One of the joys of being in Old Sana’a is spending time on the rooftop.  The view of the old city in the evening is stunning. And the atmosphere at night is like nothing else, especially when we bring Arabic sweets and tea up on to the roof to share.  There is a certain magic […]

Few days ago I wrote about non-verbal French. Gestures. Like the French, the Yemenis have their gestures. Refer to the pictures below. But the first one “min hana” is worthy of elaboration. It literally means “from here” (being the nose) … my teacher tells me that when one lies down (or dies) the nose is […]

I’m starting to lose my French friends today, starting with Lou this morning (and Marie tomorrow). Today I decided to revisit the icon of Sana’a which is the old Imam’s Palace at Wadi Dhahr.  I was quite happy to play host and take Solveigh (from Norway) with me.   As with last time, we stopped at […]

Being Thursday, a weekend day here, I had time.  Lou and I went to Bab Al Yemen where we stood high on the wall to people-watch and capture Yemeni life in pictures. Text continues after this gallery.     On the way back, we stopped at a hole-in-the-wall place where a camel goes round and […]

Travelling with French people is interesting.   Firstly there’s the cute accent, then the scope for miscommunication. As an example of miscommunication, we were planning our meals when we decided we needed some cheese.  Then I heard in French English that we could use the epicure cheese.  I thought that was a rather sarcastic way of […]

Above:  View from my window. I had breakfast with Danny at my Saila hostel again.  I gave his scrambled eggs a miss and stuck to my coffee and fruit. Since Anya was leaving today, Kristina thought that the room could be free for me.  We met with Jameel, the principal to discuss this.  It was […]

I started the day with scrambled eggs with Danny in the hostel kitchen at the Saila, courtesy of Danny.  I offered cake and melon to share. I spent the morning at Marie’s before having lunch with Lou and Kristina.  Quarter chicken is kinda a standard lunch fare here for many of us at school.  The […]

Leaving Socotra My alarm had failed to go off this morning.  Lou woke me up around 0500.  After a quick splash and breakfast, we all headed to Socotra airport for a quick check-in. It felt like a sad end to an amazing week of sun, sea, white sand, picnics, camping and star-lit skies at night.  […]