Girls Day!

Wednesday was a day of surprises. Instead of going to class for the last two hours in the morning, our teacher took us a couple blocks away to the National Museum. Inside was a very eclectic mixture of random artifacts, an entire room dedicated to the life of the President, pictures from the 1930's taken by some German eccentric, three fake lions from Kenya...you get the idea. Not really Smithsonian standard but what was interesting was seeing if I had the arabic to read the exhibit signs. In a separate building was an audio-visual exhibit on Soqotra, an island off the southern coast of Yemen that has been labeled "the Galapagos of the Middle East". That exhibit was very well done and really made me want to visit Soqotra while I am here. Unfortunately, in the summer it is incredibly windy and stormy, and the only flights to the island are for food and supplies. We also received a pamphlet on "Islam for Infidels" (not the actual title) which lectured us on the things Islam has done for the world. While I agree with some of the facts, there are others that are completely laughable to me. That the veil prevents women from getting raped in the arab world? Personally I think it's because the woman's family will kill you but hey, I am an infidel.

Later that day, 7 of us from the school set off to play soccer with Yemeni women. We went by taxi to the Yemeni International School, which had a field (of gravel) surrounded by high walls. Women here do not take off their niqabs unless no one (with the exception of other women and their husbands) can see them. One Yemeni woman and one woman from India who taught biology in Sana'a came to play with us. Before going to play, the four Danish girls, Wendy, and I all went and bought the Yemeni soccer uniforms (for 5 dollars), so we were ready to play.
After doing some drills made more difficult by the fact that we only had 2 balls, we split into teams and scrimmaged. My team was me and 3 of the Danes, all in matching uniforms, and we rocked that gravel field. The goal of the team is to get Yemeni women in a place they feel comfortable and teach them to play soccer, so next week we're hoping to get more women from Sana'a to come.

After soccer, I got into a taxi with two other girls from the school and went to a women's party that was being hosted by a sister of one of the male teachers. I wasn't sure I wanted to go, but once I got there I didn't want to leave! Since there were no boys allowed, all of the women were dressed in fancy, slightly scandalous dresses and everyone was dancing. There was a ton of food, fruit juices, tea, shisha, and qat. Whenever girls got up to dance, everyone sitting on the couches around the room would clap and sometimes the Yemeni women would do that "ALALALALALALALLALALA" sound with their tongues that you only hear in movies with terrorists. While Hollywood uses that sound for crazed extremists, in Arabic countries it's simply an expression of joy. After a couple hours we finally had to leave, and all the women veiled back up to leave the house, donning the all black that left me unable to discern who was who, even though I had been dancing and talking with them for hours.

I think the most interesting thing I learned today was how women in general live behind the scenes. You see them on the street and they're veiled to the point where you can only see their eyes. They don't work in the stores so you don't interact with them when shopping, women cannot eat in public so you don't see them in the restaurants, when they ride the bus they are normally very quiet. But there is this underground culture of women behind closed doors that is full of laughter and smiles and great dancers and snappy dressers. It's all very unexpected but I am so happy that it's something I can enjoy while I'm here. The women here have such strong bonds of sisterhood with each other, and are amazingly willing to apply the same sense of hospitality and fun to strange westerners. I've started to ramble but the whole day was a peek into the world of women here in an Islamic society.

Much love, and while I do love the female community here, I love shorts and t-shirts more.

Katie