Another week gone by

Yeap, another week passed, and only one more to go to be home.... I know that I've been home only less than a month ago, but it wasn't a real going home, as it was only 3 days and most of it was spent fixing my driving license, getting injections, shopping, sorting out stuff to take to Libya, drinking my last pints of beer, sorting out passport etc....

This week has been bizarre....

Cairo

The coolest thing is that I got to go to Egypt for 2 days..... I caught up on the Cairo Xmas spirit (not much to be desired), friends, wine drinking, commercialism, colleagues, cinema, Fast Food and Egyptian Falafel.....

However.... I was suffering from a terrible cold and somehow my terrible absent mindedness decided to come out of its box and I forgot my super cool brand new in the Cinema...... I somehow only realised 4 days later in my dreams..... hopefully the security was nice enough to keep it for me....

Friday is a Sunday

It is now official.... here in Libya Friday is really a Sunday..... In Egypt although Friday is the praying day it doesn't really feel like a Sunday. Granted its a weekend and all companies are closed, however shops are still open, people are still do their business in the street, old men still smoke sheesha and play Tabula and the women still meet to gossip on their doorstep......

Here in Libya its dead!!!!! Last Sunday Mark and I ventured out to the International School for a Xmas bazaar..... boredom struck and we decided to seek adventure in the city.....He he easier said than done..... we drove up and down what are supposed to be the busiest streets in Tripoli.... hoping to find a place to get a nice coffee...... after 2hrs of driving we decided to retry these streets and maybe find somewhere to eat as it was about 1pm.... alas.... not a soul open..... starved.... we decided to resort to the usual places we go to.... the Libyan, Turkish, Italian and Lebanese restaurant were all closed..... at about 2.30pm we desperately sat outside the Lebanese restaurant and had a cigarette racking our brains thinking of other food places that might be open..... but hurray!!!! The Lebanese restaurant decided to open its doors...... and we ran in hoping that they would make us something to eat.... being frequent customers, the cook probably pitied us and made us food..... almost nothing on the menu was available..... never mind..... we still got some sort of food!!!!

So now I know that Friday is the day I should stay home..... do nothing......watch movies and sleep..... Saturday is a normal Saturday....

Too many Maltese

Libya is probably the country where I've met the most Maltese in my life.... (obviously apart from Malta). I headed off to a Maltese Embassy party last Wednesday where a friend of my Fathers' a respected figure in the Embassy helped me get acquainted with the key people.... that's ok..... you always meet loads of people from your country at such events, most of them work with the embassy anyway....

I've also had many business meetings with many maltese running a branch of a maltese company here in Libya..... medical insurance companies, security companies, catering companies....

However last Thursday I was invited to a Christmas party organised by the people on the compound...... I expected a little get together with some turkey and a few chats..... This party not only turned out to be a wild one with loads of people and dancing..... but i've also discovered the community of wine, rum, beer and gin making!!!!!!!!! And surprise surprise..... I also met a guy who was at the embassy party who turned up with another 10 Maltese who were not at the party..... and coincidentally I knew one of them as I used to play basketball with him when I was young....

Isn't the world a small place....

Last Friday while despirately looking for food, I got a surprise phone call...... Andre... a teenage friend of mine called...... I not only surprise to hear it was him but even more surprised to see that it was a Libyan number he was calling from!!!! He was in Malta a couple of months ago and somehow met Karen, a friend of mine who somehow told him that I was in Libya (I have no idea how Karen knew that I knew Andre) anyway..... Karen didn't have my contacts so could not give them to him....... Andre goes back to Libya and meets up with his Libyan friends.... one of which turned out to be one of the guys I interviewed last week..... he tells him that he met a Maltese in Ericsson..... but the guy somehow had lost my contacts.... in that discussion there was another Maltese guy (Andre's partner) who I met at the Maltese Embassy.... and surprise surprise he had my card..... so this led to the surprise phone call from Andre on Friday..... He opened his company in Libya a couple of months ago and will be in Tripoli for a while.... can't wait to meet up....

The weather

I'm freezing my ass off here in Tripoli..... Living in the middle of nowhere, practically the desert doesn't help with regards to cold...... to top it all up its raining like hell and hasn't stopped since Monday night... Tripoli's drain system is non-existent and thus the flood and 5hr traffics to get to Tripoli!!!... living in houses with tin roofs doesn't help with the sleeping..... thank god the houses are built by Swedes.... at least they know the meaning of central heating......

another blogger's views of the tripoli weather.....

The week is finally over.... no plans for the weekend as yet.... guess this will be one of those do nothing weekend.....getting ready for the do everything 10days coming up next week!!