Christmas Time in Indianapolis

Christmas in Fishers is great this year. Got to see lots of family members and close friends. I think I have been able to have some pork in one form or another each day of the week. Hard to believe that it is the end of 2010 already. I will be heading back to Libya on January 1st. Can't wait to figure out how to spend more time with Carol and the rest of the family. Now I just have to do some quick calculating to figure out how many vacation days I can put together for some quality time with family.
I will update the blog when I get back to Benghazi.....until then, I hope everyone has had a very Merry Christmas and I hope 2011 will be a great one too.

Back Home Again in Indiana

Just thought I would update everyone and let you know that I made it safe and sound to Indiana on Thursday, December 23rd. It was a long day but I made it without a hitch. I was up for nearly 32 hours from the time I woke up and went to work and then caught a flight from Benghazi to Tripoli. Then I stayed up all night in order to go to the airport for my flight to Rome. The flight from Rome to Chicago was a little over ten hours in the air. I will try to update my blog later, but for now I am having too much fun with family and friends. I hope you understand that the blog will be down for a bit until I catch my breath. I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and I hope that 2011 will be a great New Year for everyone.

God's Artistic Hands

Time for a moment of reflection again. Today the Mediterranean Sea was beautiful. The waves were coming into the shore and yet the wind was blowing from the land side out to the Sea. As the waves would crash on the shore the wind blowing over the waves would make the mist linger at the top of the curl and it looked like diamonds were flying into the sky. It is hard to describe and it is even harder to figure out how God can make such beautiful scenes like that everyday. Lots and lots of people are driving by and don't see the wonders of this fantastic world that we live in. I am so lucky that I got the chance today to see His marvelous handiwork. So while I am looking at diamonds in the Sea, everyone in Indiana is looking at white diamonds shimmering in the snow. Looks like a White Christmas this year. Can't wait......

Rainy Season

I love it when I get to extend my weekend beyond a one day weekend. Yes, we had a little wind storm again at the job site, so we got to leave the job site before the trailer lifted off the ground. The wind was really whipping up on the Sea and heading right into the hotel. Someone said the winds were hitting 50 MPH. It was strong enough to make the sand from the beach come over the four lane highway and land on our sidewalks in front of the hotel. You could see white caps all the way out to the horizon.  With that type of weather we do not have a very good internet connection which then plays havoc with getting drawings uploading to the folks at the Intercontinental Hotel Group. Even though the air temperature is about 55 degrees, a wind factor of 50 MPH makes things a little chilly.

The wind had calmed down in my neighborhood, so I thought I would walk to dinner. Had a great serving of spaghetti while I watched RAW WWE wrestling. Libyans seem to like that sort of entertainment. When I left the restaurant, it started to drizzle then the sky opened up and by the time I got home,  I was soaked.  Hopefully I will not catch a cold right before I fly out to Indy next week. I will keep my fingers crossed. 

Power to the People

I mentioned in my last blog that we have been having some power outages.  The power went out last night right after I ordered my pizza for dinner. I thought to myself, “well I wonder how long this is going to take just to get a pizza. “I could see into the kitchen from where I was sitting and I was pleasantly surprised to see a gas fired brick oven. So I got to eat my pizza in the dark. Actually by candlelight. The waiters went around and put candles on everyone’s table. Now mind you, the dining area that I was eating in is the men’s restaurant. The family restaurant is upstairs and men are not allowed up there unless you have your wife or girlfriend with you. So there I was  in the men’s dining area with romantic candle-lit tables. It just did not feel right for some reason……..

On the way home, I noticed that the elementary school near my house was having their school program. Can you imagine being in the middle of your first graders concert/program and the lights go out for about an hour.

I also discovered that when the power goes out, then the electronic strike on your exterior gate tends to not work with your key. I had to call my landlord and have him let me back into my apartment. He even gave me some candles and matches in case this power issue happens more often. I asked him if these power outages are common and his immediate response was “Welcome to Libya”. So I guess so.

So if it appears that my blogs are very short in length, it is not that I am tired of typing, it is so that I can get them completed before the power goes out. Maybe I should invest in an Amish generator.

More new experiences

Not a week goes by where I do not get to experience something new here in Libya. This week was no exception. Again, the Indiana DOT could learn a few things from the folks at the Benghazi road department.  It turns out that if the road crew needs to close down a section of the street in order to fill in a ditch they do the following. You put up barricades to block the street, then on each side of the intersection you pour a large pile of dirt along the sidewalk curb line so that cars can drive on the sidewalk in order to bypass the closed intersection.

You guessed it, Ali my driver took us up over the curb down the sidewalk and once we got passed the blocked intersection we went down the curb on the other side of the street. No need for traffic cops or any extra expense, after all how much can a little dirt cost.

I got the opportunity to go to a seminar today that dealt with making Libya more accessible to disabled residents. There were about 40 or 50 people that showed up for the session. The specific workshop that I attended dealt with “Accessible Tourism”. I thought that might be an appropriate one since I am working on the new hotel project. The information was good but the session lasted about twice as long as it should have since they would present part of it in Arabic and then had to repeat it in English. It was a long day……….

For some reason we are experiencing a number of power outages in the neighborhood today. Two one-hour sessions since 5:00 p.m. this evening. I had better get this blog posted before the next one hits. 

Upcoming seminar

At what temperature do mosquitoes stop flying around??  Evidently it is still warm enough for those pesky insects. I wish they would stop coming into my apartment. I thought I had all of the windows shut and even put a rug against the back door to block them out. Now I find that my exhaust fan to the bathroom has a direct opening to the outside. I will have to look into some way of blocking that passageway.

Another week is finished and just that much closer to the day that I fly off to Indy to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. I know I am counting down the days, so I am sure Carol is too.

Next week we have lots of high level meetings with our client. Then on Monday and Tuesday I get a chance to attend a seminar in Benghazi that deals with designing for Libyans with disabilities. Sort of an ADA seminar they are having here in town. Apparently President Gaddafi’s daughter is the chairperson for the organization that helps disabled people, single mom’s and low income residents. The seminar will be in Arabic, but they are going to have translators available for Americans that hang out in Benghazi. Should be an interesting event. I will give you an update next week.

Old Man Winter

December 8th and I had to break out my light jacket today. It was nearly 14 degrees C (57 F) here in sunny Benghazi. I have been able to wear my short sleeved golf shirts up until now and it is a good thing that Carol brought me a light fleece pullover for today. I will admit that I did not go overboard like one guy downtown today. He had on a quilted winter coat and a knit ski cap. That was a little much. If I stay in Benghazi too long, maybe I will think that 57 degrees deserves a snow suit too.
Things are moving along on the hotel project but at the rate we are completing things I do not think we will make the January deadline. Looks like June or July for a grand opening if you ask me. Keep your fingers crossed. My round-about way of getting to Indy for Christmas is as follows:
Benghazi to Tripoli on Wednesday the 22nd
Tripoli to Rome on the Thursday the 23rd
Rome to Chicago and Chicago to Indy....it will be a long day. I think I will sleep in a bit on the 24th.
I hope everyone has a fantastic Merry Christmas. Hope to be able to chat with a number of you during the Holidays. Don't worry, I will try to post up a few blogs before I fly out. Just got in the Christmas spirit this morning when I thought I saw my own breath.....bbrrrrrrrrrrr

