Dry Bread or Meat, a Yemeni's Appetite

 

SANA'A. As soon as I returned to Yemen after a detour through East Africa, I headed to the old quarter to meet the rumored "gay" jeweler. A friend and professor from the University of Hartford suggested I meet the jeweler.

Sitting in his shop, the jeweler was reading a self-help guide in English on how to approach and attract a potential wife. At thirty-four and with pressure from his aging mother, he admitted that he's desperate for a wife, preferable a foreign woman.

A suave merchant and a former tour guide, he speaks impeccable English and he owns the most popular shop among tourists. After successfully coaxing me into purchasing two of "one-of-a-kind" pieces, he invited me for ginger tea at the rooftop mufraj of the Burj Al Selam hotel overlooking the entirety of the city. We left his business partner to tend to the shop.

If I were in Montréal or Los Angeles, an invitation to tea in an intimate setting would mean something more than a friendly conversation over a hot caffeinated beverage. But in Sana'a, one can't easily assume such.

So after hours of answering his questions on Western customs on sex, particularly with women, I asked him directly if he were gay, a homosexual. What could I lose? I've made it this far.

He said, "No."

I was embarrassed, but only for a brief second. He then told me that in societies where sexes are strictly segregated, namely Yemen or Saudi Arabia, men and women find recourses to fulfill their sexual appetites. He finds pleasure whereever he can get it.

I was slightly surprised to hear this, but far from relieved. Tea time was over and I left the plush-pillowed parlor of the four-star hotel and walked back to my ancient apartment.

On my way, he left me with his own wise words that explain his undefined sexuality, bluntly stated: "A hungry will eat anything. Dry bread or meat."