Categories
Arabic

Still in the states

I’m up at my aunt’s place for a couple more days, then I’ll head back down to VA for the final flurry of seeing people before I leave. It’s going to be a little harried, but it’ll be good. I’m really enjoying my trip up here in Connecticut, I love visiting these guys. This will be the last time that I’ll be able to visit my aunt and cousin at the same time, Beth is getting married in July and will move out to the western part of New York. I saw some pictures of her in her wedding dress and almost shed a tear, she’s so lovely. I now have an idea of how fathers feel when their daughter gets married…

I haven’t done a damn bit of Arabic this entire trip. I knew that was going to happen, I briefly thought about not bringing my books this time, but I figured that carrying them around would be my penance for not using them. I think that I’ve made the mistake of equalling the language with the situation in Yemen. It’s just depressing over there. When I tried to get a list of acceptable songs together for my students, I listened to several Beatles songs. I distinctly remember thinking that one particular song had been recorded in 1967, think about how much the US, Europe, and our culture has changed in that time. Now think about what Yemen must have been like in 1967. There weren’t many places that had electricity, there weren’t any paved roads between cities, and they were essentially living like their ancestors lived 500 years ago. Many places in Yemen haven’t changed much since 1967, and it’s depressing. How can a place stand still (or go backwards) for so long? Sure, there are a lot of symptoms that we can point to, but the causes are buried and difficult to find. I have to find some way of divorcing those thoughts from the language itself, maybe then I will attack my studies like I used to…

tags technorati :
Categories
Economics

Good and bad story about Yemen

CNN did a little story about Yemen’s “Queen of oranges.” You can read it here. It’s a nice story, a poor woman from Yemen’s rural area does well and is now wealthy. She flies to various parts of the world and does lots of business. It’s great, she had to work through a lot of cultural problems to get to where she is and deserves all of it. Unfortunately, this article also gives us a glimpse of some of the major economic problems that Yemen has. You’ll notice that she is one of 8 licensed fruit brokers in Sana’a. Why does one need a license to be a fruit wholesaler? Why does the government need to be involved at all? It’s one thing to need a business license (for tax purposes), but it’s another to have a special permission to sell fruit.

It’s another revenue stream for the government of course. Like most economies that are not doing well, the Yemeni economy is burdened with way too many bureaucratic thumbs in the pie, let’s not even talk about the various government people taking their own, private cuts of the business… . One wonders how many more people (and women in particular) would become successful if it was easier to start a business there. Make it easier to start a (legal) business, and you’ll see improvements.

tags technorati :
Categories
odds and ends

Merry Christmas!!

I’m having a great time, it’s good to be back. I hope everyone is having a great Christmas/Chanukah/Eid. I’m eating well and seeing lots of people. With any luck, I’ll be able to fit in my pants after the holidays…. I’ll write more soon…

Categories
odds and ends

Being home is nice!

I’m not doing a whole lot, just furiously using the internet and actual bandwidth while I can, watching hockey, and even some football. It’s actually cold! I haven’t felt actual cold for a couple of years. it’s kinda nice.. I’m getting into the whole Christmas thing, the music, the decorations, the food! Good stuff, I missed it last year and it’s really good to be home for it this year. I’m in the process of trying to get a hold of friends, I gotta get up to DC at some point, but that’ll be after Christmas. So lots of laying around and lots of eating, life is good!

Categories
travel

Differences between Sana’a and Doha

Granted, I’ve only been in my hotel and the airport here in Doha, but here are some of the differences that stick out. Just like in Sana’a, the people here in Doha are friendly. The difference is that they are friendly and efficient here. They do their jobs without prompting, it’s really nice. A related point is that things here don’t just look clean, they are actually clean. Everything in Sana’a is either dusty and/or loaded with bacteria. I’ve heard that the Movenpick in Sana’a is clean… for Sana’a. People who stay there tell me that it still isn’t actually clean, but they do very well by Sana’a standards.

The most amazing thing here in Doha is the humidity. There is actual moisture in the air! My skin, eyes, mouth, lungs, and nose are absorbing every water molecule they can. I may have put on 3 pounds just breathing!:-) Seriously, it’s really nice not waking up desiccated. Don’t get me wrong, I think I would much rather have Sana’a’s weather overall, but sitting in this air conditioned hotel room feels sooo good right now…

tags technorati :
Categories
travel

Another stamp in my passport

This time it’s from Qatar, which is pronounced just like it’s spelled incidentally. None of this “cutter” nonsense… Anyway, I am indeed in a hotel room that Qatar airways got for me due to the amazingly long layover. Everything has gone fine so far, I had no problems coming in, getting the voucher, or getting to the hotel. I gotta say, so far, this beats the hell out of hanging out in the Dubai airport for 12 hours… They gave me dinner and will also give me breakfast. There are three restaurants, but the voucher is only good at one of them. If I were coming from the US, the food would have to rate a solid c-, but because I am coming from 6 months in Sana’a, it felt much better. The sad thing is that, save for Tami’s cooking, this is the best meal I’ve had in the last 6 months. The desserts were particularly good…