Brotherly Love

I have noticed that different countries and different cultures are not so different. I was waiting the other day for my driver, so I was standing out in front my apartment. I noticed that a Libyan neighbor down the street has a couple of boys living there. The younger brother evidently said that he was going to ride in the front seat with his Dad. The other brother ran out of the house sooner and got in the front seat instead. You should have heard the little brother yell and scream and kick the car door. My Arabic is not too good yet, but I got the distinct feeling that he was telling his big brother off and saying it was not fair that he has to ride in the back when he called for the "co-pilot" seat earlier. Dad tried to calm him down, but he was not a happy camper to have to sit in the back seat. Hmmmm......reminds me when I had to sit in the back seat of our family car.......just teasing Craig.
My highlight of the weekend was when I went to the "WaterWorld" restaurant and saw three non-Libyan guests at one of the tables. When I heard English come out of all three guys, I thought I might have found some new friends. After awhile, I heard a strange sound in the way they were speaking.....every so often I would here, "eh". Sure enough, they were Canadians. Oh, well, that is pretty close to being an American.
They are working on some oil rig project in Libya. So I might meet up with them in the near future.

Internal promotion

I think that it is odd that time can go by so quickly when your eyes are closed for a split second and when they are open, time can almost stand still. My alarm went off this morning and I thought, "I will just lay here for a couple of minutes and then get up and get ready for work." When I woke up the clock had some how jumped forward by about 30 minutes. I thought it was impossible, my watch must be broken.....just my luck, I had to get ready quickly before the driver starts honking his horn and waking up the neighbors.
Speaking of honking horns. I asked one of my co-workers if there is any chapter in the Koran that deals with patience. He said, "Yes, we have a number of chapters that deal with patience." I said, "well I do not think that many Libyans have read those chapters, because the way they lay on the car horn after one second has passed at the stop light, indicates that they are not remembering what they read."

I got an internal promotion today. We have meetings every other day at 10 a.m. Our office boy brings in coffee for the meeting attendees about 10:30. Everyone gets a small cardboard cup of coffee or tea. Today I was promoted to a china cup and saucer for my coffee. Usually that level of service is only provided to the client and the project managers. In his eyes, I have moved up one more rung on the corporate ladder. That might be my early Christmas present. We will have to see if I maintain my new status level at the next meeting. I will keep you on the edge of your seats until Monday's blog.

American Football vs. World Football

Just got back from my favorite restaurant on my side of town. The place where the waiters would rather watch "WaterWorld" than give me my dinner check. I enjoy watching soccer (world football) but not every day of the week. The weekends are for football anything from high school on Friday, to college on Saturday and Pro ball on Sunday and Monday, but not every day of the week and on multiple channels.
Come on people, get a life. Tonight the entire broadcast was about Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup Games. For nearly an hour they showed the people of Qatar driving up and down the streets of Doha with flags waving and people standing and poking thru the sun roof on their limo. Is this going to go on for twelve more years......come on.....we are talking twelve years from now. It is exciting news but let's come down to reality. If I were a soccer player and I was fortunate enough to make it to the finals, I might want to reconsider. Doha is near Abu Dhabi and if the games are in the summer time, it will be pretty HOT to be playing soccer. Maybe the Qatar World Cup committee is going to have an open air-conditioned stadium. They have enough oil money to figure out how to do it..........Here is hoping that the hype will die down a bit so that I can get my dinner check in less than twenty minutes.

Time for reflection

Sorry I have not posted anything to the blog for the past few days. I am not sure if it is the jet lag or the difference in temperature between London and Benghazi, but I have really been tired this week. Maybe it is the fact that I had to work four days this week. I have only been working three days a week for the past few weeks. That extra day is a killer. Oh, well, at least I have Friday of this week to rest up.

I have been thinking about the past month or so and with Thanksgiving just passed, I have a lot to be thankful for. I have friends and family that are praying for me, I have a good job, I have been given opportunities to travel and see parts of the world that not many people get to see and I have a wonderful wife that keeps me sane when I hear her voice on the phone and when the internet is working I can see her face on Skype.

I am a lucky guy. A year ago, I was out of a job and now I am sitting on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea watching a new five star hotel go up with my help. Pretty cool…..

Thanks everyone for your support and I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

London - Chapter One

The trip from Benghazi to Tripoli was somewhat uneventful.  I am sure glad that my genius driver was handy. He had to lead me thru the airport process step by step because none of the signage is in English and very few of the announcements over the PA system are in English. I saw a couple of guys in front of me at the ticket counter going to Tripoli and they had the same colored boarding passes, so I did not let them out of my sight as we made our way to the plane.

When I got to Tripoli, my layover was going to be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.  I decided to take a trip into town and meet up with some of my fellow RWA collegues, at least check my email at the office vs. sitting around the airport and people watch. That was fun for a bit, but it would get a little old after six or seven hours. Took a cab into Tripoli and met some RW guys that I have talked to on the phone or emailed, but now I have a face with the name.

Got another cab back to the airport and off I went to London. My flight got me into Heathrow on Tuesday, so that way I could go meet Carol on Wednesday morning after she took the red-eye from Indy to Chicago to London.

My terrific little bed and breakfast that I found in Notting Hill turned out to be Nothing Hill. The room was so small that the door to the room actually bumped into the bed and the bed was pushed over to one side and was touching the other wall. The bathroom was so small I thought I was back in the airplane bathroom. The sink was so tiny that you have to be careful how you spit your toothpaste out or you will spit on your shoes. It was sad. I spent the first night there, but got up early the next morning and since the wifi did not work at the Nothing Hill, I went down the street to my favorite restaurant, McDonald’s and used their wifi. I found another bed and breakfast a few blocks from Nothing Hill and walked over and checked it out before I made a reservation there. Then it was time to go to the airport and meet up with Carol.

In another chapter I will talk about mass transit systems, but it is THE way to go to Heathrow. Carol’s flight was on time and we made it back to the hotel at Kensington Garden Square.

London - Chapter Two

I was lucky enough to get tickets to the annual Christmas event at the Royal Albert Hall. It is sponsored by The Salvation Army. This year is the Salvation Army’s 125^th anniversary. It started in the UK those many years ago. The program was terrific and the architecture inside and out of the Royal Albert Hall was breathtaking. My pictures do not do it justice. You will just have to come to London and see it for yourself. We had terrific box seats and the music and program were great. The weather in London was a little on the chilly side, so we took a cab over to the concert. From my maps it looked like we could just walk thru Kensington Park and we would be right there. Little did I realize that Kensington Park is almost the size of New York’s Central Park. It would have been quite a hike.

The jet lag caught up with us, so we did not hurry around too much on Thursday, besides it was Thanksgiving Day. We went to a English pub and had Cottage Pie and fish and chips, then we went to an old movie theater to see the new release of “Harry Potter.” The theater reminded me of when the Cirlcle Theater in Indy was a movie theater. Very ornate paneling and balconies to watch the movies.

Now about mass transportation. Indianapolis needs to get their act together and get some light rail systems going. The express train from London to Heathrow took 15 minutes to get out to the international terminal. The light rail lines are pretty much on schedule and thousands of people are using the system. It was very safe and very clean. Parts are very old, but still functioning well. We got a multi-day pass and we went everywhere.  Plus being underground, we did not have to worry too much about the outside temperatures.

