Last Day of 2006

Best wishes to all for a peaceful New Year!

Happy Eid

Eid Day started as usual with Eid prayers at the mosque, afterwards we set off for my mother-in-law's house to slaughter our sheep with the family. It probably seems appalling to those living in non-Muslim countries to think that kids would all gather round to watch an animal being slaughtered, but kids in Muslim countries are used to the idea of the annual sacrifice and look forward to the excitement.


Our sheep was ready.... or was he? No apparently he wasn't going to give up with out a fight. He managed to get loose and try to make a run for it. Big excitement as all the boys ran around chasing after it, while the girls all squealed and ran out of the way!

They managed to catch the poor thing, and in no time at all he'd breathed his last (Allahu Akbar!).
Everyone had a job to do - most important was my mother-in-law who made sure everyone had enough hot milk, coffee and tea to help them get a start on the day. She also made sure that everyone was doing their job. She'd been up since the crack of dawn making sure all the knives, dishes and other equipment were ready and had even covered the entire garage floor with cardboard so the mess would be easier to clean up when we were finished.

Even Ibrahim lent a helping hand - he was the official leg holder.


The men continued to slaughter the sheep one by one....

....while the woman prepared the stuffing for tradition Libyan sausages, called usban. Chopped up liver, meat, bits of fat, parsley, onions, rice, tomato paste and spices are all mixed together and stuffed in the sheep's intestines, then it's all steamed until it's cooked. - I hate it, but everyone else loves it.
By the afternoon we were back home and I hung my salted meat out on the line to dry.


It was a long day, but a nice one. I wish you all - Happy Eid!

Your own personal tour-guide!

This evening I was reading The New York Times on my newly installed New York Times Reader and came across an article about tourists using narrated walking tours that were pre-recorded and downloaded onto their MP3 players and iPods. [Away From the Tour Group, an MP3 Player as Your Guide]

Wow! I thought, wouldn't that be perfect for taking tours around the old city, museum and places like Sabratha and Leptis? It could certainly be an improvement of the kind of tours that Jax and Scoutie took while visiting Libya recently: Santa doesn't go to Libya. Does anyone want to try their hand at creating a tour of the interesting places around Libya?

Some hints for you...

I've added some hints to the Where is this? - #15 challenge. See if you know the answer now.

Winter weather

Nice winter weather today. We were blessed with a double rainbow this morning and then a gentle downpour.

Where is this? - #15

Here's a new picture for the 'Where is this?' challenge. If you think you know where it is (or you want to guess) click on comments. Click on the picture to see an enlarged image.

The pictures for the game 'Where is this?' have all been taken from someplace in Libya and are in an area open to the public. The prize for the winner will be the satisfaction of knowing that you had the right answer! - I'll let you know who the winner is.

*** So far only Highlander has tried to answer this challenge... Is it because it's too difficult this time? I've decided to give you some hints! - see how nice I am!!

Hint # One : It's not in Tripoli

Hint # Two :
Hope this helps!!
---------------------------

Beacon commented: Is it on the way to or in Tajoura?

and I said: Beacon.... be more specific!

Then Syd commented: The old church on the Tagura high way that goes to Benghazi road ? It is on a small hillock that has been bulldozed on one side . It is on the left hand side as you drive toward the sea ?

Well, it's in Tajoura and Syd has placed it exactly - so I guess credit should go to both, but more to Syd. It's actually not a church but a chapel which is smaller than a church. From the information that I have it was built by the Italian family that once lived on that land and was used by the families and their workers that lived in the area.

The structure is crumbling but it's interesting to see and photograph. I imagine it would make a really weird black-and-white set for a music video or something.

There are still some farms in the area but many houses are being built on the farmland. We talked with one of the boys living nearby and he said that people often stop by to take photos of the old chapel. I don't think that I've ever seen any online.

There isn't much left of the structure, one side is almost completely gone.

The chapel was once a gathering place for the people who lived near, now the chapel is only visited by crazy people like me with their cameras.... and a home to pigeons and bats.

