One Week Later After The Eid

WOW, this time last week we were anticipating the Eid . Look how fast time fly's. Eid has come and gone. It seemed to go on and on this year . I think it was confusing to some people because there were just 2 work days after the end of the Eid, before the weekend started here . I know many people took the entire week off to travel or visit family members that live out side of town. School started back up also , and here again , many of the kids didn't go, waiting until this coming Sunday to start .


Speaking of the Eid ... we had a funny episode here in the Condo .As I told you before, Moe, our son &Co. went visiting the relatives the 1st day . I had a few visitors the 1st day while I was alone . The second day we always have a certain set of friends and relatives that visit on this day. Sure enough they came around. It is always so nice to see people you like and never get to see much of during the rest of the year for one reason or another . Usually on the 3rd day of the Eid we don't have visitors since we have seen everyone by then , but this year was a little different .

Moe and I thinking no one would come over on the 3rd day , didn't bother to put on our Eid clothes , but rather , we sat around in our normal daily clothes, which for that day was old faded shorts and a old T shirt for Moe. I had on a short nightgown that could pass for a dress in the US but not here in Libya , if you know what I mean . They were not clothes we would normally wear around company but since we didn't anticipate having company , we didn't really care what we had on .So ..... there we were , all comfortable puttering around the Condo . Moe watching his sports and I on the computer sending countless joke emails out to my poor friends and relatives choking their mail boxes . The door bell rings .

I am wondering who can that be as Moe opens the door .His brother in law  came to visit . He is a lovely man and loves to laugh . SO , I served them the drinks and sweets and went back on the computer . They talk and laugh  for hours . Then another knock on the door . WOW ! Some one else ? Hum? Open the door to see one of our nieces with her 3 little girls .

I love it when she visits because her girls speak English and I can easily inter-act with them in my language . We had a lot of fun .She has a 2 year old that is a real sweety . She came and took a bite from every sweet on the tray , sampling them until she found the one she liked the best . As one does , you know .LOL !Then they left for home after a nice long visit.


The weather outside was awful that day and had caused me to develop a migraine headache by this time. So when I put the refreshment tray in the kitchen I wasn't thinking clearly due to my headache . I laid down hoping to get rid of the headache . Wrong !

Just as I began to relax the door bell rang again . This was so cool, all these people coming over . I answered the door to find another niece , her husband which I had never met before ( I am still in that nightgown remember since we are STILL thinking NO ONE IS COMING OVER, lol !),and her brand new baby.


They sit down . I went to get the tray . I served them the drinks with sweets that were still on the tray from the last visitor( the niece with the little girls) and they just drink the cokes , not touching the sweets . We had a great visit . The baby was so cute and her husband very nice . I am a little embarrassed because I am in my nightgown but figure HEY , it is too late he saw me already dressed this way so why change .

After a while , they leave too . I am wondering what this man thought about Moe and I dressed so casual when I notice the sweets on the tray that I served them .EACH ONE HAD 1 LITTLE TINY BITE TAKEN FROM THEM, from when our other nieces little girl had sampled them . I had forgotten to change the sweets on the tray after she left , because of my headache !OMG ! Now what that man must think about me ? Wearing a nightgown on the Eid in front of  a strange man , serving them sweets with bites taken from them , lol ! I am sure next Eid he won't be coming over , lol !I still laugh when ever I think about it . Welcome to the family !


The next day a group of my closet friends got together to have coffee and breakfast in the town to celebrate one of their birthdays .We sorta invaded the cafe in mass . Placed our orders and made them turn the TV down so we could talk . We really had a great time . We stay in touch with one another most of the time through phone calls or emails, but with our busy schedules , we very seldom get together all at the same time with each other .This was a real treat  to be able to sit down and visit face to face.


Yesterday I went to visit my friend and neighbor that just returned from her visit home in Amercia . She went home for several months , so we had a ton of gossip to catch up on .She brought back all kinds of goodies with her. She generously served them all up to me .I left her house stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey,  with a bag full of all kinds of things she had brought for my family and I .

Today I think Moe and I will go see one of his sisters that has her daughter staying with her. The niece just had a baby and I haven't seen her yet . All in all it has been pretty busy for us around here. A perfect Eid . Hope your week was just as nice . Blessings , OTE

The News In English

We aren't moving .... Yeah !!!! I didn't seriously think we would . We've only moved back and forth from the US to Libya , to the US , to Libya , to the US , back again for the final time to Libya in 1990 . I refuse to move trans Atlantic EVER again ! Really ! I mean it ! Enough with the packing all you own and love into two suitcases.


I told Moe years ago that when I die to just bury me in the family cemetery here because this is my home .The only thing I want .... lol , is ..... for them ( the family ) to serve the people sweets instead of the bread with the tea that is customary to serve during funerals here , since that is sooo boring. Don't you find you get a hankering for something sweet when you are upset ? I think this might be wishful thinking on my part here , the grief I mean. Oh , something else ... I want some rock and roll music played when they bury me .A couple of my favorites . Oh , I nearly forgot ... I want to be buried in clothing too , not naked ! All this is contrary to custom but it's my funeral ! AND I KNOW THIS ISN'T ISLAMIC , so don't throw stones at me , ok ? This is what I want , but I won't be there so , hey , who knows what they will do ? LOL !


