Tomorrow is an official reception in honor of American Independence Day (4th of July) sponsored by the US Liaison office here in Libya (still don't have an embassy).
As usual they are a mess - they could not figure out how to deliver the invitations. The card says an RSVP is required but the invitations were delivered past the RSVP by date. Curiously, printed in one corner of the invitation it says 'Valid for invitee, plus one guest' and ' Non transferable without prior approval' Makes it look like some kind of store coupon.
The American ladies here thought that when the US came and took over from the Belgians (who had been handling US interests here) that some kind of miracle would happen and they would all of a sudden become organized. Well, surprise, surprise! It didn't happen - they are just a bunch of fools (or maybe we were for thinking they would be perfectly organized). They can't even get the 4th of July right - the reception being 6 days past the official holiday for some reason.
Anyway, I will attend the event and see what happens. Usually what happens at these kind of events is a free for all at the drinks bar with expats trying their best to put down as much liquor in the two hours allotted for the event. At the same time they are all standing around trying to look like dignified snobs. Maybe they should have 'Good for one drink per every 15 minutes' stamped on the invitation along with the other silly statements.
It should be amusing at the very least. Happy 4th of July - 6 days late! (their idea, not mine).
there will be the usual crowd of ambassadors and other important people. Last year the American ladies that are here married to Libyans had to request that we be invited and they finally did invite us (after saying that it was an official event that usually we would not be allowed to attend).
ReplyDeleteThis year we were invited again, but seeing how late the invitations went out it might just have been an after thought.
It is sad really as we stuck it out here through all the years of sanctions and there are women here who have lived here well over 30 years even. How sad that they look down their high and mighty noses at us.
Oh well, I will go and I recommend that the other American ladies here go too. We need to make sure they don't forget us. For years we were the 'American community'.
Thanks red enclave - I'll have to go have a look at your pictures :)
ReplyDeleteA friend invited me to go along, but I could not make it ..let me know how it was, if so I will accept the one next year lol..
ReplyDeleteWhat happened at the reception:
ReplyDelete1) The weather was hot
2) The soft drinks and water were hot - one piece of ice per drink
3) Food was bad - very bad and a surprise since it was catered by the Corinthian (they should be ashamed of themselves).
4) Lots of alcohol which as usual was being slurped down as fast as possible by the expats at the event.
5)There was an interesting mix of people - I had a nice chat with a French journalist who had attended the AU meeting in Sirte, it was her first time in Libya and she was enjoying her visit.
6)The usual blah, blah, blah. Chat with people you know, meet some new people, andmost of all avoid the people you don't like!
7) on the way out they gave out paper flags the size of placemats and a CD with information about the US. The paper flags will get played with by my kids and I will keep the CD to use with my students.
All in all, it was pretty much as expected.
Happy 4th of July :) ...sorry I forgot to wish you that.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info re. the party .. Corinthia are getting pretty lax lately hmmm
Thanks! Yes the Corinthia these days leaves a lot to be desired. It is sad really, but there are more and more restaurants, etc. opening up in Tripoli so people will have a greater choice of who to get as caterers.
ReplyDeleteOne thing about some of these embassy events is that they get a certain amount of money allotted to spend on food etc. If they can get buy with spending less then someone will be able to pocket the difference. :-|
The American Embassy in Kuwait is absolutely my least favorite place to have to go; alhamdulillah I don't have to go there often. I was surprised at that when I first came here, but someone clued me in that their main interest was in getting contracts for American companies, and not in doing anything for American citizens, and then it all made sense. They never invite American citizens for anything; of course, there are a lot of Americans here, too many to invite, I guess, and big security issues. I'll stop here because my stories about them could fill up an entire blog by themselves!
ReplyDeleteWhen the Government People wanted " Our " take on how " safe " it was , i. e. could plain ole american people with thier families that are employes of American corparations come live here safely , I knew right away we , the american women married to Libian nationals that have our lives and families here , were just important to them as genuie pigs only .When the boat sinks , we better own our own life jackets or else we will surely be the ones to go down with the boat !
ReplyDelete