Let's Get Married
To my surprise, the royal wedding was incredibly relevant among the Yemeni women which I came across today. I found at least five women in my family glued to the TV eagerly watching the procession from start to finish. It was refreshing to have something other than politics being discussed on a Friday here in Yemen. I laughed last week when my brother Mohammed jokingly told me, "I want to get married but by peaceful means." (أنا أشتي أتزوج ولكن بطرق سلمية) You would only understand the joke if you were here and hearing all of the political rhetoric.
Today I watched and listened as many asked me questions about what was going on during the royal wedding. "What is the priest saying right now?" "Oh no! All of the other women must be jealous of the bride. (Meaning: they'll set a curse on her)" "Why are they singing?" "What kinds of songs are they singing?" "Why didn't the prince pick a more beautiful girl?" (my brother).
Yemeni weddings are much, much different, to say the least. I'm not sure why, but the women in my family loved watching the royal wedding today. Maybe it was like a real-life fairy tale for them. I'll never know.