London - Chapter Three

Friday was a gorgeous day. The sun was out and it was a little cool, but not nearly as much wind as on Thursday. We decided to take the Underground to the London Eye. The huge ferris wheel that was built for Y2K. It is right on the Thames and near lots of other stuff. We saw Big Ben and Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

The Eye has 32 gondolas that can hold up to 28 people. We were lucky and only about 12 or so were in our gondola. It takes about 30 to 45 minutes for the gondola to make one revolution. The views  are spectacular and since we had such a clear day, they said we could see about 20 miles away.  There is a clever four minute 4D video that you view before going on the Eye. I don’t want to ruin it for you, so you will have to see it for yourself. From the Eye it was interesting to see the old historic parts of London and all of the new contemporary architecture that the City has to offer.

Saturday was time for shopping and visiting St. Paul's Cathedral. It is quite something inside and it makes me want to see St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome now. The history of St. Paul’s during World War II and the previous cathedrals that were on that same site was quite fascinating.

Sir Christopher Wren was quite the architect of his time. He really knew how to make the interiors of the space make you feel that much closer to God.

Packed my bags again

Well I am off to London to see Carol and have a relaxing time in the UK. I noticed as I was flying out of the airport in Benghazi that the sand in and around my new temporary residence is very red in color. It made me think of the movie "Total Recall". The ground area is so red one might think they are on Mars. The flight to Tripoli went straight over the Mediterranean Sea. Only took a little more than an hour to get to Tripoli. I discovered that there was a flight to London at 8:30 a.m. I got in at 8:35.....so now I have to figure out a way to pass the time at the Tripoli airport until the 3:55 p.m. flight takes off. After an hour of people watching I decided to take a cab to the RW Armstrong office and hang out there. At least they will have a wifi where I can compose this blog segment.
People watching is fun......everyone is the same......little girls crying and Mommy can't do anything with her so she hands her over to Daddy and the tears go away. So we are all the same no matter what country we are from.....
I will try to add more blog postings this week if Carol will allow me to get the computer out of my briefcase. Cheers.........

Show Me the Money

Over the past few weeks I have decided that one currency for the entire world would be a good thing. In the past week I have gone from Libyan dinars to US dollars to Egyptian Pounds and back to dinars. This week I am going from dinars to British Pounds. Everyone of these transactions is costing me a transaction fee and who knows what else. When I flew to Egypt I had to show my transaction fee paperwork to the airport security guys, so that they can catch anyone that might be laundering money. When I went to the bank to get US dollars converted from dinars I was behind a guy in line that had bricks and bricks of money (dinars) that he was converting. I do not know what business that guy is in, and maybe I don't want to know what business he is in (if you know what I mean).
And why can't money all be the same size like good old US currency. Some of the 20 dinar bills that I have in my wallet are so wide they stick out the top of my wallet. The paper that some of this stuff is printed on is so flimsy that it tears very easily. So whatever paper mill the US uses is the stuff to have.
So I have decided that with all of the billions and billions of dollars that are being printed at our mints in the US these days, we might as well work out a deal with the rest of the world and go with US dollars everywhere. Then we don't have to convert 1 British Pound into $1.44 or 5.60 Egyptian Pounds into $1. I have a headache trying to keep track of how much I am spending. Thank goodness for a currency converter on my iPhone.

Cairo - Chapter One

I have so much to say about my mini-vacation to Cairo that I thought I would break it into multiple blog chapters. So don’t miss out on any of the info.

Traveling to Cairo was very easy on Monday. One of the guys from the hotel project was going to Cairo to visit some of his family. So he took me to the airport and helped me thru customs. It was nice to have my own translator as my left-hand man. The flight to Cairo was smooth and on schedule. The Cairo airport is very nice and modern. The hotel had a driver waiting for me and he happened to be standing right at the end of the passport line that I was standing in. What are the chances of that?? The driver could speak very good English and he gave me a tour of Cairo on the way to the airport. It was about an hour ride so we went by the President’s residence and took a bridge over the Nile. Interesting view from the bridge, there is an island in the middle of the Nile and a Christian church and a mosque sit side by side on the island.

I picked the Le Meridien Hotel because of its proximity to the Pyramids. The staff were very friendly and helpful. My room reminded me of the Sheraton in Abu Dhabi. The bathroom is a huge shower. The shower has one of those Kohler rainfall shower heads. I might have to remodel our bathroom at home to get one of those. It was great. The walls and floors are all marble.

I had dinner sitting on the pool deck and watched the sun go down and watched the Pyramids fade away in the dusk light.

Cairo - Chapter Two

My Pyramid tour started early on Tuesday morning. When I emailed the folks at the Le Meridien I told them that I would like to go on a tour, they said “no problem”. That is a favorite expression in Libya and Egypt. Usually when I hear it, I am a little leary, because it usually means there is going to be a “big problem”. To my surprise it was a great tour. I thought it was going to be me and a group of tourists on the tour. When my tour guide arrived at 9:00 a.m. I asked her how many people are going to be in the group. She said “you are the only one”. I was shocked, I had a private tour guide for a six hour tour of the Pyramids, the Sphinx, a visit to Memphis and to Saqqara. So I had a driver and the tour guide and me in a brand new Jaguar Xtype car. I am really spoiled on this mini-vacation. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about all of the sights and knew where to take good pictures. I hope you enjoy some of the images that I have uploaded.

You will notice a photo that I had to take near the Sphinx. It shows that capitalism is alive and well in Cairo. Pizza Hut and KFC have a restaurant located at one of the gates when you leave the Sphinx area.

At Saqqara I saw a movie about Imhotep, the genius architect that came up with the design of the stepped pyramid at Saqqara. This was around 2000 B.C. about 1000 years before the Great Pyramids were built in Giza near the Le Meridien Hotel.

During the various dynasties of Egypt, Memphis was the capitol. It is located on the West bank of the Nile. The Nile Valley is a very green lush area especially this time of year. So the contrast of the desert plateau where the Pyramids are located and the green lush Nile Valley was very interesting. 

Cairo - Chapter Three

Now that I have seen the Pyramids and actually have gone inside a few of them, I cannot figure out how they accomplished such a feat. I know they talk about ramps and log rollers, but the size of these stones is nothing to sneeze at. One of the pyramids had a black stone crypt placed inside the internal gallery. The local guide said that the black stone was one solid piece of black granite that weighed 6 tons. So just the idea of getting that big stone block into the pyramid was probably a marvel in project planning. These designers and planners could teach us a lot about project management. One of the things that my tour guide informed me was that the workers on the pyramids took place during the flooding times of the Nile River. The flooding usually takes place during Summer and early Fall. The water level helped them get some of the workers and the materials to the site. That is one of the reasons that the Great Pyramid in Giza took 20 years to build.

Cairo - Chapter Four

The Le Meridien Pyramids has a pretty good wifi, the trouble is, it is only available from a few places in the hotel.  One wifi location is the lobby and the other is the business center. If you use the business center it costs $5 for a half hour. So I opted to sit in the lobby and chat online.  I am using my headphones/microphone to chat with Carol, so if you did not know better, you might think that I was taking an online traffic controller course. The strange thing that happens every time I set up my system in the lobby is that I am invaded by tour groups. Not just any tour group, but Japanese tour groups. Each day I setup my system and before I know it, 12 to 20 Japanese tourists gather around me to wait for instructions to register at the hotel. It is like my Macbook has a magnet in it.  They are very polite and don’t make any noise while I am online, but it is strange that two days in a row I would have this sort of thing happen.

