My students periodically bring me small prizes- usually food items- I’m assuming to show their appreciation of my superior teaching style and total on job professionalism. Yesterday one of my favorite students- a dentist in her late 30’s- brought me a keychain. She had had her brother pick it up on his recent trip to Syria. It was very sweet and very thoughtful. I love my students. But anyway the keychain (that I’m totally using) is a hand carved wooden heart with two nesting birds on it. Painstakingly painted on it in Arabic calligraphy are our names, Taryn on one side, Layal on the other. Two names on a beautiful heart. Jokingly I said to her-
Taryn: “oh Layal! That’s so sweet, thank you so much!”
Layal: “oh no problem teacher”
Taryn: “but Layal… does this mean that we’re in love?”
Layal: “what teacher?
Taryn: “bah… nothing!”
Showing posts with label Daily Yemen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Yemen. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Some exciting news in my life!
In my Hindi soap opera big things are going down! My family’s grandmother (father’s mother, Indian woman never ever to be found without a wad of tobacco in her lip) and I are addicted to a Hindi soap opera. We call it our “stories” as in “shhhh! Our stories are on!” The whole show is in Hindi so I only pick up on one out of every 45 words or so- no no! Not because I can speak Hindi, but because for some reason every once in a while at an alarming increase in volume the characters will shout out a word in English. Just right in the middle of a tense, pause-for-dramatic-effect, whispered dialogue, all of a sudden the characters will blurt out a singular word in English at a truly incredible volume. Also about half of the show is in slow motion. This is TV at its best. An episode the other day found one of the sisters going to a street vendor to buy a flagon of milk. This scene took about 15 minutes. First she waited in line for awhile, clearly extremely anxious about something (the tense music clued us in that something big was about to happen!) And then! she tripped and spilled the milk everywhere! They showed the scene over and over at various speeds including Super de-duper slow motion. Wringing her hands in anguish and despair took another few minutes along with several slow pans over to the stern and merciless countenance of the milk vendor. Finally someone took pity on her and bought her some more milk. Her face upturned with rapture, her eyes shining with unshed tears, her lip quivering slightly….end scene! Good stuff, solid.
So finally, FINALLY it happened. IT happened. First the beautiful but hapless youngest daughter of a recently impoverished family with shady financial dealings and a dark history of social intrigue SAID YES to a proposal of marriage from a super-cutie, blind, orphanage benefactor. Hamduliallah! It was touch and go for a minute-she didn’t think she deserved him/ didn’t want to get him embroiled in her family’s recent financial woes and checkered past, and the fact that she and her sister had recently, and of course, unwittingly, been dating the same man. In addition she didn’t know that he was the very same wealthy benefactor who had proposed to her via messenger sight unseen several months previous. Right as this was all coming to light in an exciting dénouement with many theatrical slow-motion looks of shock and anguish about THIRTEEN SMALL BABIES ran into the room screaming and playing. Grandma and I were NOT pleased.
At least for now all is well in “Jojunie!” I anxiously await the next episode as this brief period of relative calm and happiness cannot last. Good post? Hah, this is my life now… because I live in Yemen
So finally, FINALLY it happened. IT happened. First the beautiful but hapless youngest daughter of a recently impoverished family with shady financial dealings and a dark history of social intrigue SAID YES to a proposal of marriage from a super-cutie, blind, orphanage benefactor. Hamduliallah! It was touch and go for a minute-she didn’t think she deserved him/ didn’t want to get him embroiled in her family’s recent financial woes and checkered past, and the fact that she and her sister had recently, and of course, unwittingly, been dating the same man. In addition she didn’t know that he was the very same wealthy benefactor who had proposed to her via messenger sight unseen several months previous. Right as this was all coming to light in an exciting dénouement with many theatrical slow-motion looks of shock and anguish about THIRTEEN SMALL BABIES ran into the room screaming and playing. Grandma and I were NOT pleased.
At least for now all is well in “Jojunie!” I anxiously await the next episode as this brief period of relative calm and happiness cannot last. Good post? Hah, this is my life now… because I live in Yemen
Monday, July 6, 2009
Hey! How about that weather, huh?
Here in Yemen, unfailingly you can discuss the weather. At home the weather is a topic best employed to diffuse awkward social encounters- “soo… yeah… odd weather today, huh?” “yeah, no kidding! Okay.. nice to see you again, bye!” or you discuss the weather in terms of your hopes and dreams- “oh man I hope it snows like thirty feet tonight so I don’t have to go play a million softball games in the dregs of Delaware this weekend!” “yeah! And maybe my final exam will get postponed!”
But here weather isn’t just a casual aside, or an offhand comment. It is THE topic of choice.
My knowledge of weather vocabulary and regional Yemeni weather patterns is quite pronounced so I can converse with the best of them, seamlessly perpetuating an otherwise awkward social encounter. Depending upon the English proficiency level of conversation partner I will-
- Comically/exaggeratedly wipe the sweat from my brow and grin with exasperation
-Discuss weather differences by city and region of Yemen, particularly Aden Vs. Sana’a, Aden Vs. Ibb or Taiz, Aden Vs. any other country.
