The Russian connection
Last week I was invited for afternoon tea by a Russian-Yemeni lady.
I thought I'd have tea and make polite conversation in broken Arabic for one hour and then take my leave.
But no, I stayed until 10 pm. And had a really good time.
In spite of the language barrier, we managed to communicate. It was a small gathering of Russian ladies (in their 40s and 50s) who'd married Yemenis - and their GORGEOUS daughters who spoke Arabic, Russian and English. The daughters were in their teens and twenties; some had married mixed-race Russian-Yemenis like themselves but one married a pure Yemeni (saw his photo - would say he's the most handsome Yemeni man I'd ever seen). Most of the mothers remained Christian but the kids were raised as Muslims. All the daughters wore the hijab (hair scarves) and balto (black robe over their clothes); some wore the niqab (face veil).
It was a real eye-opener for me, being able to meet people from this special community. I think there are a lot of Russian-Yemenis here (from the days when South Yemen was communist) but they're not very visible. Many Arab-Yemenis studied in Russia and married Russian ladies , encouraging but not forcing them to convert (although many said thanks but no thanks). Some of these men eventually came back with their wives but the ones that didn't want to leave Russia others ended up getting divorced.
Da!
I thought I'd have tea and make polite conversation in broken Arabic for one hour and then take my leave.
But no, I stayed until 10 pm. And had a really good time.
In spite of the language barrier, we managed to communicate. It was a small gathering of Russian ladies (in their 40s and 50s) who'd married Yemenis - and their GORGEOUS daughters who spoke Arabic, Russian and English. The daughters were in their teens and twenties; some had married mixed-race Russian-Yemenis like themselves but one married a pure Yemeni (saw his photo - would say he's the most handsome Yemeni man I'd ever seen). Most of the mothers remained Christian but the kids were raised as Muslims. All the daughters wore the hijab (hair scarves) and balto (black robe over their clothes); some wore the niqab (face veil).
It was a real eye-opener for me, being able to meet people from this special community. I think there are a lot of Russian-Yemenis here (from the days when South Yemen was communist) but they're not very visible. Many Arab-Yemenis studied in Russia and married Russian ladies , encouraging but not forcing them to convert (although many said thanks but no thanks). Some of these men eventually came back with their wives but the ones that didn't want to leave Russia others ended up getting divorced.
Da!
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Sharizad