Jenga

Quite a mixed week in all sorts of ways.

On Tuesday, I had a lesson which involved moving students around the class into groups of unfamiliar people, discussing where to relocate their Head Office - Swindon, Luton, or Exeter. Difficult choice, I know, but not so difficult that it should lead to fisticuffs! One of my students had been selected by his teammates to present their decision to the class, and that seemd OK to everyone, but when it came to the delivery, he dug his heels in and refused to stand and deliver. I selected another person who I knew wouldn't object, and he agreed, albeit with a grim face. Afterwards, there were discussions in the canteen between the two opposing factions which descended into violence. The following day, all was forgotten. Fancy - I had thought Construction Basic Skills were the most difficult students possible.

There has been heavy rain all week, deafening thunder storms, floods, sunbathing on one of my front balconies; a real mix. I've been housebound most of the time in between dashing out to work. I refuse to buy an umbrella for two months of the year:

It has just been confirmed that we have a National holiday on March 2nd - Declaration of the People's Authority Day, a celebration of power passing to the people in 1977. Luckily it's a working day, so we actually get time off. Normally, if a public holiday falls on a non-working day, then it's just lost. I'm thinking of going to Djerba in Tunisia for a couple of days by car - adventure, holiday, change, and a new country all rolled into one.

Yesterday I went out for a walk at the far end of my home area to some streets I last visited about a month ago. Well, what a change! It used to be one of the most refined, elegant, up-market shopping and eating streets in the entire city. Now it looks like a scene from Arthur Dent meets Mad Max:

Apparently the government got a bit miffed with people just nabbing the land in front of their houses and shops, right up to the edge of the road, so they compulsorily purchased the whole street, and are now knocking down everything less than 8 metres from the kerb. Some shops have even had the front half demolished, and the back half left alone, even where this means cutting a room in half as you can see in some of the pictures. An Intergalactic Super-Highway is going to be built here.

And the highlight of my week has been the Internet.....it's connected!

Well, I say connected - off and on. I bought a wireless router for the chap downstairs (my landlord) and so am piggy-backing on his connection. Apparently there is something wrong with my phone line which will cost (me) several hundred dinars to fix - the line comes with the flat, but there is no guarantee that it will work. Mmmmm. Anyway, I'm at home now writing this, so quite a result. I'm not sure the connection is strong enough for Skype, but that's not a huge worry - more icing really.

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, or more accurately, Green Square. Climbing into the minibus on the way home from work, I asked for 'sehe akhtar'. The driver looked at another passenger and went 'Uhhh?' Having realised I'd got the gender wrong, I corrected myself: 'Sehe khadra'. The driver looked at me, shook his head, and said : 'Do you mean Green Square? Your Arabic is terrible'. He then translated into Arabic for the benefit of everyone else in the bus, who all nodded in agreement in between ill-suppressed laughter. For the rest of my mercifully short journey I was given a crash course in the finer points of gender agreement in a mixure of English and Arabic.

On getting out of the bus (which always involves half the bus disembarking first to allow access to the door) there was much patting on backs and shaking of hands with entreaties that I go for Arabic lessons.

It's been raining cats and dogs here and all the roads are flooded. Because rain is relatively infrequent, drains in all the the major roads are considered unnecessary luxuries. The kids round here have all been playing out in the puddles, or, more accurately, ponds.

In one of my lessons, I've been discussing the Welfare State in Britain, and how our taxes subsidise those out of work whether through illness, or unwillingness or inability to work. In Libya, there is no such support, and less need. Because of the strong family-orientated culture, malingerers are just not tolerated - the family finds work for idle hands. However, there is no such thing as sick pay, so even people who are recuperating from surgery are expected to go into work, or they are not paid.

One of my students has recently had a kidney operation (which I didn't know about), and we were doing some mingling in class which involved them moving around talking to other students. She asked if she could stay seated, but I said that it was important she took part by walking around. Then she explained her difficulties, so I very thoughtfully let the other students walk to her!

Another thing which cropped up in a lesson this week was the subject of how we convey the future in English. Knowing it is very different from teaching it - I'm not surprised people have so much difficulty learning English, particularly when their native language is well structured. Present continuous, simple future, and going to can all make the future, but you try explaining the differences! I now know, because I had to learn before teaching, but the rules can be so vague - and flexible - that the word 'context' is one of the most frequently used in my lessons.

