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Duty calls...

I arrived home after a busy day. I put down my bags and went to see what the kids were doing in the TV room. The television was blasting a Turkish soap opera and everyone was staring, not at the TV, but at their phones, tablets or laptops. Sara looked up and said 'You need to visit Maima (my mother in-law) because she broke her foot.' 'When did this happen?' I asked. 'My cousin said she woke up in the morning and her foot was broken.'  It didn't seem plausible that you could wake up in the morning to discover you had a broken foot and I said so to the kids. But Sara said she had heard that Maima had dropped a pot on her foot not long ago - so maybe that was what happened. I went outside in the garden to find my husband and ask him what was going on with his mother. He said that he had seen her the other day and she was fine. 'Let me take a shower and change and we'll go over to see her' I suggested.

Customs in Libya require that you don't show up to your mother-in-law's house empty handed. We stopped at a shop and I got an assortment of crackers, cookies, juice and a big tin of halwa shamia, a mixture of tahina and nougat, that is my mother-in-law's favourite treat. 

At my in-law's house the garden was full of kids, nephews and nieces, ranging in age from toddlers to pre-teen - too many to count. They had bicycles, scooters and balls. Some were running around chasing each other, a few were fighting and a couple were poking at the dirt with sticks. 'It looks like the whole clan is here' my husband said. I left him to go find his brothers while I headed upstairs to my mother-in-law's, carrying her bag of goodies. 

I found three of the teen-aged nieces watching TV in my mother-in-law's house. No one else was there. 'Where's Maima?' I asked. 'She's gone to a party. We're babysitting.' said one of the nieces. Apparently all my sister-in-laws had gone to the party too and left the three girls in charge.  'Doesn't she have a broken foot?' I asked. 'No' they responded in unison, faces turned toward the TV (same Turkish soap opera that was on at my house). 'But we heard she had a broken foot. What happened to her?' I asked. One of the girls turned her head towards me and said 'Oh, I think her toe hurt her this morning.' I walked down the hallway to my mother-in-law's bedroom and put the bag of goodies on her bed. On my way out I said goodbye to the girls. There was no point in staying.

On my way downstairs I called my husband to tell him that his mother wasn't home and he met me at the car.  'Where's the bag of stuff?' he asked. I told him I had left it for his mother. 'I doubt she will see it with all these kids here it will be gone before she gets  home' he said. 'Never mind' I responded. 'Kalam frukh... should never listen to kids and their gossip... kalam frukh' he grumbled as he maneuvered the car around all the kids in the garden.

Duty done!

A drink of inspiration

I stopped at the supermarket yesterday and picked up some different kinds of herbal tea.  One of the herbal teas is verbena... it's supposed to be calming, which is perfect to drink while I sit in the new lounge chair. Oh, did I forget to mention that I bought myself a lounge chair for my front porch?

According to wikipedia verbena has some other useful aspects... "In the Modern Era, it is sometimes considered a powerful "ally" of poets and writers, as its relaxing effects can relieve writer's block." 

So look out... I might be inspired to post more often.

Two trees

I spent yesterday with family and friends - a picnic and a hike.The day started out dusty, but it rained a bit while we were hiking and the air cleared some. There hasn't been much rain this year and everything is really dry. I'm expecting a very hot and dusty summer. 

Finding some respite in my garden

I've been feeling depressed lately. Events in Libya (the French Embassy bombing among other things) are enough to make anyone here feel depressed, but the weather hasn't helped as we've had days of sandstorms and dust so bad that it even closed down the airport for a while. I had a busy week too, but I woke up this morning and decided to tackle the dusty house.... but first I had a look around my garden to see how things fared through the dusty, windy hot weather.

The morning glories are glorious as usual. Nothing seems to get them down! 

My succulents all seem to be thriving this year. Purslane seems to be growing in almost all of the potted plants. It's edible and many Libyans cook it in a tomato based sauce and eat it with bread or rice... it tastes similar to spinach. Nutrition facts about purslane: here

More cacti and purslane.

We've been trying to xeriscape as much as possible which means we are choosing plants that need as little irrigation as possible. So we've got quite a lot of cacti and succulents as well as plants that are native to the area (which most people think of as weeds!) We still need to water though. More about xeriscaping: here

Yep, this one is a weed, but it grows well and I love to put sprigs of the lacy flowerettes in flower arrangements. 

We found these growing wild and dug some up and planted them in the garden, since then we've been reseeding. My husband loves yellow flowers and quite a few of the plants and trees that we have are yellow. 

