Going black and white...or maybe greyscale

I made it through this week. It flew by so fast I couldn't believe it! Now the weekend...

Tomorrow is the black day here in Libya - the Libyan Day of Mourning. Commemoration for the deportation in 1911, during the Italian occupation, of a number of Libyans. Thousands of Libyans were sent into exile against their will to remote Italian islands. Many of them lost their lives, dying of thirst and hunger aboard the ships that carried them.

Every year on October 26th the internet and international phone calls are cut off nationwide, all Libyan Airline flights are cancelled and International and national ground and marine travel operated by Government of Libya-owned companies are also cancelled. If it's a school day the children are asked to wear black. Usually the Libyan television channel is switched from colour to black and white.

So tomorrow I'll have no internet and you won't be able to contact me from outside Libya by phone. Don't worry about me. It's only for 12 hours. I'll be back online after 6PM on the 26th.

My Husband is an Aljazeera Zombie!

The other day my husband took the satellite receiver to be reprogrammed. He came back and plugged it in and immediately started searching for Aljazeera. Somewhere along the way he came across a concert with a woman singing and belly dancing.


'Hey!', he shouted 'You gotta come here and see this woman! Is this a new singer?' I came in to look and saw the singer 'shaking all she's got' on the screen. Hubby was completely mesmerized. He wanted to know who she was and where she was from. He was certain the Arabic influence had just invaded the world. I just looked at him in disbelief. 'Thats Shakira. She's been around for a few years now. Maybe if you watched something besides Aljazero you would know what was happening in the world.' I told him.

I really don't know what happened to that man. He somehow got stuck in the eighties and then after that Aljazeera somehow invaded his mind... is there a cure?

The mysterious visitor

I did a little research about the moth that visited us on my birthday. It's a pretty interesting character! Even it's name is unusual; commonly called Death's-head Hawkmoth. It's the largest moth in the region and it has some other amazing features.


This moth is tough! It lives by raiding beehives! You can read all about it here: Death's-head Hawkmoth

My special day

It was my birthday yesterday. Actually my friends have been getting into the birthday spirit for more than a week before the actual day. They started giving me presents early!

Syd got me a bottle of perfume... Romeo Gigli, an Italian scent that she swears she's been searching for in Libya for years. She made me put it on my list of things to ask for anytime I entered a perfume shop. I finally found it for her in a shop near the Mahari Supermarket in Dahara and she went the next day and bought two bottles of it; one for her and one for me. It smells kind of like Joy but more intense and it increases in potency as you wear it. It's really WOW! I told her they should rename it to 'Sex in a Bottle'. So now you have an idea of what I smell like (at home of course).

Tara made a recent a trip to Malta and came back with 'The Libra'; a black framed, black velvet background of a pewter goddess of justice holding high above her head the balanced scales. It's sitting on my desk waiting to be hung up. The goddess of justice is naked has this wild long hair that covers all the private bits. And the scales are perfectly balanced. Tara and I have a running joke about my Libraness, so it's perfect!

Those two surprises I got before my birthday. On the actual day I had a nice peaceful morning and then Tara and I went out for a trip of shopping and something to eat downtown.

While we were looking at something in front of one of the shops and the shopkeeper came out to assist us. He had short black hair and in direct contrast sported a long red beard and moustache. Tara was totally captivated and instinctively reached up and touched the man's beard. The poor guy nearly fainted! He said, 'Ya satir! Ya satir!' I couldn't help but laugh. 'Don't touch people Tara, especially men. ' I told her. The man recovered himself as I explained to him she meant no harm. She had just found the colour difference so amazing and wanted to know if it was real. He assured me it was natural and not henna. It was a funny experience in culture differences. It seems I am forever having to point out cultural faux pas to Tara. Being married to a Libyan and living here so long these things don't even dawn on me anymore, but then when I go out with an ex-pat I'm reminded how different our cultures are. Another one for the list... Ladies! don't stroke a Libyan man's beard unless you're married to him, or he's your brother or father! Hahaha! I don't think I will ever forget the expression on that poor man's face! After shopping we stopped in at the Corinthia and had a pizza. It was yummy!

When I got home my son Yusef presented me with a box covered in foil wrapping paper that had red hearts printed on it tied up with a red ribbon and bow. As he handed it to me he gave me a kiss on both of my cheeks and one on my forehead. I unwrapped the package to find a bottle of perfume. Yusef had been saving up for it. Which was more precious?- the present or the way it was presented? Where did that boy inherit his charm from? Oh, he makes me so happy!

Throughout the day friends phoned to wish me happy birthday and I got lots of emails too. My sister Holly mentioned my birthday in the comments of my blog and others joined in. Thanks for all of that!

In the evening we had cake. Not a whole birthday cake, but an assortment of pieces so that everyone could have something different. No candles because that might be dangerous!

Right around midnight came the final surprise. A huge moth managed to find its way into the house. It was the size of a small bird and it even made a kind of chirping noise. We weren't sure at first that it was a moth, we thought it might be a bird or a bat. There were lots of screams and shouts from the kids (mostly from Nora) as we tried to catch it.


I'm not sure if the moth was meant for my birthday or not, and who sent it? Anyway, we put it in a jar and looked at it for a while before letting it go. It was an amazing creature. The most surprising thing was the chirping noises it made. Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought moths made noise.


So that was my birthday. Thanks everyone for all the kind thoughts, gifts and birthday wishes. Now I'm ready to face another year!

A morning out

I spent the morning shopping with my friend Tara. She's got some kind of a dressy event to go to. We spent the morning on Jaraba Street looking at tacky dresses in shops that smelled like cheap air freshener.

It was nothing more than an abuse of the senses.

Came home empty handed... of course.

Regrets... in the form of lunch

I made bazine for lunch.

It tasted great!

But now we're all farting like horses....

sigh... it seemed like a good idea at the time....

Surviving Eid

The first day of Eid is over and I survived it!

Bringing along a deck of Uno cards was a very good idea. It kept the older kids busy. I also brought my laptop along and filled all the boys mp3 players with music, so they were happy. And the smaller kids played with some pre-school/toddler games I put on the laptop just for the occasion. Even though the kids were busy, they were still noisy! A few of them had noisy toy guns and imitation mobile phones.

I spent most of the day sitting with my sister in laws and other female family members. Aside from interrogating each other about where they bought their Eid clothes and how much they paid for them, they talked about all kinds of really stupid and boring interesting things.

One topic kept them going nearly all day: They all compared who had stayed up the latest the night before. 'I didn't fall asleep until 7am!' one of them said. '7am! Oh I didn't sleep until 8am and then I got up one hour later.' said another. 'That's nothing. I didn't sleep at all!' the next one said. They all knew exactly what time they had gone to bed and the very instant they woke up and they repeated the details every time someone new came. 'Khadija what time did you stay up until last night?' they asked me. 'Umm... I'm sorry... I didn't know there was going to be a musabaka (competition) about it so I didn't look at the clock.' I replied every time I was asked.

Can you believe that it is possible to have an hour-long, in-depth discussion of various hair removal methods? I'm always so thrilled to spend hours discussing such interesting topics. I can't wait until tomorrow! I'll have to make a mental note to look at the clock the very second I fall asleep tonight!