Monday, December 20, 2010

This was my year


My year in brief
  • Rang in 2010 in New York; 
  • Traveled to Yemen and went back in time several centuries; 
  • Spoke Italian to a Somali man, ate pancakes with Canadian maple syrup with Palestinian friends, ate Indian food served by an Ethiopian waiter, had Argentinian yerba mate with Lebanese friends; 
  • Had a run-in with a rowdy Saudi; 
  • Dipped my feet in the Gulf of Aden; 
  • Met the most heart-warming and hilarious children in displacement camps in northern Yemen; 
  • So proud to have a lovely girl in India share my name; 
  • Got used to the sound of the call to prayer, then traded it in for the sound of the noon gun from Citadel Hill; 
  • Learned to love fog, fiddleheads, Viola Desmond and news stories about roundabouts; 
  • Got worked up about the Gaza blockade, the Queen and the World Cup; 
  • Spent three days in Accra; 
  • Picked wild blueberries, raspberries and roses by the sea; 
  • Celebrated – from a distance – the first birthdays of Zahra and Romy; 
  • Watched beavers swim along the lakeshore and went to sleep to the sound of loons; 
  • Had a wine and cheese party to welcome me back to Yemen; 
  • Spent three days in Cairo; 
  • Was once again amazed by the resilient children of Yemen; 
  • Got goosebumps watching the release of Aung San Suu Kyi; 
  • Went to an 800-year-old hammam; 
  • Has never had a better answer to the question 'Where are you from?': so happy the answer is Nova Scotia.

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