A Life Far Removed from Durian Trees

The weekend turned out to be more exciting than I'd anticipated. On Thursday night, we had dinner at Felix Arabia in the Old City because Big Cheese from S' company were visiting. I noticed the waiters brought out wine ("grape juice") poured into discreet brown glasses but no wine bottles were to be seen. Then on Friday, we managed to get invited to a VIP tour of Wadi Dhar (above), which is an old palace built on a rock, about 30 minutes from Sana'a. We were surprised it was actually a touristy place - thought it'd be in the middle of nowhere. Because it was Friday, there were a lot of people, foreign and local. There was also traditional Yemeni dancing - men only - in the palace courtyard (below). There was one old man in the group who lives in Sana'a but comes out to Wadi Dhar during the weekend to dance. What was also interesting was that we had four armed security guards the whole time because of the VIPs. The real Men In Black - black suits, sunglas...

I can't believe it's already February 2009. The weekend is here once again. Again, S has to work tomorrow morning, which really irritates me because the people in Europe who want to have meetings on a Friday morning are the same ones who are SHOCKED at the thought of working on a Saturday morning. Yeah, they should think about that one. As usual, we have nothing planned for the weekend except maybe finally getting some carpets (I can hear you all moaning "That again!"). Will probably go to the Movenpick Hotel to exercise - it's been a while! I love pottering about the house during the weekend - I like sitting in the qat room during the day because it's sunny, I can hear the birds and there's a lovely breeze when the windows are open. Also, the school nearby is closed so it's blissfully quiet. Today I finally called this lady about Arabic classes but she was in class and said she'd call back. Countdown to parents' visit: 1 week!

...but I still don't know the names of the dishes! Here we are having a traditional meal with the best views in town - the penthouse of the Burj Al Salam Hotel in the Old City. The only (?) building in the walled city with an (OTIS) elevator. Two things I learned: Hummus isn't Yemeni (according to a Yemeni friend) and, OTIS is Dutch (a Dutch friend says it's one of two great things the Dutch can claim fame to - guess what the other one is!) The near-fluourescent green stuff in the middle is yoghurt mixed with herbs and poured over a light bread that's kind of like crepe - a favourite during Ramadhan. The spiced lentil soup is tasty and even better if you squeeze some lime over it. This was just the first course of four! Then came the meats with various breads, then the lamb briyani and finally coffee with an eggy pastry with some honey. A must if you come to Sana'a!

I'm recovering from a cold that knocked me out for 3 days. While I was delirious with fever and drugged up, I took this picture of one of the birds that like to sit on the bougainvillea tree outside the TV room . Because the windows are tinted, they can't see me inside but I think this little guy was eyeballing me. Back to today's topic: living in a house where every day, someone comes to repair/replace/clean/cut/wash something. For instance, these last couple of days: Two security staff came to deliver a new safe (my husband is such a diva - he rejected the first two and was finally happy with the third one) The plumber came to clean out the water tanks outside The water guy came with a fresh load of ozonated water (which we use for drinking and cooking) An electrician came to fix the floodlight on the roof which blew The cable guy came to install a new TV line in the bedroom Of course, my cleaner comes Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 a.m. And then there are th...

I didn't know there were monkeys in Yemen until I saw some today. I told my driver this and he told me this true story about his pet "girl monkey". " I had this monkey for 3 years. The small one, not the big monkey. One day my friend came with a boy monkey and he stayed in the house for the whole day. We put the boy monkey and girl monkey in the cage and they played together all day. In the evening, my friend left and took his monkey with him. Before I went to bed, I tied my monkey's leash to its usual place. The next morning, I heard the kids screaming and crying. Then I saw that the monkey was dead. She killed herself! I swear to God, she killed herself. She went round and round this post, wrapping the leash around it. Then finally she jumped and hanged herself. You know why? She crazy for the boy monkey, I swear to God. She went crazy for him. After just one day, playing with him!" Then he added, "I told my friend: your monkey killed my monkey ! But ...

Happy New Year! This blog has been somewhat neglected. Developments since last entry: 1. We spent Christmas in Dubai - a few days of city life once again...bless... 2. We visited some friends in Muscat over the New Year - I like Muscat...sigh... 3. My parents and aunt and uncle are coming to Yemen via Jordan, in February 4. Last weekend we went to the National Museum (but I forgot the camera) and hillwalking (amazing) 5. No pottery classes until March, when my teacher comes back with new baby 6. Another group of Germans & oilworkers got kidnapped 7. Demonstrations in Sana'a against the war on Gaza And with that, I'm going to make a cup of tea.

Arggghhhhhhhh! Internet has been very slow these last few days and this is why: Undersea cable breaks cut Internet in Mideast, Asia