YEAH MAN, ITS YEMEN!

AHLAN WASAHLAN WA MARHABAH :D

So how in the world did I end up staying at Yemen for a month huh? Ok it goes like this,

My Mak Ngah and her family has been living here for 4 years cause she wants to learn Arabic, so kiranya berhijrah la kan. Then, this year my uncle pula dapat offer to become a lecturer on photography in University of Science and Technology of Yemen (USTY). Kebetulannya, my dad got an offer to work at the very same Uni to lecture on construction something-something for 2 weeks. So its a huge coincidence that my dad got a job in the same uni as my uncle. So yeah menetaplah kami di sini sebulan lamanya.

For now, I'm accomodated at my Mak Ngah's house in Hai Andalus mar-something. Its more of an apartment but its really nice and comfortable. So moving on, we arrived here hari Khamis at 4pm and I tell you, AAAALLL the women pakai abaiyyah (black jubbah) and nikab (the thing that covers the face). Everybody looked the same ;o I held on tight to my momma, nanti sesat kena check up mata semua orang nak identify susah pulak karang.

The apartment is a 15 min drive from the airport, so dapatlah tengok around Yaman. Along the journey, 80% of the men was chewing qat. This thing is like, addictive leaves. Haa, diorang kunyah daun. And banyak gila! Its like smoking la kiranya. And they chew some of it then store dekat tepi mulut sampai kembung pipi, yuck memang hodoh betol. Its so addictive that people actually can die from it. Haishh.

Takut meletup je koyak pipi. Macam hamster O.O

So sampaaaii je rumah, masuk bilik and wahhh the view from my window is AMAZINGGG! Take a look at this,

Morning time

Senja time

Bayangkan, having a mountain view at your bedroom window. Magnificent man. Ok then for the next day was a very lepak day. Me n my family banyak tidur because trying to adjust to the Yemeni time. Jetlag maa. Over here is 5 hours lagi lambat from Malaysia. So if its 7pm here, its 12am in Malaysia. Dengkur habis oh pagi2 buta. I fasted Zulhijjah on saturday and sunday. Buka puasa here is earlyyy, at 5'30pm. Hee hee.

On saturday, we went to the SOUK (pasar) to buy some stuff. Pssstt, girls, I got some stuff for youu! :D It was soo crowded because Eid was coming. All the sellers were guys. Tak kira lah jual bra ke tudung ke, the men sold them. And the streets were filled with burung gagak (women in black abbaiyyahs). Hahaha everyone looked alike. And it was the first time I went out in nikab. It felt awesome because everyone looked alike, so none of us could outlook the other, I felt very happy. Because of the nikab only showing my eyes, puas gila menguap besar2 in public because nobody knows. Dah la temperature freezingg cold. Kalau hingus meleleh pun orang tatau. HEEE :D

That night was one of the best family nights we had. We played boggle and gelak tebahak2. It was soo much fun! Then we exchanged jokes and gelak sampai golek2 lantai. Risau terpelanting pulak braces nanti haha.

Sunday was hari masaak :) The next day would be Eid so we cooked Kuzi ayam and kuah kacang and nasi impit yang a bit lembik. Then me and Aly (cousin) had to gentel2 dough bagi bulat2 to make biskut arab. After that I forgot what happened. Somebody escort me to the hospital please? I think I have an illness ; short term memory loss.

Monday was an awesomee day! It was Eid! :D So. first thing in the morning, we went to the old city just to have a stroll. Eventhough I was wearing the nikab, people stared at me semacam. Nampak mata je pun boleh tau I'm a foreigner. Hebat. Mata saya kelihatan cina ya? Dah tu kasut putih tapi everything else hitam.

Cool eh? Other people wore black or brown. He he, dare to be different meh.

The old city was breathtaking. Seriously, amazing. The buildings were magnificent. And one of my favourite things in Yemen is the sky. There are no clouds here so the sky is so clear and there are so many shades of blue, its just sooo cantik. I post all the pictures below. It only rains 25days in a year and it will rain really heavily. Sampai banjir (oh, something in common with TTDI J :D) So they have this thing called the "Saila" where the roads have walls around it to store banjir water. See, why lah orang TTDI J takboleh fikir benda macam ni. Mengek. I know you guys wanna see pictures. P/S - no editing has been done. Ori punyaa. Haa ni dia ;

Ok so at the old city, I dont know how lah people recognise us as foreigners, but a lot of people came to us and said "Sourah! (Picture!)" Diorang terhegeh2 nak ambik gambar ngan my family. Apa lagi, come come lai lai! :) And kat sana, ALL the men will have jambiya (big curved knife) around their waist. Bukannya guna for attacking or apa apa. Its just like an accesory. Its their culture. And because of the chilled weather, they all wear coats. Oh and budak budak kat sana, mak aihhh, pakai bukan main lagi fancy. Fwah fwah habis! Mcm untuk talent show or something. This is the time for them to wear clothing like that. Besar nanti haa tutup segala benda, ambik kau!

Tabik oh mamat ni gila cool ! :D

Adumak, panjang lebar lagi nak bercerita, but now its 10'30 and I have to wake up early tomorrow because we're going to the Hadiqah (Park). Hurraah! :D

...to be continued