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 :-)
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 :-)
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