No garden in Libya is complete without mint and geranium to add as flavouring for tea. We've just started these in small bed in the side garden. We've also got some rosemary and sage. In the past I had loads of basil but this year I have none.

The honeysuckle vine that I got as a gift from OTE is finally starting to grow over the garden wall. 

More cacti in pots on the front steps.

The climbing roses are doing well, just a bit dusty.

Ahhhh... how nice! A walk around the garden always makes me feel better.... now to get down to work and attack the dusty house. 

A Milestone for Sara

So much to do this weekend, but the exciting thing was Sara's braces. She'll have the bottom ones put on at the next appointment. 

Things that make you go 'Hmmmm'

Libya lacks a lot of things, one of them is customer service which drives me crazy sometimes. I wrote a post once in 2006 about my shopping experiences: here. Nothing much has really changed since then. Maybe I should look at it as kind of a challenge - but there are days when I really don't feel up to the challenge. 

Two weeks ago when I was on my way to pick up my son from school I popped into a shop that sells lighting and electrical supplies to buy a few light-bulbs  While I was in there I saw the most exquisite lamp hanging behind the counter right next to the cash register. It was gorgeous - I was mesmerized! I asked the little old man that ran the shop how much it cost and he said 'We just got that. We haven't put a price on it yet'. This is something that happens quite often in Libya. The shopkeepers usually don't even bother to try to check the price for you either and I find it so annoying. I left the shop with my light-bulbs and decided it just wasn't my day for an impulse buy.

Yesterday I was running a little early and decided to stop in at the shop to see if the lamp was still there. Sure enough it was hanging right where I left it two weeks before with the same old man standing next to it. We exchanged greetings and then I asked him how much the lamp cost. 'We just got that. We haven't put a price on it yet' the man replied. I just looked at him in disbelief. I examined the look on his face to see if he was joking. Nothing! Blank! I stood there for a few moments waiting for him to do something... check the price in a catalog maybe, or call someone to check on the price.... but no - he did nothing. Finally, I said 'Asalamualaikum' and turned around and walked out of the shop. I decided that there was no point in discussing it with him. 

I'm still thinking about that lamp.... I'm so tempted to go back into that shop again and see if he says the same thing. ... am I feeling up to the challenge?... maybe... it's a fabulous lamp... I really want it.

Finally have some time to enjoy spring

I've been busy the past few weeks, but I am finally finding some time to settle down and enjoy my garden. The rose bush next to my front door is covered in huge blooms and the garden is full of daisies. 

One of the cacti in the front garden is in bloom too - it's covered with very odd looking flowers.

We've been having typical March weather this year - all four seasons in one day. I never know what to wear when I get up in the morning.  But overall, the weather is warming up and I'm predicting that we'll have a very hot summer here. So I'm going to go out and enjoy my garden while the weather is good and spring is here....

I need to get a swing for my front porch... 

One more year

Today's an anniversary for me.... I've been living in Libya for 24 years. In another year and it will be a quarter of a century!

.... that's a long time.

Waiting for the results...

My daughter Nora finished her final exams at university. If she's passed everything then she will graduate. We're waiting for the results. This year the students at Libyan universities are being given a stipend - I think it's to help pay for their needs while they study. Nora decided to save it all and pay for an ICDL - computer course - she started this week. I'm really proud of her - she's made a good decision to work on her professional development. She's also looking into applying to do a master's degree. 

Meanwhile, it seems that everyone thinks that since she is finished with university that she is now on the marriage market and plenty of those who believe in arranged marriage are calling. I'm not sure why they would even think that my daughter would be interested in an arranged marriage in the first place, but this  custom is pretty common in this part of the world. Believe it or not we have had people approach us because they feel they know everything about us because of my blog! Unfortunately, my husband is fairly useless about screening these potential suitors, so I have devised a questionnaire to make life easier (and scare people away!). See the link and hit the comments if I've left anything out. The survey is in English - if they can't manage that then that immediately eliminates them...lolol

A day with my baby boy - yes! he'll always be my baby!

Ibrahim and I spent the day together. He got new shoes and a pair of jeans. But the best part was pizza... yeah! 

Notice from the picture that Libya is still using soda cans with pull tabs.... they stopped using those in the United States in 1977 and in the UK in 1989. Someone needs to tell them that it's 2013 now.... sigh...

Two years on...

Wishing Libyans near and far the very best on this day....

