The best of the Libyan Blogosphere: November 2006

OK I'm introducing another monthly feature , my choice of the best posts from the Libyan blogs :) - in no particular order . Let's see if I can keep this up

Khadijateri - Giving thanks my own way : " Everybody liked learning something that they had had misconceptions about. We finished the class by talking about different types of holidays and the meanings of different things that symbolized certain holidays, for example the Christmas tree, candles for Miloud, fool (broad beans)for Ashura, etc" [more] (hint to Khadija pls activate the permalink to each post it is difficult to link to particular posts otherwise thank you ).

Smokeyspice - Words without borders : " . What I do believe is that there are treasures of stories among Libyans that are waiting for the right time or the right question. " [more] ( make sure to check the comment section)

Lovelytripoli - Old memories from Alzara Air Tripoli : " Unfortunately worked that this historic building would be transferred to the place of recreation for foreigners ...!" [ she means I unfortunately learned that this historic building will be transformed into a place of recreation for foreigners - how sad :( ] [more]

D-Log - My take : "I'm thankful for connecting the broken links in my life, for building bridges, for picking up again [more] .

Flying birds - Douce mere : " dedicate this song for all the mothers out there, as today its my mother birthday may Allah bless her and keep her to me." [more ] .

Safia speaks - Waving goodbye to Rumsfeld: "I used to admire Rumsfield for dealing swiftly and tactical - agreed his strategics didn´t always pay out - but he wasn´t afraid to swing the fists of iron when needed. That´s the right attitude for any secretary of defense. Problem was only that Rumsfelds fists hit the wrong bastards." [more] .

Libyano - My killing wish list : "A girl who parked in front of my car and made me wait hours till she came " [more ].

Tripoli Ghibli - For the love of one's country : " When the students first saw us they laughed they thought we had lost our minds , for we were teachers and not servants, believing this to be a job for servants , for why did the school have cleaning people ??!! After seeing our insistence, they started to help us out and the playground was as clean as could be.This was a lesson, that of awareness which many students till today have not forgotten" [more ]

My Enchanting Sereeb - The Libyan Halloween -Al Fatasha : "The Libyan Halloween is called Al-Fatasha الفتاشة and it is celebrated in the middle of winter (I can’t remember the exact date but I remember it was in mid winter). In that day we cook special food and in the evening we gather around the charcoal brazier telling ghost stories." [more] {amazing :) , if we all make a petition for a comment section maybe Soad will relent) .

Anglolibyan - Smuggling Libyan Tortoises : "these tortoises are protected by law in Europe and smuggling them is an offence, in fact they are so rare they have been put on the protected animals list that includes tigers.
400 of these small tortoises have been lost because of the action of this stupid man, Italy will never return these animals, they will be put in zoos and given to private collectors, again the wealth of Libya is being exploited by some people who are just hungry for money but have no respect for their own land. " [more].

Lebeeya says - Email : "During the course of the 10 days in which Muaad stayed with me, I have come to the conclusion that our youngest brother is truly a peculiar creature in all manners of his behaviour." [more].

White African - Untitled : " the same lady a couple of months ago was sat in the reception area and was speaking to a devout Christian lady, both these woman are Arab. The opinionated lady was telling the Christian lady that she should do the shahadah before its to late.." [more ]

Libyanviolet - The Baby : " What would you do ? share a man you loved with his family and fulfill you past dream safe in the knowledge that he will take care of you forever. Or go and have your baby with a man you love but don't need to share with anyone but at the same time where nothing is guaranteed except the excitement of starting a new life, new horizons and no complications ......." [more] .

Moments in my life - Email Scams : " the first one was sent to me (or as the email say) from an American soldier who needs my assistance in smuggling $12.8 million Dollars out of Iraq ( he sent me his picture and a picture of the money!!!) : " [more].

Imtidad : This is how I celebrated my birthday: "I'm 31 for the last time.." [more]

Lu-Ti - My dream photographer : " ok i'll share one of my dreams .. i dream of a wall in my own house with pictures ,black and white picture for me and my husband , many sizes that should be designed to make a perfect look to the wall of the living room or that wall leads to the kitchen " [more ]

Our Little Family Adventures -Books books books : " well i know that this post is kind of boring ,,, but since i`m in the middle of my studies and all i see around me is books ,, therefore i got this idea of posting about books ,,, my ultimate passion!!!" [more]

The Sultan - Pork Man on the Rampage ( it's actually October 30 but he has not posted much on November) : ""Apparently on this day strangers, dressed up in farm animals, go around randomly hugging strangers in Holland as a way to foster and spread love. Not wanting to offend Dutch sensibilities, I tried to keep an open mind and suppressed my cultural disinclination toward pork products and male intimacy. " [more]. PS 1-12-06 it appears that the Sultan may be Iraqi if anyone knows please inform us- at any rate his blog is cool and he still looks Libyan :P . update 2-12-06 OK it is confirmed Sultan is Iraqi thank you Anon.