THE WALL update ..... the guy that was building the wall on our land has quit . He says he is tired .The doors need to be installed still . I guess we will have to find some one else to finish it .


Then , week before last , our roll down shutter that covers the living room balcony door broke .A disaster !!!!! No sunlight in the living room . It is like sitting in a cave . I called the seranty ( that's what the shutter is called here )guy and told him my tale of woe . Asked him how soon could he come over to shed some light on our subject ,i.e. the living room . He said in a day or two . He would call . Now he is a pretty reliable man and does good work at a reasonable prices , so I said good see you soon , inshallah !God willing !!!

We waited .He came four days later . Oh well . He put the shutter up for us and said he would have to come back the next night . Ok . The next night he comes and says he can't repair this old worn out shutter . We need to replace it with a totally new one. OK, I mean , what else can we do , right ? Well , how much is that gonna cost ? Don't know he says . Well , we can't live with out one so , go ahead and get us one . He had by this time managed to roll down the thing , why I don't know , but he did , and it wouldn't go back up ! Sighing going on here , can you hear me ? He said he would have to leave it like that , down , until he could bring the new one to install .I said ok , what choice did we have ?

We waited a day or two and no word from the seranty guy .I got Moe to call him . I would have called but the guy is clearly uncomfortable talking to me , a woman , when a man is there instead . The conversation was interesting to listen in on, to say the least, since the phone was doing it's own thing with the creaking , buzzing , swooshing, and humming in the back ground while Moe , who was stressed out having to talk to the guy , was having his own troubles talking that day . He was shouting above the din on the phone , trying to get the right words out . The guy was trying to figure what Moe was talking about . Sad to say , I found this funny , well it was , and started to laugh! Poor Moe was trying to talk and glare at me all at the same time . I had to leave the room .

Long and short of that conversation was , he would come over to try to roll up the seranty . He was hopeful that he would have the new shutter that night to install and could just skip fighting with the old one. He didn't have the new one and couldn't get the old one up . More sitting in the dark . He came last night with the new one . Yeah !!!! BUT ..... as he ripped out the old one and shoved in the new shutter , he told Moe that this was good news / bad news . Good news , here is the new shutter .It is in the up position . The bad news ... it still needs a new part that he can't find BEFORE we can roll it down or up ! So , if you drive by a condo on the seaside with it's living room shutter open at night , it is probably mine .Work in progress .

Mabruke Al Mawluade

Tonight is the eve ( Mozum) of the Mawluade , which is tomorrow. Mawluade is the celebration of the Muslim prophet Mohammed's birthday . The orthodox Muslims don't celebrate this day as the Prophet Mohammed said they were not to celebrate any days but the two Eids and the Friday prayers .

But here in Libya most family's get together this night to have a special dinner. Then afterwards the little boy's carry a large lite candle to symbolize the light of Islam brought into the world with the Prophet Mohammed's birth , little girls carry a large candelabra shaped like a hand called The Hand of Fatima that has candles on the ends of the finger tips , after the Prophet Mohammed's daughter Fatima . The children usually will have firecrackers to set off after it gets dark to make a loud celebratory noise much like America's 4th of July . There might be singing and dancing too . Of course there will be sweet tea after wards served with many sweets to make it a true occasion!

Each family is in charge of their own fireworks and it can get pretty competitive to see who has the most , the loudest , and can set off more than the others all at the same time . Some years you would think it is a war going on outside !The days leading up to the Mawluade and for several weeks after the Mawluade you can still hear those things going off at odd times of the day or night . I don't like this part of the celebrations because I think it is way too dangerous for children to be playing with fireworks , but every year I would be out voted !

There is the fairly recent addition of the TREE . Sometimes you will find a tree , what Christians would think of as a Christmas tree , set up in a living room . A man will present one of these trees to his newly engaged fiancee along with a complete dress outfit , with jewelry too ! Lucky girl ! This tree will be artificial , but today when Moe and I were out shopping in one of the new mini malls that have started to sprouted up around Tripoli , I saw this real tree decorated as a Mawlaude Tree . As I was taking a picture of the tree to show you , a young man came up and wanted to pose with the tree in the picture . I told him I was posting it on my blog , because people here are so funny about having their pictures taken . He got so excited ! He began to run around everywhere shouting I am going to be on a blog !!! I wonder if he knew what a blog was .

Of course all of this is strictly not religiously acceptable . The time should be spent in prayer. The next day , the actual day of the Mawluade , it is business as usual , as everyone goes about their normal day . Some years the schools and the government offices are closed .

On the way home we drove by one of the main markets in town and I had forgotten by this time that this would be a big mistake , since this is one of the area's where fireworks , cheap toy's , drums, candles , and the tree's are sold . It took us an hour to drive one short block . I would have taken pictures but the traffic demanded my full attention ! Here is wishing all of you who celebrate, a very nice Mawluade .