falling stump

A couple of days ago as I was briskly walking along the road near Amideast - the little lane with all the dead animals and bones I previously mentioned here? Remember? I was trapped in the inner-circle of thought, deep in the throes of life contemplation and introspection. Even as my mind was in a faroff place, I still had the wherewithall to circumnavigate an area of the road that is bounded by low-hanging trees. What? Shade in Yemen!? and you are avoiding it? Whatever for?!

Any casual observer will instantly acknowledge that that is an area best avoided. The low lying branches of the trees are the prefered nesting grounds of the locals birds- and with one look at the myriad animal carcai (my best guess on the plural form of the word "carcass"), litter, and abundance of animal droppings covering the roadway below them , it is clear that expelling their noxious waste on unsuspecting passerby is their favored pastime.

Just as I was passing beneath the trees, a bloody chicken foot fell in front of me! I mean.. and then I leapt back in suprise! But then I continued on my merry way. Hmmm... I guess that was a rather anticlimactic ending to this post.

Animals in Yemen hate their lives

In Aden I live in the region of Khormaksar which has a nice little series of private compounds and infrequently traveled lanes- in fact the gated, walled street ways are quite labyrinth like and if you inadvertently make a wrong turn you can easily end up going ages and ages out of your intended way as you are corralled along. But to get anywhere from my apartment I have to go down a little lane and on my daily sojourn, THE SERIES OF DECAPITATED ANIMAL PARTS I FIND IS SIMPLY ASTOUNDING!

A couple of weeks ago, delicately positioned in a loping stride was the hindquarter and hoof region of a small ruminant, I'm guessing goat.


Earlier this week as I was walking along I spied an adorable little red-and-yellow, children's giraffe figurine. How cute! I even went so far as to comment to Ben how charming I found it. Upon further inspection as I drew closer I realized it was in fact, a severed chicken's foot! It was HUUUUGE and the red part was its bloody stump!


today there was a giant crushed Raven...

Along this lane are two old stray dogs- which Matt affectionately named Rabies and Scabies- and at least we know that they're getting some nice protein in their diets as they gobble up the fetid roadkill..

Also I had the wildest encounter with some birds earlier today- As I was descending the stairwell of my apartment I came upon a crow. I made the usual stomping/kicking motion to shoo it away from my chosen path. It didn't even flinch. The bird didn't move one inch as I drew up to it. Finally I started gently nudging, and then petting it with my shoe. It gazed at me for a moment and then flopped over exposing its downy midriff. Okay.... While I was thoroughly engrossed in this perplexing avian behavior, a bunch of other crows started swooping down toward me and landed by my feet all around me. They started cawing extremely loudly, screaming and flapping their wings, one of the birds was salivating and drooling into a little pool... It was so dang Hitchcock I hightailed it right out of there.


I was reminded the other day that I have been utterly remiss in mentioning Kitten. I mentioned the Fuffster, I mentioned my two little munchkins, but I neglected to mention Kitten! I do miss Kitten, I swear I do! What happens when you and your beloved college roommate get bored one day and then drunk? You adopt a cat!

In a nearby suq they sell baby monkeys for $5.00 I've been pretty bored at times around here... luckily alcohol is illegal so clearly I haven't been inspired to adopt a monkey. Yet.

He's back and he's better than ever!

THE ROOSTER IS BACK! I am aware that this is the third time I've mentioned this rooster. I am also aware that three far surpasses the amount of times that anyone, at any point should ever mention a rooster. But he's back, AND HE'S PISSED.

This would NOT happen to Fuffy!

Today in class I asked my students if they had any pets- I have seen a lot of feral cats and dogs around, all of which could kick the living shit out of any pet I've ever had, so I was just curious what the deal was. At first the concept of "pet" was a bit hard to grasp, "bet? Bit? What this mean?" "No no pet, you know like a dog or cat that you bring into your home and it lives with you?" Then they were all summarily horrified at the idea of a cat or dog IN their home. Finally the concept sunk in "oh yes teacher! Pets! Yes we have lots of pets. Chickens, goats, lambs. Yes, yes lottts of pets!" I was like oh wow, huh, that's cool and we moved on. A few minutes later it dawned on me, "wait wait wait, do you eat those pets?!" "Of course we do teacher! Delicious!" Okay that's just not a pet... in America we don't usually eat our pets but yeah, alright, similar.