Education in Libya

Recently an office opened up in a house in a residential area of Tripoli. While passing by I noticed that they had installed a sign announcing that this was the 'home' of the Libyan National Commission for Education, Culture and Science.

I found a few things rather strange about this. First, was that the sign was written in both Arabic and English. What's strange about that, you ask? Well, according to Libyan laws it is illegal to have any signs in languages other than Arabic. Stiff fines are imposed on anyone who breaks this law. I guess that the education commission is exempt, but that's weird because I think these are a the same people who are behind the law in the first place.

But what is even more of an eye opener is that on closer inspection of the sign I found this:

I wasn't sure whether I should cry, laugh, or just feel ashamed.

The neighbours upstairs are making us crazy!

The workers upstairs are so stupid! They've been banging away like mad in the bathroom. The noise has been deafening. Recently it sounded as though they would be breaking through the ceiling at any moment. Mustafa and Adam went up to investigate and what do you suppose they found?

The workers were indeed trying to go through the floor and into our flat! The had bought huge pipes, the kind that are used outdoors to connect the house to the sewer systems, and they wanted to connect these pipes from the bathtub drain across the bathroom and then on to the outside sewer system. But in order for them to fit they decided that they would have to go through the ceiling in my bathroom and then on and out through the wall of my bathroom. They said they wanted these big, huge pipes so that there would never be a problem with the drains getting clogged. (Maybe they think people are in the habit of using the bathtub as a toilet!!)

They'd managed to knock away the floor up there so that the ceiling is only about an inch thick! I suggested they could just continue on knocking out the hole and put in some steps and share our bathroom. They have revised their original plans and today they are upstairs trying to sort out their near disaster. Now, not only is there banging going on, there's lots of shouting and yelling too because Mustafa has decided that since the new neighbour can't manage to supervise his workers than he will do it.

hmmm... maybe I should get a pot of tea going just in case stupid Egyptian peasants who call themselves plumbers visitors 'drop' in unexpectedly.

By the way... I'm switching my blog to the new Beta version. You'll have to be a bit patient while I make sure all the links and things work.

Well, here I go again....

Well, here I go again, posting a holiday story...

My students have been set the task of writing a childhood memory. I wrote one last year and posted it on our school's blog as an example. I've dug it out once again for my students.

I thought I would mention it on my blog for anyone who wanted to read it... it's got a nice holiday theme! Here's the link: A childhood memory - Christmas story

Happy Holidays to you all!

Some progress

The doors and windows are finally being installed in the house. They still need to be stained and varnished with the final colour (which of course we're arguing about). It's starting to look like some progress is being made but of course for every step forward it seems there are two steps backward...
The painter convinced my husband that orange ceilings were 'all the rage' nowadays and that we should paint ours that way. In real life the ceiling is actually a much brighter orange than it appears in the picture above. Needless to say, I was not pleased! The ceiling will be repainted, white .... OR ELSE!!!!!!

Aside from the fiasco of the orange ceiling the guest room's bathroom floor needs to be pulled up and tiled all over again because water pools in the corner instead of going down the drain like it's supposed to.

Eventually the house will be finished.... won't it???

A winner!

Someone has the correct answer to 'Where is this? - #14. Have a look to see who it is and to see the pictures I've added.

Air Show in Libya

I didn't have time to attend the recent air show that was held this past week at Meetiga Airport, the old Wheelus Airbase, but my husband went and took Ibrahim. He also took my camera and I've uploaded the pictures here: Air Show - Libya 2006

I'd also like to mention.... So far only one person has tried a guess at the latest 'Where is this?' challenge! What's the matter? Is it too difficult??? Have a look here: Where is this? - #14

Libyan Roads are Deadly!

In the past two days I've had two funerals to attend. Both were unfortunate victims of car accidents. Everyone in Libya knows how dangerous the driving is here and most people blame the drivers themselves. People do not obey the laws... I often wonder if there are any traffic laws here.

