67 Days Till Spring

It was very cold when I left New York, unseasonably so. I wore a cashmere turtleneck to travel in, suspecting that it would be cold on the plane but that when I arrived in Dubai the sweater would go back in the suitcase and not make another appearance until the journey home in April.

I was wrong. I am wearing that sweater right now, in fact.

Sana'a is also very cold, also unseasonably so. The city is at 2,200 meters above sea level, which explains the cooler temperatures. But from what I understand, winter is not usually like this. I think we're experiencing a cold snap similar to the rest of the world, and I hope things will start to warm up soon.

Today is a bit milder but yesterday and the night before were really and truly cold. On Monday, I had just moved into the flat where I am staying and the apartment management kindly brought me a portable heater. I plugged it in, switched it to high and waited for the bedroom to warm up. Instead, the lights went out. Electricity cuts are pretty common here and I figured the generator would soon kick in so I went to bed. The generator never went on, and the heater never turned back on. I was sleeping in sweatpants, a long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt and socks and under a duvet and heavy blanket and still I was freezing. In the morning, I left my bedroom only to find out that the electricity hadn't failed, I had just tripped the circuit in my bedroom by keeping the heater on high!

Yesterday I asked one of the office drivers when the cold weather was supposed to end. He's a bit of a joker, and without hesitating he replied, "March 21st." The first day of spring.