March 04, 2011 - Friday
We went to church this morning. After the mass we went home where Kiko prepared a delicious meal. I decided to exchange room with him because mine had door and windows opening up to the terrace (which was the reason why I had chosen it before). I feel my room is unsafe these days. Kiko's room had only a door leading to the hallway and was a lot bigger (he turned it into a mini playground when his kids arrived and stayed with us for awhile.
When I was trying to convince Kiko about the idea of exchanging rooms, I told him that I like to have a bigger room so I could put my bed as faraway from the windows as possible and that would give me some leverage in case the flat would be bombed. Bok retorted, "If this building would be bombed, they'll drop it to the rooftop and it won't matter wherever you put your bed." I made a face at him and started spilling my possessions in his room so he had no choice but to transfer his things to my former quarters. He finished fixing his new room earlier because I had accumulated more things (and because I took my time doing my chore .... as always!).
Bok and I had an agreement that I would go with him to Zletin because he had to bring his money there. (There was a Western Union office which was still open in Zletin before he left.) He was desperate to send most of his money to the Philippines because his daughters need it very badly. The last time he sent was in January yet. I wasn't so worried because I was able to send money before the rebellion started and Benjo, my second son, told me not to worry because he would take care of the family in case I wouldn't be able to send money at once.
Usually, money from the bank comes in 5 or 10 dinar bills (if you get 20's, you're really lucky!) so LYD 5000 is definitely quite a bundle. having to pass through 10 checkpoints made Kiko anxious about the attention it would get so he decided to bring me along. According to him, women do not normally go through body search. He asked to choose a pair of loose pants from my wardrobe on which he could sew secret pockets to store the bundles of cash we have to bring as we travel.
By the time Kiko was finished sewing, I was not even halfway fixing my new room. By then I was already too tired to even lift a finger. He asked me to try the pants on while he fixed dinner. I tried it on, practiced walking and sitting on it, and exclaimed: "Okay, I look like a pregnant woman but at least it's comfortable." He said, "I used two big handkerchiefs instead of plastic bags which was my original plan because I know you'd feel uncomfortable with the plastic."
After dinner, we decided to watch a movie (our second favorite pastime, the first one is talking endlessly for hours about any topic under the sun, usually after meals). We watched it in his room (because my room was still messy and we would eat potato chips and drink Pepsi Max and I didn't like spill offs on my bed). The movie , "The President", was a 2005 American movie starring Michael Douglas. It was actually a love story between the widower American president and an activist lobbyist, but there was one scene there which was quite eerie. In that scene the President was called to an emergency meeting by his national defense and foreign affairs staff because Libya was threatening to bomb Europe using nuclear power within the next 24 hours. The US Intelligence had pinpointed the Libyan command center from which the bomb would be activated. The suggestion of his men was to bomb the Libyan Intelligence Center, because they are already pressed with time. They discussed whether there was a possibility of missing the target and hurting civilians in the other buildings nearby. The president was assured that they would not miss because it was precision target and computerized. He was faced then with the dilemma of authorizing the bombing of the said Libyan office. He was informed that there were civilian employees in the building who might not be aware of the military activities in the other parts of the edifice. He asked how many shifts were working in that building and when told, he instructed his men to choose the shift with the least number of staff in the building. Then reluctantly, he said: "Go ahead, bomb Libya" (referring to the office spoken of).
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