Feeling Blue?

Do you sometimes feel that everything is going wrong..... you start feeling lethargic and that somehow, some body up there or down there, is laughing at all the bad things that keep on happening one after the other, day after day??

No, I'm not pitying myself or feeling bad for myself or likewise I don't want anyone to feel the same for me...... as I've seen (luckily not felt) what misery is like - and I know that it could be worse!!!

But sometimes, these days make me wonder if you bring it on yourself cause of your apathetic mood and the way you drag yourself sluggishly and clumsily through the day, or its just coincidence that it all happens at once. Being someone who doesn't generally believe in coincidence, I think that I somehow bring it on myself..... but how do you get out of this mood? I've tried but all seems to be in vain.....

It all started off on Saturday (well everyone feels lethargic on an ordinary Sunday- and here Saturday is my Sunday).... the day was nice and relaxing... but after a walk around the Tripoli Medina, I went home and watched episode after episode of The League of Gentlemen (hilarious). Which was ok, though still feeling a bit down..... I somehow thought it was the normal Sunday effect.

However I woke up on Sunday ready for my 'Monday Morning' and headed off to work.... hoping for a good week, feeling a bit better..... however I opened my office, slouched in my chair looked at my to do list and all of a sudden this feeling of not wanting to do anything on that list came over me, and the day slowly went by solving one work problem after another with no tick on that list (not a good boost to your morale at the end of the day)...... at the end of the day, with my mood still down I decided I cook myself a nice good risotto, watch the comedy channel and finish that good book I've been reading.... alas the risotto turned out to be inedible and the ending of the book was very disappointing!!!! My consolation was a nice big jar of Nutella which I helped myself to, hoping that tomorrow will be a better day.....

I woke up with a tummy ache and a feeling of disgust at all the chocolate I ate the day before, and once again the day was a gloomy one.... although cold, the sun was shining brightly in the sky..... and that is the last thing you want when you're locked in an office unable to go out and enjoy the sun...... less active than the day before and once again no tick on my To Do List.

I hence decided to start from scratch.... tore up the to do list I made the Thursday before and made another to do list.... hoping that it would somehow work psychologically...... in a slightly better mood, I went home, watched TV feasted on some comfort food of crisps and popcorn, and jumped into the car, heading out to the vegetable man to get myself some nice healthy fruit for the next day..... alas.... they still hadn't had enough of me...... when trying to get out of the camp I accidentally reversed into a metal pole.... hence denting the car and totally breaking the side mirror off the passenger's side.... ahh what a day!!!! oh, forgot to mention that I also almost run over a guy crossing the street.... but that was his fault!!!

When I got home I slouched in my sofa watched TV and made myself come fries..... which is usually the only thing that consoles me and releives my homesickness...... this is the point in time when I didn't know whether to cry or laugh.... when I shook the ketchup the lid flew open and all the ketchup fell over my favorite white sweater..... I quickly threw it into the washing machine, ate my fries and went to sleep.....

I spent all night worrying about how I'm going to tell them about the broken company car, and couldn't sleep cause of the heart burns attack a I got because of the fries I ate before sleeping..... The alarm finally rang and it was time to go to work..... I got the clothes out of the washing machine only to find that my favorite white top, though with no ketchup signs, together with all the other whites I had in there turned Blue/ Grey..... ahh I accidentally put in a black top together with all these pure whites, I now have a collection of Blue/Grey underwear, and shirts.....!!!

Then I headed off straight to work charged into my colleagues office and told him about the car..... here he burst out laughing and told me not to worry as anyway they are waiting for spare parts of the mirrors..... although I insisted that its quite bad and that the dent is quite big he just kept on laughing and told me not to worry...... odd!!!! If only I knew that would have been his reaction I would have called him yesterday night!!!

So then again is all this coincidence, is someone or something out to get me.....or am I bringing it on to myself??? and if its the latter how do I get rid of it......all the things that usually help cannot be found here....

1. a nice glass of wine, or beer.... or maybe getting drunk - alcohol totally illegal... balsamic vinegar with some alcohol is also illegal!!!!

2. a good night out - some dancing and craziness... - no clubs in Tripoli... everything closes at around 10 or 11.

