Just doing some leisure reading during my spare time before my big move...
Friday, February 27, 2009
Language Barrier
An Arabic phrase I’ve made sure I know before I embark forth on my big adventure:
هل هناك دورة المياه الأوروبية المجاورة ، وأنا لا يبرع في الاقامات فقط بعد؟
"Is there a European toilet nearby? I’m not proficient at squatting just yet"
هل هناك دورة المياه الأوروبية المجاورة ، وأنا لا يبرع في الاقامات فقط بعد؟
"Is there a European toilet nearby? I’m not proficient at squatting just yet"
Growing Up Hanley
Mom: "Taryn have you considered what you’re going to do if someone tries to steal you’re camera? That could be a year’s salary for someone"
Me: "umm… well I’ll keep it in my house if I’m not going to be using it. They have locks in Yemen..."
Mom: "No no I mean what If they try and steal it while you’re using it!"
Me: "I don’t know, maybe I’ll try and punch them in the eye, you know like you’re supposed to do if a shark is attacking you, you gotta aim right for the eye"
Mom: "You can’t fight back! You could be killed! But what happens if it’s hanging around you’re neck and a motorbike whizzes by and they grab it! You could be strangled! Or dragged Along!"
Taryn: "Oh wow! Ya know that never occurred to me. I bet I could just flick it off my neck real quick. Like as the pressure was increasing I could just whip my head down really fast and it will fly off from around my neck maybe"
Mom: "Sounds unlikely…I don’t know if that would actually work…"
Taryn: "I mean.. well lets practice. Okay you be the thief, pull my camera away with increasing pressure and I will whip my neck down and free myself!"
Mom: "Okay!"(Pulling camera strap taught)
It took me years to realize that my family is odd. Well actually about five minutes into college. We all think we’re great. And by the way, it totally worked. I will not be dragged through the streets and then strangled from my camera strap by a thief riding a motorbike. Phew! Once less thing to worry about.
Me: "umm… well I’ll keep it in my house if I’m not going to be using it. They have locks in Yemen..."
Mom: "No no I mean what If they try and steal it while you’re using it!"
Me: "I don’t know, maybe I’ll try and punch them in the eye, you know like you’re supposed to do if a shark is attacking you, you gotta aim right for the eye"
Mom: "You can’t fight back! You could be killed! But what happens if it’s hanging around you’re neck and a motorbike whizzes by and they grab it! You could be strangled! Or dragged Along!"
Taryn: "Oh wow! Ya know that never occurred to me. I bet I could just flick it off my neck real quick. Like as the pressure was increasing I could just whip my head down really fast and it will fly off from around my neck maybe"
Mom: "Sounds unlikely…I don’t know if that would actually work…"
Taryn: "I mean.. well lets practice. Okay you be the thief, pull my camera away with increasing pressure and I will whip my neck down and free myself!"
Mom: "Okay!"(Pulling camera strap taught)
It took me years to realize that my family is odd. Well actually about five minutes into college. We all think we’re great. And by the way, it totally worked. I will not be dragged through the streets and then strangled from my camera strap by a thief riding a motorbike. Phew! Once less thing to worry about.
Malaria be damned!
I finally got my prescription for malaria. I will, at least initially, be living in Aden, Yemen’s second largest city, on the coast. The weather is exceedingly hot and muggy and a veritable breeding ground for mosquitoes and pestilence! You don’t need to take malaria meds in Sana’a or any place above 2,000 feet which, Aden is not. The pharmacist carefully explained the side effects and procedures for taking my meds- small concern being stated because of the extended duration I will be needing the medicine- and then proceeded to hand me the bottles. Yes plural. BottleS. Oh shit. I have gone ahead and put a normal size prescription bottle into the picture for size comparison. I’ve never seen anything like it. The pills are however, a very unusual shade of cerulean blue that I find quite becoming.
It's much easier than explaining
As I’m stocking up on weird supplies in large quantities, people are always asking where I’m off to with 10 oversized linen tunics-
“I’m moving to Yemen”
“Good grief! Really?! Why on earth are you moving there?! Yemen! That’s in the Middle East!!”
“Oh, you know, I really like hummus…”
And then they stare agape for a moment and back away
“I’m moving to Yemen”
“Good grief! Really?! Why on earth are you moving there?! Yemen! That’s in the Middle East!!”
“Oh, you know, I really like hummus…”
And then they stare agape for a moment and back away
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.
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.
Efficient and Methodical
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