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Category: German version (Page 1 of 2)

Why do I hate Wednesday?

2017-12-26 / / 0 Comments
Everyone who has been following me on social media knows that I’m not a huge fan of Wednesday, in fact I don’t like that day at all.
Hate is such a strong emotion, isn’t it?

For a German translation of this post, please click here.

Applying logic to emotions?

Emotions are just that, you cannot analyze them or come up with a list of compelling reasons why you love one thing and hate the other.  Trying to analyze feelings is a bit futile and a bit nonsensical, but let’s try to dig deeper into my utter hatred of Wednesday.

Origins of hate

It goes back to my college days, when Wednesday had the most lectures, with the worst professors (and I use the term professor loosely), and most of the time it seemed like Wednesday was a meet-up for everyone I despised.

Remember her? That’s Wednesday from the Addams family, charming, isn’t she?

How does a Wednesday feel?

I’ll try to compare it to some common physical pains to get the point across: It’s similar to the chronic pains that kick in the most inappropriate of times, the grinding of knees from driving too much in rush hour, the acidic burns of the stomach ulcer, the awful feeling you get on the first day of getting a flu, and that loud painful alarm and vibration headache generated by your phone that never really gets out of your head even if you drink a jug of coffee. That pressing feeling caused by a combination of stress and anxiety that something bad is going to happen, to me that’s what a Wednesday feels like.

And the bad lunch is always a Wednesday, Always.. 

Other reasons aren’t as clear

Tragic events on a personal level happened on a Wednesday,  two that I could recall clearly that had catastrophic events on me were both Wednesdays (that I’m really not ready to talk about publicly), and the day that I’ve quit my job in Schlumberger was a Wednesday too – a tough day to say the least – the nasty flu symptoms I described above also started on a Wednesday.

It could be a case of bias thinking or a pattern that I only see that doesn’t exist. Connecting the invisible dots lead to only one conclusion that I despise Wednesdays.

The term “Hump day” didn’t create itself, you know. 

Showing some love

If Wednesday was a person, I’d hug him tightly, around the neck mostly; and choke until the poor bastard’s eyes pop out. Then I’d set the whole week on fire just for the hell of it.
That’s how much I like Wednesday.

Garfield hates his Mondays and I hate my Wednesdays, and for now it seems like things are going to stay the same.

Hating 1/7 of my life isn’t exactly a smart idea, and I’d like to program myself to like – or at least – tolerate Wednesdays. But I don’t think it’s happening any time soon.

What about you? Do you have a day that you don’t like so much? How about sharing your hate in the comment section below?
And if it’s Wednesday, well join the club!

A vicious cycle

2017-12-22 / / 0 Comments
Heads up: This post was written for venting purpose only, it doesn’t provide any solutions or suggest them even remotely, and yes; it’s pretty damn depressing.

For the German version of this post, click here.  

I’m still living in Libya – using the term living loosely as usual -, and it seems like all my attempts to get out are failing miserably, so for what’s it worth, I’m sticking here for a while.

Everyday life

It always amazes me, how these people can survive on scraps, now matter how long I ponder this I can’t seem to wrap my head around it, and whoever is ruling seems to be pushing them to the limits, see how long they can survive without security, water, electricity, money and infra structure.
But somehow they are surviving. a bit like the walking dead – if you ever watched that show.
Word breaks out of a clash somewhere, huge lines at gas stations, that crisis ends and soon after a cooking gas crisis begins.
One shortage after the other, one made up crisis after the other. War breaks without notice in this hell hole. It defies reason and defies purpose. Yet that is how the system -and I use the term loosely- works.
If it rained like it would normally do, the streets would drown and mobility becomes very limited, usually combined with long power outages.

Photo credit: Safepath Group

Attempting to apply logic to these people is a sin, life is turning into a paradox inside of a paradox covered in camouflage textile.

The economy

No matter how hard they strike at them, they don’t respond. No matter how high the prices rise or how long the queues get to obtain basic needs, they just get lined up to get whatever for however.
It gets colder, the electricity goes off for days, it gets hotter the electricity also gets off for days on end, for an economy with so much inflation going on I’m surprised that there is a lack of money in the banks!
What are they doing then? Mostly stabbing each other in the back and trying to make the most of a bad situation, raising the prices of goods and services to squeeze every penny possible from people.