3. a drive - driving in Tripoli is not relaxing at all..... and now I'm even scared to get into the car just in case I destroy another part of it

4. the sea - the sea in Tripoli is basically a port.... the shores on the outskirts are covered in rubbish not a sight one would like to see

5. a good workout - the gym here sucks.... and I won't drive to Tripoli alone!!!

The Libyan Mountains

This weekend we decided to venture out of Tripoli and head south to Jebel Nafusa, or what I call the 'Libyan Mountains'. Being a well known desert country, Libya does not exactly strike you as a country with mountains, so I was quite surprised when a Libyan colleague suggested to go down south to the mountains for a day trip.

So a British colleague and I equipped ourselves with maps, detailed road instructions, food and petrol and headed down south to Gharyani... a little town on a mountain plateau.

One of the vegetable vendors standing proudly next to his merchandise...

We thus drove down south following the instructions carefully to the well known pottery town of Gharyani..... with some diversion....realising that we've gone too far when we bumped into an in the middle of nowhere market....., and quite coincidentally, we found the town. The town was not really impressive, and neither were the mountains. I've seen nicer mountains but the landscape was still amazing and breathtaking..... the reddish/ brown mountains in Jebel Nafusa were quite similar to the Sinai mountains in Egypt in color and shape, though small in size and spread apart (I guess most desert mountains would look like that). The rock layers, though, were much more apparent than the Sinai ones, which gave the mountains a nice peculiar colour.

The beautiful view of Libyan Mountains

Gharyani is quite well known for its pottery. One can find stalls packed with all sizes and shapes of clay pots, bowls and statues on the highway just before the town.

Pottery stalls on the highway

Apart from that, Gharyani is also known for its still intact, though abandoned Berber homes, built underground as shelter from the intense heat, which, though exaggeratedly made up, were still interesting to see. You can actually imagine 8 families living in this little underground compound a couple of hundred of years ago.

Entrance to the underground Berber House

Inside the house

Courtyard view from ground level

Having seen enough of Gharyani, and unable to find somewhere to eat, we headed off to Yefren. We unfortunately didn't have directions for this, but with our lonely planet, map and directions from people we stopped in the street, we found our way. Libyan people are extremely nice and friendly and would go through anything to help you, they would repeat the instructions over and over again until they are certain you have understood!!

The little village though described by the lonely planet as 'one of the more appealing towns in this mountainous region' did not strike me as much, nevertheless the scenery was still spectacular, the highlight of the village being the Berber old city, which looks like an old mud brick oasis city.... and, though in rubbles, was still interesting to walk through. You could close your eyes and go back in time a couple of hundreds of years and you could actually imagine a lively bustling city in all its glory. Luckily we met an old man, who spoke english quite fluently (he apparently was working with a german company many years ago) and proudly showed us parts of his old town... showing us where he used to live and telling us why people have moved out and the city is in this state.....

Yefren old city (the white building is the 1st Mosque of the village)

Another part of the old city with a view of the 2nd Mosque built...

After a little picnic of bread and cheese, while taking in the breathtaking view of sunset over the red mountains we headed off to the capital, Tripoli, or more widely known by Libyans as Tarabulis.

The night ended with a nice Turkish shawerma, where I met another group of Maltese, and sheesa.... and a ride home which this time did not take us more than 30mins......

After having seen Egypt, Libya, as a country, strikes me as quite plain, however, the trip was pleasant, and the scenery beautiful and relaxing...... and definitely a break from the monotony of the camp. I now have a better understanding of Libya, Libyan culture/history and Libyans who are extremely nice and friendly people. I definitely know that there is much more to see and explore and I can't wait to do it!!

Tunis for the Weekend

After a week of hard work as well as adventures, I headed off to a relaxing weekend in Tunis..... I not only got to see the new Tunis.... which is somehow different from the Tunis I remember 6yrs ago.... but I also got to catch up with Tom who was there for the WSIS summit.

The weekend was relaxing..... I enjoying my stroll around my favorite town in North Africa - Sidi Bou Said (sorry guys... unfortunately it really does beat Alex), enjoying the scenery of white and blue houses, with the beautiful Mediterranean sea in the background. The village is still the same as I remember it, and the little cafe on the top of the stairs is still there.......

Later in the afternoon I wandered around the streets of the old Medina, looking at the north African memorabilia sold on the narrow streets of the Medina and chatting with the shop owners. I also got to enjoy a nice plate of couscous and lamb which I had been craving as soon as I landed in Tunis.