-Shout out my weather vocabulary and point to the sun, clouds, sky…
-Talk about when is it finally going to start getting cooler
-Talk about what will happen when the winds start really picking up in late July/early August and how that affects the drowning death toll
The weather unfailingly comes up in every conversation.
Since I’ve been here we’ve had two main weather changes. Stepping off the plane it was just brutally hot, just unbelievably kick-you-when-your-down, suffocatingly hot. Then we had a weather change. It somehow got hotter. Perceptively hotter. 110, 120. Just outrageous. The most recent weather change happened about a week and a half ago, the winds started picking up. It’s much dustier than it used to be, not quite as hot. Maybe it’s still just as hot but the wind is making it appear less so. It doesn’t seem as saturatingly humid as before either. Apparently the winds will just keep picking up through August making swimming extremely inadvisable because of subsequent rip-tides and whirlpools.
One nice thing is that it isn’t just me being whiny, everyone complains about the weather all the time. And everyone is sweaty and bedraggled with pronounced bouts of heat-induced lethargy.
The topic of the weather brought forth one of my favorite of all time comments from Ben, “Whew! Well I guess you can see why everyone is so devout here, if it’s this hot here everyday, you can only imagine how miserable hell would be!”
But here weather isn’t just a casual aside, or an offhand comment. It is THE topic of choice.
My knowledge of weather vocabulary and regional Yemeni weather patterns is quite pronounced so I can converse with the best of them, seamlessly perpetuating an otherwise awkward social encounter. Depending upon the English proficiency level of conversation partner I will-
- Comically/exaggeratedly wipe the sweat from my brow and grin with exasperation
-Discuss weather differences by city and region of Yemen, particularly Aden Vs. Sana’a, Aden Vs. Ibb or Taiz, Aden Vs. any other country.
-Shout out my weather vocabulary and point to the sun, clouds, sky…
-Talk about when is it finally going to start getting cooler
-Talk about what will happen when the winds start really picking up in late July/early August and how that affects the drowning death toll
The weather unfailingly comes up in every conversation.
Since I’ve been here we’ve had two main weather changes. Stepping off the plane it was just brutally hot, just unbelievably kick-you-when-your-down, suffocatingly hot. Then we had a weather change. It somehow got hotter. Perceptively hotter. 110, 120. Just outrageous. The most recent weather change happened about a week and a half ago, the winds started picking up. It’s much dustier than it used to be, not quite as hot. Maybe it’s still just as hot but the wind is making it appear less so. It doesn’t seem as saturatingly humid as before either. Apparently the winds will just keep picking up through August making swimming extremely inadvisable because of subsequent rip-tides and whirlpools.
One nice thing is that it isn’t just me being whiny, everyone complains about the weather all the time. And everyone is sweaty and bedraggled with pronounced bouts of heat-induced lethargy.
The topic of the weather brought forth one of my favorite of all time comments from Ben, “Whew! Well I guess you can see why everyone is so devout here, if it’s this hot here everyday, you can only imagine how miserable hell would be!”
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Where I live... sort of
this is an arial view I took from the plane. It's kinda hard to see. You will def need to click on the picture and enlarge it to have any idea what's going on.
No Touching! (I have a plan.. it's risky, but it might work)
Today as I was riding the bus to work- which aren't called "Da-bobs" by the way! I was wayy off on that one.. a man got on and did an extreme chair fake-out. He started to sit down on one of the fold-up chairs (at this time, I was leaning to the side letting my hair blown in the wind/trying to dry my perspiring brow from the open window) all of a sudden he tried to make an ill-chosen lunge to the back row of seats( as I'm kind of bopping my head about). We NAILED our heads together, just nailed them. He flopped down on the seats in agony, I cradled my head in my hands... but neither of us said anything. Everyon else continued to stare straight ahead. There was absolutely no acknowledgment that we had just bashed our faces together. I don't know, I guess that was perilously close to an innapropriate breach of social customs and heterosexual touching in public.
Later,
as I was walking to the office between classes, there was a large throng of exuberant teenage boys clogging the hallway. I decided to worm my way threw them. Right as i was passing throughwhat had previously been clear space, one of the boys stepped back gesticulating wildly- as he did so his hand ever so gently, and quite inadvertantly, brushed my buttocks. Everyone saw it. We had our backs to each other, and turned slowly, so slowly to face each other, our beet red faces the only acknowledgment of what had happened. Laughter ensued. I was giggling because i was super uncomfortable, they were all laughing uproariously because, hell yeah! someone got to touch the foreign girl's butt!
