Adventures of Mr.Behi

Lunatics of New York

Iran and Libya made funny scenes in this years UN general assembly. As an Iranian who happened to live in Libya for a short while, it was even more amusing -I shall call it amusing for the only reason that my rage has gone so far and the instances so frequent.

Ahmadinejad repeated his story of denial but this time also added fraud in his election, crack down on protesters, shooting at people, rape and murders in prisons to his list of denials. I am curious to see how the world wants to deal with this guy who feels no liability towards what happens to his electorate whom he claims to represent.

Ghadafi took my sorrow and pity to the next level. Not for him certainly but for the people of Libya. This guy has managed to rule this oil rich country for forty years. For such small population, the infrastructure of the country is a disgrace. You see the rich, who ride their expensive cars and fill them with cheap gas, living in large houses who fly outside of the country for slight need for medical care while the rest of the people are deprived of a decent hospital in the capital.

I have heard stories from my friends in Libya on how any voice of opposition is silenced and how overwhelming is the iron shadow of the regime. Ghadafi is the guy whose own home was attacked by US forces and was one of the most hated figures around. Now since he paid compensation for the bombings he sponsored, all human rights loving countries are flocking in there to suck up more oil and gas and make him and his system more indisputable.

Imagine Ahmadinejad relinquishing the nuclear program and shaking hand with the west. Imagine oil companies surging to Iran to restate exploration rights. Will any one of them would still ask "Who killed Neda?"

T.I.A

Things went rather unusual during past month of our vacation in Iran. The vacation has become longer than expected without us asking for it. Our lives are indeed full of surprises! But not surprisingly, we meet most of the share from our traveling in and out of Iran. It was November 11th when government of Libya put together a new passport regulation out of the blue that any individual coming back to the country must have the Arabic translation of their passport be made and stamped inside the passport. This new rule was apparently applied over night without anyone knowing it. I read lots of news about charter planes of tourists sent back and people got deported from Libyan boarders. Libya made a suicide decision for its tourism industry in this time of year when it is best to visit the country. Would someone care?

Why Libya is asking for Arabic translation in the passports? I have no idea!! That looks like one more odd thing about Libya one shall add to the list of many that happened before. The thing is that the visas that Libya issues are in Arabic so why the information in the visa wouldn’t be enough? I read in some blogs that in the first few days after this was applied, the passport control officers were also obscuring the English page of Libyan passport of those nationals who were traveling out and made many of their citizens stranded in airports around the world. This part of the new law was apparently canceled after a few days.

T.I.A: This Is Africa! It also stands for Transient Ischaemic Attack, a problem in human nervous systems in which part of the brain suddenly and briefly fails to function properly because it is temporarily deprived of oxygen by blockage of its blood supply. (Disclaimer: No intention to associate the continent with the lack of Oxygen that I am sure plenty is available maybe some nations need to inhale a bit more or free the blockage).

For us vacationing inside Iran, this brought a new challenge. The Libyan embassy had no idea how to implement this and finally left us on our own. I am getting help from the Iranian foreign office to “invent” a local procedure to get the translation stamped in the passports! For them and the passport department of the Police, passports have standard templates according to international regulations. Iranian passports are become perfectly electronic in the past few years. You fill a form and put your national ID and your unique10 digit post code and receive your passport in the same week by post…no hassle! So no wonder why they refuse to cook another version for only a bunch of Iranians who go to Libya!

Ubuto

You just need to have a little dust on your car to find an approaching African immigrant as soon as you park in business districts of Tripoli. Their desperate eyes scan the streets looking for someone with a dirty car in hope for a little money in return for a quick car wash. Local riders are indeed regular customers for these fellows and apparently riding a clean car is an important matter for those who own one. Even when you drive by these guys, they wave you with a tissue in hand offering their service. With five Libyan Dinars, they give a good wash to most cars and they apparently have good business despite the availability of automatic car wash machines in major gas pumps.