Others aren’t as affected by the situation like most

While most Libyans struggle to make ends meet, a few are living the life! Pictures of fancy homes, cars, and lavishing weddings surface on-line (thanks to facebook for this) to brag fortane and social status. With everything being covered in Nuttela chocolate (it’s a big deal here for some reason!).
Libyans always liked to brag in weddings and show that they have as much money as the next guy, even if they have to borrow money in order to do so, but that kind of splurging money is a whole new level. Is it a case of the lipstick effect?

The political scene in Libya

For a country that has a pair of each: Government, parliament, central bank. Everything is going down hill (assuming that the more the merrier of course)

  • Corruption eating away what’s left of Libya’s wealth.
  • No security
  • Local currency is non existent, and for something so rare it’s worthless.
  • No functioning bodies of governance.
  • No power / fuel to operate basic daily needs.

Governments change without the slights audit, in fact most of the former ministers and prime ministers are enjoying a peaceful retirement abroad, and no one checked if they embezzled money before leaving office, as if anyone one cared!
Laws are passed without anyone noticing and the only rule is the lack of rules!
How will a government work right if it’s not audited by the parliament.
How will the parliament asses any thing if the members fail to meet each time?!

The vicious cycle

Sadly most of the problems that are happening now happened before, some happened years ago like the liquidity issue and the high price of the US dollar on the black market, others happen each year like the water ponds caused by rain fall, if these issues are periodical, than they can be easily predicted and solved if there was a government of sort, but no! These issues will continue to occur because that’s how Libya functions.

Finally

Will it be fixed someday? Does anyone have a magic wand to make it all better? Chances are no one does. But if everyone does his part and takes responsibility for their action, then things could improve.

As a young man who grew up and lived all of his life in Libya, I don’t think that it will be fixed in my life time, and I’m not too excited about starting a family in these conditions and hope that my children would have it better.

I really hope that the people of this country wake up, and realize that what are they doing is drowning all of us, because we are on the same boat.

Cross roads

2017-05-30 / / 0 Comments
Good day to my English speaking readers. Assuming you can’t read in Arabic (or that you are too lazy to copy the text and paste in Google translate, just kidding!) I’ve changed the blog’s name to Black coffee, I’ve been blogging on this blog for 5 years and I’m almost at 300,000 page views! How about that?

The age old question!

I’m faced with a conundrum: The top read posts are in Arabic but most of the comments are in English. A mix between the two seems to be the answer, but I’m yet to balance the two.

Catching up

Life continues to drag on as a bit of the same old, with some clashes every now and then erupting in the middle of the city to make us appreciate the status quo.
Ramadan has been pleasant so far despite the astronomical prices, the weather is cool and GECOL are itching to find an excuse to start cutting the electricity. If it can only last until the end of Ramadan? Third world problems at it’s best.

My job

My job continues to be a soul crushing cycle of routine and melancholy. A cycle that I waited for two years to be a part of. The salaries are meager, when divided by the black market rate of the US dollar (which controls in the price of everything in Libya) I find that I get paid a little more than 80$ a month. Try living by that tiny amount of money (which I’m not even getting due to a nation wide liquidity crisis, it’s so bad my account has been frozen by the bank because I haven’t cashed out money in over a year).

Getting married?

Everyone I know seems to be either getting engaged or getting married. It’s like they are answering some mating call that I’m not receiving.
When I ask my friends why do they want to get married. Their ready answer for this is that it is the next step that everybody seems to be taking.
Go to school, graduate, get a job, and get married.
I’m not too eager to share my life with someone else (assuming that I can afford the long and complicated courtship process that is a Libyan wedding) so for the next few years god willing, I’m staying single..

It doesn’t seem fair!

When I come to think of it, I haven’t done anything with my life, I graduated from college only to start working almost right away. And now when I’ve finally settled at a job, I find that the next step other than post graduate studies is getting married. What?

What I REALLY want to do

What I really want to do is travel! I’m yet to travel abroad with the exception of Tunisia (with all due respect, my two trips to Tunisia were awful). I’d like to go to new places and explore the world. It doesn’t have to be fancy or glamorous, I just want to gain experience and see the world, that is one of the things I have in my bucket list. And none of those items is getting married, none!