Lack of good old common sense is also a huge problem but the cause of one of the accidents was not the driver himself, it was because the roads are not being properly maintained. The driver hit a huge pothole in the road and lost control of the car resulting in the death of the passenger. The driver is in serious condition in the hospital's intensive care unit. Talk at the funeral revealed that the same pothole has caused the deaths of at least nine people so far.

Beacon, a Libyan blogger, has a new blog featuring road safety. Check it out here: Tripoli Nights
I'll add it to my sidebar for future reference.

A meme - 6 weird things

Ok... so I've been tagged with a meme by Zaynab. The 6 weird things about me, meme. Actually it's quite strange because I was only discussing my weirdness about an hour before I got tagged. This particular person seems to think I'm normal for some reason and gets angry when I say that I think I'm weird.

I suppose there are different degrees of weirdness and who's to judge what's really weird after all? Is anyone normal? And what is normal anyway?

Well, here's six things about me that are weird:

1. I work even when I'm sleeping. When I'm asleep my mind is going full speed ahead. Whenever I have a difficult project going I go to sleep at night and I figure things out while I'm sleeping. It works very well most times but it can cause me to wake up with a severe headache if I've been concentrating extremely hard about something. I get some of my best ideas while I'm asleep so an occasional headache is acceptable. I also use this method to find things that I've misplaced. I think about the item before I go to sleep and then I find it while sleeping. In the morning it is right where I envisioned it would be. Works nearly every time!

2. I seldom watch TV. I've no time for it, and I can't sit still long enough to watch an entire program anyway. My husband can't understand how I can sit in front of the computer for hours - I can do that because I've usually got at least 6 things going on at once - multi-tasking to my heart's content.

3. Spiders - I love them!

4. I can give someone the silent treatment indefinitely. I'm a very patient person, but I reach my limits and when I get fed up I just switch the person off completely. One of my sister in laws got the silent treatment for 6 years. I only gave up because she forced the truce by coming to the hospital when my daughter Jenna was being born and insisted on being the first person to see me when I came out of the delivery room. She bent over me and kissed me and begged my forgiveness - I gave in. Had she not done that I would still not be speaking to her. Now whenever she gets out of line with me I remind her that I can stop speaking to her and this straightens her out immediately.

5. I try to look on the bright side and find humour in things... this has probably helped me to survive in Libya. I don't think you can live here without a sense of humour. 'What's so funny?' and 'What are you smiling/laughing about?' is something I hear from people all the time. - I can't always explain it, they just don't see the humour in things the same way I do.

6. I can't stand to have anything cover my face. If I'm sleeping I must have my face outside the blanket. No way could I ever do 'the black veil thing' that is becoming so popular these days in Libya.

The rules say I must tag six people.... six weird people?.... who am I to say who is weird and who is normal?..... Do it if you think you're weird enough!

Where is this? - #14

Here's a new picture for the 'Where is this?' challenge. If you think you know where it is (or you want to guess) click on comments. Click on the picture to see an enlarged image.

The pictures for the game 'Where is this?' have all been taken from someplace in Libya and are in an area open to the public. The prize for the winner will be the satisfaction of knowing that you had the right answer! - I'll let you know who the winner is.

---------------------

Onlibya says:

"It is in Hay Al-Andaloos, diagonal from the old Aluminum shoping center, north of the road going west." and "O.K, I think I got the answer for you there teri, it is the Language school in Gurji. Next to Alfurqan little shop of etc's. Did I get it? If yes, what is my prize? J.L"
Yes, that's it! You've won! The prize is knowing you've got the correct answer... but some people have suggested I give a 'real' prize. Maybe in the future... I'll have to think about it... Congratulations Onlibya!

So where is this? It's a view of the small park in Hay Al-andaloos, near the old Suk Hay Al-andaloos. I was near there on Thursday and Friday because Nora, my daughter, had an exam at the Cambridge exam center that is located next to the park, while I was waiting for her I snapped a few pictures. Here are some more:

Libyan Museums

I found this on the web and thought it would be of interest to many who read my blog. Now I know which direction to head for next time I'm in the mood to visit a museum.

