Last-Minute Studying

Learning a language (any language) takes time and effort. It is Yemeni students' habit to study for exams at the last moment. While this may be possible for subjects like history or geography, it won't work for the English language exam, especially for the higher grades. They are supposed to master all sorts of complicated verb tenses, like the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect, but they don't know the difference yet between the present simple and the present continuous. Then how is one supposed to study last-minute for an exam?
I write this out of frustration, of course. I was asked to tutor a couple of high school girls. After assessing their level, I told their father I'd start with them after the mid-year exams - from the very beginning, step-by-step. Yesterday their brother came to me to persuade me to prepare them for their exam today. I said that I could impossibly do so, that nothing could be done in just an hour or two, that learning a language takes time and practice. But he wasn't convinced.
I had actually tried it out with another girl from the neighborhood. Upon her request, I went over all the tenses, if-clauses, etc. in the course of one hour. She nodded but I knew she didn't understand a word. To illustrate, here's some of our conversation (my questions in English, her replies in Arabic):
"Finish this sentence: If it rains tomorrow, ..." "What does 'rain' mean?"
"Rain. Water from the sky. Again. If it rains tomorrow, ..." "I stay home."
"Yes, you'll stay home. Now in English, please. If it rains tomorrow, ..." "I can't."
"OK, something easier. What is the weather like in July?" "When?"
"In July." "I don't know the months."
"July is the seventh month. What is the weather like in July?" "Ehm.... cold?"
And then I am supposed to explain the future perfect??

So although the girls' brother tried and tried, I didn't give in. No last-minute stuying for students who need a thorough review from the very start. After all, a teacher is only a human being!

A Joke

Tomorrow is the math exam for most 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Most Yemeni students, for some reason, don't like math, and don't exactly excel in it. Here's a joke about that:
A teacher asked a boy how to divide four dirhams between three people. "Two dirhams for the first two," he replied. "And nothing for the third!"

Mid-Year Exams

The son of the mother-in-law of my friend's daughter came to our house to study. He is in fifth grade, just like my daughter. The only difference is that my daughter is home-schooled, while the boy attends classes.
I opened the book he had brought with him and asked him some questions. His answer was invariably, "I don't know".
"What do you do at school the whole morning?" I asked him.
"Well, we have ninety-nine students in the class, so it's a bit too noisy to concentrate."
"So your level is about average?" "yes."
Thank God that I can home-school my kids, I thought, because although we spend only about a third of school-time studying, it seems that it's pretty efficient.
Starting tomorrow, upper-class elementary school students have their mid-year exams (the first three classes have already finished them). Every day, one subject is tackled.
May Allah be with all of them.

Picture (the President's Mosque)

(photo by Eveline Kuhlman)

A few years ago, the President's Mosque opened up for the public to pray at. The building is elaborately decorated from both the outside and the inside.

A Visit to the Market

I took my neighbors to a vaccination center recently, with the one-and-a-half-year-old daughter of the mother and the also one-and-a-half-year-old daughter of her daughter, to have them get their last injection against measles. The mother doesn't often go out; in fact, she hadn't been out of her neighborhood for a few years. Therefore, she gets carsick quickly, and we just hoped for the best.
It was a bit of a drive through the chaotic traffic, but luckily, she only started to feel a bit unwell at the end of it. So she left her daughter with me and went looking for the bathrooms in the hospital, while her daughter (the mother of the other toddler) and I saw the doctor. The vaccinations were given quickly and surprisingly, the little girls didn't even cry.
Outside the hospital is a market with clothes, shoes, etc. We caught up with my neighbor, still feeling a bit weak, and started walking around the market. She immediately immersed in looking through piles of cheap clothes, bargaining, etc., and quickly felt better. I took the opportunity to buy a few clothes for my daughters, too, but when I was done, she and her daughter were still looking for... well, shoes for the little girls and themselves, some cotton dresses, T-shirts for the kids, bags... It's funny, I like going to markets, but it shouldn't take too long. I bargain until the price seems right, unlike my neighbors, who seemed to have prices in mind that were really out-of-date. I mean, the equivalent of $1.20 for a pair of children's jeans is really a good price, and $1.50 for a pair of children's shoes is as cheap as you can get them. Trying to get the price down to $1.25 consequently didn't work.
Only when their $15 were finished, after the little girls had run away several times, and after I had repeatedly told them it was getting late (meaning, actually, that I was getting bored), we managed to get back to the car. And we got home without my neighbor having to use the plastic bag for carsickness!

