Welcome to Libya!!! 3 nights down and I'm still alive, and not regretting it just yet. Cally and I have a lovely flat in an area called Hay Al Dimashq ("Region of Damascus") which is the top floor of of a family home - 3 daughters and 2 sons, all roughly our age. Last night they invited us down for tea, and we spent an hour and a half chatting in Arabic and English. The 12 year old son (Suheil) has made himself very useful by helping us out every time we fail to get through the front door. Which is approximately every time we try to get into the flat.

Nearby are various shops, which so far seem to stock everything we could possibly want. There is also a hospital (which is the landmark for taxi drivers) which calls itself, ingeniously, "Libyan centre for health investment and management".

The rest of the team are lovely, I've met all except one who is ... umm ... somewhere. Maybe Misrata. I'm part of a sub-team of three teaching in Gumhouria Bank (one of the big important ones). Once I start properly (this week I'm shadowing) I'll be teaching managers in groups of up to 8, and directors in groups of 2. I've met most of my future students so far and they seem very nice. It seems I'll be running around between 3 or 4 different branches of the bank, but they're all quite close together in the city centre. And the Open Cities office is very close to 2 of the branches, making life pretty easy. The flat is a 20-minute taxi drive from the centre.

There's a sheep in the house opposite our flat, it bleats from time to time and Cally and I think we will probably quite miss it (although we can't see it) when it is slaughtered for Eid, which is ... umm ... soon.

More when more happens. Finishing note: Libyans on the whole seem to be much politer than Egyptians. Especially the men.