Museums and the Web for information, and Museums in Libya on Flickr for the image.

cooler weather has arrived

It's finally starting to feel like winter here. It's been raining on and off for the past few days and the nights are cold enough now that you have to close the windows and use a blanket. - my favourite kind of weather!

The banging upstairs continues. Yesterday I hung out 4 loads of laundry and then heard the doorbell ring. It was the guy from upstairs asking if I would move the laundry because they were going to be working on the balcony above it and didn't want to get cement on my newly laundered clothing. . . . They never bothered to tell me this last week when they were working on the balcony over my car. I came out and found spots and splashes of cement all over it. Thank God for the rain - it washed most of it off the car and there wasn't any damage. I do wish all the renovating would finish... the noise, the dust and the inconvenience are driving me mad. Now I've got a house full of damp laundry, hanging over every available surface.

This will be the day visitors arrive...

Hiking in Rega'at

Yesterday we went with some friends to Rega'at for a picnic and hike in the mountains. As we started out on our adventure it looked as though it might be a day of rain and it sprinkled a bit on the trip out to Rega'at. But by the time we arrived the weather had cleared and was perfect for the rest of the day. [click on the images to see bigger pictures]

After we filled ourselves with hamburgers we headed for the hills. Bates Mountain, named after the English man who surveyed it sometime in the 18th or 19th century, isn't very big as far as mountains are concerned, but it is quite a challenge for couch potatoes and housewives! It can actually be quite dangerous if you're not careful.

'Ibrahim! Watch out!' and 'Ibrahim! Be careful!' and 'Ibrahim! Stop throwing rocks!'

We all enjoyed looking at the mountain's many treasures. Here's a new friend, Ian, looking at some fossilized shells.

It's amazing to think that this mountain was once part of the sea.

This plant smells almost like oregano or thyme. I brought a handful home with me, some will find it's way into my sauce pots this week.

Is it a centipede? A milipede? - it's got 40 legs! hmm.... centi = 100, does mili = 1 million? I'll have to google it.

Tiny plants growing from cracks in the rocks.

Near the summit we took a break to catch our breath. The views of the surroundings were breathtaking. - catching our breath... breathtaking views... fresh air to breathe... breathless... lol

Poor Mustafa! There is no Aljazeera up here!

The view of the Jafara Plain is dotted with farms and olive trees.

After a few hours it was time to descend. We took a route we had never tried before. It was more difficult than the usual way but we enjoyed the challenge.

In real life this was a zillion times more beautiful!

Laptops... an update

A while back I had a post about laptops. Libyan school children are supposed to be getting laptops, a part of the One Laptop per Child project. I found an update about the project, here. - there's even a video showing a laptop in action.

Rainy days

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain but it stopped after a bit. I really like rain, actually the only negative thing I can think about rain is the laundry. I only have a clothes line for drying clothes, no tumble drier - not that they don't exist here, I don't have one simply because the flat is too small and the electrical wiring not strong enough to handle the load. They weren't thinking about large electrical appliances when they built the flats over 30 years ago. So if it rains everything stays wet. Since I have eight people in the house to do laundry for I just keep washing and hang it out in the rain... eventually it all dries. If I stop doing the laundry it piles up too fast and I'd never catch up. So, rain or shine, there's always laundry to be done.

I remember once my sister-in-law had come for a visit and I had just taken all the clothes off the line and was sitting down to fold them. At the time she had two children, but only her son lived with her. She had sent her daughter to live with her mother because she said having two children was too difficult. She looked at the mountain of laundry and said, 'Wow! I can't believe you do this much laundry every week.' I replied, 'This is the laundry for one day.' Her mouth hung open and she said 'Really??' 'Yep, everyday it's like this.'