Abughilan - Story of Mirja : " Mirja is Finish. She left Hauho in Finland first time in her life on 9 September, 2002. She crossed Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Montenegro and arrived after seven days finally to NW Greece where she stayed for five weeks storing up energy.
She then crossed the Mediterranean to Egypt, Libya " [more ]

Aladdin of Tripoli - Thank you dad : " I keep wishing that you could change a lot of things on you dad , I always wanted to discover the dark side of you , I always feel like shouting into your face , I hate you and and I love and I love and I hate you and I love in the same time" [more] ( if you ever hated your dad pls think again and read the comment section ).

Tears in Heaven - A city of dust : " Every Windy morning, my doctor came to us with red eyes and hard sneezing and coughing, he had a dust allergy. He was always telling us that it’s a crime to build a cement factory inside the city, he told us that in other countries the cement factory is always placed outside the city and very far from it." [more] ( the silent environment polution :( )

On Tripoli - Sfenz of Gurgji ( Libyan dougnut) : " This is an ancient tradition, originally done by the Jews of North Africa in general" [more] .

Braveheart - Klam Anas (aka what will people think or say ) : " Ohhhhhh my god how many time we make weight to the people’s views and it was wrong, how many times we did thing against our believe just to take care about what the people say, “klaam alnas” how many times these two words destroyed our life, why we must care about people views if we believe we do the right thing. " [more].

Take it easy - Mood : " .. you see it is tough for us libyans to be calm and pretend we r healthy and normal by general international standards … we aren’t normal by circumstances, are we, really?" [more] ( It's such a pity Cofman deleted some of his posts my favourite was his personal statement criticisin us Libyans and Arabs that was such a cool post - but I guess the Libyan blogosphere community has touched him :) and now he is "slowly feeling like a Libyan".Congrats Cofman ! I'm happy for you.)

Many of these blogs are new, so go enjoy the Libyans and learn a little bit more about us
I'm sorry if I missed anyone but the rest are on hiatus :P they should blog more ...

IKBIS that big yellow button





IKBIS is the Arab 'You tube' enjoy it ladies and gentlemen and go click on that cute big yellow button !

The top 3 Highlander fans for November

(1) The Sandmonkey ( even though he nevers comments he he he )
(2) AngloLibyan
(3) Chris in MB ;) - close runner up Curt from Houston

NBA and Craig have both slipped far behind from last month ..uh oh

Keyword analysis - November

Another monthly tradition on this blog ( October for those interested )

"libyan arabic blogs
libya weather forecast 2004
scam letter from iraq
carried moonbeams home in a jar
mizran libya
traditional libyan men clothes
indepent and dependent energy
bashing france
omar mukhtar
libya italian atrocities pictures
maltese grils friends
buckingham palace rocks blogspot
the libyan tradition
hetrosexual sex videos -
is falafel fattening
eid el fitr
libyan girls
forign police iran
bicycle libya
pictures from libyan wedding
water useage in isreal
muslims getting married in wyoming
first peace treaty
zahrat al khaleej arabic magazine
arabic accent in libya [sic] "

Make your own judgment !

Coming up top 3 Highlander fans for November ....

The best comment for November

As begun in October, I shall continue with this fine tradition. Because some people were vocally critical that my pick was due to favouritism last time , I think this time that would be impossible to uphold :P

So here we are


"Anonymous said...
Highlander Out of curiosity are you even a Muslim? I mean you speak of god, and this and that, but the fact that you have Sandmonkeys link, a link which spews hatred towards Islam, Muslims, and The Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) shows us other wise. In truth I have yet to see where you stand on a whole ray of Issues, but let me make this clear no hatered is not welcome in Libya, I suggest you move to denmark, or claim some other form of National Identity if you wish to spew, and promote intolerant garbage.
Thu Nov 23, 02:25:24 AM 2006 [sic] "


Basically I have no idea what you wish dear anonymous , I am unaware how my belief system can have the power to affect your life or what exactly is causing you to say this. I would like to recommend you read some other posts on this blog ( in case you are new) or just ask about the issues that interest you by email stating your identity clearly instead of coming up with strange notions unrelated to any topic. I mean you are posting as 'anonymous' so we have no way of knowing how knowledgeable you are of Islam to the point where you pass judgments of what is in other people's heart. I thought that especially the section about the 'heart' is God's department . He is the ONLY one who knows .
PS. If you are interested about the Danish cartoons here is a good summary.

