goodbye 1st algerian apartment

Sean's year lease is up at our current apartment, and tomorrow we will be moving to a hotel until our next apartment is ready.  We don't get any say with this new apartment, so I am excited/nervous to see what it's like.  But before we leave, here are some pictures to show where I have spent most of my time over the past month.

Our living room, which also became our bedroom because it's the only room with AC.  Sean plays play station while I blog, while I read, while I give him dirty looks to turn it off.  :-)  But I can't blame him, sooo little on TV, and he's very good about asking if it's ok with me.

 

The other half of the living room.  Obviously it's supposed to be the dining area, but really acted more as a laptop/tech center for us.  To get internet access, you have to sit on this side of the room. 

Our overly red bathroom part 1, desperately in need of a shower curtain.  The toilet is in another overly red room nearby, complete with red toilet seat.

 

My room, used only for clothes, shoes, and drying laundry.

 

Sean's room, used for his clothes and bags of Algerian gear.  We stole his matress for the living room.

 

The 3rd bedroom, a.k.a. Sean's other room he moved his clothes to when his first room got too messy.

 

The super retro kitchen... so orange!

 

 

 

Our apartment was on the 3rd floor, so we had some stairs to hike.  Luckily there were these windows/holes in the walls to let in a breeze.  And I thought the view from these windows made for some cool artsy pics. 

 

Probably my favorite place to be in the apartment was out on the balcony.  See our Mediterrian view! (Hint: right in the middle of the picture, between the buildings, where it is a little darker blue)

 

One fun part about being on the 3rd floor was I could kinda spy on what's happening below me.

 

One down side of being up high-- the evil looking pigeons liked hanging out there too.  This one looked more like a vulture to me.  They would sit, sleep, and poop above doorways leading out to the balcony.  And often scared the crap out of me.

The street our apartment is on.  FOX movies was our movie store, where all movies are illegally burned, and unfortunately most are in french.

 

 In the year Sean has lived here, no progress has been made on this building....

yet we are woken up by the sounds of this garage/metal shop cutting metal shop every morning.

So that's it for pictures for now.  I know people want to see more photos of people in Algeria, but it's kinda hard to sneak taking pictures when everyone is looking at me all the time, and I don't want to offend anyone.  But I will keep trying.  I'm hoping our hotel/next apartment will have a better view for spying.  I also don't know what the internet situation will be at the hotel, so it may be 2 weeks or so until I get to another blog.  We will see... "In sha'Allah" (which you hear alllll the time here, and means "God Willing"). 

FINALLY! friendly faces and people to party with

I've now been living in Algeria a month.  Sean and I had an awesome night celebrating his birthday, and have been taking advantage of the Sheraton beach, pool, and gym. Our quality time has been amazing, and skype is working out well.  But I've definitly been missing human interactions. 

Last week I was watching MTV Arabia (which is english-speaking about 70% of the time), and "Call Me Maybe" came on.  It made me think about how much I miss my phone ringing.  No chance of anyone calling me maybe.  And just when I was starting to feel pretty pathetic...

...American Embassy to the rescue!

About a week ago, Sean received an invitation to attend an OSAC meeting and dinner scheduled for this past Wednesday (OSAC= Overseas Security Advisory Council).  Initially I was not invited, but got lucky when some others cancelled and there would be empty seats at the table.  So I was thrilled just to have something to do and english-speakers to hang out with.  I had no idea what a VIP atmosphere I was going to be part of.  Oh how naive I am.

