Solar flares or government intervention

I am not trying to come up with excuses for not being more forthcoming with my blog updates, but as I mentioned before I was a little busy over the past week. I did not have any TV reception because the last sandstorm that went thru Benghazi which had taken out my TV satellite dish. My internet wifi device was off and on and then finally off when the turmoil started on the 17th of February.
I had to start using my iPhone as a text messenger......even though each text message was going to cost me $.50 for outgoing messages, it was worth it to keep up on the news of the day. I started getting worried about my Libyan cellphone credits too.....the cellphone worked pretty well but the system in Libya only charges you credits on your phone for outgoing calls. I was trying to be frugal with my calling in case of an emergency. Sure enough, it was a good thing I had purchased some credits the week before the ordeal.
I had heard a rumor that some sort of solar flare was causing issues with the internet around the middle of February. That could have been part of the internet issue, but I think it was someone in Tripoli that might have pulled the plug. Anyway, it looks like I have a pretty good connection in Malta, so I will try to do a better job in updating everyone.

What a Week

A number of people have emailed me recently and were wondering why I have not posted any new things to my blog. Well let me tell you, I have been a little busy. I cannot go into too much detail about what my life has been like over the past week or so but I can tell you that it was something that I do not want to repeat again. A number of Libyan people told me that they did not think the unrest would be so dramatic as Cairo and Tunisia. Let me tell you it was dramatic and will leave a memory that I will not forget.
I was surprised that gunfire sounds a lot different in real life than it does on TV. It was a good thing that I had a small suitcase packed up to get out of town before the violence turned nasty.
I got a flight to Tripoli on Saturday the 19th. Arrived in Tripoli and stayed at the RW Armstrong guest house on Saturday night and Sunday things started to get a little dicey with more gunfire. So a number of us got a ride out to the Tripoli airport and flew off to Malta on Monday afternoon.
So I have been hanging out in Malta for the past week. I will try to post some photos of Malta in future blogs. If you have not been to Malta, you need to add it to your bucket list.

Trouble in River City with a Capital T

How do I get myself into these things..........if you have not heard we are having a little turmoil in Libya similar to Egypt and the rest of the Middle East and Northern Africa. So far my neighborhood where my apartment is located and where the job site is located, seem to be away from the hub-bub. But other parts of Benghazi have seen their own fair share of violence and police action. I have been trying to stay low and under the radar. I have a bag packed just in case I need to head to the airport, but so far nothing has gone too far near my location. We shut the job site down a little early today, because of the rallies that were going to happen downtown and the wind was picking up again for a pretty good sized sandstorm.
I will keep you posted on how things go today and tomorrow............thanks for your prayers.

Google Guys are brilliant

I downloaded a new app on my iPhone. It is called Google Translate. You can type in a phrase or say it with your own voice and the app will translate from English to Arabic (it does other languages too). Anyway I typed in "I would like a Margarita pizza with tomato sauce, cheese and olives, thank you". It not only said the phrase back to me in Arabic, it also printed the sentence in Arabic on the screen of the iPhone. My coworkers checked the written part and it was perfect. The spoken part was very close. It messed up the part about the sauce and said cheese sauce instead of tomato sauce. So I think I am able to go out in the World and communicate with my iPhone and my little bit of Rosetta Stone lessons and see what happens.
Now I just need to find out what the name of my street is so that I can tell the cab driver how to get to my apartment. That is something that I noticed around here. The mail is delivered to a post office and not to the houses. Hence no street addresses are used for mail purposes. I have not figured out how the police and fire departments know where they are going. That is something I will work on and get back with you.....

More Reflective Moments

This week has been a time for me to reflect on life again. I hope these moments do not bore anyone. A couple of things came to mind this week. We have been having a great deal of rain and sure enough a leak developed in the roof of the job trailer. Guess where it leaked first....?? My desk was flooded and lots of drawings got wet. Thank goodness my computer missed the downpour. I discovered that my great looking shiny wood desk is actually a Masonite desk with shiny wood grain paper veneer. The rest of the architects in my office have Formica desks and they still look good after the rain water. First observation: looks can be deceiving.
With all of the rain coming down around here, I have seen three rainbows this week. Everyone of them different. Some almost complete arches, another one was actually a double rainbow and today was just a large shaft of colors coming down from a grey cloud. I got my camera out and tried to get a picture of it. My second observation: why can't the technology of Sony be able to capture some simple beautiful colors. God figured it out with just some cells and blood and electric signals to the brain. He is Awesome.
I will try to jot down other ideas that pop into my head and share them with you another day.

Looks GREEK to me

Sorry for the delays in blogging again. The weather has been bad (rainy). I should not complain about the weather after hearing about the weather in Indianapolis. So I will talk about my recent trip to Cyrene. About three hours East of Benghazi we have an area called the Green Mountains. After you see some of the pictures displayed below, you will understand why they are called that. The land is lush green and the mountains even though pretty rocky have green short trees on them. One photo of a valley that we visited, has some caves in it. They reminded me of the cave dwellers of Arizona. Cyrene was our next stop. A large Greek city near the Mediterranean Sea built around 600 B.C. On this site is now a little town called Shahhat. There is another town between Shahhat and the Sea called Sousa. This is where you will find Cleopatra’s Bath. A large stone building was built within a shallow lagoon and the Sea water would provide water for the Bath area. The Romans later took over Cyrene. In the Bible, Simon of Cyrene was mentioned as the man who helped Jesus carry His cross. In 365 A.D., there was a large earthquake that destroyed most of the city. Even so, the structures that are still standing are amazing. I hope you enjoy the photos below.