** please tell me that somebody, anybody, picked up on that Arrested Development quote in the title of this post!
Later,
as I was walking to the office between classes, there was a large throng of exuberant teenage boys clogging the hallway. I decided to worm my way threw them. Right as i was passing throughwhat had previously been clear space, one of the boys stepped back gesticulating wildly- as he did so his hand ever so gently, and quite inadvertantly, brushed my buttocks. Everyone saw it. We had our backs to each other, and turned slowly, so slowly to face each other, our beet red faces the only acknowledgment of what had happened. Laughter ensued. I was giggling because i was super uncomfortable, they were all laughing uproariously because, hell yeah! someone got to touch the foreign girl's butt!
** please tell me that somebody, anybody, picked up on that Arrested Development quote in the title of this post!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
friends! plural!
At a going away party the other night for my friend Johnathan (Canadian, UN educational intern. Of sorts.) there was an explosion of foreigners. It was nice. About a month and a half ago I audaciously decided to go fishing with a bunch of strangers, and now I actually have friends here, from Moldova, Hong Kong, Eritrea, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc. I feel boring and purely ordinary in comparison to these people. I am however, easily the youngest, so I have time.
But I ran into two French diplomats in the kitchen. Clearly if ever, this was the chance to demonstrate my superior linguistic ability! I proceeded to tell them my awesome French joke, and the 3 other phrases I know in French- one of which has a slightly racy/saucy connotation. It was all very impressive on my part.
We went to the disco/Yemeni dance club located next to the 2nd international restaurant in Aden, the Pizza Hut! (tuna pizza is their specialty) And then after that we went out to an abandoned stretch of beach where the Gulf of Aden meets the Red Sea and went swimming. No one but us around, unbelievable phosphorescence, star-lit sky, it was beautiful. It was also incredibly shallow and I could still touch the bottom a few hundred feet off shore. Much later we learned that those were shark infested waters, but hey! Still have all ten fingers and toes!
But I ran into two French diplomats in the kitchen. Clearly if ever, this was the chance to demonstrate my superior linguistic ability! I proceeded to tell them my awesome French joke, and the 3 other phrases I know in French- one of which has a slightly racy/saucy connotation. It was all very impressive on my part.
We went to the disco/Yemeni dance club located next to the 2nd international restaurant in Aden, the Pizza Hut! (tuna pizza is their specialty) And then after that we went out to an abandoned stretch of beach where the Gulf of Aden meets the Red Sea and went swimming. No one but us around, unbelievable phosphorescence, star-lit sky, it was beautiful. It was also incredibly shallow and I could still touch the bottom a few hundred feet off shore. Much later we learned that those were shark infested waters, but hey! Still have all ten fingers and toes!
friend!
My friend Ahmed (head of security at UNHCR Aden) introduced me to his friend Jen. What a lady! She is a fantastically irreverent, funny, well-intentioned gal of an indiscriminate age (I guess between 25-33)hailing from Detroit. She is essentially a shit-show and has brought untold joy into my life. Although she has explained it several times (usually when I’m only pretending to listen, but really thinking about just anything else. Usually food. Girls, you know what I’m talking about) I still don’t really understand what she’s doing here. Something with AIDS, refugees, global healthcare… I’m not sure. She’s pretty cool, and my first real lady friend here. I only hang-out with dudes. Wonderful but exhausting.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
A picture is worth a thousand words!
Oh hey fellas!
Alex(from couchsurfing.com) and Ben!
got this shark
Monday, March 30, 2009
A little of this...a little of that...
-Teaching is sleepy-
I know that it’s a bit hasty to judge but I have been teaching for three weeks now and ya know, I just don’t like it that much. I LOVE YEMEN, I love being here, I love Arabic, I love learning about Islam, I love the food, I love my students and coworkers, I love where I live, I love the people, I love that I moved here. But…the actual act of teaching? Not so much. In class it is fine, but the prep work! Oh hell, the prep work! Lesson planning is just plain laborious. I have to keep people engaged, interactive, and stimulated for TWO HOURS AT A TIME! The material is dry, well really, just plain boring. I’m teaching lower level courses so it’s all about the grammar. I really couldn’t care less WHY or HOW we use English, I just know that I’m good at it and speak it rather well. I only care about vocabulary, and literature. Umm…yeah, that’s really all. When I’m teaching the simple past tense of “to be” aka “I was”, “you were”… there really isn’t a whole lot of complex vocabulary to work with. My students are wonderful and earnest and kind. But I don’t want to have to spend even one extra minute outside of the classroom thinking about modal verbs let alone spending hours trying to come up with a plausible way to make the topic “can/can’t” interesting and last for two hours.. Amideast is amazing. They are doing great things in the Mid East especially in a post 9/11 world. The company motto " Bridging cultures, building understanding" is particularly apt. I keep meeting people who have studied in America on fellowship and cultural exchange programs. Or are working for their TOEFL so they can go to University in the states. Their stories are amazing and I'm very happy to be part of something so meaningful.