So what happened ?

I still have enough arrogance to think that someone is actually interested about what happened to Highlander …

Well a few weeks ago I had the world at my feet (OK I like to think I did so humour me please). My year of planning and patience had culminated in a great job and the career turn that I was looking for. Other responsibilities at home and the big 'to do list' had miracle of miracles - YES been completed. I was looking forward to a lovely trip where “i”s would be dotted and “t”s crossed , so things were going to fall into place and last life changing decisions made – hell I was on a rollercoaster and unstoppable LOL – or so I thought ….

BUT the irony in LIFE is that things change course … yep . I like to think it is not Murphy’s Law, but DIVINE intervention. God in his wisdom has seen that I was blinded and moving on at 100 km/h and that I might have missed a few details here and there. I like to believe that He loves me and has decided to make me stop think and take stake of my options … He has always looked out for me, so whatever form his attention takes I have no reason to believe anything except that it is beneficial in the end ‘for those who can read the signs’.

And so that glorious weekend at the prime of my triumph I get struck by the proverbial thunder and presto find myself in a state of pure physical misery that would disgust even my own husband if I had any. …

From prospective hottie , to witch , someone to hide in shadows and nooks and cranies never to dare show herself to humans any more. A niqab was something to look forward to now, if I could ever have the strength to put on my own clothes even.

From there it was Dante straight down, and the misery of the soul was louder than the physical agony in between moments of lucidity not opacified by opiates.

It was in those moments where you learn who is with you and who is on the other bank watching you drown…and I guess that the moment you discern the outstretched hand you start sizing up your losses and gains. The comeback is painful but necessary and in addition to that you have to make validations and excuses for those who have none and yet have failed you . But they have the ultimate excuse, that of being human and humans most of the time are frail creatures who fear being sucked into pain and misery. So, in the midst of your own pain -you forgive them -as it is your rite of passage. Nevertheless, you vow not to count on them anymore ( at least you know the score for when the next big crisis comes - and crises sure will do as long as we live! ).

Meanwhile, you still have the outstretched hand and you hold to it tight and it guides you to the safe shore. That’s when the battle for your survival begins. Now you want to live and be healthy, because you have a reason to and you have decided that your life is worth living after all ! You still have a lot of things going for you and no it is not the end of the world, the 'stone that does not hit you actually makes you stronger’ (Arab proverb). So you realize that God wanted to bring your attention to something and he succeeded . HE’s got your full attention now so you better solve the mystery carefully ….
No you are not being punished, no you have nothing to be ashamed off and yes you will be absolutely fine. Just heed HIS message, and proceed to the RIGHT choice.

Well Highlander, is currently processing this info to make the necessary choice(s). She is just going to be very wise about them and not expect to be immortal, she will stop keeping a close lid on her emotions and being so sweet and tolerant to all at the risk of her own life.
Nobody and nothing is worth the hours I lay in bed pondering my own misery or even death ( beign a bit melodramatic here ), waiting for that touching moment of grace which in my naïveté I imagined would be coming from one place and funnily enough it came from the most unsuspected of places.

On this note I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience and for not having deserted me. And if you are reading up to this point and are not bored than you deserve a Nobel Prize for patience I swear.
OK ah so where was I ? ah on the eulogies :P

