The New Frontier....Teaching in Tripoli, Libya

When the name Libya is brought up images fill your mind with violence, revolution, and of course Ghadafi. While Violence is still rampant throughout the country the fact is the revolution has ended and Ghadafi is dead. This is a new Libya, a confusing bewildering mess of post revolution problems and concerns wrapped in a title wave of misleading political chaos, but one thing is very clear when you arrive, Libya is in fact free from the megolamanalical dictator who was the one and only thing people knew about in this country.

Landing in Tripoli airport you are instantly flashed with machine gun wielding youth in camo and the reality of the infrastructure of a hard fought revolution. I just happened to arrive at eleven at night, so the feelings of tension were ever more present, but everything worked out. Amazingly my bags came through on the belt, everything was intact and my boss was there to greet me. Once we shifted pass the taxi mafia we were in the car and on our way into Tripoli. It should be noted that arriving at night is not advisable, airport road as they call it is frequently the battleground for fighting rebel factions and criminal activities, but tonight I was safe.

From the airport the first sight you will see is the Bab Al Azizia, Ghadafi’s former palace and den of evil. These days all that is left is a giant graffiti wall encircling a compound full of rubble, poverty, and highly armed “Militia Rebels”. Next comes a series of NATO bombed out building’s that all come with a story of heroism and terror, and beyond that you arrive at Martyr Square the heart of Tripoli. It can be misleading until you arrive here, when all you see is the consequences of war and then you are hit with a square surrounded by beautiful Italian/Ottoman architecture, functioning fountains and smiling faces everywhere, the feeling is surreal.

Just off of Martyr square are streets filled with Turkish, Italian, Tunisian, and spoof western restaurant chains such as uncle Kentuki (KFC). Tonight we chose Italian. You’d be surprised how good some of the food here actually is, but it is.

Our hotel “Golden Beach” is just down the street not to far from here on the sea front, arriving here I was pleasantly to see that the hotel was in fact functioning like most hotels do, the rooms were clean and the Wifi worked… well sort of. Sleeping here is something you must get used to though. A country with only a few laws (which none are actually enforced) means that items such as fireworks are used every night, everywhere by every single Libyan who can get their hands on some, seriously it is like world war three some nights and on top of all that there is a symphony of machine guns, hand guns and most likely the odd explosive added to the noise of Chinese fireworks. This place is wild, a place in which you could never imagine, this is Libya after nearly forty years of hell.

The next day we began to set things up at our college. Our college is located on “Tile Street”, a street filled with shop after shop all selling the same products… not sure how business is done but hey I am not here to judge. All day and the following three days consisted up of preparing to open the English school. But on Friday I got my first glimpse of the Tripoli medina.

The Medina is the heart of Tripoli; its winding narrow streets are filled with people selling and haggling goods from around Libya and the world. Some alley ways are designated to copper banging where they make pots, pans and the crescent to put atop the mosques, others are filled with black market money changing and there is even a complete intact covered part selling every kind of traditional North African clothing attire from Berber tribal to modern Libyan marriage attire. My favorite is the carpet bazaar which also houses colonial antiques, and a wide variety of illegal animal skins and ivory products all from the past empires who have ruled here. It’s easy to get lost in these labyrinth alley ways and completely forget what this country has been through in the past years. Keep walking and you will be reminded by all the foreign powers that have been here. First you will see Ottoman and Arab architecture, keep going and you will be faced with the Arch of Marcus Aurelius a symbol that Tripoli was once a vital part of the Roman Empire., this complex blend of architecture and cultures is a beautiful and intoxicating mix I have grown to love.

Next it’s compulsory to delve into something so knitted into Libyan culture…. Nargile. Nargile or smoking Sheesha is a favorite past time for Libyans. Walk the Medina long enough and you are defiantly going to smell the fruity perfumes from the Nargile coffee houses. I found a locals only kind of place which I now frequent very often for its authentic off the beaten track feeling, the location of it… undisclosed. The Ahwa (Nargile coffee shop) is an example of beautiful Medina based architecture and is easy to get cozy and relax with a Nargile pipe and Arabic style coffee, I recommend this too you completely.  

Exiting the Medina you are hit with the reality of Libya, youth militia, random gangster dudes with handguns and road block after roadblock of security militia. This is the new Libya I am here to explore and I am only craving to see more.