Wow, what an Odyssee. Yesterday, I left my apartment in Paris after a two hour inspection by my agency… I was in a hurry, since I still needed to send away a whole lot of documents and my Internet box. When I was finally ready to go, it was already 1h30 p.m.  and my plane was supposed to take off at 4 p.m., so I decided to take a taxi (!!!!!). What happened then was even more hilarious, because part of the boulevard périphérique was blocked, probably because of the visit of Benjamin Nethanjahu, the Israeli Prime Minister. So I was lucky that my taxi driver knew how to avoid the Périphérique, but I was quite stressed. I mean, I had already accepted to pay 50 euros to be on time… and then this! 

Well, in the end I made it on time, and guess what, the plane was late, and full. There were a lot of families with small children and so the flight was quite vivid, to say the least. I then took a bus from the airport and went on to look for my youth hostel. Suddenly, one of those Tunisian guys proposed to help me with my quest, obviously he didn’t have a clue either, but this does not discourage a man of honnor Well well well, since then Monsieur doesn’t stop to give me missed calls (I told him that I was not going to take them anyway because it’s expensive). Errr, because I was a little annoyed, I just send him an SMS explaining politely that I appreciated his help yesterday but that I am “engaged in a serious relationship” and that my boyfriend is going to join me here. I hope the guy is not going to squat in front of the youth hostel! :O

P.S. I just received a message from the guy saying that he understood, just friends, and that he would like to invite me to have coffee tomorrow morning… I don’t know yet whether I am going to or not. Strange people are out there.

After some friends urged me to revive this blog for my summer stay in Tunisia, I eventually decided to do so, since it is a nice way to stay in touch and to share my experience. So, starting next week, I am going to write again on this blog… after I passed my last exam

Ich bin zwar immer noch in Europa unterwegs, aber nicht mehr für lange… dann werde ich mich entgültig in Paris niederlassen und mich auf die Suche nach einem neuen Traumprinzen machen… und vielleicht sieht der dann so wie der knackige Mann in diesem Video aus. Und wer sich jetzt noch dafür interessiert, was mir so passiert, der kann sich ja einfach bei mir melden. Viel Spaß

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.