Boxes of Corn Flakes

So these boxes are not identical but the lady is. As you can see one box is censored and the other is not. Both boxes were bought in the same country. Why the censorship?

Witches and Water

I couldn’t help having visions of bubbling witches’ brew, chanting “double double toil and ‎trouble” as well as Harry Potter and Salem, Massachusetts all dancing in my mind's eye. ‎

Tweet and I had a tame beach visit (no long hikes, major swim workouts), just pure relaxation. The ‎mood fit the hotel’s beach, a well-manicured strip of sand with fairly straight lines bulldozed that ‎morning (and apparently every morning) in the sand. The palm trees were spread out carefully every ‎so many meters. In the distance smallish mountains and sparkling blue water capped the look of a ‎miniature perfect get-away (even with the visible next hotel beach over a fence but not as well sculpted).‎

It was a weekday and no one was out until a young woman dressed in all black of course ‎arrived with her three children. (And yes for those believing folks she styled herself "Ninja Mom.") The youngest boy and girl played right at the shoreline; the oldest, ‎another boy of about ten or so, got to rent and take out the hotel’s jet ski. (I guess the hotel waives age limits for certain families.) He played for about half an hour but wasn’t ‎doing a great job.‎ That jet ski was just not moving very far or even all that fast.

Ninja Mom got up and walked into the water. She didn’t seem to care that her expensive abaya was ‎soaked. She pushed off the boy forcibly from the jet ski. He landed in the water with a stunned look and started to cry. Ninja Mom didn't seem to turn her head a bit at the crying.

Now my attention was really caught.‎

She then got on the jet ski and took off. Her face veil and extra abaya fabric flapped behind her in the ‎wind. Drats! I could have made a fortune selling the photo of a witch on water to Yamaha!‎

Banned

The dolls I grew up with are banned in Saudi Arabia. Barbie® dolls supposedly sport too revealing ‎clothes. But more importantly, Barbie can be posed in some “shameful postures”. ‎

Well, umm, I’ve been to some weddings on the Arabian Peninsula that might cause one to reassess ‎the ban. Those long black flowing abayas, undone in the wedding hall of women only, hide some extraordinary ‎bits and pieces of clothing. Revealing is an understatement when postures or dancing are attempted. And I say bits and pieces because that's often what we're talking about even on a designer level.

I remind myself to never knock ‎the abaya again. That abaya may be covering something that should not be called a fashion ‎piece and should probably be banned! :)‎

It's International Women's Day!

This morning I saw groups of women come to a café and shake hands with other groups of women who were already seated before them. What a nice greeting for international women’s day!


Congratulations to all women – mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and friends!

Person of the Year?

I mentioned Yemen in a recent post and a friend of mine shared with me an article from the Yemeni English daily, Yemen Observer. I have to share a snapshot of this article, "Person of the Year." I think it is a good thing I scanned a copy because it wasn’t posted on the Internet pages of the paper.

Enjoy!