The main avenues and shopping streets outside the Medina make you feel as though you're walking through one of the suburbs of Paris rather than the capital of one of the North African countries. Cafe's on the pavement, little stands selling crepes, people greeting with a 'bonjour' and all the commercialism one finds in a European shopping street.

A glimpse of my favorite town....

A Quest to find Home

Yesterday I decided to attend a Film Event organized by the Maltese Embassy showing a Maltese comedy. Most of my nights here have till now consisted in making myself comfortable on the sofa and watching the comedy channel, so I though it won't make much of a difference if instead of making myself comfortable on my sofa, I'd make myself comfortable at the Embassy.

So, thinking that the movie will be in English (as the invitation clearly stated that I could bring anyone with me, be it Libyan or any other nationality), I dragged one of my British colleagues with me......

Both of us being quite new in Tripoli, we equipped ourselves with maps and instructions from the guys in the office and headed off to the Maltese Embassy...... what was supposed to be a 30mins drive turned out to be a 1hr 30mins drive..... We somehow thought we were following the map, but the map somehow seemed to omit details such as flyovers and roundabouts... however towards the end we found out that we were on the completely opposite side of Tripoli and ended up paying a Taxi driver to lead us to the right round about which was our landmark for the Maltese Embassy... 30mins late..... Mark and Thea turned up at the embassy.... but luckily for Maltese timing the movie was about to start.

Unfortunately for Mark, the movie turned out to be in Maltese..... (in that invitation they should have clearly stated Libyan or any other nationality who speaks Maltese)...... and it was not exactly a movie, it was a Maltese play which turned out to be hilarious.... I ended up translating something here and there. The play was typical Maltese comedy, where the actors play around with words, make fun of each other and of other people...... so quite a laugh for the people who understand it..... it made me miss the Maltese plays we used to have in sixth form and university..... as well as the Christmas pantomime which i missed last year! :(

Luckily the play had an intermission where I got to have a chat with the Ambassador, his secretary (who turned out to be someone I know.... well actually she recognized me first..... and it turned out that we were in the girl guides together 12yrs ago and her aunt lives opposite me in Malta) and some other Maltese there, most of whom were either married to Libyans or where second generation Maltese.

We did not get to see the end of the comedy, as I got bored translating, and Mark got bored watching, so we decided to head off back to the camp. The map once again let us down and turned out to once again omit roundabouts, fly overs, bridges, intersections and have no sense of distance at all..... Needless to say we got terribly lost and kept on going round in circles in Tripoli..... when we though we were heading south towards the airport, we somehow ended up by the sea which is in the completely different direction..... we thought we recognized places but were not the places we thought. We tried finding our way to the Airport, as both of us knew how to get from the Airport to home quite easily.

We somehow ended up finding airport signs, which although in Arabic just like every other sign in Libya, had an aeroplane drawing...... however these signs seemed to end at a big roundabout and not knowing which road to take we ended up taking the one that looked most like a highway..... We stopped to stock up on chocolates and chips and continued our quest to find home......There were many roadblocks on that highway, and we somehow thought that we were on the right direction as one would think that it is justifiable to have roadblocks on the way to the airport..... after driving along that road for about 20mins we decided to stop and ask one of the police man. Needless to say that none of the policemen spoke English, so in broken Egyptian Arabic I tried asking directions for the airport...... the guy looked at us quite surprised and asked 'Tunisia? 120 Kilo Ala Tul'....... oooppppsss we somehow ended up going West instead of South and were about 2hrs away from the Tunisian Border!!!!

The policemen tried explaining to us which way we should go....... one of them started laughing at my Arabic and teasing me cause it was Egyptian Arabic and not Libyan..... also asked me if I was Egyptian!!!! I hope I didn't disappoint him too much by telling him I was infact Maltese........ theothers were trying to talk to Mark in the little English they could conjure up....... after 15mins we finally headed back into the car, with clear police instructions....... and a police man's phone number which I'm supposed to call on Wednesday...... I don't think so!!!!

Yeah.... 2 1/2 hours after leaving the Maltese Embassy (at 1am), we found ourselves on the right road home...... it was such a relieve to be in my nice cosy bed..... though I must say this has been the most interesting night I've had since I've been here, we had quite a few laughs on the road and none of us minded a little bit...... though be both would have loved a nice cold beer at
the end of this!!!!!!

