wedding

groom & family

evening processional, outside our house

music inside the tent

People have been talking about tonight’s wedding all week long. I shouldn’t say “tonight’s wedding” however, because this, like the funeral, seems to be at least a week-long activity. Today I went to the house where the newlyweds married. We all waited in the courtyard for the groom to exit, whereupon everyone pushed me, the foreigner, up to the groom in order to congratulate the young kid and take lots of photos with him. He looked terrified the entire time. The procession ended and all the men quickly scattered to begin their (male-only) qat chewing parties, which I guess constitute the reception.


Next morning…

Yesterday afternoon we began chewing at 3:00, then I returned home at 6:00 to check on Morgan and take a break from the wedding. Around 8:00 I resumed partying, this time chewing with about 400 men in the huge tent. Along with qat, the tent also held a famous ooud player that serenaded us with 5-minute song sessions (followed by 20-minute breaks). My friend Josh came with me to this evening celebration, and we were the only non-Yemenis in the tent. We felt pretty famous, as everyone wanted to greet us. Around midnight all the guests surrounded the groom and escorted him to his house to consummate the marriage (which is overseen--outside the room--by the parents, who then parade around the bloody sheet as proof of the consummation/wife‘s virginity). And I, with my huge ball of qat, returned home to my own wife.

the week-long funeral

We were in Ethiopia during Eid al-Fatr, the end of Ramadan. During this major week-long celebration many Yemenis travel and the auto fatality rates skyrocket. The brother of our neighbor, with whom I’ve become close (his wife did Morgan’s henna), was one of the casualties. Along with several other members of his family, he was in a bus traveling to Aden that drove off a cliff (near Ib). Fortunately Abdula was the only fatality. So our last week, since returning from Ethiopia, has been characterized by attendance at nightly funerals (read: long sex-segregated qat chews).

Morgan attended the all-women’s chew the first night we were home, spending some 4 hours with the neighbors. They fed her and watched her eat, then chewed qat in the ladies’ mafraj (living room), while making her read from an English grammar book (horribly misspelled and riddled with grammatical errors). While Morgan hung with the women, I chewed qat in the building next door with the men, listening to them alternately state, “Adbul is dead, aluhumdu allah” and “Qat is good for…you know what.” Although Morgan opted out of the remaining nights’ funerals, I attended several more throughout the week. And now that the funerals have ended, wedding celebrations have begun, right outside of our house. Though I have no idea who the groom is (or bride for that matter), I seem to have been invited to attended all the festivities.

Men's Funeral / Qat Chew

My biggest ball of qat yet, taken after last night's gathering.

Ethiopia

We're back home in Sana'a with plenty of stories from Ethiopia. Our only complaint from the whole trip is that the food is terrible. Normally we love Ethiopian food however some of the dives that we ate in were frightening and much of the food tasted like soap. Nearly all of us got sick (beer might have had something to do with that). We arrived in Addis Ababa in the evening of the 10th and crammed into a 1960's cab, bound for the Piazza neighborhood to get a hotel for the night. We found a nice little hostel above a restaurant, where we proceeded to drink our first beer in 2 months (oh, how you were missed). Dinner from the first night, a sample of traditional Ethiopian lentils:

After dinner we found a cute bar playing early '90s American pop music, and later in the night stumbled into a nearby bar, which we assumed was a dance club but incidentally turned out to be more of a brothel. After witnessing a pimp and his buddies beat up a young prostitute at the "club", we took our cue and headed back to the hostel for our first bed-buggy night.

The following morning we hired a driver and car to take us up north. We considered taking the bus, which would have been considerably cheaper, but as the buses are filled to about twice the safe capacity, and as the trip would take twice as long, we opted for the luxury of driver and private car. Split between 5 people, this luxury cost just $20 per day (per person).

Our next 8 days were spent in a 1980s Toyota Land Cruiser that had two bench seats in the back (which served nicely as beds for napping). We spent the majority of the trip driving north to Lalibela, and returned to Addis via the Awash region in the east (thereby completing a large, 8-day loop). Although we didn't actually cover a huge area, the roads were really rough and we spent many 9-hour days in the car going 40 km / hour the entire time. In light of these bad road conditions, we were especially happy to have opted for a car over the bus.

Nate, playing tour guide, and driving the beast.

