Gas Cylinders (4)

These days, I hear from some people that gas cylinders are half-filled with water instead of gas so that they feel heavy but finish up very quickly. Terrible, isn't it, especially because the prices are extremely high.
My gas cylinder finished yesterday. Today I saw some piled up at a store. No customers, though.
"Is there any gas?" (they could have been empty)
"Yes". Surprise!
"Is it really gas or is half of it water?" I inquired.
"Ma," said the guy - which could mean 'water' or 'no', since the pronunciation is very similar. Of course he meant the latter, and we all laughed.

Picture (Samsarah)

(photo by Eveline Kuhlman)

In the past, samsarahs were used by traders from outside Sana'a who came to sell their merchandise. They were warehouses and lodging places, which taxed the goods on arrival.
These days, many samsarahs in the Old City are used as places of storage for businessmen in the suq.

Civil Strike? Oh, please!

An employer of mine had sent money to the bank. It's a bank that I only use for this employer. My own bank is the best one in the country with an exceptionally helpful staff, but unfortunately they don't deal with them. And so I have to go every now and then to the woman branch of this bank owned by one of the Ahmar family.
Every time I go there, I ask myself why they have this woman branch because it's always extremely quiet. The all-women staff is usually involved in having breakfast, drinking coffee, or chatting, without many customers to serve.
Anyway, because this branch is not exactly next-door, I called them first to confirm the money was actually there. Yes, it was, they answered over the phone. But when I got there a little later, the bank was closed!
I found someone sitting on the steps who said they'd open after 12 pm. Why? No idea. "That's what they do on certain days."
I knocked on the door anyway, and, surprisingly, a guard opened the door. He let me in to talk to the female manager of the women branch.
"Come back at twelve," she said, too.
"But why?"
"There's no diesel."
"Well, if there's no diesel now, will there be at twelve?"
"And the power is off."
This was true. But it came back on during our conversation.
"There's the electricity again!" I exclaimed. "So could you please turn on your computer?" I started getting slightly angry. This morning when I had spoken to her over the phone, her computer had been on because she looked up my account, so it was not an impossibility. Keeping in mind the shortage of petrol, I didn't feel like coming back later - and it was all so stupid!
She refused.
"This is a civil strike," a girl in the manager's office said.
"Civil strike?! And what do I have to do with that? My money is in your bank."
Of course, the bank is owned by al-Ahmar who is with the opposition. This is a problem.
I knocked on the door of the man's branch next-door with the request to see the manager there. Someone came. He was a little more understanding and took me to an office. Then he called an employee and they gave me the money to the last dollar.
I will certainly request from my employer to start dealing with my own bank - they won't see me back here!

Petrol!

I decided to try one more time to find some petrol for my car... but in the early morning. We watched the sunrise while driving to a petrol station. And, mashallah, it was working! It had petrol! I was surprised to see how many other car owners had had the same idea of going out early (it was only 5:45 am) - there was quite a line already although it was nothing compared with the lines I saw yesterday.
The driver of the taxi in front of me seemed very nervous and got out of his car to check the petrol station, came back to move his car a few meters forward, got out again...
"Is the petrol nearly finished?" I asked him after a few times.
"Oh, no, there's plenty," he answered.
Alhamdulillah, but I don't know why he was acting this way, while most other drivers simply waited in or next to their cars.
Anyway, we got there, and the car was filled up. It had never felt so good to have a full tank!

NO Petrol

I spent the whole day looking for petrol today. In the morning I came only past one petrol station that was working but didn't feel like lining up for two to three hours in the heat of the sun. So in the afternoon I had another try. After quite a drive, I found a petrol station that had a supply and so I lined up - there were only about 150 cars in front of me, and the line quickly grew behind me. However, after half an hour - we were still far away - it was finished.
Some petrol stations I came past had also lines of cars waiting, but to the question: "Is there any petrol?" the answer was "No."
"So what are you all doing here then??"
"It may come later."
"When?"
"After 'isha, maybe," one person said.
"It's on the way!" another said cheerfully.
"Around midnight," again another said.
"The gas trucks cannot enter Sana'a," we heard some other people say.
After an hour of waiting, it seemed hopeless. Other petrol stations didn't expect another supply for at least a day or two. And so, I gave up for today.

Note: In the pic, the arrow shows you the petrol station!

