JAILED FOR BEING RAPED

[HairOfTheDog]

The thing is this place can drive you pretty mad. It took me about a whole year of madness to somehow understand the place, followed by another year spend mostly swimming with my daughter in Aden and not giving a fuck. Now that's one of the most important requirements here if you want to keep your sanity, not to give a fuck.

I'm glad you made it work, and by the looks of it, work very well for you and your family. Not giving a fuck about some things works as a sanity-preserver for me too. Only so many fucks to give, why waste them on things that cannot be changed? Adapt.

The initial "trauma" (for lack of a better word) that you endured as you adapted was probably key towards your understanding what it takes to survive and thrive in your environment. The rockiest times are often the ones that pay off the most in the end, if you're smart and not of the mindset to be a consummate victim. At least, for me.

Perhaps you saw the news about me when we opened our restaurant bar in this country where right after Saudi it is the one with a straight out ban on Alcohol. Forget about that woman being raped and jailed, I should have been the one being crucified, and trust me they tried. I was called all sort of names in the court room, people screaming for my head, and yet. Not only did they fail, but they actually let me continue. Why? Because you got to know how to deal with these fuckers.

I can imagine that your success stems as much or more from skill at dealing with people strategically as it does strong business and culinary talents - especially where you've chosen to set up your biz and care for your family.

Sounds like a good dose of adventure around most every corner and also some risks. If you can manage the risks and you and Jelly agree to the cost/benefit trade-off therein, beats the hell out of being bored and living some place lacking diversity, for those with explorers' hearts.

I always enjoy your updates; specifically looking forward to the summer photos and narratives, when you have time.

And trust me, in that aspect they are pretty much the same, no matter if you are in Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Jedda, Kabul or Sana'a....

I trust you. It's sometimes incomprehensible to me that these practices continue, and yet they do. I know that you're spot on about how, in some places, the freedoms afforded to women roller coasters between improving, declining, stagnating, improving again...on and on over the decades, depending on who's in power, religion, and probably many other influences.

At any point in time, it is, in fact, just the way they do it "there" (wherever) and some of those who we view as being most negatively impacted genuinely accept it, others embrace it, and many probably resent it - though lack the opportunity to voice protest or affect change. And, on it goes...

Seriously, I got no idea what's that all about with women, I actually find them to be rather .... nice.

I generally like other women too. And men. Men are very...nice, overall, though the harder-edged ones are sometimes good too.