Sec State visit!

Well, instead of enjoying the beautiful city of Barcelona, Kirk & I spent the weekend working at the embassy. When I returned back from the Mary McBride band tour, I was told that our boss was coming to visit U.S. Embassy Algiers.  What was supposed to be a 4 day weekend turned into close to 80 hours of work between Kirk & I!!

 I was asked to be the site officer for the embassy meet & greet event and Kirk worked the control office in the hotel.  It was a great experience but we are both exhausted!!  We had to reschedule our Barcelona trip and our hotel was non refundable but all the overtime should make up for that. 
It is incredible the amount of planning and preparation that go into a visit like this.  We were short staffed at the embassy because this holiday weekend is like our Christmas in the states.  To the Muslims, this is their biggest religious holiday of the year so it was difficult finding local staff willing to work. 

This visit was a bit of a surprise and we got less than the normal amount of time to plan for it.  Things were very hectic!  Secretary Clinton was supposed to arrive late Monday and visit the embassy Tuesday morning but because of hurricane Sandy, they moved up the departure time to make sure she got out of DC before the storm hit.  So she arrived a full day early, which caused quite a bit of extra work! 

She has been to Algeria twice this year, which is rare.  She rarely visits the same country more than once a year.  It was quite an honor for the country. 

Band roadie in the Sahara!!

I was asked last week to fill in last minute for a trip with the Mary McBride band into the south part of Algeria (Sahara desert).  I left on Saturday and we flew to a town called Ouargla.  As we flew in, we had a great view of the Sahara.  It was surreal. 

We stayed in a hotel that I NEVER would have stayed at in the states!! LOL  Those of you who know me well, know that I am a self-proclaimed hotel snob!!  First of all, everyone smokes everywhere, so that was not good.  The decor of the hotel looked like something out of the 70's with purple textured wallpaper, shag area rugs in the bathroom, floral bed spread,and a phone that I didn't even think they made anymore.  The tv had no channels in english or subtitles so I got to practice my french! The shower area was a tiny cube with a hand held shower (that fell apart upon my first shower).  The toilet was in a separate area.  They did provide a large bottled water in the small fridge which I used to brush my teeth.  One of the doors to my patio didn't lock so I wedged a chair up underneath it.  The door to my room was covered with leather and the lock was an actual key.  To lock the door from the inside, you had to put the key in and lock yourself in.  Good thing there wasn't a fire!  We sat outside on the patio the first night and had some wine (thank goodness the restaurant served alcohol)!!  The minister of cultural affairs from the city hosted a traditional dinner in a huge tent for us.  We sat on the floor on pillows in this huge tent, covered in beautiful tapestries.  They served us salad, bread, traditional soup (which was lamb & couscous), bourek (which are meat filled egg rolls), then plates of meat (chicken, lamb & quail) with herbed couscous and then baskets of fruit for dessert.  It was a wonderful dinner and great atmosphere.  We drank some more wine on the patio, hoping it would help us get to sleep.  It didn't because the beds were very hard and uncomfortable.

The next day, we went a radio station to promote the concert where the band sang an accapella version of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot".  That song has meaning here and they sounded great in 4 part harmony.

We drove around the city of Ouargla for awhile, found an Algerian soccer jersey for Mary to put on during the concert and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the concert.  The band played in an open air colisseum type venue.  There were about 400 men and about 10 women (very typical in the more traditional Muslim cities).  The women aren't allowed out without chaperones.  I introduced the band to the crowd and got an ovation!  I guess they don't see too many 6 ft blondes in southern Algeria!  LOL  I sat in the front row with an Algerian colleague from the embassy.  The crowd came down close the stage and were dancing and having fun.  One young man pulled me up to dance and then after that, they were lining up to have their photos taken with me.  It was a weird feeling!! I kept telling them that I was not with the band but they didn't care!!  Then they started crowding around me and the security guard grabbed my arm and pulled me to the stage where he brought a chair up and made me stay up on stage behind the band for the rest of the night.  It was a very weird feeling!
The concert was great and the band awesome...if you haven't heard the Mary McBride band, check them out on facebook or google them.  They play country rock with some blues influence.  It was fabulous.  Mary put the Algerian soccer jersey on for the encore and the crowd went nuts!!