A little bit about the hotel room itself. Very nicely appointed room, lots of dark wood trim and the Le Meridien has “heavenly beds” like the Westin chain. I did not have any problems sleeping on these beds. The bathroom was huge and the shower was fabulous. It had a Kohler rain shower heads in the ceiling. I think I might have to get one of those if I ever get around to remodeling our Indy bathroom. 

Cairo - Chapter Five

Last day in Cairo and it was full of interesting stuff. I had a chance to check emails before my driver came to the hotel. He was suppose to arrive at 12:30 but he got there about 11 and said he was suppose to take me to see the Papyrus Museum on Tuesday. There is no charge for the museum so we could make the trip on the way to the airport. So I had an interesting one on one session with a guy that showed me the process of how the ancient Egyptian made paper out of the papyrus reeds. Pretty cool process. These Egyptians were pretty smart cookies back in the day. So then the sales pitch started and they would not let me leave the museum without purchasing a design. OK, I gave in. The the real drama started on the way to the airport. My driver gets a call on his cellphone and then he starts to cry. He says his father is being taken to the hospital and that he will have to go there after he drops me off at the airport. I asked “has he been sick”, evidently something out of the blue happened. He says his Dad will need money up front for the hospital to take care of him. I asked if he had insurance and he said “no insurance”. The driver named Mario, says that he will call his Mom who lives in Canada and see if she will wire him some money. She supposedly hung up on him. Mario in the mean time is wiping tears from his eyes with a Kleenex box in the front seat. I had cashed most of my Egyptian money back into US dollars at the hotel to get ready for my trip to London. So I did not have many Egyptian pounds left. He dropped me off at the terminal and said “Oh by the way, I need 75 pounds to pay for the toll gate to get out of the airport.” I said, “the guy that picked me up on Monday did not ask for money to get out of the toll”.  So I gave him 50 pounds and said “you will have to get the rest some place else”. Got my stuff and went into the terminal. Turns out he dropped me off at the wrong terminal. So at least there was a free shuttle bus to get me to the right place.

Now the best part of this story is the International Terminal is now my favorite place in Cairo. Not only did it have a Starbucks but right next to it was a McDonalds. Yes it was Big Mac time for Tony. After I ordered a No. One, I started wondering, do you suppose the burger will taste strange like the burgers in Benghazi……let me tell you it was two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickle on a sesame seed bun just like in Fishers. What a way to finish my experience in Cairo.

Packing up

Just thought I would post a new blog before I head off to Cairo for a mini-vacation. Some of you probably thought my time so far sitting on the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea has been one big long vacation.....wrong. I will be in Cairo for four days. This is Eid al Afar...Festival of Sacrifice. So the job site is going to be shutdown for four days. Most of the businesses will be closed for the week too. So I am off to Cairo to check out the sights. I got lucky enough to get a hotel within walking distance of the Great Pyramids. I plan to take lots of pictures to share with you later in the week.
I am not sure what sort of internet connection I will have at the hotel, so bear with me for the next blog posting.
On another note.....two interesting sights this morning. First I noticed that my neighbor across the street was out cleaning the red dust off his front porch. He is from Ghana. There must be a strange fashion sense in Ghana, because he had on flip flops, white/grey/red plaid shorts and a bright yellow and blue wide striped shirt. Either he was wanting to make a fashion statement or all of his other clothes are in the wash. I will try to take notice in the future and see if he is trying to set a new trend for Libya.
The other interesting sight this morning was a worm snake hiding under my desk. At first I thought it was a little worm (since we have had all this rain lately), but when I put my foot near it, the little guy slithered across the room like a side-winder snake would. Very interesting creature. I quickly jumped on the internet to see if worm snakes are poisonous or not.......whew....they are not.
I will keep you posted if I see any scorpions on the job site. Until the next time, I will blog from Cairo.

Fooling with Mother Nature

Sometimes I am amazed at the wonderful inventions that so many people have developed over the years. The light bulb, the TV, satellite television and the internet. None of these things compare to God’s ability to wipe them all out with a storm. Yes, my TV is out, my internet/wifi is out all because of a rain and wind storm that is going thru town. Things had better get back to normal soon, so that I can chat with Carol before she runs off to school. Of all days, here it is my day off and I have signed myself up for an AIA continuing education online class to get some more CEUs for my AIA and state license requirement.

Maybe God is saying, “Tony go take a nap and I will get things back to normal soon.”

So if I get this blog posted sometime today, then you will know that God came thru for me.

BTW…..some of you know this, but others may not. Next week the job site will be shut down for five days. This year the Eid al Adha celebration will take place. No businesses will be open. So I have decided to check out Cairo, Egypt for a few days. I fly over on Monday and come back late Thursday. That will give me Friday to rest up. I have scheduled an all day tour of the Pyramids and the Sphinx on Tuesday. Don’t worry I will post comments and photos on the blog by Friday of next week. I am excited about seeing all of the great stuff there. My hotel is suppose to be within walking distance of the Giza Pyramids.

Bachelor party

Another new experience today.....a brother of our electrical engineer at our office is getting married soon. So our engineer invited me to go to lunch with him, along with my boss and another guy. He did not say it was a bachelor party luncheon. Now mind you, there is no drinking in Libya and women are covered up so what does one expect to see at a Libyan bachelor party? FOOD of course and lots of guys sitting around in this huge catering hall. There must have been 200 guys at this place. They were all having a great time and we had a sit down luncheon.
We had roasted lamb and cashew rice and fruit juice and a potato pancake that was stuffed with a thin layer of hamburger. We had our after dinner coffee and it was back to work we went.
I was stuffed and ready for a nap when I got back to the job site.
I felt bad for being a wedding crasher, but as they say in Libya, "No Problem...."

Genius Driver

One of the perks that I have in Libya is that I have my own chauffeur that takes me to work each morning and takes me home. He is the one that found my great apartment for me. His name is Ali. He is a genius behind the wheel. I mentioned before how most of the people in Benghazi are a little crazy when it comes to merging into lanes here and there, well, Ali knows their every move and some how our car does not have a scratch on it.

He has been picking me up at my apartment for over three weeks now. I have always wondered why he stays about two car lengths back from the intersection at the traffic light. Today I found out why......he knew that at that time of day a school bus comes around the corner and needs extra room so we were able to give them just the right amount of turning space. He knows where every bumpy expansion joint is on the bridges and knows where to go to get the least amount of bump on the speed bumps.

I will put my driver up against anyone in the city.
BTW.....I have another food story for you..........I stopped into one of my local restaurants to get a pizza the other day. I noticed that they have a number of types of sandwiches listed.....
one was called "Mixy Cana".....I might have to order that one to see what it is....I am guessing that they take a number of canned vegetables and mix them together and put it in a pita pocket. Or it could be their way of creating a Mexican dish that Don Pablo's might start offering in the USA.

Too much TV

I had a rather quiet evening Friday. Went to the grocery got a few things and then picked up my dry cleaning and then headed over to one of the nicer restaurants on this side of town. Had chicken fettucini alfredo. Not bad, but I think someone got the cheese containers mixed up, so instead of mozzarella cheese it tasted like a very mild cheddar.

