Trifter

In early 2007, I was the only Westerner in a small neighborhood in the Republic of Yemen’s capital city, Sanaa. When I saw the local boys playing soccer in front of my temporary residence I joined them. One of these boys told his parents about me, which led to the child’s father seeking me out.

My Yemeni security guard, in broken English, informed me that a man came over to meet the American who occasionally played soccer with his sons. My guard told me the man was excited that there was an English speaker in the neighborhood and that he would return to my residence after his evening prayers. A few minutes later a man dressed in a slightly see through white prayer gown came to my residence. The man seemed elated to meet me and begged me to come with him to his home across the street so he could introduce me to the rest of his family.

At the door of his residence his wife appeared and he informed me that this is his second wife and while he loved her she is his cousin. While I was curious about the whereabouts of his first wife I did not think it was my place to ask about her. Soon I was sitting down in their home drinking hot sweet tea with this man, his second wife, and their toddler. The man kept pushing the toddler towards me but the child was obviously afraid of me. This could be because I was a stranger to the child but it probably had to do with the child’s nonexistent contact with Westerners.

The woman was excited to meet me as she knew a few English words but lacked confidence in speaking them but soon she sat me down in front of a television set and began playing DVDs of her wedding day. This was something that I soon began to dread because Yemeni weddings can take as long as a week and the men and women are separated, which in my view makes them dull family obligations but I paid attention as the woman pointed to her numerous relatives.

As the evening progressed and time lulled on as we continued to watch the wedding DVDs the Yemeni father continued to push his toddler son towards me. Than the unforeseen happened, the father picked his child up and placed him on my lap. It literally scared the piss out of the toddler. The child scampered off of my lap and I asked for a cloth to soak up the urine that was on my clothes. The parents apologized as they helped me. I began saying my farewells as I had a tremendous urge to get back to my residence, take a shower, and do laundry. Although the parents asked me to stay longer and to continue watching the wedding videos, I made it out of their home and into my residence where I was thankful that I had plenty of laundry soap and bleach.