The band greeted a few people after the concert and took some photos and then off to the hotel.  We sat outside in the beautiful weather and drank a few more bottles of wine.

Next morning, we boarded a bus that looked straight out of the 60's to drive over 5 hours through the desert.  It was pretty cool.  We had a pit stop at this tea house where we had to use the bathroom but there was no way in Hades that I was going into that smelly, filthy place where there was only a hole in the ground.  My colleague and I had the armed security guard follow us out back to a walled area and we went behind the wall, amidst piles of garbage, to pee out back!!  Thank goodness for travel packs of kleenex.  On the way back there, we passed this small  cement structure and as we passed by this ferocious guard dog comes charging out of the structure, frothing at the mouth and snarling at us.  We screamed and the stupid security guard (the one with the gun), was behind us!!!  Thank God the dog was on a chain and we were out of reach!  The owner came out and took care of the dog until we finished our business out back!  What an adventure but when you gotta go, you gotta go!  :)

Back on the bus and through the desert. 

We arrived in the city of Biskra and checked into a hotel where we were greeted by a lobby full of taxidermy!  We checked into our rooms where the decor again was from the 70's.  We went to the dining room and encountered more taxidermy on the way, including a very badly stuffed camel.  These animals were just creepy looking!!  The dining room was huge and completely empty and one of the band members said "This reminds me of the movie The Shining".  Well, that freaked me out because he was right!!  Those of you who have seen The Shining would understand!  The food was completely terrible.  Mary and I ordered salads and couldn't finish them.  How do you screw up a salad?!  The lobby was full of smoke, as was the bar area. 

We rested after lunch and then were off to the concert venue for sound check.  This one was an indoor theather.  Another one of my American colleagues joined us in Biskra so the 2 of us were sitting in front, where we were inundated with photo requests (she is also a blonde).   There were about 200 people at this event with a few more women.  The band rocked hard and it was a great show.  Again the Algerian soccer jersey got a huge response!  They close every show with a rocking version of "Amazing Grace".  It is awesome!

We arrived back to the hotel, where we only had to spend one night.  I do have to say that the bed was much more comfortable and we had one channel that was playing movies in english with arabic subtitles.  The next morning, we toured the city, went to a date store to buy dates since this city is known for their dates, supposedly the best in all of Algiers. We then stopped at an outdoor cafe for coffee, where a senator from the city paid our bill.  The weather during the whole trip was absolutely beautiful.  It was hot and sunny, in the 90's during the day.

We had lunch at a local chwarma place.  It was really good and had the best bread!  Then off to the airport and back to Algiers by plane.  The van  stopped by my apartment where I dropped off my bags and picked up Kirk.  We then took the band to a Turkish restaurant called Bosphore.  They have super kabobs and we enjoyed several bottles of wine with our kabobs and great company!  The band is great and we laughed and relaxed.  The next day, we had to go back to work but the band had one more local concert to perform.  We took a van to the concert after work to the theatre.  We were backstage before the band went on.  The theater was very nice and it was a good crowd.  There were definitely more women and girls at this concert.  You could tell we were closer to the city!

The band left the next morning and I was sad to see them go.  It was a wonderful trip and great opportunity for me.  The band members were so nice and very fun to be around.  I miss them already! 

When I arrived back to work on Wednesday, I found out I was tasked with something big....which you will have to read about in my next blog!!  :)

Marseille, France

Due to the crazy on again, off again internet, we haven't updated in awhile.  Since we last posted, we took a long weekend trip to Marseille, France. We left work Thursday evening for the airport and flew directly to Marseille from Algiers.  We landed in Marseille a little after 11pm.  We had to find a bus that took us to St. Charles train station where we found the Metro station and took the Metro to the Old Port (Vieux Port) where our hotel was located.  We had to walk about 5 blocks at midnight to our hotel but no worries....the streets were FULL of people.  Every café, restaurant and pub had outside areas that were packed.  It was like a huge street festival was going on.  We must have looked really funny walking down the street pulling our suitcase!

