Yusef Islam

Friday, March 10, 2006

Yesterday I accompanied English Tom to the Shumaila Hari Supermarket as I had to score some more Fruit Loops. Technically, English Tom accompanied me to the supermarket and I accompanied him to the Chinese restaurant around the corner from the supermarket as he was on a beer run. In case you’re curious, they are charging 700 riyals per can at the moment.

On the way back, English Tom suggested we get some food to go from the Jordanian restaurant. Part of his boycott of Yemeni food pending his imminent departure. After loading up on shwarma, we headed off in a taxi to Bab al-Yemen. After a few minutes, I mentioned to English Tom that I must have been zoning out because it sounded like part of the music that was playing in the taxi was in English. We both had a good laugh but it turns out I wasn’t zoning at all. Our taxi driver was playing none other than Cat Stevens who I believe is known in the Middle East as Yusef Islam, and in the U.S. as persona non grata.

As he was sitting in the front seat, English Tom commented on the cassette, to the driver, who was more than happy to talk to him about the music, probably because every other word on the cassette was Allah. Long story short, English Tom got out of the taxi the proud owner of a Cat Stevens aka Yusef Islam tape.

Today I managed to sleep most of the afternoon, which is always nice. After finally waking up and getting ready for the day, I headed out to the Internet café. The first thing I noticed was the angry, black clouds glowering ominously at me as I made my way to Tahrir Square. It was shortly after I arrived at the Internet café that the rains came – big, fat drops that held the promise of renewal. Yemen was referred to as Arabia Felix (Fortunate Arabia?) by the Romans (I think that’s right).

I managed to ride out the cloudburst inside the confines of the Internet café. On my way home I discovered that the rains weren’t so lucky for some intrepid taxi drivers. The main street that runs through Old Sana’a (the Wadi?) was a raging torrent of dirty, debris-filled water that reached the bumpers of the three taxis that I saw stalled in its waters. According to Aaron, I can expect to see some of those taxis floating down the Wadi when more severe rains come.

I apologize for not having my camera with me to get a picture of it, but I’ll have plenty of opportunity according to a conversation I had with a Yemeni man on my way home. The “rainy” season that will occur in the Fall will be worse and that the water level will get much higher. The Wadi is at a lower level than the part of Old Sana’a that it runs through. It is bricked on both sides to a rather high level. I promise to post a picture of it soon.