Summer.. slow progress

The house still hasn't been painted, that will be soon I hope, but the flowers in the garden are blooming. The weather has been hot but we're working on getting the air conditioners installed - two left to be put in.

I bought Ibrahim a wading to pool to keep him busy. We set it up on the patio. The sound of the splashing water is so nice to hear! And he's having a great time too.

Rugby in Libya

This brochure was sent to me and I thought I'd post it on my blog.

There's something to do in Tripoli!

Click on the image for an enlargement.

Nothing on the brochure is mentioned about gender... do females play Rugby? I guess this would be a good way to work out your aggressions (and maybe make the roads a safer place). Seriously - this sounds like fun.

Getting messages

Our apartment is trying to tell us something...

Last week the sink in the main bathroom sprung a leak. This is always a big headache because in order to change the flexible pipe that runs from the main pipe to the tap is difficult to install because of the shape of the sink. It requires completely removing the sink from the wall and finding the right sized pipes to fit it. For some reason every time we have to do this it turns into a big ordeal... possibly hiring a plumber would solve this problem but hubby likes DIY for some reason. So I've had a bathroom sink sitting in my entryway... for the last few days... sigh.... we've been using the bathtub as a sink.

This bothers me somewhat, but our efforts these days are being put into finishing the house. The bathroom sink can wait.

The light bulbs have been burning themselves out... one by one...

This bothers me somewhat, but our efforts these days are being put into finishing the house. We fix the lights when we can.

This morning we woke up to the find that the hot water heater in the main bathroom decided to call it quits. Hubby and I just stood in the bathroom and looked up at it. Both of us let out a big sigh.

This bothers us somewhat, but our efforts these days are being put into finishing the house. It's summer. We can take showers without the water heater or we can use the boy's bathroom (and hope no one turns on the water in the kitchen - the pipes are connected).

'What will happen next?' I wonder aloud.

Our apartment is trying to tell us something... I think it wants us to move out.

I'm so very disapointed.... :(

I tried to stretch out Almadar's Internet service for as long as possible. The 10 dinars lasted me about four and a half days. It was turning itself on even when I was using a wifi connection. Forty-five hours doesn't last long anyway, especially when the service is slower than molasses.

What f*ing rip off!

I'm not going to use Almadar's Internet unless they switch it back to 10 dinars a month again (note: 1 month=720 hours).

Boycott Almadar!

... sigh...

:(

Making TODO Lists

I feel as though I am in a race to get our house done. I wake up in the morning thinking about what is on the list of things to do and at night I think about what has been crossed off the list - or not crossed off, which is more likely.... sigh... I'm doing lots of nagging too.

I am sick of looking at furniture shops. I have an idea of what I want for the ladies sitting room but can't find it. Hubby came home and said he found something that was perfect and then told me he put a down payment on it. I took the girls to the shop to have a look and we were shocked... it was awful! It looked like something from a television studio - an Egyptian soap opera set to be exact. UGLY.. it even had TASSLES! What was he thinking???

Hubby was upset that none of us liked it. He was insisting that it was so comfortable. It's for the ladies sitting room - he isn't going to be sitting in it. I personally don't care if the furniture in there is comfortable anyway. My 'friends' won't be sitting in there - they will be in the rest of the house with me. The ladies who will use that room will be the ones I wouldn't invite into the rest of my house - who cares if they're comfortable or not! lolol

There is still the dilemma of Internet. No phones in the area means there is no adsl. I spoke to a boy in a nearby shop and he said to just forget wimax because the signal wasn't strong enough. My God you would think I was way out in the middle of no where - it's 15 minutes from the centre of Tripoli!

There is talk of a special sim card dongle from Libyana but no one seems to know when that will be. Almadar is totally pissing me off too. Their Internet used to be 10 dinars a month and now it's 10 dinars for just 45 hours. What the F is that all about? I used to be able to keep the messenger open on my phone all the time to keep tabs with family and friends but now if I do that it I estimated it would cost me 160 dinars a month. I'm trying to get myself into the habit of shutting the Internet off on my phone so I don't waste any time. So depressing... sigh...

The kids and I were driving out to the house the other day and Yusef was counting all the houses in the area. When I asked him what he was doing it for he said he was calculating the number of girls in the neighbourhood. ... hehehe...

The heat is on..

Well, here's something that's news (and doesn't involve Micheal Jackson). Two leaders meet and shake hands for the first time. You can read about it here and here.

Image AP

It reminds me that I need to go to Suk Jama Saga to buy fabric for curtains and fabric to make pillows for the new sofa we bought last week. The house is still under way. We'd be farther ahead if the weather were better. The past few days have been scorching hot - around 110F during the day. It's hard to get anything done, made worse by the fact that the house hasn't got air-conditioning yet. I'll post some photos soon.

One step at a time....

Daraja Oolah!

We've been out furniture shopping... At first it was exciting and fun but now it's just tiring. There is a range of furniture out there and of course in every shop they tell you 'It's daraja oola' or first class stuff no matter what it is.

One shop we went to had furniture that was so ridiculous and over the top that they had it all displayed in areas closed off with golden satin ropes in order to protect it from possible customers. They had a white velvet sofa in there for 18,000 dinars that was so hideous we were nearly falling on the floor laughing. If someone had the money to buy that they most certainly would just travel abroad to buy the furnishings for their house. The guy working there looked like he spent a lot of time twiddling his thumbs.

We've also looked at the shops that custom design and make furniture to your specifications. There's a whole range of quality to look at there too, and of course they all claim to be 'the best'. For the most part the furniture in those shops looks like it will last about two years tops. Which is the time most Libyan women expect to have a complete redecoration of their houses anyway so that they can have a house with the latest 'style' - At least this is my sisters-in-law's approach. Some shop keepers have even told us that their furniture comes with a ten-year guarantee. I've lived here long enough to know that most shops here don't stay in business for ten years!

Furniture is just one of the things I am doing lately. We still have a list longer than my arm of other things to do before the house is ready. But I am getting excited because I can almost see the end.