Happy Libyan Revolution Day!

Association...

Isn't it funny how sometimes when you hear a song it reminds you of a past event in your life. Or how certain smells make you think of your past, even something specific. Recently I bought some face soap and as I raised my bubble filled palms to my face I was immediately taken back to when I was very young..... 

When I was about four or five years-old, tiny little dolls called Liddle Kiddles were all the rage. There were all kinds of these little dolls, doing different things. One type were scented and came inside of plastic 'perfume bottles' that opened up so you could store the doll inside for safe keeping. There are about nine different dolls, each with it's own scent. 

I remember shopping at Toy's R Us with my mom and my sisters and when we got to the aisle with the dolls on display I was riveted to the spot. My mom agreed that I could have one and I chose 'Lily of the Valley' because my mother had some of the flowers planted under the kitchen window and I loved smelling them every spring. I knew that if I had the doll then I could smell the flowers all the time. I was thrilled with the tiny little thing and played with it for hours, always remembering to carefully store it in it's bottle because I didn't want it to lose it's scent. Of all the dolls I had during my childhood, that's the one I remember the best. 

So you can imagine my delight when I smelled the soap that brought back such fond memories. Strangely, the soap doesn't have lily of the valley in it, but instead it has chamomile and nettle. But in looking at some websites on the internet about the dolls I found that the scents were actually a mixture of scents so maybe that would explain why. 

The funny thing about it is that the soap is anti ageing soap and it smells like something I was so fond when I was a very young child. Maybe this form of aromatherapy will keep me from getting old.... anti ageing aroma association! 

The boring history of Libya...

One thing that has always amazed me is that the majority of Libyans know very little about the history of their country... and Libya is full of history! Historical sites can be found throughout the cities and countryside. I hear all kinds of excuses as to why the people here know nothing and it's usually blamed on the former regime and the poor education system. But in my (somewhat humble) opinion the reason Libyans don't know much about their country's history is because they simply couldn't care less.... total indifference.... apathy. And that just makes me feel sad... :(

Last week, out of curiosity, I posted this picture on my Facebook wall and asked the Libyans on my friend's list if they knew what it was, where it was, who it was used by, why and when .... 

There were only three Libyans that responded to my query - none knew the correct answer, but they tried. The rest of the comments came from non-Libyans, many who had lived here in the past - they didn't have the right answer either, but it didn't matter because I posted the picture to quiz the Libyans on my list.... yes, I know, I can be a pain sometimes.  The reason that I know about this historical site is because I visited it on a tour given by the Archaeological Society. 

Before the revolution there was an Archaeological Society in Libya that organized day trips and guided tours to various historical sites around the country. They charged a nominal yearly fee to become a member and for each trip that you wanted to go on you paid around 40 dinars to cover the expenses of the bus, tour guide, drinking water and a small snack (you brought your own bag lunch). There were only a few Libyans who were members. When I'd ask any of my Libyan friends, family and students if they were interested in joining, they all declined for various reasons, but mostly because they thought it would be boring and a waste of money.... sigh... apathy...

Anyway, enough of my complaints... here's the answer to my photo quiz:

The picture was taken in an area of Tarhouna, about 6 kilometres from the town centre, called Ain Sharshara (Ain Scersciara). The site is located next to a small waterfall (the Arabic word for waterfall is sharshara) and a small spring that's mostly dried up now. The surrounding area is planted with pine trees that offer a perfect spot to have a picnic. Way back when, a settlement was built on this site by the Romans, probably in the first century A.D. along a road that led to Leptis Magna (about 44 Roman miles away). The area was called Cercar by the Romans who developed the surrounding countryside into fortified farms, orchards and olive groves. The main export at that time was olive oil which was shipped in large pottery containers called amphorae. 

The Romans made full use of the site and built a factory there to make amphorae. They had everything they needed: the earth in the area was clay, the spring and waterfall provided water and the trees in the area could be used to fuel the fire in the great ovens (kilns)... yes.. the picture shows a pottery kiln! 

Actually, what you can see is the bottom part of the kiln. It measures approximately 6 metres across. The part with the holes is the floor of the kiln where the amphorae were stacked, and below it is the area where the fire was built up. The area below is constructed with supporting arches that radiate from a central pillar and was originally about four and a half metres deep. Only the bottom part of the kiln is visible so we don't know whether the upper part was a permanent structure or if it was broken down and rebuilt at the time of each firing. It is one of the largest known kilns of its type and there are only 4 known in the world (2 in Italy and 1 in Turkey). There are remnants of two other kilns nearby. It has a fence and wall built around it to offer some protection, but you can climb right up on the kiln to have a closer look and even go down below (if you're skinny enough to fit through the stoke hole).  