It was not bad, but it was like cheese and macaroni with chunks of chicken in it.

In Arab countries you have to ask for the check, because they think it is rude to bother you and appear that they are rushing you to leave the restaurant. I could have left about 15 minutes earlier than I did but the entire waiter staff was glued to the TV in the restaurant. It is like they have never seen “WaterWorld” before. I waved my hands a number of times, before a different waiter had to motion to my waiter that I needed the

check.

American movies have a big audience in Libya. This particular channel plays nothing but movies all day long. I saw Mission Impossible and Pirates of the Caribbean just recently.

Still cannot find a resource to get some good old fashioned NFL football yet. I will let you know what I get worked out.

New sounds in the house

Friday is here and some free time to add another blog to the collection. Today I was able to sleep in a little longer than usual. I stayed up late last night to chat with Carol. When Indiana changes there clocks then I will be seven hours different. I might have to learn to live on five hours sleep soon. So I enjoyed my extra shut-eye this morning.
Usually I hear the morning chant of the local mosque.....today it was different. I was awakened by my twelve year old neighbor practicing the tuba. I can tell you from past experience, that he is a very early beginner. I am thankful that he did not start his lessons at 8 a.m.
Today is the Holy Day around here. So nothing is open until after 4 p.m. This gives me time to check my Facebook and LinkedIN connections.
I had dinner last night with my new American friends across the street. They invited me over to meet the head of the Anglican Church of Tripoli. He is performing memorial services in a number of places in Libya to remember the fallen soldiers during World War II. Northern Africa was the sight for a number of major battles. In fact someone told me that most of Benghazi was wiped out from the bombings during WWII.
So most of the buildings in town have only been around since the war was over.
My neighbors gave me a care package of leftovers and chocolate brownies on the way home.
They really made my weekend......talk to you soon.

INDOT should listen up

It appears that the white line on the roads in Libya just means that someone has a job to paint them on the street. It does not mean stay in your lane. Maybe this is the way INDOT could save money and just educate people that they can get three or four cars side by side on a two lane highway. After all they get three cars in a row side by side on the 500 track.

I have also been thinking about setting up a franchise for Church Brothers over here. The amount of damaged sheet metal on nearly every car around here would make me a very wealthy man.

Speaking of wealth......it looks like nearly all of the stores in Benghazi are dollar stores.

I do not know how many things I have bought while here that every item is usually one dinar. My shirts at the laundry were one dinar each to clean and press. My jeans were one dinar. You can actually get two Cokes for one dinar. Libya is pretty much an all cash society. Very few places take credit cards. Maybe that is a good thing in the long run.

I see the elections are over now in the USA.....maybe things will pick up in the architectural design world. Maybe everyone was waiting to see how the elections panned out. Just have to wait and see what happens now........

Neck and neck

I just had to share this with you....this morning I had a few extra minutes to eat my cereal and watch the news a little bit before heading off to work. I was flipping thru the channels and saw a channel called Dubai Racing. I thought, great, maybe they will have some car racing that I can catch up on......no, it was camel racing.

They have an oval track and about 30 camels lined up behind a screen. They have robot jockeys sitting on the back section of the camel. The owner of the camel is sitting in his Mercedes four wheel drive waiting for the start of the race. As soon as the camels take off the owners drive their cars around the track on the outside of the camel track. It is a dirt track. The cars are equipped with radio controlled devices to tell the jockey when to strike the hind quarter of the camel. These camels are flying down the track the owners are swerving their cars around on the other track and the little robot is flipping a little whip up and down on the camel.

It was quite the sight. When a camel wins in a neck and neck race it has a whole new meaning.

Social Butterfly

It has been awhile since I last added a new chapter to my blog. I have been quite the social butterfly this week. I got to meet two of the Intercontinental upper management guys that will be working on our project. One was from the Intercontinental in Tripoli and the other was a regional director from Dubai. They both had some interesting ideas on how to make our Benghazi hotel a deluxe hotel.

Then on Friday I had dinner with one of the fellow ex-pat bloggers that I have been chatting with for the past couple of weeks. Turns out he is an American that is going to medical school in Libya. His father is Libyan and so his medical school tuition is free for children of Libyans. He plans to finish up school here and then go back to the USA to take his medical exams and be a surgeon in the US.

I mentioned that my apartment is so large that I will probably need a maid. Well I hired one on Saturday. She is going to come in once a week and take care of the place.

Turns out she is the maid for my American neighbors across the street. One of the first things she asked me during my interview with her was “Are you a Christian....”. I said YES and she informed me that my American neighbors are also and that they have a Bible study on Sunday evenings.

After she left I got a phone call from Alex my American neighbor inviting me to Bible study on Sunday night. So I just got back from the Bible study and decided to send out this blog to let you know how things went. Had a great time....met some more Americans and my new neighbors are very nice. They have lived in Benghazi for about two years. It will be nice to have some new folks to possibly hang out with. We are scheduled to have another Bible study next Sunday night.

Who would have thought that God would find a Christian maid for me and new Christian neighbor right across the street. HE is an Awesome God.

I will let you know what HE does for me this week..........talk to you soon.

English Tutor

Just to let everyone know.....the sand storm only lasted the one day. There was a fine reddish dust over everything the next day. God cleaned up the mess the best way He knows how....we had a good rain storm today to wash everything off.
I think another reason that I was given this job as assistant project manager for the Benghazi five star hotel was my mastery of the English language....yeah right. All of the documentation for the hotel project is to be in English. So another task that I have to do each day is review all of the daily, weekly and monthly reports, check all of the meeting minutes for our vast array of meetings that we have and review memos that go to the client and the general contractor.
Sometimes the phonetic spelling of my co-workers as they put together their draft copy for my review is quite amusing. For example we wanted to talk about the new concrete curb. They put "kerb". Technically they are right, since that is the British English spelling. They have a little trouble when to use "is" and "was". I noticed today that the taxi cabs have a sign on the top of their car "TAKSI". Today on the menu it had "milk sheik"....
So I guess I should have paid more attention in English class. You never know when other subjects from high school and college will pop up and be necessary (did I spell that right?? N.E.C.E.S.S.A.R.Y)

Oh, Mr. Sandman

Well we had a first for me at the job site today. We had a snow day at the job site.

Not really a snow day, more like a sandstorm day. The wind really started picking up today about 9 or 9:30.....pieces of sheet metal were flying around here and there and the metal fence near the job trailer was banging and clanging. The general contractor told all of the stone masons to stay off of the scaffolding so there would not be any accidents. By 12:30 the very fine sand was still blowing harder and thicker.

We shut the job site down about 1:00. On the drive home you could not see the Mediterranean Sea from the hotel it was that foggy/sandy. It was sort of like the movie, “The Fog” as we were driving past the harbor.

Good thing I had gone to the grocery store yesterday to pick up some butter and bread and some more canned drinks. One of the guys at the office said that October is known for sandstorms and sometimes they can last two or three days. Glad my internet and satellite dish are working in case I get sanded in.

I will let you know how long I am stuck in the apartment.

First Friday

Well today was my first Friday (my only day off) at the new apartment. Got to sleep in until 10 a.m. None of the businesses are open until around 4:00 p.m. because of the Holy Day. So it was a relaxing day until I started hearing the chant of the local mosque. I probably should have checked that out before I rented the apartment. You need to know where the local mosque is in case you are in direct line with the mosque speaker system.