Conclusion...

Maltese Embassy.... 'Maltese Don't need a visa for Tunisia'

Tunisian Embassy with an Arabic Speaker asking the question ...... 'Maltese Don't need a visa for Tunisia'

Conclusion..... 'Thea doesn't need a visa for Tunisia'

Now, if I was a normal person.... I would have accepted the first Tunisian Emabassy's reply and not have bothered to go to Tunisia.......

But luckily I'm not! ;)

I need or I don't?

As a follow up to Tom's posting Wednesday Nov 9th, I think that there is a conspiracy between all the Tunisian Embassies in the world so as to not allow anyone to go into the country!!! Or otherwise, just like Tom's reasoning....

'whether this kind of retardedness is limited to overseas Embassy weirdos, or if it has infected Tunisia proper.....'

Mine was no language problem.... the guy at the reception spoke English fluently, nevertheless, contrary to what the Maltese foreign Affairs Website Stated, the guy openly stated that I needed a visa for Tunisia..... I asked..'You're sure'... and he said 'YES'...

That acutally got me thinking.... do I trust the Maltese website more than the Tunisian Embassy??? - YES!!!

So I got asking..... and Mounir said that none of my bosses, being Swedish need a visa..... which means that its not compulsory for EU people to require a visa..... so we went to Tunis Air to enquire..... there, the guy told us that I don't need a visa for Tunisia... I asked ..'You're sure?'.... and he said 'YES'....

Six years ago when I last went to Tunisia I didn't need a visa.... though that is not a strong arguement, cause if I wanted to go to Libya 6years ago I also wouldn't have needed a visa!!!

Two against one saying I don't need a visa!!!! Today I'll try the Maltese Embassy and the Tunisian Embassy again (though this time I'll ask an arabic speaker to do it)!!'

Thinking of going to Tunisia for the weekend.... a stroll down Port El Kantaoui and a coffee in Sidi Bou Said which is my favourite little village in North Africa!! - hope they are still the same!!

In the Camp

Although I've now been living in Libya for the past week, I haven't been able to see much except for my surroundings which consists of a compound and office surrounded by high white walls and barbed wire....better described by Michelle as surrounded by the Berlin Wall in East Germany (I'll explain why East Germany later)....

I am living in Ghaser Ben Ghasir, which is literally a small town built around 2 or 3 company compounds in the middle of the desert. The compound is only 22Kms out of Tripoli.... almost like going from one side of Malta to the other....

The camp consists of symmetrically lined wooden boxes, furnished with Ikea and Electrolux. Sort of like a little Playmobile village.....It actually feels strange living in a wooden box, but nothing I cannot get used to..... to avoid boredom, the Camp also hosts a nice swimming pool, a gym, a squash court, a tennis court, a badminton court, a canteen, a 'clubhouse' and a library containing both books and videos..... you could literally manage to live there without leaving for a month or so - with the right companionship.

My Street...

Work is nice....though this week has been super busy and hectic.... as one of the managers described it... Pandora's Box has opened into my office.... and I now have to turn the devils into angels and put them back into the box. I am (till now) getting along pretty well with the people I work with..... and the environment is a pretty international one..... filipinos, moroccans, jordanians, yugoslavs, swedes, egyptians and libyans....

Everyone I meet has been to Malta more than once and love talking to me about their time there, though most have been there during the Embargo period as traveling to Malta was the only way out of Libya....

My own personal Box... B2

I've also got to speak to 3 Maltese people since I've been here, one was for business...... it turned out that a company I was calling for some services was a Maltese company.... and the guy I had the meeting with was the Maltese Branch Manager...... another one was when I called the Maltese embassy to register..... and finally, a phone call from a friend of my father's, whom my father made call me to take care of me!!!!

Tomorrow should be an interesting day... one of my colleagues nicely offered to take me around Tripoli for the day.....

Country hopping

After having spent a wonderful week in Egypt, I headed off for my new adventure in Libya.