Somehow we got onto the British electoral system, and I mentioned that it tended to be older people who voted in General Elections; it's the same here - the older generation attends the People's Congresses, whilst the young meet their friends with the extra free time they've been given. And apparently it's the same with religious observance - older people (men almost invariably) go to the mosque religiously, whilst the younger men prefer to play football and maybe only go on Fridays.

There's a mosque or two in every suburb here, and in every hamlet once you get out of town - much like churches in England and chapels in Wales. The difference is that new ones are still being built, and all have regular attenders. One oddity is a huge new mosque being built here in Ben Ashur - it's been 'work in progress' for a number of years because the builders keep running off with the money. I asked my informant what religion they were; the answer was very surprising knowing as I do how little crime there is here. People are so honest that if they can't give me the right change in a shop, they make me wait till they've been to one of their neighbours to get smaller notes - all for the sake of 10 pence, and even after I've started to walk away.

Just after we finished our third lesson of the day at 12.00, and just before I started to eat my lunch, we were told that the teaching day would be finishing at 1.00pm for the next week or so because students were to be freed up to attend their local neighbourhood dicussion meetings - I mentioned these in an earlier blog. They always seem to crop up unannounced, so planning around them is a bit tricky. It's also a bit troublesome if we have exams scheduled, which we have, for next Sunday. That's the way it's done here though, so we have to work with it. Public holidays aren't announced either until they happen which means that the long weekend I was hoping for is only a dream.

Still, having put my time to good use, I've been sitting in an Internet cafe (it's too hot outside to sit around) doing bits and pieces, and come across this fellow blogger:

http://www.mapability.com/travel/blogs/2006/12/tripping_in_tri.html

Still no closer to getting wired at home yet, but I have bought some chocolates in readiness for broaching the subject with my landlord when I next cross his path.

As I've been wandering the mean streets of Tripoli, I've started looking through different eyes, as you do when you feel more comfortable, and it turns out that there are quite a few bookshops here carrying English books. I even found one which sells second hand books - mainly school and university text books, but also one or two more eclectic volumes, so I've bought a book of poetry; perhaps the heat is beginning to get to me.

Finally, here's a very interesting article from the Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/14/facebook

Scary stuff.

Phew, what an extraordinary experience! One of my students took me to Leptis Magna yesterday and it was absolutely wonderful. The Italians discovered it shortly after they invaded in 1911, and ever since then work has been done to excavate and restore what has now become a World Heritage site. You know how the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you see something you can't put into words? Well what a buzz I got - the same as I felt when I first saw the Colosseum in the flesh, or first stood at the top of a mountain in Austria in the winter, or when my first child was born. A totally natural and memorable high!

Of course I took masses of photographs, too many to include here, but here are just a few. First, the Arch of Septimus Severius, a Libyan-born Roman Emperor. The Arch was built to celebrate his return home after spending time in Rome:

This next picture was originally thought to be a street sign, but later archeologists concluded that it was a sort of talisman to ward off evil spirits from nearby homes. It is a four-legged phallus chasing the evil eye:

which leads seamlessly to this next picture which shows the ten stages of gestation (number 1 being  conception). Each 'roundel' contains a different animal. The detail is astonishing:
 
And finally, the theatre. What a magnificent position! It was partially dug out of the hillside, and partially built up from there. Performances are still put on for local schoolchildren, and also for visiting cruise ships which moor nearby. Oh to be there when the next one arrives:

Here's an excellent website, with masses of links, which goes into more detail:

http://www.alnpete.co.uk/lepcis/

Leptis (or Lepcis) was one of the three cities which made up Tripolis - the others were Oea/Tarabulus (present-day Tripoli), and Sabratha, over to the west, and the site for one of my future excursions. They were not conquered by the Romans, more absorbed, and so the inhabitants were given full citizenship rights. This allowed the local customs and conventions to be retained more than elsewhere in the Empire, and trading partners continued operating after the annexation by Rome just as they had before. There are obvious influences from the original inhabitants, the Phoenicians (present-day Lebanon), the Romans, and the Greco-Egyptians in not only the architecture and building styles and decoration, but also in the inscriptions - there are many examples of Phoenician writing alongside Roman script. It was only towards the end of the Empire that conflict erupted, mainly as a result of in-fighting amongst the Romans.