-Bad word sounds-
all the time my students mispronounce words so they sound like they are cussing wildly. Or sometimes in a perfectly natural manner they will bombard me with racial slurs or swear words (an example- the word cheek- first they mispronounce it like chick but also their accents are so thick it really just sounds like they are saying shit). It happened just the other day, we were using descriptive words for facial features and body parts when a student sad an extremely rude racial slur- A good reaction would be; don’t show alarm, calmly ask them to clarify, acknowledge what they said and then mention how, in English that word is actually bad to say. It is unkind and never used. Tell them multiple other options for that word and then, just as calmly move on without making a big deal about it. My reaction was not quite as subtle or professional. When the student casually mentioned the word as a descriptive example I said “WHAT?!? Wait…WHAT DID YOU SAY?” my eyes going wide and my mouth dropping open in alarm. The student repeated the word, I must have still looked stunned because a couple other students repeated the word as well, in a “Hellooo teacher, you don’t know this word?” kind of manner. Soon every single person in my class was shouting the word in various and alarming degrees of volume. I was like WHOOOA there class! Yes, I know what you said but NEVER EVER EVER say it again! My class kept asking, why? What does it mean? as they all continued to shout. As the only Caucasian woman working at my company I fervently hoped that no one was passing by my door at that exact moment… WHAT THE HELL IS TARYN TEACHING HER STUDENTS!!?!
-Incestuous friendships-
Yemen, it seems is a very small world. The man I met in the suq? The guy everyone call’s Obama? He is the father of one of my students. My friend Muhammad? Obama is his uncle. My family? Their close friends are being tutored by my Colleague’s(Muhammad Talksalot’s) wife. A friend I met in Aden told me to come to dinner and meet his cousin? Who turned out to be one of my students. A man started talking to me about his brother who has been to America- turns out it was Amal and Basaam, the couple I met in Jordan. Last night I went to dinner with Matt and the Muhammad’s, they decided to invite a friend of theirs, Waseem. I had met Waseem previously two-nights earlier at a get-together with my family. I could go on and on. Its just wild- this isn’t some crazy small town, it is the second largest city in the whole country. Its crazy the complex series of acquaintanceships and family relations.
-sweet, sweet vengeance-
The last three times I went by the rooster’s turf (once again safely sequestered in my bus) he wasn’t there! I HOPE HE WAS SOMEONE’S DELICIOUS, DELICIOUS DINNER!
-skimpy swim attire?!-
I’ve been curious about the swimming situation. I know men can swim whenever and where whatever they choose. But what about all the ladies? I find bathing suits in America are remarkably scandalous and thoroughly indecent. I, not a big fan of swimming, find myself extremely self-conscious and uncomfortable in the clingy, revealing ensemble of a bathing suit. What- in this culture of extreme sartorial modesty and conservatism- do Yemeni woman wear? Certainly not a bikini! Maybe a one piece? I decided to check it out. THEY SWIM IN FULL ABAYA! Can you believe that! Full abaya and head scarf…in the water…while swimming! I feel like that is extremely dangerous, just imagine how heavy and entangling a huge, cloaking-robe would be plus a head-scarf, and face cover. If any sort of current caught you or perhaps a rogue wave bombarded you, how could you even survive? Every woman I saw had some sort of floatation device in their arms at all time, not because they couldn’t swim, but simply because of the sheer volume of saturated clothing they were trying to support. So I guess I won’t be swimming any time soon…
I know that it’s a bit hasty to judge but I have been teaching for three weeks now and ya know, I just don’t like it that much. I LOVE YEMEN, I love being here, I love Arabic, I love learning about Islam, I love the food, I love my students and coworkers, I love where I live, I love the people, I love that I moved here. But…the actual act of teaching? Not so much. In class it is fine, but the prep work! Oh hell, the prep work! Lesson planning is just plain laborious. I have to keep people engaged, interactive, and stimulated for TWO HOURS AT A TIME! The material is dry, well really, just plain boring. I’m teaching lower level courses so it’s all about the grammar. I really couldn’t care less WHY or HOW we use English, I just know that I’m good at it and speak it rather well. I only care about vocabulary, and literature. Umm…yeah, that’s really all. When I’m teaching the simple past tense of “to be” aka “I was”, “you were”… there really isn’t a whole lot of complex vocabulary to work with. My students are wonderful and earnest and kind. But I don’t want to have to spend even one extra minute outside of the classroom thinking about modal verbs let alone spending hours trying to come up with a plausible way to make the topic “can/can’t” interesting and last for two hours.. Amideast is amazing. They are doing great things in the Mid East especially in a post 9/11 world. The company motto " Bridging cultures, building understanding" is particularly apt. I keep meeting people who have studied in America on fellowship and cultural exchange programs. Or are working for their TOEFL so they can go to University in the states. Their stories are amazing and I'm very happy to be part of something so meaningful.
