Right around tax day I went to the UPS office to xerox my tax return. Then I put the forms in the right envelopes and the copies in a manila folder. Then I went across the street and dropped everything: envelopes & manila folder into the mailbox. Then I stood next to the mail box for an hour and a half waiting for the mailman to come pick up the mail so I could retrieve the xerox copies. I'd like to say that this is the stupidest thing I've done all year, but the year is young.
The mailbox is located right in front of a convenience market run by a Yemeni family. They always have arabic stations on their TV and fun music, and I often talk to them about goings on in the middle east. That day we had a long time for chatting.
One of the guys said: "What you have to remember about Yemen is that everyone has a gun. The people are marching peacefully now; but there are twenty five million Yemenis and eighty eight million guns. Northern Yemen was never occupied by a colonial power so the guns were never taken away...."
I have no idea whether he was right or not, but it made me wonder why Yemenis would allow themselves to be massacred when they are so well armed? Is there no ammo?
It's hard to get news about Yemen. Al Jazeera's coverage is relatively restrained:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/201151114938490911.html
???
Joanna