Reproduced from ‘Libyan Studies, Select Papers of the late R.G. Goodchild’ (ed. Joyce Reynolds) 1976.

Amphorae

Maybe it is boring... and who really cares what the heck the Romans did.... but I think learning about early civilizations is interesting. It certainly beats the heck out of sitting around watching TV all day, or wasting time drinking cappuccino in a cafe... or wiling away the day on Facebook... but that's just my opinion, isn't it?

Soaking...

The weather is starting to look better - just in time for the weekend. We've had quite a bit of rain this past week. One day as I was driving to work in the pouring rain a truck carrying a huge load of foam that's used for making cushions and traditional Libyan style furniture pulled out in front of my car. It's a gigantic sponge, soaking up all the rain! No doubt those big foam sponges are going to start smelling moldy because they will never dry out properly.

The weather report for the next few days says sunshine and clear skies. I've got plans to spend some time in the garden... soaking up the sun's rays. 

Winter

We're finally getting winter rains in Libya. Along with the rains come floods and treacherous roads and driving. The potholes are getting bigger and new ones are forming. The best thing though is that the kids are still on school holiday this week and we can stay at home where it's nice a warm.

What a holiday!

We've been painting the inside of the house this week. The kids have a two week break from school so I decided to keep them busy. They're doing a wonderful job, nearly finished now. So far it looks great. 

Yesterday they took a day off. They cleaned up all the paint mess and invited some friends over to celebrate Miloud - a not very Islamic holiday that commemorates Prophet Mohamed's birthday. Libyans have lots of traditions for this day, none of which our family bother with. The big focus is FIREWORKS, which can be found being sold everywhere on roadside stands in the weeks leading up to Miloud. Along with fireworks being sold are Christmas trees (whatever for?), candles and gaudy crepe paper flower arrangements that have a five candle candelabra on top, torches made from rolled up newspaper dipped in wax, traditional Libyan drums and tambourines and cheap plastic toys made in China. 

In my opinion it's all just a huge waste of money and has nothing at all to do with Islam because you can be certain that Prophet Mohamed never ever celebrated his birthday. One of my daughter's Facebook friends was bragging that she had spent 500 dinars on fireworks! Aside from the waste of money are the emergency room cases and even car accidents that result from the festivities which have been reported here: Firework Fun Turns to Tragedy in Tripoli 

Food is also a feature of this holiday. Depending on the family and region different traditional dishes are served, most notably is aseeda which is a flour dumpling served with melted butter and honey, or olive oil and date syrup certainly not for anyone who's looking to cut back on their carbs - but it is oh, so delicious!   

For me, the best thing is that I have a day off work and I'm going to take advantage of it to catch up on things around the house and visit my mother in law. 

To all those who celebrate, enjoy your holiday - Happy Miloud! - Please stay safe!

Another story

Going along with the theme of posts I've made over the last three months, here is another story detailing the arrival in Libya of Amoola, an Irish girl married to a Libyan guy. Her blog, Life is a Whirlwind, is an interesting collection of her thoughts and adventures of her life in Libya. You can read her arrival story here: Arriving in Libya

(c) 2006 Joseph A. Carr - www.JoeTourist.ca

Summing up 2012

Here we are at the beginning of a new year. I guess it's time for my annual recap of the last year's events. There weren't a lot of posts in 2012. Not because it wasn't a busy year, or because I was lazy, but because there were just so many things going on in parts of my life that I don't blog about (imagine that!) that I didn't always have time to write posts. Here's what was going on this past year:

January 2012

I started out the year with a visit to a private elementary school in Tripoli and was horrified at the behaviour of both the students and teachers, but at the same time I wasn't really that surprised. There were also the usual problems of traffic and winter weather to contend with. I also mentioned a story about how one of my husband's friend's wife had got some pretty interesting VIP medical treatment in Jordan - for free. Soon there were other stories on the internet and in the news about similar money making healthcare deals going on with money that had been earmarked for wounded Libyan veterans. I also wrote about charity drives and events, security issues and the kidnapping of one of my daughter's friends.

