New President

Well then, Abdu-Rabo Mansour Hadi is finally the new president! He got over 6,600,000 votes, which is approximately 50% of the people who were eligible to vote. THat's not a bad score. But it's still only half the people, so I'm not sure what that means...

Hadi has two years to prove himself. Let's see if he'll be able to solve all the problems in the country.

Funny note: a day before the electons, the electricity suddenly worked again. But soon afterwards, it went off as usual. Even a journslist at some press conference asked what the electricity had to do with the elections, but he didn't get an answer :)

Tomorrow's Elections

No official polls have been held about tomorrow's elections here - perhaps not to enrage any of pro or contra groups. But in my own environment, I see that most people won't vote. Only a few older men, who really believe that voting is their duty, will go, and of course the GPC and Islah members. I haven't met a single woman, young or old, who said she was going to vote. And the youth that is not linked to any political party will certainly not go.
There is not really a point in going anyway. The current vice-president, Abdu-Rabo Mansour Hadi, is the only candidate and will become the president whatever happens - he doesn't even need a minimum number of votes. "So why bother ourselves?" most people, quite rightly, ask.

Fruit

It's a habit in Yemen, like in so many other countries, to eat some fruit after lunch. That this is not good for the body, I read again in a forwarded message I recently got, which said:

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting them and just popping them into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think. It's important to know how and when to eat.

It means not eating fruits after your meals!
Fruits should be eaten on an empty stomach.

If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.
In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil....
So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining — every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, etc — actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!

Interesting. Anyway, fruit tastes better when you eat it before a meal!

President's Picture (2)

“President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered all authorities and institutions” public and private, across the country, “to take down his pictures from public squares, streets, buildings and offices and raise those of Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi,” Saba News agency reported.

But, honestly, that will take some getting used to, and I think it'll take some time!

President's Picture

A couple of days ago, the Thawra newspaper went out without the daily picture of Ali Abdullah Saleh. This enraged some of his supporters.

Today, I read the following article (AP):

Gunmen publish Yemen president's photo
Updated: 14:18, Monday February 6, 2012

A state-run Yemeni newspaper's office is being occupied by armed men who kicked out the paper's editors and journalists in order to reinstate the outgoing president's picture on the front page.

Al-Thawra newspaper board member Mohamed Shabita says President Ali Abdullah Saleh's loyalists took over the newspaper's offices in the capital of Sanaa and brought in their own journalists. They published his picture on Sunday.

Hundreds of armed men loyal to Saleh also surrounded another state-run newspaper's offices in the southern city Taiz last week, demanding the president's picture be restored. The editors of the el-Gomhoreya paper gave in.

After months of street protests demanding his ouster, Saleh is set to transfer powers to his deputy later this month. Saleh is in New York for medical treatment.

Dust Clouds

Strange dust clouds have gathered over Sana'a and some other governorates, too, like Dhamar and Marib, according to the radio.
It doesn't look any different from a foggy day, but the dust may affect you, especially people who have asthma. These people are advised to stay indoors. It seems that many people thankfully accept this advice because schools were closed and streets were less crowded than usual!
It is expected that the dusty weather will last for another 48 hours.

Discounts!

The capital's traffic police announces discounts: any traffic ticket for only 1000 RY for the duration of one month.

A joke? No, really!

Weekend (2)

They have decided to postpone the new Fri/Sat. weekend, which was supposed to be introduced in February. The reason is not clear. Some say that the effects of the change have to be studied first, while others say institutions have to 'get ready'. Likely is that there is some opposition to the change.
It is interesting to note that mainly banks are mentioned to profit from the new weekend, but banks work six days a week anyway, so in fact there won't be any benefit for them. the same applies to private businesses.
It seems that the new interim government wants change just for the sake of change - they'd better busy themselves with more important matters.