It is kind of hard for me looking at their struggle in making the living. Almost all of them are immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria, Gabon, Burkina Faso,... are the names you hear when you ask about their nationality. They left the green equatorial countries, passed through the emptiness of Saharan desert to find a living by the Mediterranean coast or maybe they aimed for Europe but could not make it. Ubuto is one of them. He is from Burkina Faso and speaks three languages (French, English and Arabic). He lives in a hut in an empty land close to Zat Al Imad Towers, famous landmarks of Tripoli that host offices of almost all major international oil companies who work in Libya. Ubuto has two used paint buckets that he fills with water and a set of tissues to wash cars. He also helps when you try to find an empty parking space to have the upper hand over others in getting a cleaning job.

"Good morning Sir, How are you today?", He asks when taking his hat off. After a long look at my car he normally offers a car wash and when I nod for acceptance, he marks my car by drawing a cross on the dusty windshield, marking his territory against his competitors. He knows well how to provide his service...his understanding of client care is much better than the perception of some waiters in expensive restaurants of Tripoli who treat you as if you are the same as the empty chair beside you! With a little chance, he could have a much better job considering his language skills but being an illegal immigrant closes that door for him.

If I was a journalist, I could spend my time writing a report about life of Ubuto and his friends, the way they see life and future. I am already amazed to see these guys queuing in front of banks to transfer money to their home countries. It is the hardest thing to go to the cash machine and get money when they are watching you getting multiple times their monthly income by pressing a few bottoms.

I can do little but accepting more regular car washes before the car gets really dirty. Normally when strong winds blow in Tripoli, I get frustrated with the dust in my eyes and the car gets dirty all of a sudden. I will remember that there are some people in the same city smiling when the wind blows and cheering it to stay strong, hoping for a good day with many dirty cars and a promising business...

Tripoli Rising

It was a few months ago when a sudden blast attracted the attention of everyone around the north-east tip of Tripoli. It was a demolition on an old multistory building by dynamite. Soon after, the area was filled with bulldozers, quickly cleaning up the wreckage to prepare the land for another construction project according to the banners and ads around the place. Around the same area there are other pieces of land currently left alone but they are also receiving visits by construction machines these days. There are at least 4 or 5 of them around our office area.

Other things are opening up too. Since two weeks ago, you can buy Time magazine, Newsweek, The Economist, Herald Tribune and Financial Times in news stands :) Previously, the only English language paper was the weekly "Tripoli Post". The 16 page post reports what it considers as "good news" for Libya collected from around the world. The reaction towards foreign politics though still shows remarkable defiance against the west choosing the language of pride and victory against them. Apart from the commercial ads and sport pages, th final page is always about historical and cultural treasures of Libya that worths reading.

Ramadan

We are back in Tripoli and Ramadan is here. I don't fast and it is just so difficult to cope with a day without lunch. The interesting thing about Ramadan here is the 12 hour time shift to all the aspects of life. Working hours are from 9-15 which is just a blink of the eye. Many people go to work at 10 and by 2:30, many start to pack their bags. The real life starts very late at night and people may stay out till morning before another day of fasting. Coming back from Italy, our flight landed around 2:00 a.m and so early in the morning we found the streets jammed with cars and shops open. Last night, we did our grocery shopping around 10:30 p.m! At work, anything important shall be planned before noon time especially if it is a meeting with local customers. People may think more about the fact that they are hungry than thinking about what you say.

Fasting with this fashion is something that I am not able to connect to. It looks so much like a duty or a habit than a spiritual thing. I was told that the merit is to feel the hunger and thrust and share your food with the poor. Instead, people eat so much before sunset and so much after the sunset and so little during the day, thinking about next time that they shall be eating again. It was the same in Iran...although there are people who really enjoy the spiritual part and test their endurance in life with fasting, for many others, Ramadan is just a good excuse for working less.

