Personal Narrative: The Yemeni Culture

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The Yemeni Culture

The first time I went to Yemen, was when I was 15 years old. Living in America my whole life, Yemen was a new world to me. Even though it was my first time there, I felt at home, like its where I belong. But the kids there didn’t agree with me because I was a little different to them. I was American. I was American raised. I was compared to that one spoiled brat from school, even though I wasn’t any different from them, they still resented me. My first week was hard. I was singled out and targeted by the older kids, but I had a size advantage, do to great nourishment from being raised in America I was bigger than a lot of kids. Through fighting, I tried to prove my worth.
I started working with my cousins on my uncle’s
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The men wore long white robes. While the woman wore long black robes. And they had this thing called a shaal where it was like a bath towel, it’s lite and allows a current to flow though the fabric. They wrap it around their waist and it hangs down to their ankles. Most of the teens and younger men wore this but older men also wore this. (Islamic clothing of Yemen)
I went back to work the third week. After I finished my shift something happened, something I have been seeking for weeks, friendship! A kind and a respectable kid named Khalid, offered me 2 shawarma (traditional food) after I finished plowing the rest of the field. He started talking about culture and tradition and I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Only the town’s kids were jerks. I realized I haven’t left the town and had a chance to meet people like Khalid.
That’s when I moved to the capital of Yemen, Sana’a. A three-hour long car ride from Rada’a I saw a lot of the land, it was drier than I thought it would be, “Yemen was facing a looming water crisis” (Running dry). I also past a port town that had a lot of light skin people, and they looked American. Surly enough they spoke English and are from Britain (Britain and Yemen), But I lived with my father’s side of the family. I found that Khalid was correct. The brotherhood and sisterhood in Yemen was off the charts. They left their gates open because the level of trust and security was present and true. The kindness in people’s hearts was incredible, unique and

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