A Life Far Removed from Durian Trees

One of the fun things about living in a new country is discovering what's in the supermarkets. And when you live in places where the electricity is iffy (so you try not to leave food in the freezer before going on holiday) and the stocks in the shops are unreliable, canned foods are very convenient. No freezing necessary. Keeps for years. And you can buy stuff for a special dish while waiting for the other ingredients to show up on the shelves. In more recent years, it's been amazing to see the kinds of things that are canned. In Angola, a lot of the canned foods are produced in South Africa. Not only were there exotic African foods, but also, for the most part, South African products are halal. In Yemen, I get the impression most of the tinned products come from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. You can find Middle Eastern foods such as grape vine leaves, tabbouleh , hummus , pulses , etc. (A word of warning: canned hummus blows!) But I think the most "bizarre" stuff can be...

I'm mango-ed out. Finally finished a crateful from Taiz. Then hubby bought some more before he left (to make up for the fact that he's left me alone in Sanaa). These mangoes were much better. They're from a newly discovered fruit & veg stall close to his new office - better quality stuff and no crowds, but a little pricier. Photo: a typical "cafeteria" with fruity decorations outside

Remember when I said I was allergic to something here but couldn't figure out what it was? Turns out it's the bukhoor (Arabian incense). Now I know whenever we burn it in the house (like after cooking curry), I'd get an itchy rash on my forehead/eyelids and puffy eyes. Takes days to recover. Last weekend, someone gave me a couple of jars of bukhoor ; after just one sniff (they smelled good), I started to swell and itch. Even if hubby does the firing up and I stay away from the smoke, it still gets me. The weird thing is, it's a recent thing. At the beginning, I had no problems. So sad. I love bukhoor . http://www.bestincense.info/allergic_reaction_to_incense.html

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 ...

Have you ever seen a man and his goats use an overhead pedestrian crossing? Sorry, I didn't have my camera.

Before I get into it, some updates: 1. Weather is now 11C - nice! Not looking forward to Dec/Jan when it's colder inside the house than outside! 2. Arabic teacher giving birth in 2 weeks and she will be off for a month or two. (Looking forward to the break because I am way behind in revision!) 3. Tomato prices have gone up 200% 4. I now have a bullet-proof bathroom. (Friends who are planning to visit - don't worry, it's been planned for a while - just a precaution) 5. I'm allergic to something here - my eyelids are itchy Ok, the hospital. There are a lot of hospitals in Sanaa but they look more like clinics. Some are funded by the Saudis, some are private, there's an Iranian one that's been shut down by the government for political reasons. So my maid was screaming in pain. We pull up at a hospital and someone comes by with a wheelchair. I think I was expected to push her to A&E but the porter took one look at me and didn't think I was up to it (and I di...