nate, the social butterfly

It's been a long time since we've written here, lots has happened. We have some new arrivals: Kate and Yondrich (another married couple! From the UK and Poland, respectively); Fergus, the Oxford transplant; and Fernanda, our friend from Atlanta (side note for the Beery's: she just graduated from school in North Carolina). I've been making tons of friends and trying to speak Arabic as much as possible. I've sat in a neighbor's mafraj (living room, or literally "room with a view") till sun-up, speaking about the cultural differences between amrika and alyemen. Differences Abdullah and I explored: religion (I was informed that my liberal interpretations of Christianity do not fly here, and apparently my suggestion that like Jesus, we are all children of god, is very haram); marriage (and the concept of multiple wives). And just as we were getting into a discussion of the role of the woman in the household, his wife brought us fresh bread (that she baked), saltah (a slow-cooked traditional soup), and macaronah (a nice pasta). This food was to be our fajr. the last meal before the day's fast begins. After eating, Abdullah bid farewell and headed off to Mosque for the early (4:30 a.m.) prayer. My night/morning spent with Abdullah represented both his way of repaying me for being nice to his two children, and a more basic symbol of the extraordinary generosity of the Yemeni people.

Through my friendship with the local kids, I have also befriended another father (approximately my age). For the past week Walid's parents have been sending their son to our house with sweets and sambukas (beautiful deep-fried, filo dough triangles, filled with potatoes and veggies). Because of his family's kindness, I decided to give Walid my old Razr phone, for a fun toy. You can imagine his excitement...and the ensuing jealousy and trouble this has caused in the neighborhood, as now all the kids demand their own cell, not understanding that it doesn't work in Yemen, and I only had one. Cell phone issues aside, tonight Walid took me to his house to visit with his dad. Morgan, being ill at the moment, had to stay home. For the first time I sat in a mafraj with Yemeni women. Walid's mother, her sister-in-law, and Walid's grandmother quizzed me about almadam murjan (Madam Morgan) and I told them she was quite ill but, inshaallah, she will visit them tomorrow. They became so excited (I think mostly to have a western woman in their house) and immediately offered to henna my wife's hands and feet. So tomorrow we will go for dinner at their home, and afterwards I will chew qat and smoke cigarettes with the men while almadam murjan and the ladies do their lady things.