because we are back! And unfortunately I don’t have much time to describe my trip, so I will give you some pictures instead (I am currently writing my report on my year at McGill, finally, so I don’t have much time).

I only borrowed the hat… but many others bought some. Freaking tourists!

Tonight I watched the game Germany vs. Turkey in a Yemeni (but very Western) restaurant… in Arabic on Aljazeera Sport. Wow, what a game, what an atmosphere. In fact, the restaurant was packed, and only two people were cheering for Germany… and one of them was me. The other one was another student of the Language Center, apparently a German. He had brought all his merchandise from home: he wore a German jersey and carried a (hand)bag in German colors. Then, when the national anthem was played, he stood up and sang it aloud… do I have to mention that he has a mohawk haircut? Oh well, anyway, the behavior of my fellow countryman embarrassed me a few times during the game. He was just behaving like many thousand other German soccer fans… but in Yemen. And by the way, I am highly critical of the new wave of soccer nationalism that has taken hold of many Germans these times… but I don’t have to tell you that, you know me. This attitude simply scares me, as did the guy in the restaurant. But yeah, we won! Finaaaaallle! Did I mention that I didn’t see two goals (2:1 and 2:2) because Aljazeera had technical problems? Welcome to Yemen!

Last Friday, we left our ‘hometown’ Sana’a for a trip into the mountains 90 km west, which rise unto about 2200 meters above sea level. The terrasses and the little villages clued on the tips of the mountains are simply breathtaking. And not only the sight was breathtaking, but so was also the ride on crazily crocked streets.

But at first, we had to wait for about 45 minutes at one of the few military checkpoints on our road. I guess there have been some communication problems and our passage had not been announced in advance. But in the end, we were allowed to pass, hélas! And a day full of events was allowed to unfold. We hiked up a little hill to taste berries (I suspect them to be murrberries… the taste was similar to ‘Stachelbeeren,’ very yummy I think, especially after an exhausting hike in the midday sun.) Then we visited a village that is known for the coexistence of Jews and Muslims… in former times, of course. And there I fell into the ultimate tourist trap. What can I do…it was bound to happen anyway. The village’s kids walked me through the village, holding my hands, and of course guiding me to the shops of their parents. Eventually, a woman sprang out of her shop in order to wrap my headscarf ‘properly’ around my head… village style, of course. The result can be seen on the last picture. She of course sold me the golden thing… I don’t know yet how to recycle it, but I’ll find a way to use it in Europe.

Later, we had a fabulous lunch at the local hotel, which included traditional music and dance. Oh yes, I am a tourist! The men danced and wagging their Jambias (knifes)… and we danced, too! After this, we went to our last village of the day, to Hoteib, a pilgrimage site for Ismailis. We climbed up the hill that holds a white mosque and enjoyed the stunning view. This was the best I have seen so far. A classmate told me afterwards, that he would like to get married there. My comment: oh well, I think it is a ‘bring your own priest,’ then… oh my God, I am so unromantic these times!

Anya with two Yemeni girls

Sheperds in Manakha

Katie and I in Hoteib

Isabelle has found an apartment for both of us in Paris. It is small (optimists would call it ‘cosy’) and expensive, but most importantly, it is in the 15. Arrondissement, close to Sciences Po. It features only two rooms… Isabelle will install herself in the living room, but in the end, we will use all the space together. I am not the kind of person to close the door of my bedroom, anyway… unless there is some party going on in the living room. Isa, beware

I put pictures of the flat on flickr… check them out! It will look differently when we move in of course… although one of the big advantages of the apartment is that it comes fully furnished.

Apartment in Paris

Today, I went to an all girl’s Qat chew and dance party at one of the teacher’s sister’s home. Just to say it right away, this was one of the most remarkable experiences I have made so far in Yemen. And I feel lucky that I actually went there, because I didn’t sign up for the ‘event’ at first because I thought that I was going to be out of town at that time. But luckily, I was witty enough to just sit down in the bus that drove us there.

As I have written before, Yemeni women wear more or less a full veil on the streets. Well, you may guess that they wear normal clothes when they are at home. But you won’t guess what kind of dresses they wear on such a gathering! Actually, they dress up in transparent dresses and they wear a lot of make-up. And they like to stuff their guests with tea, cookies, cake, and Qat.

So we sat down in this mafraj, the common room without any furniture which features colorful windows. In fact, traditional Yemeni houses feature about 4 or 5 floors which serve different functions. On the ground floor, there are shops, while the other floors are inhabited by one sole family. In a sense, every family lives in a sort of a fortress, which stands autarkic next to the others.