We left Sana'a to see other lifestyles, however we just couldn't get away from qat, which is really cheap in Ethiopia of much better quality than that grown in Yemen (supposedly the President of Yemen only chews Ethiopian qat). Many long hours in the Cruiser were spent listening to our iPods and chewing qat, a lovely way to take in the Ethiopian countryside.

In Gondar we were able to visit a bar featuring traditional Ethiopian dance--Fernanda and I really took down the house with our own take on the shoulder shaking. We also took a tour of the series of castles which make Gondar famous, all built on a single compound by successive ruling kings during the 17th - 19th centuries. Gondar is also where I 1) ate uncooked vegetables, and 2) broke the bed with my knee in an acrobatic leap during the middle of the night from the bed the bathroom (where I then remained until sunrise).

After visiting Gondar, we headed up to Lalibela, which is known as the Petra of Africa. Lalibela boasts a dozen rock-hewn churches, constructed during the 12th century (each church is carved out of a single rock). The pictured church shows how they are subterranean (and massive!). UNESCO is currently constructing covers over the series of churches to protect them from further erosion from rain.

A monk, perched on a rock, showing off for us at one church.

After Lalibela we headed southeast to towards Dire Dawa (Awash region). Our guide prefaced our trip east (which took us pretty close to Djibouti) by telling us that the government is scared of the tribes in the east, and that if he were to hit a camel on the road he would be shot (and if someone else in a white car like ours were to hit a camel, we might be mistaken as the guilty party...and shot). This region boasted not only nomadic tribes of camel herders with AK-47s, but also a village that doubled as a black-market of stolen goods (Fergus bought a brand-new VDC player for $10). Our car held up the entire drive, until we got to the Awash region (shortly after passing a dead camel on the road), and we got a flat. No problem, except the jack was broken (our guide managed to fix it with a rock....?)

The main purpose of driving east, however, was not to buy stolen electronics, but to visit Awash National Park:

Although the park is sort of a joke of a nature reserve (they had one lion in 12' -wide cage, and then some monkies...our guide book said the park was good, however, for bird-watchers), we were required to hire a scout to accompany us on our "safari." Nate was excited, however, at the prospect of taking pictures with the scout's gun.

Morgan & Fernanda in Awash National Park.

After Awash we spent our last night of the tour in Kombucha, which is home to the St. George beer factory. After closing down the factory (you can't beat 20-cent bottled beers!!), our tour guide (who had also been taking full advantage of the cheap ales) took us on a little bar-hopping adventure. We have no idea who this man is, but he spent the better part of an hour dancing with Nate. And see the picture in the background? Every single bar in Ethiopia is plastered in these erotic posters (or maybe we just went to the really seedy bars?) -- what a difference from Yemen!

We returned to Addis and spent one last night in the big city before heading back to Sana'a. Our trip was amazing. Difficult at times (witnessing the prostitution of young girls, the poverty and death...and using the toilets which made Yemeni bathrooms look like they belonged in the Hilton), but I think we were all forced out of our comfort zones, which is how travel should be.

travels to ethiopia

At last, we're on the final countdown to our Ethiopian adventure. We've been busy running around in preparation for our trip--charging the iPod, hiding money in secret pockets, shopping for miniature bottles of shampoo, etc. This was made all the more difficult by the fact that we were without electricity until 5pm tonight. Why no electricity? Well, our (14-year-old) security guard (who lives in the hallway of the building's main entrance) and his buddy were playing with the building's main electrical wires last night and shorted out the electricity for the entire building. And as nothing gets fixed with much speed here (not to knock the pace of life in Yemen, we're totally digging it), we were without lights for a solid 12 hours. From adventures with electricity in Yemen we head off to find more adventures tomorrow, on the African continent....

We will be gone until the 19th, but promise to post all sort of goodies on the blog when we return.

xo,
Bitsy & Nate

i've never felt cuter

accidental yemeni bride

Tonight was, undoubtedly, the strangest night I've had so far in Yemen. It actually started with the night before, when the neighbors invited us to their house for dinner, or so Nate thought. 6:00 rolled around, and as we were preparing to head out, they showed up at our home with plates of food: fenugreek salta (with kidney??), samboukas, boiled potatoes, bread, Yemeni coffee, and juice. The meal was delicious.