The Masculine Engagment

I have learned so far that I shall not make my hopes high (or even a little bit shorter than high) to get invited to a wedding in Libya as a couple with Mrs.Behi. Apparently separation in weddings is so widely practiced. But as a person, I have already received a couple of invitations to weddings and engagement receptions. This has been a busy summer for people in my department, at least four of them got married and this one was the latest to which I got invited a while ago.

The place was near, address was clear and it was not weekend so I decided to go and did so together with some other colleagues. After shaking hands with the groom and his father, I was guided to a big conference hall with rows of chairs set for people. In the front facing the audience, there were four senior guys dressed in traditional Libyan robes. I heard that one of them was supposed to be the father of the bride and the one in the center, the clergy to announce the marriage. The others were the witnesses and they soon were joined by the father of the groom who was wearing a suite.

Waiters of the hall started to bring glasses of a milky drink for the seated people. It was a mixture of sweetened milk with flavor of almond with which we also had a traditional sweet like a coconut cookie. The hall was almost full when the ceremony started and I could see that the men in front were saying things. Unfortunately, I could not hear a thing because people in the hall were all talking to each other as if nothing formal was going on in front of them. My friend beside me told me that this was the moment when the father of the bride accepts and declares that his daughter would be the wife of the groom who was represented by his father. The groom was by the main door waiting for people to come out and I heard that the bride is normally in another room with close ladies of both families.

In one moment, we realized that the ceremony was finished as all the men in the hall rushed to the exit doors and made a long queue in front of the main exit where the groom was standing to thank them for coming. Some who were not that close went without shaking hand and I waited with friends for the line to get less busy. Almost at the same time, two traditional musicians started to play. One with a drum and the other with a pipe. This did not last very long and they stopped playing right outside the main door.

It was now my turn in the line for shaking hands and congratulating my groom friend.It was a big basket besides him with small silverly diagonal boxes and we each received one. There was a traditional sweet in each box.

Link: A good link about Libyan customs

The September 1st and Libyan Revolution

When I first arrived in Tripoli last November, one of the things that caught my eyes was the numerous banners and billboards that were congratulating the leader and nation of Libya for the 37th anniversary of Libyan revolution (1/09/1969). It was kind of interesting to see that they were never removed from the streets and stayed there all year long till just a few weeks ago when they all changed, now with the number 38 on them although the message remained the same.

From Mid August, you really feel the changes, buildings start to decorate themselves with light ropes and major companies put writings outside their buildings congratulating the nation and the leader. The city gets filled with the plain green flags of Libya. I wish I knew the history for this flag that is a unique in the world as it has nothing in it..just plain green. Libyans were really thoughtful not to spend much time in design but they have one of the longest formal names for a country: "Great socialist people's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" so don't wonder if you see G.S.P.L.A.J in some maps. Jamahiriya is the word for "republic" and in Libya they tend to use this word as the name of the country so on the license plates of cars you see the word "Al-Jamahiriya" and the number. I guess it is the better idea to just say Libya!

Last night, the horns of the ships and coast guard boats together with the fireworks were the way celebrations began. The city is now filled with banners and billboards with number 38 on them. I guess they will remain there till next year when they all change to 39. I don't know how long we stay here and how many numbers we will see but I do hope they change the design next year. It is almost the same as last year.

P.S: The eye of Libya photo album has some new pictures.

Me, My Car and Tripoli

I need to drive around ten minutes to get to work every morning. This is very close compared to the 30-40 minutes that it took me in Tehran and that was with no traffic around 6:30 a.m. I drive a company car that is equipped with a device they call VDO (I have not thought what it stands for). So basically the way it works is that they give you this blue stick that looks like a fat flash memory and it has your ID as a driver and the car does not start without verifying it. The device records every move, acceleration rate, deaccelaretion rate, speed, duration in max speed, number of hard breaks, etc. By the end of each month, everyone records the data from the system and the safety department prints the record of everyone on public board. Some people appear in yellow and red zone and fall under closer supervision. Oh, before even getting the blue key, you need to sit for a driving test that assesses if you are in compliant with extra cautious driving policies. I like the extra rules very much in driving at least. This VDO has made me to cap my speed to 80 Km/h and to be honest, you have to cap it to this in Tripoli or you are asking for trouble...fastening seat belt is our condition of employment in the company and they say people can get fired not wearing it and they look very serious. It is a good habit to have.

