Today, Yemenis celebrate the departure of the British from Aden in 1962 with qat chewing, chatting, wiling away the afternoon, and other activities that go on every other day of the year. This independence day (one of three) is mostly for South Yemen, so there isn't anything particularily festive going on in the North today.
I went to a Turkish bath for the first time yesterday. It looked kind of like Jabba's palace from The Return of the Jedi, and wasn't as sexy as I was hoping it would be. This particular one was about 3 flights of stairs under the street level, and fairly small. I went alone, so I wasn't really sure what to do/expect, but inside there was a fat old man who should me around.
Next to a giant marble tub that unfortunately looked like it wasn't used anymore, there was a changing alcove where you take off your street clothes and put on something that you're comfortable getting wet. I thought Hammams were nude, but apparently they're very anti-nudity in Yemen, so there was only underwear to be seen. A friend advised me to wear shorts under my futha, and they were very useful when I realized that this was true and that the hammam wasn't going to give me anything to where. After the bath boys pray, they take you through a labyrinth of ascendingly warmer rooms until you reach the hottest and deepest room in the facility. Its so hot, you can't even sit down unless they throw some water on the floor.
I hung out there for a few minutes, talked to some people about why I was in Sana'a. They asked me a whole bunch of questions, and seemed very concerned that I didn't have a moustache. (In case I haven't mentioned it before, every man in Yemen has a moustache. Maybe 5-7% of men don't have any facial hair, and some men do have beards, but far and away the moustache is the most common accesory in Yemen.) The massage was my main reason for going, but the one I received was not the stress reliever I hoped it would be. The dude just cracked my back, rubbed my thighs a bit, and awkwardly pressed my shoulders with the tops of his hands.
Then I got the
kis: the scrub down with a sand paper mit. It felt really good because they basically just rub off all the layers of dead skin. I got washed a few times, they shampooed my hair, and it all ended with a splash of freezing cold water in the entry room. Paying was really difficult, because the guy didn't really understand what I was asking, and I didn't understand what he was saying to me. He jsut kept pointing at his head and repeating a bunch of words I didn't understand.
Unfortunantly, after I left I started to feel really sick, and I spent the rest of the day in bed having crazy fever dreams that were interrupted by waking up in cold sweat. Not cool. But I'm feeling better today, thanks be to God.
I also got a straight-razor shave at a barber shop on Wednesday, and it only cost me $1. I don't think i'm going to shave myself ever again. (In keeping with what I said before, when I was being shaved the barber asked me twice if I wanted my upper lip shaved.)
Yemen's Flag
Map of Yemen