A Life Far Removed from Durian Trees

Read here on CNN. According to Wikipedia , the flooding was caused by prolonged/heavy rain as the remnants of a tropical cyclone moved over the area (see right). S and I were enjoying the rain in Sana'a - didn't realise how bad things were elsewhere. In the meantime, I'm recovering from a bad case of food poisoning...I think the culprit was Al Shaibani on Wed night, but then again, it could've been anything.

Then come to Yemen! On Wednesday night, we went to a famous Yemeni restaurant called Shaibani and had the most amazing (yet simple) meal made up of the national dish fahsa and grilled fish. Fahsa is a meat stew eaten with a flat circular bread that is oven-baked, tastes like roticanai and is served up in a HUGE piece about 1 metre wide. There is a green condiment that tastes like blended chillies but is not spicy. You rip off a section of the communal flat bread (need to look up name) and dip it in the green sauce and then scoop some fahsa and eat it. The grilled fish (again, name!) was marinated in a peppery sauce but wasn't spicy, and was very fresh and succulent. The fish in Sana'a is shipped daily from the coast. Afterwards, we had milk tea, which S obviously enjoyed because he ordered one and then another. Didn't have room for any dessert (a dish made from bananas and honey) but we'll be back! Shaibani has several chains but the driver took us to the one that had a...

I went to a ladies’ coffee morning...and came away with three things: There are lots of things going on: bridge sessions, sewing for a charity group, tennis, water aerobics, swimming, the International Women’s Association, pottery classes, ladies’ lunches, something-that-sounds-like-catamaran, etc. The ladies are making more of an effort to organise social events now that it is a smaller community (a lot of families left earlier this year after the bombings) The expats generally like living in Yemen, but a lot of the wives leave Sana'a during Ramadhan So I’ve decided to join the pottery class, which is also conveniently held during the weekend (Thursday morning). I was worried that I have no artistic talent whatsoever and that my pieces will be the ugliest in the class but was encouraged by this nice Scottish lady who said, “ I do a lot of things here, but I’m not good at any of them. Don’t worry, anything I do, I’m usually the worst one in the class!” But for some reason, she’s no...

Sorry for the long silence. Back in Yemen now after a two-week holiday in Msia. I STILL didn’t get to eat any durian. I did have a Thai pulut durian dessert. Even though it was gooooood, it didn’t count! The day after we got back to Sana'a, S flew to Amman for a conference. So I've been home alone in this dark house with many windows, thinking about the cerita hantu that my sisters/parents/sister-in-law shared with me last week. When the power goes out (which happens 2-3 times a day), I have to wait for the jaga to run across the garden and turn on the generator. A few days ago (in the afternoon, thank goodness) I had to wait 30 minutes because he went out for lunch. The electricity once went off at night when I was in the living room all alone...It was a long five minutes... So, S is coming back tonight. Flight lands in 30 minutes. Being the good wife, I've cooked dinner with time to spare. Dinner is nasi goreng with hot dog bits, in true urban if-you-don't-like-it-t...

We moved in today, yay! And in two days, we leave for Malaysia. Back on October 9.

Just to say we're both ok here. The US embassy in Sana'a is further northeast while our hotel is in town centre. From where I am, you wouldn't know there'd been an attack unless you turned on the TV. Everything seems to be going on as normal. From the BBC: Deadly US Embassy attack in Yemen

I was speaking to another expat yesterday about how everything changes in Yemen during Ramadhan. She told me this (true) story: Kid: "Hi, Coach, I just moved to Sana'a. I'd like to take tennis lessons with you." Coach: "Ahlan wa sahlan. You are welcome to Yemen, kiddo. Yes, I can teach you tennis. But it's Ramadhan now so we have lessons at two o'clock." Kid: "Ok! When can we start?" Coach: "Tomorrow." Kid: "Ok, see you tomorrow afternoon, at two." Coach: "Huh? No, two o'clock in the morning! Are you crazy, kid??? It's Ramadhan!"