Imagine only doing laundry once a week! What would that be like? A while ago I made a schedule and said everyone would be responsible for doing their own laundry. Each person had their own day and I gave each person their own basket for their clothes. Did my plan work? Unfortunately, it did not. The kids decided to skip their specified day and let their laundry pile up. If we were living in a bigger place I would have just ignored that and let them deal with it, but with eight people living in a sardine can-sized flat it is just impossible to let mess and clutter accumulate. I gave in and started washing again.

Laundry will just be a life long ordeal... I suppose I could run off and join a nudist colony somewhere, but I don't think I could be so cruel as to impose my nakedness on anyone. lol

Ahhh! I can hear thunder. It's going to rain some more....

Autumn . . .

Autumn has arrived in Libya. The leaves on the trees are slowly turning from green to brown with all the lovely shades of gold and red in between. I took a peaceful walk at the farm yesterday. The weather was perfect; cool, fresh and the skies where blue with hardly a cloud to be found.


Though the trees are losing their leaves, the grass is green again, the effect of the recent rains. The earth has lost the dusty smell it has during the summer and you can walk without getting your shoes full of loose sand.


The very first wildflowers are beginning to appear. Always the yellow flowers show up first.



The olives are ripening, some are ready to be picked. Soon we will replenish our supply of olive oil and process olives for eating.

I watched the sunset and then went home just as the owls and bats began their day.

Giving Thanks My Own Way

I had a nice Thanksgiving after all! I didn't eat the traditional turkey and I had to work but I made the most of it and went on the have a nice day. It was really nice that I got so many nice comments from readers. Thanks! (There are too many nice's in there - I would blast my students for that!)

What really made my day was that I decided to share Thanksgiving with my students at school. I have a class that are at intermediate level and this particular class is comprised of Libyan, Egyptian and Iraqi students. I first asked them what their ideas about Thanksgiving were and they either didn't know, or they thought it was religious and somehow connected with Christmas and Christianity (which it is not). So the first thing I had to do was explain what Thanksgiving was about and then I handed them out a reading that I prepared that was about the first Thanksgiving. You can find it here: Thanksgiving

We had a good time learning about a truly American holiday and the students picked up new vocabulary words such as: venison, wrestling, colonists, tribesmen, game (used in the context of wild game), utensils, epidemic, etc. Everybody liked learning something that they had had misconceptions about. We finished the class by talking about different types of holidays and the meanings of different things that symbolized certain holidays, for example the Christmas tree, candles for Miloud, fool (broad beans)for Ashura, etc. I promised the students I would print out the post about Al-Fatasha that was posted recently on My Enchanting Sareeb. It was a successful lesson.

So today I sit down to open check my e-mail and what do I find? A letter sent to me by someone regarding my post about Thanksgiving. They didn't have the guts to post their opinion in my comments section. So I'll share it here:

Dear Sister Khadija,

If you have adopted Islam as your faith, then it would be irrelevant if not sinful to celebrate it since it is a holiday in the christian calendar. In Islam, we thank ALLAH tens of times every single day not just once a year.

I found it a pity that people are congratulating you on “Thanksgiving” eventhough you proclaimed your Islam. Please know that even greeting the kuffar on christmas and other religious holidays of theirs is haram, by consensus. Similarly, Muslims are forbidden to imitate the kuffar by having parties on such occasions, or exchanging gifts, or giving out sweets or food, or taking time off work, etc., because the Prophet peace be upon him said: "Whoever imitates a people is one of them." For more information please read the rest of the article http://thetruereligion.org/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=275

Salam

Please share this information with your readers

You'll notice that the 'person' hasn't the guts even to sign their name. Too bad this 'person' didn't have a chance to sit in my classroom yesterday, sharing some time with warm, friendly, caring, and open-minded students. This 'person' quotes Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him) as saying "Whoever imitates a people is one of them." - Yes! I'm one of them! I'm an American Muslim - I'm not imitating anyone. How sad that there are such bigoted people in this world....sigh...

Depressed

Today's Thanksgiving... I am here in Libya where today is like any other... I'll go to work, as usual.