I had a late breakfast and I will inform you that boxed milk is not too bad. One cannot compare it to good old fashioned, ice cold, Marsh 2% the kind you have with a slice of French Silk pie from Perkins......yummmmmm.....but it made my sugar Smacks taste pretty good.

I spent the morning putting a little sketch together of my apartment. I do not have Autocad on my Mac, but my Sketchup software did OK in a pinch. I knew my apartment is large, but when I did a quick calculation of the rough dimensions, we are talking a little over 1600 square feet for one person. I need a maid.......

Speaking of maids, my landlord’s wife is going to look into having someone take care of the place once a week. I think the going rate is about $35 a day for maid service.

Now I just need to find a laundry service close by and I will be all set.

The satellite TV is my next project. I currently get 705 channels. 28 of those are in English, of those 28 we have 10 news channels, 6 Christian channels like 700 Club, one old US movie channels, and 10 QVC channels, one tennis station. Glad I brought some DVDs from home. I am looking into another satellite system for the roof. If I buy Showtime, it is $50 a month, if I get a different satellite dish, it is $150 total cost. I will do some more research on this other satellite deal.

Thanks for checking out my blog and sending comments......enjoy your two day weekend.

The Cable Guy

It is good to have a landlord right downstairs. I got a call around 9:00 p.m. and my landlord wanted to know if it was OK to bring the satellite dish guy to the apartment.

I said “sure, what day would he like to come,” he said “no, he is with me now”. So sure enough my landlord and the cable guy popped in and within about a half hour had me up and running. About 500 channels and about 12 of them are in English. No ESPN or movie channels, I am looking into that this week. While the cable guy was fixing stuff, I asked my landlord where I could get a microwave. “Don’t buy one” he said, “I will give you mine...we never use it”. So sure enough he calls me and tells me to come and get it from his apartment.

So I am all set. TV is almost ready and now I can microwave popcorn when I find some movie channels in English. I watched the Wild Wild West with Will Smith in French. It did not have the same rough tough cowboy feel in French.

I noticed today that having worked a six day work week and only getting Fridays off for the past month, my mind is playing tricks on me. We have meetings every other day with the owner and contractor, and today it felt like I was in the movie “Groundhog Day.” We have the same meetings and the same people at the meetings, it is like I just did this yesterday. Let me know if my blogs are the same as the previous posting. I will try not to do that.

Marsh and Kroger take a lesson

Today I thought I would take a little tour of the neighborhood, it was about 5:30 p.m.. Maybe walk over to one of the local restaurants and get a bite to eat then go by the grocery on the way home. Found out that Libyan folks like to eat late. So the menu at the restaurant was somewhat limited at this time of day. Anything grilled or BBQ was all that was available. The full menu is not available until 7 p.m. So I went with a grilled steak.....they do not ask you how you want it done, it will be well done let me tell you.... They have great lentil soup at this place. I will take you there when you come visit.

After dinner the local grocery is across the street. You have to be careful crossing the street, cars are coming at you every which way.

Got to the grocery, the push carts are pretty small.....I kept looking for a larger one. I figured out why the carts are so small. The aisles in the store are so narrow, a regular sized cart would not fit. It is like the hardware store at 62nd and Keystone, jammed packed full of stuff.

I got some canned fruit (thank you Del Monte), the milk is in a box and not refrigerated. I will let you know how that all works and tastes later in the week. Did you know that you can find toilet paper and paper towels in the same aisle as canned fruit? Maybe it is some sort of Libyan Dewey Decimal system. I had to just get a few things, because I did

not want to have to carry too much stuff back to the apartment and besides it starts to get dark around 6:30. One thing that Libyan sack boys do for you....they unload your cart for you at the check out stand. Kind of a nice service.....listen up Kroger and Marsh.

I never really looked at it this way, but many essential items start with the letter T.

Toilet paper and Towels (I got a couple of sets of towels today also) it is tough to take a shower and try to air dry.....trust me it does not work.

So my new routine is to get a little exercise by walking a few blocks, check out some more local restaurants and get groceries on the way home.

I found a barber shop tonight too.....might have to get a haircut soon.

I will let you know how boxed milk tastes in the next installment.

Good-bye City Life

As they said on “Green Acres”, “good-bye city life”, “give me some of that country air”.

I will be moving out to the suburbs on Friday afternoon. It is my day off, so it is a good time to get settled into my new crib. I have added some new photos of the new place.

The hotel was clean and comfortable and I was just getting the restaurant staff broken in to know what I wanted to order as soon as I walked into the cafe. I have been spoiled. Now I will have to start cooking for myself. Either that or I need to find some good restaurants close to the apartment and start breaking them in.

I was leery about going to an apartment. I heard they were all expensive and I did not know what they would be like inside. After seeing the buildings around the hotel project, they are not in very good shape. Rumor has it that shortly after the hotel is completed, the entire surrounding area of the hotel is going to be redeveloped. There is even talk of shutting down two lanes of the street in front of the hotel, in order to make a new beach boardwalk. We will have to wait and see about all of that.

Benghazi is not a very large city in land area. Maybe close to one million people, but you can get to the far reaches of the city by car within 15 to 20 minutes. From the new map that I downloaded you will see that the city has a number of highway loops to help get traffic into the downtown area. 

My new apartment is not quite at the outer most edge. The buildings are newer and kept up nicer. I was very lucky to find such a great place. It is a two bedroom unit on the second floor of one large villa. The landlord lives downstairs and another family lives in the other second floor apartment. With two bedrooms I will have room for any of my followers that are planning to visit Libya for their vacations. I have a living room, dining room, family room and huge bathroom. The kitchen is large enough to have a small dinette table. The TV has a satellite dish, so maybe I will be able to get ESPN....and see the Colts. I have to carry three keys around to get into the apartment. One for the main gate that opens to a marble courtyard, then another for the main door to the building and then the last key for my own apartment. I think the new place will get the Carol (Seal of Approval) when she comes to visit later in the school year.

My landlord and his wife both speak English. They lived in Florida for about five years.

They said that another American couple live across the street, so I after I get settled in, I will have to bake some cookies (yeah, right) and take them over to introduce myself.

I will try to do a better job at updating my blog. Some of my followers recently commented on my lack of updated material. Thanks for your support and I will keep you as current as I can. BTW....I have my own wifi system. It seems to work great so I should be able to MagicJack or Skype anytime I want.

Talk to you soon...........

Chinese Water Torture

So how many people remember the song “Killing Me Softly with his Song”???.........How many people have heard pan flute music??? Well can you imagine every morning while you are eating breakfast at the hotel, you hear all of the old songs done with a pan flute. The songs are, “Killing me softly”, “Godfather Theme Song”, “Love Story”, etc. They go on and on, over and over. The tape system or whatever they use in the hotel restaurant must be a continuous tape. I can tell when I need to be finishing up my breakfast so that I do not miss my driver, because the “Godfather Theme” is playing.

I thought this morning the machine was broken and the restaurant was quiet, so I started playing my music on my iPhone to break up the monotony. Then someone in the back room realized that the tape was not playing so the theme song of “Titanic” started up. One can only take so much pan flute music. It is an acquired taste and I do not think I have it yet and I do not plan to appreciate it in the very near future.