February 2012

It snowed in Tripoli! Schools closed for the day and the whole town was excited. I reported about more checkpoints and security problems and getting caught in the crossfire. One reader wrote to ask what they should bring if they moved to Libya and I wrote a post about what I couldn't live without. There was some good news  - an international aid organization was working in the area to clear unexploded ordnance. The end of the month brought foggy mornings with pictures of my farm enveloped in mist.

March 2012

Heavy rains made driving treacherous but the countryside was green and full of wildflowers. Meanwhile rubbish piled up along the sides of the roads and smoke from trash-fires filled the air. I came across a tweet posted on twitter that led me to ponder about Libyan women becoming owners of micro-enterprises. 

April 2012

Spring break and the weather warmed up and thankfully the garbage situation was sorted out. Two of my daughters got their driver's licences. There was still unrest in parts of Libya. I found life in Libya frustrating as it seemed that 42 years of isolation just left everyone and everything in a state of backwardness. Nice news for me personally was that my photos of Libyan Street Art that had been on show in a gallery in Madrid where going to also be shown in Montpellier, France. Yeah! I also raided my husband's camera and posted some interesting pictures he'd taken of things in and around Tripoli.

May 2012

My friend gifted me a beautiful poem she wrote at the beginning of the revolution and gave me permission to post it on my blog. The stress of the war and the months following were getting to me. It was time to go home to Florida. Time to have a much need break. Time to visit my family, take care of my ailing mother and recover from all I'd been through.

June 2012

I made it safely to my mom's house in Florida and adjusted to jet-lag  I also posted an update on beach safety in Libya - this year's beach safety post was about the danger of unexploded ordnance  landmines and the possibility of anti-ship mines that might be leftover from the war.

July 2012

Still in the United States, I weathered tropical storm Debby and attended my sister's wedding. I went to the beach, parks, restaurants, 4th of July celebrations, furniture stores, baseball games and I took my mother to doctor's appointments. All the while my family back in Libya were voting for the very first time ever. Ramadan started  - I hadn't spent the holy month outside Libya in 23 years.

August 2012

Ramadan ended and it was time to plan my return trip to Libya. 

September 2012

Re-entry depression struck hard.... but I did my best to get through it. Then to top it off the US Ambassador and other staff members were killed in an attack on the American consulate in Benghazi. But finally, after waiting for three years, the exterior of my house got painted at last. 

October 2012

More unsettled events in Libya, electricity cuts and security issues. I was pleased that the house was finally painted especially as the weather started to cool off and we were blessed with a few autumn rain showers. I also reported on more unexploded ordnance found in Libya, this time in the form of cluster bombs that no one seemed to know how to defuse. I made some plans for my to do list (that I still haven't done).

November 2012

I started the month with a minor car accident. Libya implemented daylight savings time for the first time in many years and the whole idea seemed to throw everyone off balance. I'm not sure if it's been very successful as most schools and businesses just started to open an hour earlier. Another blogger, Victoria, from Words on My Mind wrote a guest post for my blog in exchange for a post I wrote for her blog. We wrote about our first impressions of Libya upon our arrival. It was fun to do and we plan on doing another blog exchange sometime in 2013.

December 2012

There was only one lonely post for the month of December. It was a follow up of another blogger's (Old Momma of Trip of a Lifetime) first impressions and her renewed first impressions of Libya upon her return to the country after being gone for 6 years.  

2012 was a busy year full of ups and downs. I was happy to have been able to travel back to the United States and spend the summer with my family and friends there. I hadn't posted as much as I had in previous years because behind the scenes of my blogging life I've been really busy with personal and professional development. Also for the past few months I've been loaded with work while I get a new English language training centre up and running. All of this is super exciting and I'm looking forward to a year full of new adventures as well as lots of personal and professional goals to meet. 

I looked at my site stats today and noticed that so far I've had over 405,000 visitors since I started writing in 2004. Maybe by the end of this year the number will reach half a million - in order to do that I'll have to do some more writing and post more often.... maybe that can be a resolution?

To all my readers, family and friends: 

May you have a happy and safe New Year full of God's many blessings. 

Happy New Year! 

Happy 2013!

More First Impressions

My last blog post was an exchange with Victoria of Words on My Mind about our arrival in Libya. There's another arrival story by Old Momma, who is an American who lived in Tajoura for a while in 2006 and has recently returned. Her first impressions in 2006 are here: First Impressions. You can read her renewed first impressions from September 2012 on her blog: Trip of a Lifetime. I really enjoyed reading her stories... I hope she finds Libya an easier place to live this time around.