A Life Far Removed from Durian Trees

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

Our next door neighbour is killing us. After barely hearing anything from them last year, the place seems to have turned into some kind of office. There's been construction work in the last month. Initially it was non-stop but now, it's random. Last night, someone was nailing something at 1 a.m. until we sent the security patrol over. I felt like hosing them down from over the wall. And they've got a new generator that's right by the wall that faces our bedroom; we can hear it from under the bedcovers - even with earplugs. We have a generator too but it's not as noisy and there aren't many houses at our end of the street, so I don't think it bothered people too much. And now, there's a police car parked just outside our front gate. It seems the president's son now goes to the school a few doors away. Not necessarily a good thing.

Postcard From Yemen February 7, 2010 By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Sana, Yemen Yemen’s former prime minister, Abdul Karim al-Iryani, got right to the point when I arrived at his Sana home for dinner: “So, Thomas, did it take Abdulmutallab to finally get you here?” Yes, it is true, I admitted, because that young Nigerian, trained in Yemen by Al Qaeda, tried to blow up a Northwest jetliner on Christmas Day, I decided I had to see Yemen firsthand. I further confessed to Iryani: “I was a bit worried coming here. I half expected to be met at the bottom of the stairs from my Qatar Airways flight by Osama bin Laden himself.” Fortunately, though, I found that Sana is not Kabul, and Yemen is not Afghanistan — not yet. The Walled Old City of Sana, a U.N. World Heritage site with its mud-brick buildings adorned with geometric shapes, was bustling with coffee shops at night and vendors by day. Walking through its streets with a Yemeni friend, we came upon four bearded, elderly Yemeni men — traditional dag...

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 ...

My Arabic teachers says I'm one of her top two students, the other being a guy that I know. She said he pressed her to admit who is slightly better ( wah! so kiasu! ) but she reassured me that we're both the same. I think he is better than me - we're not in the same class but I know he speaks Arabic very fast while I stop to conjugate verbs. Even if I were the better student, she'd favour him anyway because he's " nasheit " (energetic/hard-working) and " zhaki " (smart)...and is a tall & handsome Frenchman. Can't compete with that... Anyway, today I am sooooo S.M.U.G. because I got 19.5/20 and he got 12/20. Still, I cannot win against Golden Boy because teacher said he did the test in 15 minutes while I finished it in 35 mins. *sigh*

It's half past midnight on the eve of the weekend. My favourite time of the week. Because I know I have two delicious days of no work ahead. Why? I'm a data monkey that gets no respect. Day in, day out. But, for the next two days at least, this chump chimp ain't stepping into the office.

a HARDSHIP allowance. Hubby is not happy. His work shirts haven't been ironed and he'll have to do them himself on his business trip. "But I have a maid!" he said incredulously. Yeah, it's a tough concept when you haven't had to do any ironing for the last four years. I took a deep breath. "Well, the electricity's been going up and down, on and off. And so the iron is buggered. Every time you plug it in, the fuse trips. The maintenance guys came today and had a look around. It's not the wiring, it's the iron. They came after the maid had gone home. She won't be back until the day after you leave." (blank stare, blink, blink) "Don't you remember we went through FOUR irons over three years in Angola? It's the electricity." (puppy dog eyes) "Don't look at me. Isn't this why you get a hardship allowance?" Today, I'm getting Iron #2. The first one died just after the one-year warranty ran...