OK, I’ve had it. It seems like every single time a Yemeni acts as if they are befriending me, all they are really doing is trying to get money out of me. It started with Sufian before I even came here and now it’s at least two or three times a week…”Where are you from? Ahh America! That’s very good, welcome to Yemen! If you need anything, just let me know… I need 1000 Riayls for…” I bought Sufian a used laptop since he said he couldn’t find one here for the same price as I could. I agreed to get it for him, but only after refusing to give him an $1100 Apple laptop.. Anyway, when I got here, he had $250 of the $400 that he swore that he would have. I thought, “What the hell, I’ll probably never see that $150, but it’ll show the good will of Americans” or something like that… I gave it to him, knowing that that $150 will never find me. He had been bugging me for the last two weeks to get together with him and I finaly told him that I could see him for 5 or 10 min. tonight. Well, he didn’t waste any time… “I need 10,000 Riayls…” I basicly told him that he needs to hit up the people he doesn’t owe money to for more money… Besides, he chews quat and smokes, I’m sure that if he went without those luxuries he could get that 10,000 in a couple of weeks… I understand why he came back, I basicly gave him money before, so why not try again? No more, I’m done. I’m really trying to not paint all Yemenis with the same brush, but I worry about my reaction the next time someone butters me up just for some cash… I actually have more respect for the ones that just ask, I even give them some sometimes (pocket change). But the ones that pretend to be my friend annoy the hell out of me…
Isaac