It's not only Thanksgiving today, it's also Jenna's birthday today too. She wants a 'Fulla' jump rope - one that has a counter that will tell her how many jumps she's jumped. I'll have to go get her one, but she'll have to wait to use it until after she finishes her exams, otherwise she will forget all about studying on her quest for reaching a zillion jumps.

The banging upstairs continues... I'm really getting disgusted with the non-stop noise. I get a break when I go to work but tomorrow starts the weekend and I'll be stuck listening to it for the duration. Yesterday, while taking a shower they were above my head banging away. I heard a huge crash of what sounded like the idiot workers dropping the bathtub. I thought for sure it would come crashing through the ceiling and I imagined rescue workers would be pulling me out of the rubble, dead, naked and wet. It's a wonder I didn't suffer a heart attack!

No turkey for us, at least not this week. There's a wedding in the family and I'll have to go and eat Libyan food while listening to yet more noise. sigh....

Have a happy Thanksgiving for all who celebrate it.

Thumbs down

I was really excited to see that after all these years Yusuf Islam, the former Cat Stevens put out a new album, An Other Cup. I was looking forward to hearing something great... but did I? NO!

Stuck in the seventies, same old, same old and every song seemed like it had to have a message behind it. One song, Greenfields, Golden Sands, sounded like he was going to start singing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'. Imagine Cat Stevens singing that! uuugh! What on earth was he thinking???

A couple of the songs are not even songs... poetry read with music in the background. The good old days of having his music going through your mind all day long are over... at least not with this album. There aren't even any songs that are sing-a-long-able, it's kind of listen to only music... and I listened to it once... and felt cheated..... sigh...

Another weekend is over

Today marks the beginning of the kid's mid-term exams. They've been studying all weekend long. Well, actually, they've been mostly fighting with each other, or trying to watch cartoons and they've got either the CD player blasting away, or mp3 players stuffed into their ears. At least that what it seems they've been doing to me. When I tell them to get back to work they complain that they need an occasional break from study.

I've decided not to nag at them too much. They need to be taught that they are responsible for their studies - I certainly can't sit on them all the time, can I?

Ibrahim has been up to his usual tricks. He's broken the glass in the kitchen window. Thank God no one got hurt but it will be difficult to replace because the glass was a special tinted glass that we had installed before we moved in 16 years ago. I'm not sure I'll be able to match the same kind of glass and in order to replace it I'll have to take the window off it's hinges and drive around to the various workshops that sell glass. The thought of having to do this doesn't thrill me at all.

If Ibrahim doesn't make me lose my mind the neighbour upstairs will. The fourth week of pounding and banging upstairs has begun. I can't imagine what else they guy up there has left to knock down.

All the noise, both in my house and beyond, makes me nervous - I am looking forward to going back to work.... it seemed like an awfully long weekend.

Some Links

Survey - A daily doze of what might be exciting and informative.

Braveheart - A Libyan engineer furthering his studies in the UK

Hamza's Libya in a blog

Take it easy

Adventures of Mr Behi

As usual I will add them to the sidebar for future reference.

Life in Libya is changing

I often get email from people asking about what life in Libya is like. Sometimes they have a specific question and sometimes they just want to know about life in general. Oftentimes the letters are from people who have lived in Libya in the past and they want to reassure themselves that life here hasn't changed. I used to feel this way about my own hometown and then when I visited after many years of being absent from it I saw that though many things had drastically changed, there still were things that had stayed the same.

Chatalaine is someone who reads my blog and has started one of her own. She lived here during the 'Wheelus era', her formative years were spent here and Libya had/has a big influence on her life. Her letter began with the woes of finding something to blog about but then evolved into her memories of life in Libya as she knew it. This is what she wrote:

Sometimes I am at a lose for things to blog about. Actually lets make that all the time. I have such a hum drum life. So I blog about things that bug me from day to day. Putting in my two cents like my grandmother would say.

