Scattered thoughts, random photos

Welcome to the weekend!

It’s Thursday, which is like Saturday in Sana’a. Confused? Apparently, so were the guys who designed this sign for a very popular Yemeni restaurant in Sana’a. Hospitablness Salon seems to be a more likely name for a massage parlor that is just about to be shut down for prostitution. Instead, it’s a pretty great but simple restaurant that serves delicious food that you scoop up with enormous flat bread that they spread on the table in front of you. Cutlery optional. At the end of the meal, they bring sliced, tiny bananas that you dip in the local honey, a product for which Yemen is fairly famous. The flavor of the honey is intense: a little acidic and slightly smoky. It’s really good, but may take a little getting used to if you’re putting it in your tea or cooking with it.

The other food item that Yemen is famous for is its coffee. Ever since arriving, however, I have been served Nescafe; just one example among many of how ideas about modernity and status obliterate common sense notions of quality. So it was with tremendous anticipation that I brewed my first pot of true Yemeni coffee this morning. I bought the coffee at a local shop two nights ago and dug out of the shipping boxes my French press and “T” mug that Mom gave me as a stocking stuffer for Christmas last year. Minutes later, as I sat in the sun and opened up photos of Ian and Christian’s Halloween that Chip and Ivona sent earlier this week, I sipped my first drops of the local brew. And it was…horrendous! It may be the worst coffee I have ever tasted (yes, even worse than the chicory-infused brown chalk you get at Bosnian hotels!). I’m confident that it was merely the wrong brand, so stay tuned as I try to work my way through the various options.

Since we’re on the topic of food, I’m attaching a photo from my birthday dinner with several friends/colleagues. We went to the best pizzeria in town and had a really nice time. Not sure if you can tell from the photos, but Blerta – a friend and team member from my former position – tried to get the restaurant to do an antipasti plate. Despite her best efforts, it was only marginally successful… and I think the restaurant staff is still twittering about the crazy European woman who wanted only olives, cheese and artichokes on a plate.

I have also been meaning to send a photo of my office. It’s pretty big, and, as you can see, very very blue. It now look more “lived in”, since I have managed to put up

some photos of my family and hang a couple of hand-written cards my nephews gave me just before leaving. Ian’s card reads:

“Dear Ciocia Tammy – I hope you have a good time in Yemen. I will miss you and I love you. I would go with you, but I have school.”

No matter how irritated or rushed colleagues who walk into my office are, this makes them smile every time. And how great is that?