From here and there

Have been gone for a while since Tunis right? well sorry about that, was just too caught up in a lot of work - yes I work for a living you know :) not always blogging !

Anyways I wanted to say that I am officially back from Tunis. It was a lovely trip, I met many interesting people. A few of them I'm sure will become friends for life. I've been too Tunis several times before but this trip was one of the nicest, despite the internet connection that kept 'dropping' in my hotel even though it was the week of the 'information' summit. Lool it was a crazy, busy time but very enlightening. I'll blog the second part a bit later.

I first wanted to thank whoever had enquired about my absence ( special reference to Twosret :)) . No I have not quit blogging ...just did not feel like it.


Second I'd like to thank the Maghrebian bloggers and especially Tunisian blogger Adib (who blogs in French) for visiting here and for caring to search for Libyan bloggers and mentioning them - including yours truly- on the Maghrebian compilation blog. Dare I say that Adib is very prolific in his writings, and due to him I'm happy to note that traffic from Tunis has increased over here. I've been reading several Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian blogs but tried to keep a low profile ...Now my little secret is out :). ! All you francophone people go check his sidebar links for great reads. One correction Adib, I'm not an expatriate, I live in Tripoli just a travel often...

What else has been happening? Oh you'd be delighted to know that it is 11 degrees Celcius in Tripoli , it's rained a few times since I returned, I already had the flu - no not that one silly . I also find the winter flies pretty annoying..aargh

What has been happening in the Libyan blogosphere ? hmmm let's see Smokey is still AWOL . But then we know by now she works in bursts of excitement. Khadijateri has told us about Jenna's freckles and attending a wedding with overexcited teenagers, about finnaly getting tiles for her new house but also about the tragic death of her friend's husband recently ( driving in Libya is a HAZARD). Redenclave is 'enjoying' the cold weather in Turkey. Do go and check her photos and cheer her up. Tareq has been silent for a month now . Is he busy too with the new house ? where are you Tareq? Tyenness has also moved to a new house and has no internet access there , so she reports to the blogosphere sporadically from those famous Tripolitanian internet cafes, all her posts are cool but my favourite is the Libyan folktale...please go read it ! Hibo is telling us about the recent tradition of 'singing tents' i.e. tents specially set up to gather a wide range of Libyan artists who will perform to either live audiences or for TV. The songs/lyrics are usually of great quality. This tradition has become a must in Ramadan and I believe that this was picked up by other Arab countries like Lebanon and Jordan and Egypt -with their particular add-ons- were Ramadan evening are spent eating listening to singers , drinking/smoking sheesha etc.. ( those elaborations do not take part in the Libyan version which is less materialistic- no offense to anyone). But if you are curious like me and click on Hibo's sidebar links :) you will discover that she has another blog - well done my dear - hip hip hurray for Libyan female bloggers. Hanu is celebrating the 7th annivesary of her wedding - check the story of the lamb with a pink scarf - alf mabrouk habibti. Nura has moved to Canada and is still settling in, we hope to hear from her soon. We love you Nura ! Barnita from India is still very busy !

Oh and last but not least, do you recall when I was wondering aloud about a Libyan blog aggregator? Well we had been chatting about it with Smokey a while back, but it was ever-active Hanu (thank you) who actually took the initiative and created a Libyan Hub for us. It has been up for a while but we had not officially shared it yet.You are all welcome into our combined piece of Libya. It's still humble but a lot of fun ! - Redenclave I'm sure would love to put the link up ! Thanks Haitham for the suggestion, I may still take you on it !

This post was supposed to be short and sweet, some kind of comeback but has turned into a marathon so I'll stop here and start working on the next one . I'm sure you'll have fun with all the links..should keep you busy .