Sjaggerijnig (in het NLs)

Op de vraag hoe het ermee was vandaag kreeg ik veelal het antwoord: "Ik ben zo sjaggerijnig!"
Dit komt vooral door de nu al enkele dagen durende electriciteits-uitval omdat de centrale in Marib weer eens aangevallen is - en dit keer lijkt het erger dan eerdere keren. De electriciteit kwam vannacht wel even terug, maar ja, toen sliepen we dus. Vandaag geen electriciteit gezien. En dat is hetzelfde in heel Sana'a, als ik het zo hoor. De buurtwinkel eigenaar was het sjaggerijnigst.
"Als je een winkel hebt, merk je alle problemen pas echt" zei 'ie. Diepvriesproducten ontdooien, witte kaas bederft, er zijn geen koele dranken meer, de winkel openhouden in kaarslicht is onhandig, alles wordt duurder, en de mensen geven gewoon veel minder uit de laatste tijd. Misschien was de qat die 'ie gekauwd had vandaag ook de beste niet...
Dat het GCC akkoord ondertekend zou worden leek hem onwaarschijnlijk, dat er een burgeroorlog uitbreekt leek hem veel waarschijnlijker. "Maar wanneer, wanneer? Dat is de vraag..."

We kwamen terecht in een opstopping. Ik dacht al dat er weer een nieuwe road block was opgezet ofzo, maar zo'n vijftien minuten later zagen we de oorzaak van de drukte: er was een benzine station met benzine! En daar hadden de chauffeurs zich dus in zulke lange rijen vervoegd om de tanks weer eens op te vullen dat de hele weg geblokkeerd werd...

Morgen is het een nationale feestdag, de dag van de vereniging (van noord en zuid-Jemen). We houden allemaal ons hart vast...

GCC Agreement? (2)

Apparently, the two parties couldn't agree on who exactly had to sign the agreement. And so, it was not signed. Simple, isn't it?

GCC Agreement?

On the Internet you can find all kinds of reports on the GCC agreement - all posted today. One report says the agreement is going to be signed today, another says within a day, another says within 48 hours. And other reports say it won't be signed at all - either because the President or the opposition didn't agree.
So what is actually the case? All I know is that the secretary-general of the GCC, Abdullatif al-Zayani, has left Sana'a today after a five-day visit...

Bits and Pieces from Daily Life

Sun-oven
Today I tried a handful of cut-up carrots and courgette with a few drops of oil in my sun-oven. They were ready to eat in about an hour-and-a-half!

Rain
We've hardly had any rain this year - it could quite well be that Allah is angry with the Yemenis. And it could also be that the Yemenis are too busy with other things to pray for rain...

Petrol
Could it be that the supply of petrol is increasing again? Let's hope so. I filled up my tank yesterday with only about six cars in line in front of me.

Security
The security forces won't tolerate any more unrest, it was reported (http://www.sabanews.net/en/news241466.htm). Let's hope the opposition gets back to their sense and stay in their sit-ins.

Roadblocks
I came past one of the government road blocks the other day where cars are searched for weapons. The soldiers were wearing nice-smelling rings of jasmine around their necks - it was almost a peaceful sight!

Electricity
Power cuts are a little less regular these days, alhamdulillah, although attacks on the Marib power plant do still happen. It was reported that yesterday, the Marib-Sana'a power transmission lines were exposed to a sabotage act by throwing barbed wire on them. Last week, the minister of electricity said that electricity line of Marib-Sana'a and electricity pylons were subjected to 21 attacks during the past three months, which cost the State treasury about YR 2 billion.

Sun Oven

I've been experimenting with a sun oven recently. When my gas cylinder is finished and I can't find another one, I have to find another way to cook.
I got the idea from a foreign friend. I must admit I had never heard of it, but it sounded interesting enough to search the Internet. I found many different models of sun ovens and decided to build the easiest one. All I needed was a cardboard box and some aluminum foil.
I got a box from my neighborhood store and told the shopkeeper why I wanted it. He looked at me a bit strangely, gave me two boxes, and wished me all success. I then spent an hour or so putting the thing together.
I was skeptical, I must say. The first day I put a glass pot in the sun oven with a small cut-up potato in very little water. Hours later, though, it was not exactly cooked. Because I had not covered the pot, I thought this may be the problem.
The next day, I tried a little tea kettle instead of the glass pot. I put some grains of rice in it, just to try. Hours later, they were only half-cooked although the tea kettle did get very hot.
So there was hope! I bought the smallest cooking pot with lid I could find and colored it a bit black with a piece of coal. And again, I placed it in the sun oven with a little water and rice. I left it for three-and-a-half hours, and guess what? When I opened the pot, the rice was overcooked!
SubhanAllah! This means it is possible! Can't wait to try out a bigger amount of rice, vegetables, etc, find out the proper cooking times, and tell the shopkeeper about it, too!