First and foremost NBA for his 24/7 monitoring by distance, Sereeb and Twosret for non-stop international phone calls, my mobiles never rang so much , my parents and the nurses thought it was a circus. A special note and a wink go to Craig for more or less beating the crap out of me and telling me to stop complaining and to start going out and exercising to defy my monsters..thanks buddy!
Then came that incredible email from darling Dhafer who basically said ‘ in whatever state you look like you are and will remain my Highlander…’ the rest is for my eyes only – but hey it managed to wake me up especially when he phoned to say that he was leaving kids , wife and job to come to the bed of a loony Highlander…with friends like these I can’t afford to die now can I?
The shocker was the roses by courier that preceded his arrival , I knew people sent flowers cross country or across continents by ‘interflora’ and other such agencies , but to Libya and to arrive here, Dhafer made miracles , but then he always does , someone
else simply beat me to him :P
Mad Canuck was also instrumental to my sanity in the first few days, he even was late for dinner at home once to nurse my bruised ego ( he he he ), and MB ( you know who you are) never stopped asking about me even though he was quite not so well himself. Smokey spice spent a weekend till the wee hours talking to me and keeping my head of depressing thoughts, and Adam forgot his own sorrows to call his Libyan friend. The list is long … but I would like to thank all of you my friends and readers, those I mentioned and those I have not for your loving mails and comments , from Australia to America, Alaska, and other continents . I never knew I had a fan base in Israel you guys are so discreet and silent :P
Honestly I also almost expected a phone call from the White House seeing they are occasional visitors.

The Palme d’Or though goes to the Lady of the House my mother , the one who dragged me out of the putrefied mass I was turning into and kicked my ass all black and blue . Thank you mum!

Now, I’m back to life , praying to be stronger and wiser.. I’ve still gotta make those choices, but hey now the choice is much much much easier…and sweet- If you thought you knew Highlander , then maybe you’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg or have not been paying any attention !

لا اله الا الله محمد رسول الله
الحمد لله

Blogging will resume soon just not yet though - I'm still convalescing.

Love
Highlander

PS - I have replied to all in the previous posts too.

Message from Highlander

This is Dhafer and I am Highlander's childhood friend. She has given me her password as she worries about her blog and readers - I don't agree with her, but this is her wish. Ok hope I don't botch things up ....

Highlander is not so well at the moment and needs time to get better. Her access to internet is limited so she apologise for not reading your emails or messages as often and thanks whomever asked about her, and promises to return .

I'm not sure what she has exactly but will travel next week as soon as my visa is ready to check on her. All she was willing to let me know over the phone is that she sees a fork in the road ahead and she needs to make the choice- right or left- on which a lot depends and the stress is literally killing her.

I think it is all in her head and I want to shake her out of this, but I'll stand by her whatever she chooses.

One more thing , Highlander says : " Can you please ask them not to post insults on my blog ? "

Blogging Break

I am sick and need to rest from the blogs . Hope to be back soon .

Highlander

Impressions of a traveller to Libya

Thanks mb my friend for sending me the article below about Libya in the press :

A changing city .....Excerpt

"However, if you happen to have taken the phone number of that stranger you met
in the morning, and if he happened to invite you to the beach, you might find
yourself swilling bootleg schnaps cooked on a stove-top pot as the stars twinkle
overhead. Of course, you would also wake the next morning with a poisoned
headache, sand fleas biting your face and outside your hut the surreal scene of
teenage girls in black hijabs splashing in the surf atop inflated Donald Duck
rafts. "

[ref]

The author also liked the shopping available in Libya but then I'm surprised when he says :

"The Euro-clothing stores, with their soccer jerseys and Armani shoes, are
nearly all aimed at men; most women wear the traditional hijab and shop for
fabrics in the medina, or old city"

Whaaaaaaaaaat , First September street , Gargaresh Road, Jaraba street , Mizran etc... all have men's clothes only nooooooooooo way , because the clothing stores are also aimed at women. I mean if many ladies wear hijab , what do they wear under it ? a bikini, La Perla underwear ? or maybe some fashionable clothes ?
Sometimes I'm amazed at the naivetee of jounalists.

What is this window displaying here ( hattip Khadijateri ) ? men's clothes ? Don't tell me men in Europe or America wear this type of clothes .... hmmm !

The best comment of the month

Once a month I will feature the best comment on my blog. October's winner is :

"The Arabic woman is known for her beauty, charm, warmth, passion, loyalty,
intelligence, self respect, and her know how when it comes to pleasing her man.
For many happiness is having an Arab wife."

Hmm... What about adapting the text a little bit and dreaming a Utopian
dream:"The Highlander blog reader is known for his/her beautiful mind, warmth,
passion for sensible debates, loyalty to the undertone of the blog,
intelligence, respect for others, and his/her know how when it comes to pleasing
his/her blog hostess. For many happiness is having an average Highlander reader
as a husband/wife.";-)

Thanks NBA.