Last night I was invited to a social affair hosted by the US Embassy. Lynn and I had met several of the Embassy staff at church so, even though I am without my social chairperson, I decided to go alone.

We might have mentioned sometime in the past that we live outside of the downtown area near Gargaresh Road. This is one of the few roads in Tripoli that actually has a name that anyone knows. It has miles and mile (or should I say kilometers and kilometers) of shops. We're talking ladies fancy dress shops, toy stores, grocery stores, appliance shops from vacuum cleaners to commercial kitchen appliances, furniture stores, bedding stores, butcher shops, . . . . you are starting to get my drift. Anyway, after sundown this part of town becomes "the drag". Men and women in vehicles poking along, speeding along, brakes and tires screaming as cars speed up and slow down, horns honking, people yelling - way too much testosterone! So into this fray our three vans dove as we made our way to the party. This night, I was one of the lucky ones who had a driver who knew where he was going. One of the other drivers called to let us know that he was lost. We gave him instructions of where to meet us and waited for them to arrive then proceeded to the party.

As socials go, this one was nice, nothing fancy, just an opportunity for people to get together, exchange business cards, have a little "California grape juice" or other adult beverage and visit about things in general and nothing in particular. I met some guys from Boston and Dallas with the Commerce Department. They just happened to be in town and managed an invitation. There were a number from other Embassies represented beside the US of A. I guess that there's an unofficial group of folks that comprise the "cocktail set" of International Diplomatic Corps.

After making our way back through the crowds again, we got home late and still had one more day of work in the week ahead of us. Six am came mighty early. It seemed that I had just put my head on the pillow. The good thing is "TGIT" Thank Goodness It's Thursday (our Friday).

By the way - Ramadan started at sundown tonight. It's going to be an interesting next 30 days.

RAMADAN KAREEM

Rick