But you! Now there is another story. When I lived in Tripoli we saw camels everyday. The ghiblis would make such a mess.. there would be piles of sand every where and just about the time it all got cleaned up here comes another ghibli. The square where the cathedral and post office was down town was a nice place to have a cool drink in the afternoon. The arched walk ways along the streets down town always enticed me to come and see what was for sale. We shopped for our groceries in a shop called the frozen foods (not much frozen but lots of western products) with the best bread I have ever had and at a produce stand. We would eat at restaurant that was aimed towards Americans Guys and Joes. Spaghetti at the Swan restaurant (the first bug zapper I ever saw was on their patio). These are things that bring back memories for me. I am sure others out there that are not in Tripoli would love to hear about your markets etc.... I have so enjoyed your shopping trips with the kids. Been there done that!! Do you cook western meals? Libyan? Do you ever think about making tacos? If so how would you get the products? Just ideas...... if you have some for me I would LOVE the input!! Chatalaine

And this was my reply:

My life is pretty boring... at least to me. I try to take the ordinary and make it interesting.

The only camels I usually see are hanging in the butcher shop. But I live in Benashur which in your day was the countryside and nowadays is city. When we move out to Ainzarah there are camels on people's farms, but then even Ainzarah is quickly being eaten up. The farms are being divided and houses are going up fast.

Ghiblis are still there... we can't change the weather I guess (sometimes I wish we could).

Supermarkets are changing fast. There are still the tiny mom and pop kind of places but many large supermarkets are popping up and even super stores like The Mahari. Barcode readers at the cash registers, magazines and candy and chewing gum (all the popular western kinds) are on display next to the cashier, the meat department, dairy aisle, an aisle for breakfast cereals - kelloggs and nestle, duncan hines cake mixes and microwave popcorn, all mixed in with the good old fashioned zomita and ibsisa. Libya has lots of variety but still lacks variety in the frozen food dept.

Fast food restaurants are popping up everywhere. Hamburgers, pizza, shawarma and kabob, chicken and there is even a few chinese restaurants and some restarants have mexican food on the menu. Corinthia Hotel even has a Mexican night in one of their restaurants.

Bread - still there are the neighbourhood bakers but there are also large bakeries that sell a variety of breads, pizzas, sweet rolls and croissants. Libyans still must have their bread and it's still government subsidized so it's affordable to everyone.

I make mostly Libyan foods because it's easier to produce a meal for a large family that way. Sometimes we eat 'American' and sometimes Asian. Nowadays we all seem to be on different schedules and it seems we rarely sit down all together anymore.

Most kids here have mp3 players, playstation and computers. Kids know how to use the internet and they watch the latest films and shows on satellite TV - Oprah and Dr. Phil are household words here and we get NBC, ABC, CNN, BBC and all the other acronyms.

The 21st century has arrived in Libya. ...... I think it's kind of sad in a way.... Hurry up and visit before it's all gone.

Chatalaine then sent me this in reply:

OH Teri!!! What a wonderful email! You should blog it as is!!! Thank you for sharing with me. If you don't mind I will post it on our Wheelus message board so everyone can enjoy you words. Have a wonderful Saturday,
Chatalaine

Where is this? - #13

Here's the next picture for the 'Where is this?' challenge. If you think you know where it is (or you want to guess) click on comments. Click on the picture to see an enlarged image.

The pictures for the game 'Where is this?' have all been taken from someplace in Libya and are in an area open to the public. The prize for the winner will be the satisfaction of knowing that you had the right answer! - I'll let you know who the winner is.

-------------------

A.Adam gave the answer:

'very easy, Wadi Ghan near to Al Hira or Gharian south Tripoli'

He's correct - Mabrouk A.Adam!

Wadi Ghan is a really beautiful place to visit. Water is collected there in a reservoir and there is also a plant there for producing bottled drinking water. The views there are breathtaking.

The wadi is abundant in wildlife. It's a peaceful and quiet place located about an hour's drive south of Tripoli. A nice place to have a picnic or for hiking.

This is the view overlooking the foothills.

I'll have to make the next Where is this? challenge a bit more difficult. A.Adam had the answer posted within an hour of me posting the challenge!