Flat Tire

I had two flat tires in one day yesterday. I don't mind changing a flat tire myself, but only in my own yard - not in public. That's not-done for a woman here.
The first one I discovered on our way to school for an exam, so there was no time to go back and fix it. Because it was not entirely flat yet, I continued very slowly and parked the car in a corner of the school's courtyard, where some secondary school students gave me a hand changing the tire.
After the exam, we went to the benshari, a very helpful young guy of around 16 years old. He's always in a good mood and charges bottom-prices. The tire was repaired.
In the afternoon, we went shopping. When we came back to our car, the same tire was totally flat again. So I got the jack out of my car and asked some street vendors next to me, "Who will help me to change my flat tire?" Two men immediately got up and did the job. Helpful people, the Yemenis!
Back at the benshari, I asked if I should, by any chance, consider buying a new tire. "Oh no, this one is still OK," he said. "A tire is only expired when it can't be fixed anymore or when it is torn to pieces." Economical people, too, the Yemenis. Things are really used up here. And because fixing a tire costs the equivalent of about one dollar, while a new tire costs at least $65, I totally agree.

The Exchange Rate of the Dollar

The exchange rate of the dollar used to be around 215 rials before the problems in the country started. Then it quickly went up to over 240 rials. Yesterday, the exchange rate suddenly dropped to 219 rials again. Why? Because apparently, the President was going to sign the GCC agreement. He didn't, however, so today it went up to 232 rials. What a mess!

Buying dollars, by the way, is not possible anymore. You can only sell them.

End-of-Year Exams (2)

Here in Yemen, school exams focus on memorizing, and this is not what I am used to. When I was in school, understanding was more important than memorizing. So when I teach my daughter Arabic grammar, I ask her to recognize, for example, the adjective in a sentence. But the exam is more likely to ask the student to give the definition of an adjective.

When I taught English, I was always surprised when students asked me if they had to memorize the information from the reading passages we studied. "No, of course not," I would answer. "We study English, not science or history." But now I understand their question because in school, you do have to memorize the details of the reading passages. And the Arabic study book is full of them. It contains a lot of passages on biographies of famous people of the country's or Islamic history, for example. All very interesting, but it makes the subject Arabic language extremely broad.

In short, the fifth grade Arabic exam today was so difficult that I wonder if I could have passed it myself.

A Kids' Activity for a (Rainy) Weekend

Don't know how to entertain the kids and don't want them to watch TV all day long? Here's a great tip.

On the Internet, look for coloring pages and print them. Mandalas are especially nice because of their shape. Print a whole pile of them, and start coloring together - for hours or even days! Then cut them out and stick them all on a big piece of paper. Put this poster on the wall of the kids' room.

We've just made one poster ourselves and the kids are already working on a second one!

The greatest collection of funny mandalas for kids you can find on www.kidsweb.de and following the next link will give you a whole lot more: http://www.gerardlenting.nl/mandala/mandala_kleurplaten/mandala_kleurplaten-2.html

Have fun!

End-of-Year Exams

Tomorrow the end-of-year exams for elementary and secondary school students officially start. Around six million and a half boys and girls will partake in the exams. Most schools, however, have already finished the exams for the lower classes. The following pictures were taken at a public school, where space is rather insufficient for the big classes. The students, therefore, have to sit on the floor of their classrooms or in the yard. They didn't mind and were all in a good mood, anyway... it's summer vacation for them now!

Change?!

"No more electricity, no more gas, no more diesel, no more petrol. That's the change they've achieved!" says a shopkeeper, loud enough for his neighbor, who is sitting in front of his shop, to hear. "He's one of them," he adds, pointing to the young guy. The young guy looks up, mumbles something, and goes back inside.
"The revolution of 1962 against the imam, that was a revolution," he continues. "There were only two schools in the city, and whoever said something wrong about the imam was immediately imprisoned - or worse. But these days we have freedom and can say and do whatever we like - without fear. Another revolution? Hahaha!"

Elsewhere, I hear the same thing. A teacher: "My wife has just given birth, but we're out of gas. And you know how it goes in Yemen - she should eat chicken every day. How are we supposed to cook it?"

When I come past a petrol station with at least sixty cars in line, I decide to join them. However, some ten minutes later we are informed that the petrol has finished, so we all leave again. The next five petrol stations are closed, so I give up. Instead of wasting the remaining petrol I have, I may as well choose to stay at home.

With an average of a couple of hours of weak electricity a day, the word "fridge" has become something of the past, just as "water heater", and, consequently, "shower".

We are wondering when the telephone and Internet stop working, too....