-Bad word sounds-
all the time my students mispronounce words so they sound like they are cussing wildly. Or sometimes in a perfectly natural manner they will bombard me with racial slurs or swear words (an example- the word cheek- first they mispronounce it like chick but also their accents are so thick it really just sounds like they are saying shit). It happened just the other day, we were using descriptive words for facial features and body parts when a student sad an extremely rude racial slur- A good reaction would be; don’t show alarm, calmly ask them to clarify, acknowledge what they said and then mention how, in English that word is actually bad to say. It is unkind and never used. Tell them multiple other options for that word and then, just as calmly move on without making a big deal about it. My reaction was not quite as subtle or professional. When the student casually mentioned the word as a descriptive example I said “WHAT?!? Wait…WHAT DID YOU SAY?” my eyes going wide and my mouth dropping open in alarm. The student repeated the word, I must have still looked stunned because a couple other students repeated the word as well, in a “Hellooo teacher, you don’t know this word?” kind of manner. Soon every single person in my class was shouting the word in various and alarming degrees of volume. I was like WHOOOA there class! Yes, I know what you said but NEVER EVER EVER say it again! My class kept asking, why? What does it mean? as they all continued to shout. As the only Caucasian woman working at my company I fervently hoped that no one was passing by my door at that exact moment… WHAT THE HELL IS TARYN TEACHING HER STUDENTS!!?!
-Incestuous friendships-
Yemen, it seems is a very small world. The man I met in the suq? The guy everyone call’s Obama? He is the father of one of my students. My friend Muhammad? Obama is his uncle. My family? Their close friends are being tutored by my Colleague’s(Muhammad Talksalot’s) wife. A friend I met in Aden told me to come to dinner and meet his cousin? Who turned out to be one of my students. A man started talking to me about his brother who has been to America- turns out it was Amal and Basaam, the couple I met in Jordan. Last night I went to dinner with Matt and the Muhammad’s, they decided to invite a friend of theirs, Waseem. I had met Waseem previously two-nights earlier at a get-together with my family. I could go on and on. Its just wild- this isn’t some crazy small town, it is the second largest city in the whole country. Its crazy the complex series of acquaintanceships and family relations.
-sweet, sweet vengeance-
The last three times I went by the rooster’s turf (once again safely sequestered in my bus) he wasn’t there! I HOPE HE WAS SOMEONE’S DELICIOUS, DELICIOUS DINNER!
-skimpy swim attire?!-
I’ve been curious about the swimming situation. I know men can swim whenever and where whatever they choose. But what about all the ladies? I find bathing suits in America are remarkably scandalous and thoroughly indecent. I, not a big fan of swimming, find myself extremely self-conscious and uncomfortable in the clingy, revealing ensemble of a bathing suit. What- in this culture of extreme sartorial modesty and conservatism- do Yemeni woman wear? Certainly not a bikini! Maybe a one piece? I decided to check it out. THEY SWIM IN FULL ABAYA! Can you believe that! Full abaya and head scarf…in the water…while swimming! I feel like that is extremely dangerous, just imagine how heavy and entangling a huge, cloaking-robe would be plus a head-scarf, and face cover. If any sort of current caught you or perhaps a rogue wave bombarded you, how could you even survive? Every woman I saw had some sort of floatation device in their arms at all time, not because they couldn’t swim, but simply because of the sheer volume of saturated clothing they were trying to support. So I guess I won’t be swimming any time soon…
Sunday, March 29, 2009
"So there are these 3 Muhammad's standing in a row.."
"Umm.. okay? So what's the punchline?"
"No, I mean seriously, your 3 friends Muhammad are standing outside waiting for you"
"Ohh..."
I finally have their names figured out- there is Muhammad Jamal, Muhammad Saeed, and Muhammad Ali. There is also a fourth Muhammad whom we refer as Muhammad Talksalot because I find him so exasperatingly smug and pedantic that I simply cannot be around him
"Umm.. okay? So what's the punchline?"
"No, I mean seriously, your 3 friends Muhammad are standing outside waiting for you"
"Ohh..."
I finally have their names figured out- there is Muhammad Jamal, Muhammad Saeed, and Muhammad Ali. There is also a fourth Muhammad whom we refer as Muhammad Talksalot because I find him so exasperatingly smug and pedantic that I simply cannot be around him
Saturday, March 28, 2009
WE HAVE FLAMINGOS!
I'm very excited about the flamingos! I mean, how fun is that?
Also please note this particular posts title "WE have flamingos" as opposed to "Yemen has flamingos" Why did you write that, you ask? BECAUSE MY RESIDENCY WENT THROUGH! I am a Yemeni resident! I am officially an Ex-pat! Peace out! I shall make a triumphal return again one day, adieu America, adieu.
I should probably put some pictures up of where I live...
