Sebah (sebha)

After spending a few days in Tripoli, I reported to my first day of work. Friday and Saturday constitute the weekend in this part of the world so my first official day of work was Sunday. I did the standard first day of work stuff for a few hours. I filled out paperwork, got shown my desk, and was introduced around to everyone in the office. Then something unusual happened for a first day. I was handed a plane ticket and told I was leaving at 12:30 to go to a town called Sebah for a few days. Sebha, Sabha, Sabah, I’ve seen it spelled multiple different ways since I got here.

Sebah is located in the South part of Libya. To get here involves an hour plane flight on Libya Air. I’ve been told there are a few flights a day from Tripoli down here. Flying out of the Tripoli airport is a little interesting. First, the metal detectors are really just there because they enjoy watching the red lights and buzzers go off whenever anyone walks through them. The same goes for the x-ray machines. Regardless, most people aren’t stopped. Most even includes us Americans sometimes. When you get back, you walk through the same metal detectors going the other way. I don’t have any pictures of the airport. I was told that was very frowned upon and I didn’t feel like getting my camera confiscated my first week in country. Taking pictures of ninjas is one thing, but the boys in the blue camo uniforms don’t look very friendly.

Without boring anyone with talk about work, I’ll tell you that Sebah is in the Sahara Desert. Yes, it is pretty much as you would imagine it, except for the asphalt highway. Not all of my projects are fortunate enough to have paved roads to them. I hope you enjoy the video…the music is great. My driver in Sebah does not speak English. He knows the name of the sites, and I pretty much trust him to take me where I’m supposed to go. When I get hungry, I say “shwarmee” and he takes me somewhere to eat. Shwarmee is the Libyan equivalent of chicken fajitas. They're actually pretty good.