Just had to get that off my chest. It reminded me of when I was in college and my roommate played the theme song of “Shaft” over and over again. I exploded one day and it was not a pretty sight.

So I guess I had better start looking for my apartment soon, or heads will roll at the hotel and I do not want to start an incident. The music truly is “Killing Me Softly”.

Keeping Busy

Sorry that I have not been keeping my blog up to date. My boss was in meetings all of this week in Dubai. We now have an official operator of the Benghazi Hotel. It will be the newest InterContinental Hotel (IHG) in Libya. From what I understand we might have to change a number of things in our current construction in order to meet the IHG standards. The folks at IHG also want the deadline for the hotel to be the end of April 2011. So the pressure is on to get it done on time.

Since my boss was out of town, I had to run the weekly design and progress meetings. So in preparation for these meetings, I did not have time to blog. I hate it when work gets in the way of play.......

I think I will share with you some thoughts on daily creature comforts that we have in Libya. Or maybe I should say some of the food and drink issues. 

Coffee:  I have mentioned before that Nescafe is the standard coffee of choice. I am starting to adjust to it, although I did have to tell our job site coffee person that I like mine black. Before he was loading it up with sugar and cream.

Tea:  This beverage is very popular. You can either order it as green tea or red tea. The green tea is your normal very light tea. The red tea is actually Lipton tea with a red label. It is a little darker and stronger.....that is my preference.

Coke:  Thank goodness for the people in Atlanta. They got the word out to Libya and you can get a regular can of Coca Cola just about any place. I must be ordering a Coke at each meal because now the waiters at the hotel restaurant automatically bring me a Coke and pour it before I even finish the rest of my order.

Hamburgers:  The cheese burgers here are pretty good. Not too thick so you don’t have to worry about being done or not, but the amazing part of their burgers are the buns. The bread in Libya is great and they use large buns for their burgers.

French fries:  So far every french fry seems to be coming from the same fryer. They are not soggy and wimpy, perfectly golden brown. They do not have very long fries, but that is fine with me, so long as they are golden brown.

Well I had better end this blog.....I am getting hungry.  

WiThis WiThat WiMAX

Technology is still an issue for me this week. I tried to call Carol and the wifi at the hotel was so bad, that I only got every other word. I have been doing some investigating into the situation and have discovered that a device called WiMAX is the solution. Well sort of. The government controls the internet access so you have to buy a WiMax unit from the government run company. Sort of like having Comcast as the only provider. There are two flavors of WiMax units, one is a USB device ($120) that plugs into your computer, the other is a larger unit ($260) like a router. It plugs into the wall and then the whole apartment can have wifi. We have one of the routers at our job trailer and 20 people use that one unit. The speed is OK, but you are sharing the bandwidth with the rest of the office.

So the IT guy from our office took me in to town to get the USB version. Well the price is right, but it does not work on a Mac. Evidently they have software built into the unit that only works with PC’s. So I was able to convince the RWA office in Tripoli that since I will be getting my own apartment by the end of the month, that it would be great if I could get a router. I know it works with the Mac, since that is how I am getting access to the internet at the job trailer. I got an email from our IT guy in Tripoli and he said that all I have to do is fill out some forms with RWA and they will get one setup for me. So maybe in a week or so, I will be up and running with my own wifi system.

The way people pay for their internet access is you buy credit cards. You rub off the back of the card and type in the code number at the website and then it add more time on to your wifi. They use a similar system to add time on your cellphone. The credit cards are $30 a month for 15Gb of download material. I have been told by the IT at our job site that 15Gb is plenty per month. They don’t know Carol and I.....we like to Skype a long time.....we will see how it goes and I will update you on this effort.

Creature comforts

Technology has its ups and downs. It appears that the internet can only go where the money is......again, I have been spoiled by my instant internet connection in Indy. I put my notebook computer on my lap and it finds my home wi-fi and I can communicate with the rest of the World. The World Wide Web is not so WIDE. Today I was so frustrated trying to call my wife using my MagicJack. I was ready to pull my hair out and I do not have that much left. Our conversations were broken up and we would get every third word or no complete words at all. I thought it was the wi-fi at the hotel, but today, I called her from the job trailer and it was not much better.

I might have to resort to email for future conversations, but that is NOT my first choice.

We had some banking issues to resolve today and I could tell that Carol was getting frustrated on the phone too.........

On a less serious note.......I have been doing better getting my stomach adjusted to the food around here. Finally got my eggs this morning , just like I like them and this evening I tried a Benghazi burger. It was not too bad, maybe a quarter pounder on a huge sesame seed bun. The french fries around here are not too bad either. There are no USA food chain restaurants around here. When one of the guys at the job trailer said he was going to get some sandwiches, I asked if he could bring back a Whopper......he speaks English and has lived in the USA for awhile.....he started laughing and said, “I don’t think so, not around here.” The carbonated drinks around here are: Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and Pepsi. So some of the comforts of home are available. Coffee in most places is Nescafe, an instant coffee. They seem to have a lock on all the coffee in most restaurants. We have a coffee person that has my Nescafe ready for me each morning by the time I get my computer logged in.

When it comes to TV shows, we have four soccer matches a day. Today was a cricket match for a change of pace. Two Arabic soap operas, a german news channel, a French movie station with American movies. It is strange to watch Sylvester Stallone yelling at someone with Arabic sub-titles and a French voice being dubbed in. Sort of makes the tough Rambo a sissy........if I do say so myself.

No meetings scheduled at the job trailer tomorrow, but I need to prepare for my first design coordination meeting on Monday morning. A number of things need to be worked out before we get too far along on the project.

I have been trying to follow up on comments that are being posted. If I have not responded, just send me a short email and I will get back with you.

Talk to you soon..........

Friday - feeling better

Friday already?? Hard to believe that six work days have passed already. Last Friday I was sick and it took nearly three days to get recovered from that. Now I get my first Friday off and all I can think about is getting some good quality naps in before we start having meetings again on Saturday.

The wifi at the hotel is having issues and I think I did discover that when I use the wifi at night, there is a lot of traffic. Had a great chat with Carol this morning before the wifi chatter started. Again, the six hour difference in time does not lend itself very well to having long quality Magic Jack chats with Indy.

I posted a new photo from my balcony today......I did not realize that the way my hotel is oriented that I could see the back side of the hotel project from my balcony. Technically my balcony has a sea view......I won’t let management know.....they might want to raise my room rate.

With each blog posting, I will try to share a little something interesting or quirky about my experience in Libya. Today I discovered some breakfast issues. My room rate includes a breakfast buffet, juice, coffee, toast, rolls, cereal and etc. I asked the restaurant manager last night, “what are the breakfast hours??”. He said “they open from 5 to 11”. I also asked him about if one can get eggs for breakfast. “No problem” they are custom order, so “sure” get eggs. Ok, I slept in on my day off. I got up at 10:30 went down for breakfast, the sign on the door said, “Open”. The waiter says, “Mister, we are closed.....” I said “I thought you were open until 11”.... “We close at 10 on Fridays”. He says, “go ahead and get something if you still want it”.....everything was still laid out like any other day. I said fine......”Oh by the way, can I get some eggs”......”No eggs on Friday.”  So I guess I will have to watch what day it is and what time it is a little better in the future. 

Thanks for following my blog......let me know if you have any questions and I will try to fill in some grey areas.