I am a Tehran driver and learned driving in a city that without a doubt should be named as one of the most difficult places to drive but Tripoli amazes me with the way people drive as if the intention is hitting and fact that cars do not hit each other is the accident. Some strange things I have seen in traffic here:

- You are in a crossroad that is bigger than a square with only two traffic lights and they are placed well before the junction itself so if you stop before the pedestrian passage way, you do not see the light behind you and have to rely on the beeping on the cars behind you who actually see the light.

- You see a red traffic light in the middle of a highway and it is red but there is no other road crossing the highway and you suddenly realize that the old U-turn is closed but the light is still working.

- You see extra-huge 8-cylinder 4WD Chevrolet who occupies the whole lane of a narrow street and its ultra bright white florescent headlights make you blind for 10 minutes in traffic!

- You are in a cross road and no one will ever let you pass unless you get to the point that no one could ever pass unless you pass...then they let you pass.

- You are driving nicely and you see that 300m ahead of you, cars are behind the red light...then someone reaches you from behind, attaches himself to your car and flashes like 50 times continuously as if there is a life and death situation...you give him way and he ends up behind the red light just beside you seconds later!

- You are stuck in a traffic jam in a two lane street and finally reach the bottle-neck and what is the bottle-neck? a guy who is sitting in his car calmly made a double parking chatting with his friend who is riding a motor bike and together they clogged 3/4 of the road!

- You see a police officer in a junction and there is a traffic light there too! The officer does exactly what the light says. No less no more and when cars pass the yellow or red light, he just watches...and even stops the cars in green side to let the law-breaking driver to pass.

That is why Mrs.Behi says "be careful when driving" every day when I say goodbye to her..normally we drive around Tripoli getting caught in these funny driving situations...and the CD in our car stereo says: Don't worry...be happy...   

Cooling off in a humid Thursday Night

One week passed without me posting here. Life was normal with couple of interesting things at work. This week I met two new companies, one from Russia and one from Taiwan. Interesting people and promising opportunities (if they really meant what they told me). The Russian company was funny, I stepped into their reception area once and discovered one of the guards laying on the coach watching TV. It was the only company that I had  to use one of the audience as an interpreter for the other during my presentation :) and the only one that smoking was not banned inside the building!

Now I am done with yet another week. My boss will be on vacation for the next two weeks and his new boss has not yet arrived in Tripoli so basically I am on my own. I am so excited about September when Mrs.Behi and I will travel to Europe. We have done some perfect planning and I have already booked a couple of Hotels and the car. Still need to do some more planning.

Tripoli is as nice as it has been. Nights are very live as it is summer and normally not hot at all so you can easily walk and eat outside. Fasting month of Ramadan will be in September this year and I heard that Tripoli will completely hibernate after mid-day and will stay awake after sunset till morning itself.

Be right back...

One of the most hilarious things that we discovered about shops in Tripoli is the open/close sign they hang on their front door. Normally you expect such a sign to say either open or close. Here in most of the shops it says: Open and "Be right back" :)) I don't know maybe they are shy to announce that they are closed because this "be right back" may take as long as the whole afternoon :)

Cloth shops in the expensive streets of Tripoli are full of Italian and French made brands. You may get to a shoe shop, find a nice pair of shoes but the sample might be the only size or in another shop, a shirt with only one size...the shop owners are always very helpful and try to keep their customers happy. You normally hear them saying: "sorry only one size but maybe after one week/10 days/three weeks" which mainly means that you should give up and leave...

The best thing about shops here is that you find some of them open even around midnight so it is never late to buy your groceries or even look at furnitures. Coffee stores of course! seem awake all the time...