Out and around Aden- The scenery is ruggedly beautifulLeft- near the Crater suq
Left- old Sufi temple
Camel farm..and a cow
Left- skyline of Mu'allah
Below- Khormaksar, where I live
Left- around Elephant bay aka the "nice" area with the "upscale" hotelsBelow- a little fishing village on the coast near Little Aden
Left- Seera district near the fish marketCrater center outside my family's house
Thursday, March 26, 2009
I'm pretty famous
Last weekend I was roused from my blissful slumber and forced into helping to supervise a massive beach clean-up endeavor. I had hopes of being able to sleep in past 8am but no such luck! The beach-clean up was one of several yearly activities done by Amideast’s ACCESS students- ACCESS being students that study at Amideast from either U.S. or Yemeni government sponsored scholarships- providing that the students maintain certain academic criteria at both Amideast and at their regular public schools. It’s an extremely worthwhile program and is successful because the students are highly motivated- they know that if they don’t maintain academic standards and English proficiency levels they will lose their scholarship. Apparently this commendable work ethic DOES NOT translate to school-sanctioned manual labor.
The whole experience was a lesson in futility. From the get go it was poorly organized. After more than an hour and a half we finally got all the students shuttled over to the beach. It was the single most disgusting beach I have ever seen. Wandering around Yemen it is clear that they have different sanitation standards and procedures than we do but this was just ridiculous. Trash as far as the eye could see. One of the reasons that Aden enjoys such a high status as a tourist destination(relative to Yemen) is because of the beautiful beaches. Maintaining a modicum of sanitation clearly needs to be a much higher priority(for this particular beach, certainly not all, or even most).
This is the scene I was met with when I arrived at the beach with the last of the straggling students- just utter chaos. There were hundreds of Yemeni teenagers milling about aimlessly without a hint of guidance or direction. First order of business? Get them into groups. Okay not too bad. But then we had to give them garbage bags and gloves and designate work areas- I don’t know who planned this but they did a TERRIBLE job. It worked out to about one small garbage bag per every three students and far too few gloves.
Our cleanup attempt could not possibly have been more ineffectual; it was well over a hundred degrees, no one thought to provide water, there was a paucity of garbage bags and sanitary gloves, and did I mention that these were teenagers? Multiple hours of manual labor during the hottest part of the day by TEENAGERS? It doesn’t matter what country you are in, it’s just not going to happen.
I was given a group of about thirty teenage girls and told to watch them, keep them working, and not to let them take their shoes off FOR ANY REASON. Bah…okay. I defy you to be able to keep track of thirty girls out of hundreds when they are all wearing full abaya..
I was met with a constant barrage of whining “oh Teacher it’s too hot”, “oh I would give my arm for some water”, “oh this is Yemen, we don’t care”, or my favorite “oh why are you picking that garbage up? It’s not worth it, just pick up the really big pieces, or anything metal”. WHAT? There was no motivation or incentive to work at all.
Across the street were some men lounging around in orange jumpsuits in the shade of a massive dump truck, if you came anywhere even close to being productive they would bound up to you and whisk away the garbage bag before it was even half full, pitch it over the side of the truck and then adjourn back to the shade. I must have had half a dozen bags snatched from my grasp in just such a manner before overcome with the futility of it all, I gathered some of the girls around me and made them sing to me in Arabic.
Strewn all along the beach were piles of teenagers collapsed from the heat and the absurdity of the situation. Partially filled garbage bags lay wantonly cast aside. I literally picked up HUNDREDS of plastic, sanitary gloves. Because, we are here to pick up garbage, so once we’re done, why wouldn’t we just throw our gloves on the ground and walk away?
As I taught some of the boys how to make kites out of the remaining garbage bags and some dirty twine we found, I had to keep constant vigilance because the lady who organized the whole thing (abysmally) kept stalking up to me demanding that I make the kids work harder and keep picking up trash. Pick them up with what? And put the garbage where? We ran out of supplies in the first half hour. I just wanted to be like, listen lady, one- I don’t know you, and you are ruining my first weekend in Yemen, two- this is unbelievably futile, three- it is undeniably your fault this is a disaster, and four- get the damn buses back here so we can all go take a nap.
THE DAY WASN’T COMPLETELY WORTHLESS THOUGH!!
It turns out there were a couple of men roaming around taking photographs. I paid them no heed-this was during the first half hour of the clean-up process and I had yet to realize how worthless the whole endeavor was, I was busy toiling away. Awhile later Ben came bounding up, “I GOT MY PICTURE TAKEN WITH THE GOVENOR! THE GOVENOR! I’M GOING TO BE IN THE PAPER!"
“Damn you.” Is all I said as sweat was streaking down my face. Whatever Ben, ever heard of a work ethic?
Early Saturday(essentially Monday) morning I walked into the office to see a big group of people huddled around a newspaper. As I drew closer they all got super excited and animatedly gestured me over- and there it was FRONT AND CENTER of the morning paper, a pic of ‘ol Taryn toiling away on a dirty, Yemeni beach! BOOYAH BEN! WHO’S LAUGHING NOW?!!? Many of my students brought copies of the article to class, and I told anyone and everyone I met unabashedly, that I was now a Yemen celebrity. It was awesome. Ben’s reaction to hearing the news “WHAAAT? Some stupid, American comes and it trumps the GOVENOR making an appearance at a community clean-up project? Damn you”
BAHAHAHAHHA, I’m kind of a big deal. No seriously, I am.