After dinner, around 9:00, it was then determined, we were to head to their house to hang out. Their son came to get us, promptly at 9:00, but as the three of us began the walk to their home (just around the corner from our apartment), the son informed us that Nate was not invited. So alone, with my limited Arabic, I went to spend the evening with a group of strangers. I arrived at the house and was escorted to a small room on the 4th floor, filled with a large mattress, armoire, t.v, three adult women, and several small children. After exchanging greetings and pleasantries the ladies set into what was to be the main topic of our evening: babies. Did I have babies? Did I have a baby inside of me? When was I going to have babies? How many babies did I want to have? Deciding that perhaps if I was made up like a Yemeni bride Nate would be more likely to "give me a baby," the ladies set in with makeup. Lots of makeup. Turquoise eyeshadow, several shades of eyeliner, large circles of fuscia blush, coral lipstick, and a fake mole. Happy with the makeup, the ladies then began to dress me. Out came colorful scarves and bridal jewelry (beaded headwrap and necklaces). Once dressed, they began the henna, covering the entirety of both arms, and another faux mole on my face (which, mind you, I'm told takes at least 2 weeks to fade. Awesome.) All dolled up, the ladies continued to press me about babies, and then religion. Was I Muslim or Christian? Christian, I told them. This response was satisfactory to the ladies, although they then requested that I demonstrate for them how I pray. My mind raced back to Catholic High School and the order of crossing yourself (up, down, left, right?). In addition to the makeup, the night also included qat (the mildly narcotic leaf chewed socially here). I'm not a big fan. It didn't induce any sort of fun, hazy state, and it tastes just horrible (really bitter). You're not supposed to swallow it, either, but the ladies forced me to drink an endless cup of tea, and I found it impossible to not swallow the qat with the tea. I'm sure my stomach will love me tomorrow! Some 3 1/2 hours later (now past midnight), I finally announced that I had to return home to sleep. And so my night came to and end, and I sit here with arms that itch like poison ivy (I've heard the black henna, which I have, often causes severe skin reactions), and makeup that will not seem to come off no matter how much I make Nate scrub at my face (I can't get my hands wet or else the henna will smear and cause even more of a semi-permanent disaster).

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.

night out at the movenpick

At the Movenpick to break the day's fast (as it's still Ramadan) with a gourmet buffet (yeah, none of that "Country Kitchen" stuff). Endless humus, babaganoush, swedish lamb meatballs, curries, desserts... Oh, it was delicious.

A little shisha after dinner. Two-Apple, Melon, and Cappuccino create quite a unique combination.

thobin' out

Nate's new thobe & head scarf.
Because he's so tall, the thobe had to be custom-made by a tailer.

volcano

Yemeni Volcano Erupts, Leaving Several People Missing (Update2)

By Massoud A. Derhally

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Naval forces were searching for as many as nine people who were missing after a volcano off Yemen's Red Sea coast erupted for the first time since the 19th century.

Four Yemeni soldiers were killed in a lava flow after the eruption late yesterday, Agence France-Presse said, citing soldiers who survived. Two people were rescued from the sea and 21 others were evacuated from the island, Cable News Network reported. The volcanic island, Jabal al-Tair, is 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the Yemeni city of al-Hudaydah.

The Yemeni Navy was joined in the search for the nine missing people by the Canadian Navy frigate Toronto, Canada's military said on its Web site. The Canadian ship is from a North Atlantic Treaty Organization fleet that was heading to the Suez Canal, according to a statement on the Web site. Yemen's Coast Guard and Army were searching for members of the country's armed forces, the state-run SABA NET news agency reported today.

A series of tremors were recorded in the region yesterday, Yemeni Petroleum Minister Khaled Bahah said, according to SABA. The volcano, which was spewing lava and ash, hadn't disrupted shipping between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, Canadian Navy spokesman Ken Allan told CNN.

``It lit the place up,'' Allan, who witnessed the eruption, told CNN.

The volcano, one of several at the southern tip of Yemen, southwest of the Farisan Islands, last erupted in 1883, according to the Web site of the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program. It rises from a sea depth of about 1,200 meters (3,900 feet) to form the 3 kilometer-long island.

The Canadian naval spokesman added that the search for survivors would continue until the Yemeni authorities decide to end it.

Last Updated: October 1, 2007 07:19 EDT

source: www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aDs7b5invD4A&refer=canada