Birthdays

Birthdays are not celebrated according to Islamic principles, and since this is an Islamic society, there are no birthday parties. Some people, especially - but not only - the older generation, don't even know their exact date of birth!
What is celebrated, though, is the birth of a baby. Women visit the mother (the waalidah) for forty days, and the last day of this period is usually a bigger party with cakes and spiced coffee. Parents who can afford it may slaughter a sheep for the occasion of a new baby-girl, and two in case of a baby-boy. However, no parties are held in subsequent years.
So, sorry Dad and sister, no "happy birthday" wishes from my side - now you know why..!

Watermelon

There are plenty of watermelons for sale these days. Did you know the following about watermelon?
Green watermelon is cold and wet and is sweet. It also works as a cleanser for the stomach and the intestines. Watermelon departs the stomach more quickly than cucumber and quickly blends with whatever substances are present in the stomach. It is beneficial to eat watermelon when it is warm, but when it is cold, it is better to have it with some ginger to offset its harm.
Watermelon should be eaten before the meals. Otherwise, it will cause nausea. Some doctors said that when watermelon is eaten before the meal, it cleanses the stomach and removes ailments.

This is an excerpt from the book "Healing With the Medicine of the Prophet (PBUH)" by Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyah. Interested? click on the following link: http://store.dar-us-salam.com/product/100.html?a_aid=alnakhlayemen

Recipe (Beans for Breakfast or Dinner)

This dish is very easy to make and nutritious at the same time.

Ingredients:
- a can of kidney beans or white beans or the equivalent of dried beans soaked overnight and cooked until soft
- three red tomatoes without skin
- a small onion
- some garlic and, if desired, a chili pepper
- salt and black pepper

Preparation:
Chop up the onion and fry in a little oil in a frying pan. Then add the cut-up tomatoes, garlic, and possibly the chili pepper. Add the spices and stir until the tomatoes become soft. Then add a little water and the beans. Serve with bread (use little pieces of bread as a spoon).

Note: Instead of beans, you can also use peas.

Daily Life (Bargaining)

Bargaining is a common practice in the suqs, and it makes shopping a challenging experience. You can bargain on just about anything except groceries in grocery stores. Raising voices, laughing, walking away, and being called back are all parts of the game. It's important to be well-informed about prices in general before you try, and the more Arabic you speak, the more likely you are to succeed.
As a foreigner, you may still pay a bit too much, but if you're pleased with the purchased item and had a good time interacting with the businessmen, I wouldn't worry about it!

Eclipse

They had predicted a 20% eclipse of the sun to occur in Sana'a today in the morning, but all we saw was a brightly shining sun. Science doesn't always have it right! Did anyone notice anything in other parts of Yemen?

Architecture (qamariahs)

The qamariah is an approximate half-circle of colored glass in plaster above the actual window. Qamariahs throw beautiful light inside the room and at night, when the room is lit from the inside, they give a colorful sight from the street. All houses in the Old City have qamariahs, and many newly-built homes have them, too, although aluminum windows are, unfortunately, gaining ground. Qamariahs are made by spreading gypsum plaster on a wall, smoothing it and drawing patterns on it with a compass which are then cut out before the plaster dries. The qamariah is then taken off the wall and laid flat. Pieces of glass are shaped to fit and fixed into the cut-out holes before wet plaster is applied around the edges on the reverse.
You can see workshops for qamariahs all over the city.

Holidays in Yemen

There are two main holidays in Yemen, which are the Islamic "Eids": Eid al Fitr, after Ramadhan, and Eid al Adha, approximately two months later. Because the lunar calendar is followed for these occasions, they have no fixed western-style dates. If one of the Eids occurs in the middle of November one year, it'll be in the middle of October three years later. These Eids are long holidays—they officially last about five days.
Then there are several National holidays, of which the most important ones are 22 May (Unification Day), 26 September (Revolution Day of the North), and 14 October (Revolution Day of the South).
New Year's Day (January 1) is not celebrated although government employees sometimes get a day off (not this year). The same applies to the Islamic New Year.