HELL YES.
The whole experience was a lesson in futility. From the get go it was poorly organized. After more than an hour and a half we finally got all the students shuttled over to the beach. It was the single most disgusting beach I have ever seen. Wandering around Yemen it is clear that they have different sanitation standards and procedures than we do but this was just ridiculous. Trash as far as the eye could see. One of the reasons that Aden enjoys such a high status as a tourist destination(relative to Yemen) is because of the beautiful beaches. Maintaining a modicum of sanitation clearly needs to be a much higher priority(for this particular beach, certainly not all, or even most).
This is the scene I was met with when I arrived at the beach with the last of the straggling students- just utter chaos. There were hundreds of Yemeni teenagers milling about aimlessly without a hint of guidance or direction. First order of business? Get them into groups. Okay not too bad. But then we had to give them garbage bags and gloves and designate work areas- I don’t know who planned this but they did a TERRIBLE job. It worked out to about one small garbage bag per every three students and far too few gloves.
Our cleanup attempt could not possibly have been more ineffectual; it was well over a hundred degrees, no one thought to provide water, there was a paucity of garbage bags and sanitary gloves, and did I mention that these were teenagers? Multiple hours of manual labor during the hottest part of the day by TEENAGERS? It doesn’t matter what country you are in, it’s just not going to happen.
I was given a group of about thirty teenage girls and told to watch them, keep them working, and not to let them take their shoes off FOR ANY REASON. Bah…okay. I defy you to be able to keep track of thirty girls out of hundreds when they are all wearing full abaya..
I was met with a constant barrage of whining “oh Teacher it’s too hot”, “oh I would give my arm for some water”, “oh this is Yemen, we don’t care”, or my favorite “oh why are you picking that garbage up? It’s not worth it, just pick up the really big pieces, or anything metal”. WHAT? There was no motivation or incentive to work at all.
Across the street were some men lounging around in orange jumpsuits in the shade of a massive dump truck, if you came anywhere even close to being productive they would bound up to you and whisk away the garbage bag before it was even half full, pitch it over the side of the truck and then adjourn back to the shade. I must have had half a dozen bags snatched from my grasp in just such a manner before overcome with the futility of it all, I gathered some of the girls around me and made them sing to me in Arabic.
Strewn all along the beach were piles of teenagers collapsed from the heat and the absurdity of the situation. Partially filled garbage bags lay wantonly cast aside. I literally picked up HUNDREDS of plastic, sanitary gloves. Because, we are here to pick up garbage, so once we’re done, why wouldn’t we just throw our gloves on the ground and walk away?
As I taught some of the boys how to make kites out of the remaining garbage bags and some dirty twine we found, I had to keep constant vigilance because the lady who organized the whole thing (abysmally) kept stalking up to me demanding that I make the kids work harder and keep picking up trash. Pick them up with what? And put the garbage where? We ran out of supplies in the first half hour. I just wanted to be like, listen lady, one- I don’t know you, and you are ruining my first weekend in Yemen, two- this is unbelievably futile, three- it is undeniably your fault this is a disaster, and four- get the damn buses back here so we can all go take a nap.
THE DAY WASN’T COMPLETELY WORTHLESS THOUGH!!
It turns out there were a couple of men roaming around taking photographs. I paid them no heed-this was during the first half hour of the clean-up process and I had yet to realize how worthless the whole endeavor was, I was busy toiling away. Awhile later Ben came bounding up, “I GOT MY PICTURE TAKEN WITH THE GOVENOR! THE GOVENOR! I’M GOING TO BE IN THE PAPER!"
“Damn you.” Is all I said as sweat was streaking down my face. Whatever Ben, ever heard of a work ethic?
Early Saturday(essentially Monday) morning I walked into the office to see a big group of people huddled around a newspaper. As I drew closer they all got super excited and animatedly gestured me over- and there it was FRONT AND CENTER of the morning paper, a pic of ‘ol Taryn toiling away on a dirty, Yemeni beach! BOOYAH BEN! WHO’S LAUGHING NOW?!!? Many of my students brought copies of the article to class, and I told anyone and everyone I met unabashedly, that I was now a Yemen celebrity. It was awesome. Ben’s reaction to hearing the news “WHAAAT? Some stupid, American comes and it trumps the GOVENOR making an appearance at a community clean-up project? Damn you”
BAHAHAHAHHA, I’m kind of a big deal. No seriously, I am.
HELL YES.
A little bit closer- I look SOO good.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Yemeni Blogs
The two American fella's(AKA "my big strong men" as in, "where are my big, strong men?! Where are they? Matt! Ben?! Hey come lift this big, object for me!) I work with have both started blogs, they offer slightly different perspectives and information than my blog provides, which may prove interesting to devoted readers.