Attacks by European Vandals and African Barbarians (from the word Berber) didn't help, although a Christian presence was established (evidenced by a massive cruciform full immersion baptismal font in a basilica) before the city was eventually abandoned after a massive earthquake. Sand covered it for over 500 years before the returning (as they saw it) Italians started excavations.

Visiting with a local enhanced the experience because we each saw things from different angles. On the way back to Tripoli we stopped off at a genuine Libyan restaurant (not Lebanese which is what many restaurants here seem to be), and I had my first fully Libyan meal. The Lonely Planet guide indicates that Libyan cuisine is nothing to write home about - well they're wrong! It was delicious. Cous cous, roast lamb, salad, spicy soup, peppers. Gorgeous.

Along the road - via a couple of road blocks to ensnare dodgy travellers I suppose - we passed stalls selling local produce - oranges, tangerines (of course), honey, olive oil - Libya used to be a huge producer and exporter of olive oil, but now it's mainly grown for local consumption; perhaps that will change now that sanctions have been lifted. My student told me it was all rather overpriced, so we didn't stop, but when we go off into the desert, I shall definitely be trying out some of the fruit of the land.

What a fantastic day.

I received a parcel from Louise at EBC today - it had been posted on 30th October last year, air mail! Louise: thank you so much for the very kind thoughts, and to everyone else who put comments in - it did bring a tear to my eye, I must confess, and it made me feel like a refugee or POW.

Not for long though - life's just too good to feel down for more than a couple of seconds. The sun's shining - outdoor lunch/team meeting in a tee shirt yesterday (Irene, are you reading this?) - teaching has restarted (thank goodness - I was suffering severe withdrawal symptoms), and my students are all buzzing and keen to get stuck back in.

The Internet is still not connected, and it may take a little more time yet. Service is not high up the list of 'Things I must Do' for LTT - reminds me of the phone service we had in the UK pre-BT: "You want it when? Don't make me laugh - it hurts."

The Head of the US State Department, Condoleeza Rice, was on al Jazeera yesterday saying that Libya was a good place to do business with, and she's coming to visit soon. Things are certainly looking up!

Now that the New Year is here, I've pulled my finger out, and found a company which can supply me with Internet access from home. It's not great (they call 256kbps high speed!), but it's better than walking round Tripoli trying to find a web cafe with a reasonable connection on any given day. I've also finally got round to building a web site for letting potential empolyers know what a great catch I am - it's www.coker.co.uk.

I forgot to mention that when I was in Rome after returning from Milan, I stayed in a hostel called Fawlty Towers (http://www.fawltytowers.org/) I knew my son James had stayed there a few years ago, so I thought I'd give it a try - and I'm glad I did - best value all holiday.

Now that I'm back in Tripoli, having flown in to a very wet city yesterday, I can sit back and reflect on my week in Italy. It didn't quite turn out as planned - it wasn't mild, it was much bigger than I thought (Milan is five hours from Rome by train - like London to Edinburgh), and it was rather more expensive than I'd anticipated, especially the food.

I did of course go to the Vatican, and went to see the popes' tombs this time around - one of them, Urban VI, reigned for over eighty years, which is quite an achievement:

and I also managed to see St Peter's tomb - if it really is him in there:

The Pieta is still in its usual place, as beautiful as ever - astonishing craftsmanship:

I seem to remember that Norwich City Council had a number of conker trees cut down because of health and safety fears should a conker fall and injure someone. Well, it's just as well they don't have Italian pine trees, because they would be apoplectic with worry then:

Milan was a bit of a disappointment - I only stayed one day in the end because it was so pricey - the Last Supper was 16 Euros which I thought a bit steep, and I've heard it's a bit tatty. I had a wander round the streets, looking in some very expensive shops, got thoroughly depressed, and went back to Rome for New Year's Eve. Had a delicious meal on my own, but chatted to other people in the restaurant - there seem to be a lot of Finns in Rome at this time of year - one chap said it was so they could enjoy a bit more daylight, but I'm not sure I'd choose Italy for that - Capetown, perhaps.

Next year, I'll make sure I'm somewhere with family and friends at this time of year - feeling sad and lonely is no way to spend Christmas! I'm glad to be back in Tripoli - it's almost like being at home again.