I’m a total idiot, I forgot to put my shorts in my carry one, that means no swimming for Isaac. I will def. remember for the way back though! From what I saw of Doha, it looks like a cleaned up Hadda street. In other words, no style, just storefront after storefront. They do seem to be bigger here, and it is certainly cleaner as well. The traffic was mercifully quiet, but our driver seemed as though he was imported from Yemen. He drove like a madman, a quite madman, but still…

So far, this beats the hell out of hanging out in the Dubai airport for 12 hours. The only thing I can really complain about is the spotty internet connection here at the hotel. In other words, I don’t have much to complain about:-) The flight from Sana’a to Doha had decent food, but it did not have the fancy entertainment system that the Emirates flight does. We just had what looked to be an awful Cuba Gooding Jr. film, it had something to do with a kid’s camp, I didn’t plug my headphones in to pay more attention. Tomorrow (after sleeping for 8 hours) I will be shuttled back to the airport and get on the nonstop to DC, I like this new service!

tags technorati :
Categories
travel

I’m off tomorrow!

With any luck, my next post will be from Doha. Qatar airways is putting me up in a place with a pool and is nearby the main souk. I’m hoping that I can see some of the city, have a swim, and eat at one of the restaurants in the hotel. Odds are that I won’t have as much time as I think, but I’d like to do at least two of the three things:-) I’m assuming that they’ll have internet there and I hope to be able to post some thoughts on Doha from there.

I’ve got most of my stuff moved over to the new place, I only have a few odds and ends left and I’ll move them over tomorrow before I go. Then all I have to do is pack and I’m going home baby!

Categories
Yemen

Inappropriate questions

Tami and I were talking about teaching English here (she’s now a teacher as well) and we got onto the topic of inappropriate questions. The students obviously don’t think they’re out of place or being rude, but the questions they ask really grate on English speakers. The very first one, and one I still hear on almost a daily basis is the greeting, “What’s your name” It’s one thing to ask someone’s name after you have been talking for a while, but it always jars me a little when that is the first thing out of their mouth. I’ve started to ignore anyone that does that and will only respond when they go to an actual greeting like hello.

That’s fairly minor, but there’s lots of others. Many people want to practice their English with me on the street, the conversations are supposed to be small talk since they are complete strangers but they usually throw something out that disrupts the flow. The classic is “Are you a Muslim?” That’s not too bad really although it does seem a little personal so early in a conversation. It’s the follow up question that makes it difficult, things like, “Why not?” “When are you going to convert?” or even the statement, “You need to become muslim!” It’s a bit awkward and it effectively kills the conversation.

Other questions that catch me off guard are “How old are you?” and “Are you married?” “Why aren’t you married?” is the usual followup when I tell them that I’m not. It seems odd to ask how old someone is, especially when you first meet them, but no biggie. Even asking the marital status isn’t a big deal, but asking why someone isn’t married seems to be getting a little personal. What kind of answer are they expecting, something short like, “I never really thought about it?” It points to a basic difference between our culture and theirs. Getting married is a social thing here, usually arranged and it’s something that every guy, with enough money, goes through. It doesn’t occur to them that questions about voluntary relationships are just not asked between strangers.

The most curious question has to be, “What do you weigh?” I have no idea why people are interested in this, but I’ve been asked multiple times, as has Tami. Americans may be more sensitive about this than other people because we’re so fat, but I still am not quite sure why someone would want to know. It’s obviously a big thing here, there are innumerable kids with scales working the streets. For a couple of riyals, you can get weighed. I’ve done it myself several times, but that was mostly because I had lost a noticeable amount of weight and was curious. I don’t know what motivates people to ask about someone else’s weight over here.

tags technorati :
Categories
odds and ends

No more hair…

… on my face that is. I was getting a little wild looking and it was time for a haircut. I could sorta, kinda get away with a wild looking beard with a lot of hair, but when I got that cut, the beard looked really crazy. I asked him to trim it, just to get the wildness under control. Well, he hit me with the beard trimmer instead. I think he was going for that whole George Michael circa 1992 look, the really close, stubbly look that is still very popular here. Of course with my lightish, thinish facial hair, it barely showed up when he was done. It just looked like I needed a shave. The mustache was looking a little too Hitlerific, especially with the way my hair tends to fall down across my forehead, so it went too.

So I gave it a shot, but I never really warmed up to it. Tami was shocked to see me without hair on my face, it’s the only way she’s ever seen me. Karl told me, in his great Bavarian accent, “Ya, your beard vas coool.” I dunno, I like having a clean face, and really like not having to worry about getting stuff in it. I never liked the feeling of my whiskers hitting the glass ahead of my lips, my first drink after I shaved was really nice:-) So expect a clean shaven look from me if you see me this Christmas…

Categories
travel

Score!

Qatar airways came through and got me a hotel room! Thank God, because with a 17 hour layover, I don’t know what I would do without one… This should make the trip relatively enjoyable and hopefully I won’t be totally wiped out when I get to DC. If this works out as well as I’m hoping, Qatar is my new airline!

tags technorati :