Delaying marriage is a personal decision, I’m not going door to door canceling weddings and breaking hearts! Maybe in two or three years I will be convinced to go through the bells and whistles for someone, but for the time being this seems like the worst idea I could think of (right after staying in Libya!!).

Sour grapes

What’s so good about marriage anyway? I’m not saying it’s sour grapes. But every married person I know is complaining about one thing or the other. Be it the spouse or the children or the high cost of life. I know I’m not the happiest person you would meet, but I know well enough not to sign up to a misery camp when the subscription fee is everything I made + my life taken away from me.

Final words

Are you married? Getting married soon? Single like myself? I believe that everyone has a story to tell and a unique perspective of his own. And I’d like to hear your story in the comments section below.

Have a nice day. And hug your kids if you have kids.

Winter in Tripoli with power cuts

2017-01-06 / / 0 Comments
The cold season is here, and with the cold season comes some unpleasant things.
Flu seems to be taking the population by storm, everybody is forced to get it at least once *sniff, and I’m no exception.


For the German version of this post, please check this post translated by Mrs. Angelika Gutsche

Electricity, again!

Another sad phenomenon that comes with winter is long power cuts, it’s funny that an oil producing country isn’t able to provide electricity to power up the capital, but that’s how it is.
Notice how I said the capital and not the country, other cities don’t have this issue, it’s just Tripoli.

Which is very stupid – if I’m allowed to rant here- because Tripoli has all the services: Banks, ministries, and communication companies, which means that when you cut the power off of Tripoli, you are shooting yourself in the foot, basically.

It gets colder every year!

This winter is very cold, I know that every winter seems to be the coldest ever, but this one is really cold!
And the lack of electricity means the lack of heating and hot water! Actually water in general, because the pumps that are used to lift the water are electric.

“Alternative” ways to keep warm

I pity those who were forced to leave their homes in this cold due to the on going conflict in Libya, it’s a terrible time to be outside, and I can’t imagine how does it feel not to have a place to go to, a harsh reminder to always be grateful of what you have, amen!

With the lack of electricity we had to improvise, we pulled an old grill and turned it into a makeshift fireplace, or what we call in Libya a “Kannon”, it uses coal for warming up the place.

كانون فحم ليبي
A makeshift fireplace, Kanoon.
Maybe thats the only good thing about the power cuts, having the families get together around the fire, the wind howling outside, telling old tales and sharing a good laugh as the fire clacks and hisses.

A fair warning tho, keeping the “Kannon” in a closed room may cause suffocation, and many people over the years died of carbon monoxide suffocation, how many died this year because of the cold and suffocation? Who knows? I know who to blame tho! #GECOL.

Sadly after writing this bit I learned that 7 people in the mountain city of Ghryan has been admitted to the hospital due to suffocation, and over 200 people with Pneumonia, seven of them who are seriously ill.  

Lack of house insulation

Another thing I have in mind is house insulation, we don’t have that, at all! Our houses are just blocks of cement that is extremely hot in the summer (we had the temperature go up to 50 degrees last summer) and really cold in the winter; the exact opposite of insulation!
Which means that we need to use electric heaters to keep the house warm, and those things consume electricity like hell!

A popular beverage makes a heroic comeback!

On a lighter subject, a popular winter drink has found it’s way into our kitchen, powdered millet, known in Libya and many Arab countries as “Sahleb.
كوب من السحلب
A glass of millet.
It’s a coffee like beverage made from: powdered millet, sugar, water and milk; served warm and it tastes very nice! It’s a good way to fight the cold.

Major hit to productivity

I am struggling to get things done, I’m yet to adapt to this lack of electricity arrangement, and trying to sync my sleep cycle with it failed badly!
So much for productivity, I feel like I went back to the 19 century (and watching Sherlock wherever we had power made this idea more plausible).
How am I supposed to get anything done on 7 hours of electricity a day, if these seven hours are the same hours I’m asleep at?

Final words

Here we are in Libya, surviving barely, struggling to make a living when everything seems to be standing against us, with no money or electricity; I am not sure how long this struggle is supposed to last, I’m positive that it won’t last very long (as if we can survive like this for much longer).

This was my weekly post, I hope you are feeling warm and fuzzy reading this, wherever you are.

Please tell me of how you and your families face this freezing cold and power cuts, and share this post on your social media for more engagement.

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