MUST POST!

i am not quite sure what this post will be about, but it's been about 2 months now since my last post (which really doesn't count that much since it was all photos), so it's time. i have been back in yemen since the beginning of february, and although i initially was very happy to be back, this past month has definitely had its ups and downs. i'm just getting sick of many many things that i could ignore for a while in the beginning by focusing on how interesting and beautiful yemen is, and also how completely the opposite of boring it is (i do still believe this). perhaps yemen/sanaa don't need additional criticisms, but my complaints are non-newsworthy and unrelated to alqaeda or even sa'ada or southern secessionists. i'm not sure how this makes critiques of sanaa any better, but since this blog is mostly just about my daily life and impressions, i should give the bad along with the good. first of all, in a society where 95% (guestimate) of women wear the niqab, presumably in the goal of greater modesty and protection of privacy, it makes me very very sick how the vast majority of yemeni men blatantly stare at women with uncovered hair and even those wearing the hijab. there is no sneaking a glance or flashing a greeting smile or embarrassedly turning away (people check each other out everywhere, of course)...they stare, and then they stare, and then they very obviously alert their friends, and then they all do some more staring, often stopping in their tracks or doing a full 180 in the process. this goes along with choruses of "hellos," often from children but at least half the time from men and sometimes accompanied by an "omigod" or an "i love you." i have adapted by essentially go into uber bitch-mode every time i leave the house. i usually walk to the same places, if they are close enough to get to on foot, so i of course "salam" my local shopkeeper and my favorite cafeteria guys and an occasional shawl salesman. as for everyone else, i ignore the living hell out of them, and can't really afford to distinguish between kind, friendly "hellos" (exceedingly rare) and blatantly obnoxious attempts to attract attention, because if i wasn't listening to my ipod at all times i think i would go insane. i feel like perhaps i'm exaggerating, and i suppose there are days when i do not arrive at my destination still fuming, but i am always relieved when the walk is over. one might make the argument that if you grew up in a place like this, where western women and even women showing some face are quite rare, you would stare as well...but this doesn't really make my experience any less unpleasant. and of course there's the "perhaps they're just staring at you because you're different, and not as a sexual object" argument (yemeni women do stare as well, although its harder to tell). i can only judge from my own experience, and i feel like most boys/men between the ages of 16-40 (roughly) are not just thinking that i'm different.

i think perhaps that's all the venting that i need to do today (no "first of all" needed, i suppose), although there are many other things that aggravate me here. i am not saying that all yemeni men are this way, and i work with and have met many many wonderful, sweet, and respectful yemeni teenagers/men, but i can't ignore experiences that i have every day either.

aaaaaand of course, i should include some news and whatnot, since there are some good summary articles that have come out lately (including a few by some of my MANY freelance journalist homies here):

article by my HABEEB in the asia times :)

good sum-up by my friend haley in washington monthly

yemen's 15 minutes of fame in FP