I'm back on-line at home again! It's not a megaspeed connection, since it's only GPRS, but it does mean that everywhere I go with my Mac and mobile in the Maghreb, I can be in contact with the outside world - even up in the mountains. It also means that if I ever trek off somewhere new, like overland to Jordan or Syria (only in the planning stages at the moment) I'll have maps and guidance at the touch of a keyboard. What fun!
Petrol has jumped in price here by 12% - it's now 7.5 pence per litre. It came as a bit of a shock when I filled the tank and it cost me over £2, I can tell you. I'm not letting it get me down though.
The interview has hit the newsstands - it wasn't on the front page, but it did cover almost half of page 6. Here's a pic:
I'm afraid I haven't got a translation, although I'm reliably informed that it accurately represents what was said. The other people featured are Salem (the Institute Director) and Aurelie (the other 'native' English speaking teacher - she's actually French, but you'd hardly be able to tell from her accent). If you want to read the rest of the paper, have a look at www.quryna.com. The caption on my photograph names me as John Cola - when asked my name I had said Coker as in Coca Cola, and they misunderstood! It should have been ﺟڡن کڡکا, not ﺟڡن کڡلا
I was getting a little concerned that my social life had gone into irretrievable decline. However, I needn't have been concerned - I've been invited out to lunch on Wednesday by a student, at his parents' home, and on Friday the class is taking me out to the Green Mountains and beyond. The bridge I saw last weekend was indeed Omar Mukhtar's; had I carried on another 50kms I'd have reached Cleopatra's bathing pool, so that's our target on Friday.
One quick aside: Gibraltar, as I'm sure any fule kno, was once ruled by the Arabs, at the same time as they were big in Spain. Gibraltar is actually a contraction of Jebel Tariq - the Mountain of Tariq. Bet you didn't know that!
