so i suppose now is not the best time to be neglecting my blog...
let me first say that i'm fine, returning to the US in a few days and definitely plan (and hope!) to come back to yemen at this point. nothing in my life has really changed since the recent yemen media craze, except spending a day or so worrying about why the embassies closed in sanaa. however, if i was in states right now, i would probably think that yemen was on the verge of war and entering a downward spiral as (as some have called it) "the new afghanistan." yes, alqaeda is out there and has been out there for many years. i can't claim to know toooo much about the situation, but i can help point you towards what (in my humble opinion) are some better blogs and articles about the situation (in a minute...)
it was during the embassy closures, when i actually started to freak out a bit, that i realized i'm really not done with yemen. when people were first starting to talk/hear about yemen in december, i actually felt a bit excited about the prospect of having to stay at home. but it hit me after the US embassy closed that this might be a real possibility, and i spent a few days very upset and depressed at the prospect of not coming back here to this BEAUTIFUL country that i have most definitely not finished exploring and getting to know, and to many people who are becoming a big part of my life. most definitely not done eating bayd (a scrambed egg variation, usually with veggies and cheese) or faHsa (kind of like shredded beef in a stew, topped with fenugreek), chewing qat, having mohammed explain the same things to me 47 times in arabic when i understood the first time, having mohammed recount events to me multiple times that i myself was present for, joking with my students at amideast, going a bit crazy with the foreigners whenever needed, traveling...etc etc. i'm hoping that returning to the states will also help remind me why i came here in the first place, and make the little annoying things that have been irking me of late melt into the background...
i am EXTREMELY excited to go home right now though, and see my family and all my LOVES!!!! especially after a recent fiasco at the airport when i was not allowed to leave the country because i didn't have an exit visa. look at that yemeni security! anyway, we were so concerned about getting the yemeni exchange student who i was accompanying his US student visa that nobody (including myself) really thought about my need for entry/exit visas. i'm going to spend a week or so in pittsburgh to see my family, grandparents, and my girlies, then probably a few days in DC with my habib dan and hopefully BERNIE! :)
as promised, here are some of the (rare) intelligent and less sensationalist blogs/articles about the yem:
Waq al-Waq (thanks jared! this is a good blog to follow continuously...)
LA Times: Foreigners in Yemen (a good article by my friend haley!)
CNN: Alqaeda in Yemen
NYT: US has few resources to face threats in Yemen
will keep updating for you guys (as much as i remember to do so...)
much love!
addie
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Wow--it seems like you've had a lot of heartbreak when it comes to these countries you go to. I want you, above everything to be safe, you know that, and you are smart enough to make the best decision for you.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how a place can so seduce you. When I was in Paris, I was so lonely, relatively homesick for New York and miserable, but just walking around, seeing that white limestone, the seine, eating my favorite foods and speaking to my new friends certainly threw me for a loop. It was a really hard decision to return, but when I realized that things don't ever have to be final (even though sometimes they are) it was easier for me to do what I needed to, which was come back and learn how to do etching and meet R. Crumb and hang out with my boyfriend.
And now I'm going back, who knows what will happen. If you have to stay in the US, give yourself the mental room to allow for the possibility of movement, of returning. And then it won't be like your losing an experience, but that you're gaining a constellation of possibility. :)