Ben Carver's blog
When we looked at each other's blogs we laughed and laughed because WOW they couldn't be more different. I write about scavenging for beer and rooster attacks. He writes about the socio-political climate in Yemen, includes insight on the history and culture, and offers impassioned diatribes on the educational system and governement of Yemen. But did I mention THAT I GOT ATTACKED BY A ROOSTER?!?!
http://mideasy.blogspot.com/
Matt Duda's(hahahahahaha Dead Worm) blog
Matt's blog is a continuation of his myspace page. It offers more pictures than my blog and includes a few videos as well. I particularly enjoyed the video entitled "That is NOT gunfire" its worth a watch if you have time.
http://blogs.myspace.com/mattjd43
Ben Carver's blog
When we looked at each other's blogs we laughed and laughed because WOW they couldn't be more different. I write about scavenging for beer and rooster attacks. He writes about the socio-political climate in Yemen, includes insight on the history and culture, and offers impassioned diatribes on the educational system and governement of Yemen. But did I mention THAT I GOT ATTACKED BY A ROOSTER?!?!
http://mideasy.blogspot.com/
Matt Duda's(hahahahahaha Dead Worm) blog
Matt's blog is a continuation of his myspace page. It offers more pictures than my blog and includes a few videos as well. I particularly enjoyed the video entitled "That is NOT gunfire" its worth a watch if you have time.
http://blogs.myspace.com/mattjd43
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
More on transportation
I am a bus expert
I just successfully made it to the mall and back by myself! This was my first foray in Yemen all alone without a males escort. On public transportation! After dark! I was feeling quite cocky and proud until we realized later that it was truly a great fluke that I got on the right bus. I, in my exceeding ignorance, thought that all buses run on a continued loop so if I hopped on a bus heading the way I wanted to go, boom. I’ll get there eventually. WRONG. Apparently every single thing that needed to go my way, did. There is no set schedule for these buses, they just go when they’re full. They go on routes either toward the Aden mall(outside the region of Crater/historical area) or to W-something or other(clearly I haven’t been there yet). If you point with your finger in front of yourself off toward the distance and the driver nods his head that means that that particular bus is heading toward Aden, if you point behind you, its going some place else. These buses are simply everywhere. I haven’t waited more than 20 seconds for one to come by and you never pay more than 40 Riyals a ride(about 22 cents). These buses- why they are referred to as buses mystifies me as they are clearly vans- are called “Dabobs” I have no idea what that means but I have accidentally, PUBLICLY called them “Bo-bo’s” three times….damn it.
it has been confirmed that in the city of Aden and the surrounding area there are NO traffic lights, they simply don’t exist. There aren't any cross walks either. To get to the right side of the road you simply have to cross 8 "lanes" of RAGING traffic. I say "lanes" because yes, sometimes there are technically lines painted on the road to delineate space.... clearly they are merely a suggestion. Cars are streaming in all directions, people are crossing at will, pedestrians have ZERO right of way- its simultaneously exhilirating and terrifying!
Also upon further investigation it appears that “Nazil” has nothing to do with the word “stop” so I really have no idea why we say that. I keep doing it and it keeps working so I no longer ask questions.
I just successfully made it to the mall and back by myself! This was my first foray in Yemen all alone without a males escort. On public transportation! After dark! I was feeling quite cocky and proud until we realized later that it was truly a great fluke that I got on the right bus. I, in my exceeding ignorance, thought that all buses run on a continued loop so if I hopped on a bus heading the way I wanted to go, boom. I’ll get there eventually. WRONG. Apparently every single thing that needed to go my way, did. There is no set schedule for these buses, they just go when they’re full. They go on routes either toward the Aden mall(outside the region of Crater/historical area) or to W-something or other(clearly I haven’t been there yet). If you point with your finger in front of yourself off toward the distance and the driver nods his head that means that that particular bus is heading toward Aden, if you point behind you, its going some place else. These buses are simply everywhere. I haven’t waited more than 20 seconds for one to come by and you never pay more than 40 Riyals a ride(about 22 cents). These buses- why they are referred to as buses mystifies me as they are clearly vans- are called “Dabobs” I have no idea what that means but I have accidentally, PUBLICLY called them “Bo-bo’s” three times….damn it.
it has been confirmed that in the city of Aden and the surrounding area there are NO traffic lights, they simply don’t exist. There aren't any cross walks either. To get to the right side of the road you simply have to cross 8 "lanes" of RAGING traffic. I say "lanes" because yes, sometimes there are technically lines painted on the road to delineate space.... clearly they are merely a suggestion. Cars are streaming in all directions, people are crossing at will, pedestrians have ZERO right of way- its simultaneously exhilirating and terrifying!
Also upon further investigation it appears that “Nazil” has nothing to do with the word “stop” so I really have no idea why we say that. I keep doing it and it keeps working so I no longer ask questions.
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