Upon arriving at the embassy, we were greeted by people in fancy suits, who introduced themselves as Peter, Nicole, and David... but were really the heads of OSAC and American defense.  And once the "FBI guy" arrived, we were ready to head to the villa where dinner would be held.  Once at the villa, we met our host for the night, Jim, a.k.a. the CEO of a major oil company.  He said he was acting as bartender for the night, filling our wine glasses whenever they were close to empty.  I constantly kept thinking, "How did my little 1st grade teacher self end up here??"  We sat down at a beautifully set table that I somehow ended up smack dab in the middle of.  I got a flashback of a first dinner at a boyfriend's house in high school, where I attempted to crack a crab claw and accidently flung part of it at my bf's older brother-- please don't let that happen!  But the great conversations, along with the endless glasses of wine, quickly put me at ease, and I ended up having an amazing time.  We had 4 delicious courses, and it was awesome being around other Americans who also didn't know exactly how to eat the whole fish with head on that we were served for course 3.  Luckily I was seated next to Nicole who knew what to do, then Sean copied me, the FBI guy copied him, and Nicole's method slowly made its way around the table.  It was so cool to see how this group of people, so much more educated and wordly and frankly more important than me, were just as thrown off with crazy Algeria as I was.  I felt like we bonded over the head-on fish.  At the end of the dinner, we were invited to attend the Marine Black and White Party going on the following night.

So Thursday night Sean and I got dressed and headed over to the Marine house, and it was just like an American party!  Most of the people we had met the previous night were there, along with many other VIPs, marines...and even scantily dressed girls (very un-Algerian).  I met even more super friendly, amazing people, and women/wives like me looking for friends to hang out with!  In many ways these people are very different from me, but in many ways so much the same.  One highlight for Sean: while many of the big wigs waited in line to talk to the Ambassador, the Ambassador pulled Sean aside to ask him for a basketball schedule.  We partied there until the party shut down, and apparently I need to get some business cards so I can participate in the exchange that happens at the end of a night.  We were offered a ride home, and when it came time to get out of the car, I couldn't get the door open.  I didn't think I drank that much.  Turns out it wasn't me... it was a bullet proof car with extremely heavy doors. 

So in a nutshell... things are looking up for me in Algeria!  I'm so excited to hang out with these people more.  Making new friends, but still sooooo missing the old :-)

life is like... an episode of "Mad Men"??

Although Ramadan is over, there is still not a whole lot to do in Algeria, especially without a car.  And with only a few english speaking channels on TV, we have been catching up on box sets.  One of these box sets is "Mad Men."  And while life in Algeria is definitly not exciting enough to make a TV show out of, I can't help but notice all the ways that life here does mirror this show. 

Everyone smokes all the time.
With it being illegal to smoke inside in Maryland, it is glaringly obvious how often people smoke in Algeria.  The other day we went to the Sheraton for a day at the beach/pool and to get some dinner.  Not only were cigarettes being smoked everywhere... one guy brought his hooka to the pool! 

Men hang out and drink all the time.
The difference here is that on the show the men are always drinking liquor.  In Algeria, men are always drinking coffee.  And the coffee here is so strong, it's basically coffee crack.  I will drink an XL Dunkin Donuts coffee at home, but a small cup here will sometimes give me the shakes.  But whatever is being drank, men still use it as a reason to hang out... "A drink with the boys." 

Men go out, women hold down the fort.
Walking through the neighborhood, you see many more men than women.  When you do see women, they aren't hanging around as the men are, they are shopping (more for food than clothes) or taking care of young ones.  Even with children, there are many more little boys playing outside than little girls.  Holding down the fort is also much more time consuming here than in America, as there are no dishwashers, no dryers, and not all families have washing machines.  I have already broken 2 bowls and a plate trying to do dishes by hand.

The cost of living is so low.
Recently Sean and I went to a local "grocery store."  I put grocery store in quotes because it can barely be called that with its limited selection.  CVS puts this place to shame.  But for about $13 we got milk, bread, fruit, juice, yogurt, a candy bar, paper towels, and chips.

Men get around.
On the show, the men always have a mistress on the side.  In Algeria, while men are faithful to their wives, it is also allowed for men to have multiple wives (although most men agree, "I can't handle more than one!")

There is a lack of air conditioning.
We recently watched the "Indian Summer" episode, where the characters think about getting air conditioning units.  We are lucky to have an air conditioning unit, but only in the main living room.  To be in any other room, you are sweating within 5 minutes.  Sean and I now refer to this room as the fort, as we have moved our mattress into it and spend 95% of our time at home there.


I have wondered what it would be like to live in 1950s/1960s America, and now I feel I've gotten a taste.  And while I acknowledge my relating life here to "Mad Men" probably means I've been watching a little too much of it on tv.... at least life isn't resembling "Dexter."