Language Inferiority Complex

A major realization has occurred today in my life. I have a language inferiority complex. My two children have been blessed with a gene that allows them to absorb languages and become what I would call fluent. My son is fluent in Japanese and is very good with sign language. My daughter is fluent in German. I on the other hand have only taken enough Spanish to get thru the requirements of high school.

Today, I was sitting in a two hour meeting (which is suppose to be conducted entirely in English), but some heated discussions came up and a number of participants popped back into their native Arabic language. The owner’s rep noticed that I had a strange look on my face and stopped the Arabic bickering and said, “we need to get the meeting back to English, so that Tony can understand the situation.” 

The contracts on the hotel project say that all written and verbal communications will be official only if in English. Therefore the meetings and memos and meeting minutes will be in English. Part of my task is to review the meeting minutes and make sure that the translated version is using proper English. So the pressure is on for me to make sure I do not use run-on sentences and explain things precisely. That will be a stretch for me too.

On the way home from the office, my boss was chatting with a consultant in Arabic about some situation. It got rather heated too......I had no idea what was going on. When I went to the hotel restaurant for a relaxing dinner, the room was filled with Italian tourists on their way back home after having visited some of the Roman ruins near Benghazi. Again, I was deluged in another language. Why couldn’t I have inherited the special gene that my children have.......maybe I have it, but it is not awake yet......

I hope to get more into my Rosetta Stone software and start learning Arabic. It is a difficult language with all of its little sounds and inflections. Plus the dialect of Libya is a little different than that of the UAE and other arab nations. Wish me luck, I am really going to need it.

It is Good to be THE KING

Now that I have settled into my new spot as Senior Architect for the Benghazi project, I was given a surprise gift from our IT manager. He gave me a shiny new Sony digital camera with 12 Megapixels with a wide angle lens. I would have preferred an SLR, but I 

cannot complain. It should do a great job in documenting the terrific construction practices used in Libya. I did not know that anyone had thought about getting one for the department and now I don’t have to worry about taking my own camera to the job site. Pretty good deal.....

I hope no one tried to call my Libyan mobile number......I discovered that I only had 24 cents left on the meter. Here you have to buy phone cards and put credits into the phone. Similar to what I had to do in Abu Dhabi. It is an OK system, but just a hassle when you have your boss on the phone and the phone dies because there are not enough credits available.

Decided to do laundry today.......or should I say have laundry service pickup my laundry.

Another situation that I hope does not go wrong......the bellman likes to say “No Problem”. That is when I think there will be a “problem”. Have to wait and see how many shirts and pants come back bundled together for MY room.

Actually I am more interested in how many pairs of underwear come back to the room.

All in all a pretty good day today......solved a few construction detail issues on-site. Generated a lot of questions for our upcoming design coordination meeting for next week. Tuesday is one of the few days during the week that I do not have scheduled meetings, but you never know, they like to have what they call workshops around here to work out details and make selections for various materials.

BTW.....the imodium seems to be working......just thought everyone would like to know that.

Truly an international project

I am in the process of reviewing construction documents for the Benghazi 5 star hotel. To my surprise I discover that the architect/interior design firm is from Tunisia. They speak French and Arabic. Mixed among my drawings are notes and room labels in French. I thought is was bad enough having to remember metric from my Abu Dhabi project but now French too.


Speaking of metric. The Abu Dhabi standard was to draw everything in mm. Some of the dimensions got pretty large when you have a floor to floor height of 3400. That is fine. Here in Benghazi everything is measured on the drawings in centimeters. So I have to keep getting my iPhone app out and doing a quick calculation. Thank goodness for the iPhone.


It is a small world when you think about it......either that or the US of A has the best schools as we probably all know. The lead MEP designer went to school in the US and his in-laws live on the East side of Indianapolis. The owner's rep for the project went to architecture school at Texas A&M, so it is pretty easy to communicate with those two guys.


Now back at the hotel.........did America invent the wash cloth?
I know when I went to England I had to ask for a flannel at the hotel and they gave me a wash cloth. Well in Libya, they do not have the slightest idea what I am talking about for a wash cloth. So I have been using a hand towel instead. Gets the job done, but is rather cumbersome in the shower.


Stay tuned for more Northern Africa info..............

Anybody have some Imodium??

In a previous blog posting, I mentioned that we work from Sunday to Thursday. Well, that is if you are in Tripoli. Here in Benghazi and because the hotel has a set schedule for completion, we are working a six day work week.


So this past Friday (one day weekend) was spent trying to figure out what I ate that did not agree with my stomach........I think it was the Greek salad at a terrific Italian restaurant. So be careful when you come over to Libya and partake of some of their vegetables. I am still trying to get my system back in order.


The wi-fi at the hotel is not the greatest, but I can really get a good connection at the job trailer. With the 6 hour difference in time, it makes it difficult to get quality chats in with family and friends. 


I think I will cut this blog short........after all who wants to hear about my stomach issues.


I will keep you posted on further developments.

Batter up........

Well it appears that things are going to be a little crazier in Benghazi than I thought.

I have been on the job site now for about three days. The assistant project manager for the hotel project has been informed that some new projects for RWA have been finalized. He will be moving to Tripoli to help get some of the new projects underway. That means that I will be taking over as the new assistant project manager of the five star hotel. The pressure is on now..........

We had a three hour project meeting today. One thing that came out of that meeting is the desire of the client to send the project management team to the various home offices of many of the products that will be used in the hotel. If I play my cards right, I might get to go to Rome to check out the furniture supplier for the hotel and maybe even on to Thailand to check out the carpet company. Those Delta Skymiles are really going to mount up quickly.

Tomorrow is Friday. That is the weekend for me......I think I will sleep in and try to get ready to go back to work on Saturday. We work six day weeks in Benghazi. Nothing else to do.

I have added some more photos of the project for your enjoyment. As you will see from the side entry photo, the scale of the building is substantial. The guy standing next to the column can show you that we will not have any trouble getting a semi-truck under the drive up area.

The stone work on the outside of the building is Egyptian stone panels. Most of the marble in the bathrooms and the floor areas are Spanish marble. As soon as we get a large floor area installed, I will try to get some photos ready for you.

Give me more power Scotty

Captain Kirk had problems with power and I wish I had Scotty around to give me more power and wi-fi.
We are very spoiled in the USA with our need for more power.....Tim Allen might be able to figure out a way to get it, but Benghazi has not. Only one outlet in the hotel room that is not being used for something like a refrigerator and a TV. The best wi-fi access that I have is the one at the construction trailer.

I arrived in Benghazi last night around 9:00 p.m. The hotel is OK. Not like the fine accommodations in Tripoli. The breakfast was good......never saw so many kinds of bread for breakfast. Got to the job trailer which is actually pretty nice compared to the one that I worked out of at the JW Marriott site. Tile floors, AC and a great wi-fi. Might have to use my Magic Jack connection from the trailer if I cannot get the wi-fi at the hotel to work better.

My first assignment at the hotel site was to review the ceramic tile that is being installed in the lower level of the hotel. Five rooms have been done and the consistency of the installation was not very good. Looks like they will have to replace most of it and try again. I guess I have to be the "bad cop" for awhile.

The hotel has 400 rooms and is 8 stories. About half a million square feet of hotel space including ballrooms and of course a Turkish coffee lounge area. Huge outdoor swimming pool.

I will post some pictures later today.