I headed off to Tripoli with 3 members of the management team on an eventful flight.... part of the emergency exit door decided to fall a few minutes after take off.... the a piece of plastic covering the door handle...... the guy next to the door found it a bit amusing and started fooling around while the people sitting around the door panicked and stood up away from the door..... the air hostess came running to obviously stop the guy, put the plastic thing back on and said 'don't worry, this is something normal' Normal???? I've had my fair share of flying but the emergency exit door never started falling apart half way through the air......... maybe normal for Egypt Air??? The three hours were spend listening to the chanting of the Koran as only 1st class got headphones..... luckily Michelle had her ipod so we amused ourselves listening to her music while I made fun of her 'oldie' music..... Towards the end of the flight, after the seat belt sign when one a load beeping echoed throughout the plane..... which was not very calming considering the fact that falling apart exit doors were normal.... luckily we landed safely and we were warmly welcome by the Libyans and headed off to what would be home for the next 4 months....

I can't say much about Libya.... I've only stayed there for 2 days and in these two days I spent time transitioning and unpacking my bags, before I headed off to Malta for the Eid break.

Nevertheless I did get a quick drive through of Tripoli so as to get me accustomed to the roads, so when I head out with the car on my own I won't get lost (practically impossible)...... and the highlight of the day was actually going to a fruit vendor and finding out that Libya has big juicy pears and apples which I missed soooo much!!!

I was hesitant whether I should use these holidays to hop over to Malta for some family quality time, or get acquainted with Tripoli..... I figured that I have 4 months to get acquainted with Tripoli so I hoped on to the first flight home...

I haven't been home in 11months, so it was a mixed sensation of excitement to be around things so familiar to me, and having to do 11months of catching up in 3 days......

Climbing on to the Air Malta plane and seeing the Maltese hostesses already felt like I was at home...... when I first boarded the plane the steward formally looked at my ticket and started explaining the usual formalities in English, until the saw my Maltese passport and said 'ahh u inti Maltija' then started joking around in Maltese....... and that's when I realized that I missed the Maltese friendliness, and hospitality.... the feeling of unity the Maltese have when out of their country although coming from different backgrounds......

When I got to the airport I received a warm welcome from my close family and extended family... hugs, kissing, staring (from not having seen each other for such a long time), more hugs and kissing then the loud altogether talking began until they decided that I was tired and I wanted to go home.....

The first thing, after having made sure my dog recognized me and wouldn't bite me, was run around the house to make sure all was still the same, and when that was over, I unpacked my little suitcase, which was full of Ethiopian souvenirs and started my story telling......

The next two days were a 'getting Thea sorted day' and family house hopping day..... My parents didn't want to let go of me, so my father appointed himself as my chauffer and my mother and sister were my escorts, we move, the whole family from one place to another, first getting my international driving license sorted, then the bank, then the necessary medical visits, the must do shopping, family visits, my doses of pastizzi and kinnie..... all these with a procession of 3 people always behind me...... luckily my brother had work..... cause otherwise it would have been 4 - which actually looked quite weird.... imagine at the back discussing your matters with the cashier and having 3 people standing behind you, or a 24yr old having her whole family come and sit with her when she takes her injections at the clinic!! quite a sight I must say.....

I finally managed to escape for a much needed Snake Bite at Ryans with Cynthia!! Ahh how I missed out Snake Bites (A drink, apparently popular in Australia which basically consists of 1/2 a pint of cider, 1/2 a pint of lager and a touch of grenadine......many a night of folly under the influence of this drink).....

Cynthia and I had a good lot of catching up to do, though the meeting was short it was well spent.... with Cynthia, although we barely ever keep in touch through e-mail or any other way of communication, except for the occasionally SMS, it still feels as though I had never left..... there is never that awkward silence, not knowing what to say, although our lives are not completely different, both with different priorities in life, the relationship is still exactly the same as the one we had when we saw each other every day at uni....

Friday night I also got the opportunity to go out and catch up on some long lost friends...... Tania arranged a nice get together at ryans where we had beers spoke about this and that caught up on what everyone's doing, and even got to listen to Karina's descriptive experiences in Egypt while on a business trip..... man you should have heard her describe Kosheri which is what her colleague took her to eat as a typical Egyptian meal it was hilarious!!!!! - somehow reminding me of when Tom decided that a nice romantic meal would be a Kosheri place next to Ramsis station, where you get to eat in metal plates with plastic spoons!!!!!

Tomorrow is the last day at home...... a bit more stuffing with kinnie, pastizzi and other Maltese food before I start my first official day of work on Sunday...... The work in Libya is pretty much similar to the one in Ethiopia, though could be slightly more challenging and harder...... can't wait.... and you're definitely all going to hear about it!!!