So we ate, and we drank, and we danced to traditional Yemeni (and later I guess to modern Egyptian) music, we got some frankincense into our hair, smoked shisha (I smoked for the first time in years… oh well, as long as it is an exception), and we chatted in Arabic. What a great day. Really, the women were so very kind! It was simply wonderful. I am definitely going there next time again. But this time, I will dress up, too.

P.S. And we bought fabulous football dresses… just for fun. I am already looking forward to wear it when I will be going for a run in a Parisian park.

Yesterday, I was one of the lucky few who participated in a cooking lesson on our host city’s famous dessert ‚Bint al-Sahan’ (daughter of the plate). That’s a cake covered with honey consisting of 7 thin layers of dough… while the ingredients are actually not very special, the preparation, however, requires some experience (which I don’t have yet). But surely I will try to make this cake back in Europe (or in Canada, who knows?). But it will never be as good as the one our teachers made. Actually, they made 6 cakes and the students made only one. I think they laughed about our ‘technique’ and were ‘grossed out’ because we put our left hands right in the dough. Oh well. I am still in the period of re-adaptation in the sense that you have to imagine your left hand cut off when you deal with Yemeni people.

After that, we (Katie, the other Katie and I) visited our favorite scarf shop in town: the shop of Mohammed and Ali (oh yeah, we like to joke a lot about this coincidence). The shop is nice because its owners enjoy teaching us Arabic: we always have a seat and drink tea and chat about random things, in Arabic of course. Usually, one of us buys a scarf. Of course they offer ‘the best price’ in town… I doubt it, but unfortunately I am not in the mood of bargaining. But I am definitely not going to pay 50 Rial (300 Rial equals 1 Euro or 1,50 $) for a postcard. So when I am finally in the mood of bargaining, you will get your postcards.

Ah, speaking of sightseeing… we are going to visit Hadramawt, apparently the most beautiful region in Yemen, next week. However, because the road to the region goes past some regions with security issues, we are going to take the plane. Actually, although it costs 90$ extra, I am happy to avoid the 15 hour drive and of course I am relieved that the language center is aware of what is going on and schedules trips according to security concerns. So don’t be scared, my dears… if the situation were not safe, we wouldn’t go in there.

Today we went out of town on a wonderful trip to three nearby villages (about 60 kilometers from Sana’a = 2 hours by bus!). The reward was a stunning scenery and finally some green (here in Sana’a, there are surely a few public parks, but this is of course incomparable to some ‘real’ nature). Some green, because the rainy season hasn’t started yet and so only oases in the valleys are green. In total, some 8% of Yemen’s surface is used for agriculture, and this mostly for Qat, the coffee-like (because of its similar effect) drug that most Yemenites consume several times per week.

Of course, all the shopkeepers in the villages wanted to sell us their stuff (things typical of the region of course, like silver jewelry, Jambias (typical knifes) and scarves). However, all of these things can also be bought in Sana’a in the Suq and are likely to be cheaper there. On the other hand, I felt pity for them because tourism is what they live on, in a desert-like landscape that hasn’t much else to offer. Oh well. We drove up a village on a hill and hiked down to find the bus again in the valley… wonderful. After this long day, everybody was very tired.

Today it is going to rain. Apparently. A real Monsoon rain, the first I will see in my life (no, in Bangladesh I came right after the Monsoon, when the temperatures are finally bearable).

Today is somehow our Friday because Thursday and Friday are our ‘weekend’… and so it feels. I just spend some time in the Internet, then I read a chapter in my book and eventually some guys came up to our room and we are going to play cards on the roof. Until it starts to rain, hehe. Meanwhile, my homework is lying lazily on my desk. Some people have made plans for the evening, including the idea to visit the ‘Russian club,’ where you can drink alcohol and watch men starring at prostitutes. In my opinion the perfect location to stage a terrorist attack (man, I would attack it if I were an Islamist terrorist)… so I am not super convinced that this is a good idea. Anyway, I don’t really need to see this (although it is certainly entertaining): you can see this everywhere. I guess that this is in no way different to what I have witnessed in Bangladesh and to what you can see when you walk down the Reeperbahn in Hamburg.

Tomorrow I am going to enjoy the Hammam. At that occasion I am going to scrub my skin until it turns red like a cancer. I plan to go at least twice to the Hammam because I still have wonderful memories of my visit in Damascus. Friday then we are going on a trip to a city outside of Sana’a (no, it is not on the ‘no-go-areas’ of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs). I’ll tell you then. Ah, by the way, I think that the people on the street were amused to see a Westerner wearing a headscarf. But at the same time, I think that they appreciate it as a way of respecting their culture. Still, I have to work on my technique: after dinner, my headscarf more or less fell apart. Insha’Allah I will not fail next time (safety pins!).