All you need is... Fireworks!

I can't say my Arabic improved much while on this trip - but I'm pretty sure this said something celebratory.

On the topic, I don't think I've come across people more prone to throw a party. An excuse is barely needed (although interestingly birthdays are typically not celebrated). It could be anything; a promotion, a graduation, a particularly good hair day… anything is enough to send out an invite to everyone and their cousin to come along to chow down on a home made banquet and set off fireworks.

That’s not meant metaphorically – people here are literally mad about fireworks. On any given night I could stand on the roof and look out over the city at a vista of exploding colour. One theory on their popularity is due to a need to replace the now-illegal practice of pointing firearms skywards and firing. A slightly macabre scenario springs mind as to how this particular edict may have been reached – perhaps an ongoing series of funerals, each of which, having been celebrated with the traditional, indiscriminately-aimed salute, led to the unfortunate need for another burial, drawing more and more people into a chain of funerals that eventually brings the country to a grinding halt.

But I digress.