Girl scouts honor this happened

I caught the bus yesterday to go to the Lebanese International University to find out about Arabic lessons. I was meeting my friend Muhammad and his two friends (ironically, or perhaps not so ironic in Yemen, both also named Muhammad). I became so engrossed in my thoughts that I blew past my stop and had to hoof it back several blocks. As I was walking along the road (a very busy road with limited sidewalk options) I saw a rooster up ahead- I had seen this rooster previously several times; he was remarkably handsome, pure white with red accents. He looked stalwart, healthy, and proud. Every time I saw him (always whizzing by on a bus) he was in the same spot- clearly his turf- and this was to be the first time I passed him on foot.
As I approached he was pecking and clucking along, guarding his brood of hens and then he saw me! Instantly you could tell he meant business (He was clearly in a fowl mood, Hah! See what I did there?!?) Across the expanse of pavement we made and maintained a fierce, burning eye-contact, his eyes malevolently challenging me- “I will eat you alive, bitch” and I thinking “what’s more dignified? Risking life and limb to dash across 8 screaming lanes of traffic to avoid a small bird or being mauled by a malicious rooster?” but then I remembered I’m a Hanley girl! Hanley girls are NOT deterred by mere poultry. Resolutely I marched forward. Warily I gave him a wide birth, he followed me with his steely gaze the whole time and then I was past him! Great success! But wait! Now he was following me, slowly at first, maintaining pace with my even stride. But then he started walking faster, and faster, and then he was RUNNING BEHIND ME! At this point, dignity be damned, I too am running. Just running away down the streets of Yemen being chased by a riled-up rooster. By now we are in a full blown chase and have progressed well beyond his territory, what does he want from me?! He’s gaining…gaining…and then PECKING! PECKING AT MY TOES! Now we have both stopped running and I am leaping, and kicking, and jumping, and skipping away from his beak. And then just like that, he was done. Game over. I whirled toward the street, astounded, flabbergasted, “DID ANYONE SEE THAT?” I shouted, “HELLO YEMENIS, DID ANYONE JUST SEE THAT ROOSTER ATTACK ME? WHAT WAS THAT?!?” but I got nothing. No reaction, no one cared. Just another silly American. And all that was left for me to do was pull myself together and move on. Of all the indignities.

Wholly Irrational

As people ask about my upcoming adventure, I often get asked about the spider situation. That is the one topic of information I’m actively avoiding. Giant snakes? Cool. Scorpion on my pillow? Been there, done that. Cockroaches? Whatever. Spiders? HELL NO.
Had anyone told me previous to my trips to Honduras that there would be tarantulas there, it might have given me pause. I will be constantly vigilant, and non-confrontational. They shouldn’t come near me, and I will try and get the locals to kill them but otherwise steer clear. Fine, truce. But had I known that one bright, sunny day I would be innocently writing in my notebook and casually glance down to find a GIANT TARANTUALA NESTLED ON MY SHOULDER I never would have gone. I would have sequestered myself into a hermetically sealed room and never stirred from there again. No joke.
How did this great fear start, you ask. Because its not only that I don’t like them, it’s that I’m so shaking-and-crying-when-I-see-one, deathly afraid of them. Perhaps I have always been afraid of spiders, of that I cannot be certain. What I CAN be certain of however is that as a young child of six or seven I found myself one day, sick in bed. My father in a well-intentioned act, proceeded to rent his beloved daughter a movie. He rented “Arachnophobia” HE THOUGHT I WOULD THINK IT WAS COOL. Well let me tell you. It wasn’t. In fact it was, quite truly, the single most terrifying 2 hours of my life. For years and years I have been plagued by a reoccurring dream about cunning and malicious spiders who stalk my family and then kill my sister (sorry Kallyn, it’s always you). So I just don’t want to know about the spider situation in Yemen, I just don’t want to know about it because if I did, I honestly might not be capable of going. One horrific day in the none to distant future I will find out first hand. Until then, I remain gratefully, blissfully ignorant.