We checked into the Radisson Blu hotel, which is right on the old port.  We had a nice room with a great view, overlooking the harbor.  We could also see St. Victor's Abbey out our window to the left.
We slept in on Friday morning and then took off exploring. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, with blue skies and brilliant sun.  We found a bakery (which wasn't hard to do since they are on about every corner in Marseille) and enjoyed breakfast sitting outside on a wall, overlooking the old port. 

 

 

After we finished our pastries, we started walking along the Mediteranean coast.  The water on the coast is so blue...I can understand now why the south of France is called Cote d'azur.  It is amazing!  We walked and enjoyed the coastline, the architecture of the old houses with their blue wooden shutters and wrought iron decorations.  We stopped for water and another snack at a patisserie. 

We kept walking along the coast and then veered up the hill toward Notre Dame de la Garde.  It was an intense uphill hike but so worth it when we got to the top.  The views from the cathedral were breathtaking, as was the actual basilica & cathedral itself.  One side of the cathedral still has the shell marks from German bombings in World War II.

On the way back down the hill towards our hotel, we saw a tank in the middle of the street.  It was a memorial from WWII.  The streets were very narrow and winding...some were still cobblestone.  It was a very charming neighborhood.  We definitely got our workout in with that hike! 

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at, yes, you guessed it, another bakery!!  We bought some sandwich type pastries, one with meat and cheese, the other like a bruschetta with ham.

We went back to the hotel and stretched out in the sun by the pool to rest.  The concierge suggested a couple of restaurants so we got cleaned up and ready to go to dinner.  We walked to the main square to have dinner, only to realize we were way too early!!  The restaurants didn't even open until 8:00pm!  So we wandered around the area for awhile and then went to the restaurant, where we sat outside on a beautiful evening and enjoyed a bottle of wine and some fabulous food!  Marseille is famous for their boullabaise but since I don't like fish, I didn't order it.  It was very expensive too...about 58 euro for a bowl of fish soup!  I had a wonderful green olive ravioli and Kirk had a nice filet of beef with "really good" mashed potatoes. The white wine was local and it was wonderful.  We were so full we didn't have room for dessert....but we had our share of sweets earlier in the day!  We tried eclairs, apple tarts, brioche, baguettes, beignets, ganache, and things I can't even pronounce!! LOL It was all so yummy!


We slept in again Saturday morning.  After we got up and moving, opened the windows and had a beautiful view of the port and we could hear the bells from St. Victor's abbey.  We grabbed a pastry for breakfast and headed for the port where we caught a shuttle out to les isles frioules (the Frioul islands).  We enjoyed a nice boat ride to the islands where we disembarked and proceeded to hike up the highest point of the island.  It was another beautiful day and the terrain on the island was dry and rocky...almost like Arizona!  There were lots of old stone buildings, bunkers  and gun mount stations from WWII.  The island served as a fort and first defense of the city against attacks by sea.  It was really amazing to see these ruins.  And the view of the bays and coves around the island were unbelievable....azur blue water dotted with white sailboats everywhere....and not just little sunfish sailboats, we are talking huge yacht type sailboats!!

After returning back to the port, we decided to check out the shopping districts.  It was fun to walk around the streets and see what kind of shops and stores they had.  There was a luxury district, an affordable district and the bargain district.  I went into a clothing store where I had my own personal assistant, bringing me different outfits to try on and helping with accessories.  I left the store with a beautiful navy dress for work and a silk scarf from Paris.  Thank you Kirk!!  We bought some wine and cheese to bring home with us, along with some lovely handmade soap. We were extremely hungry and wandered into a McDonald's in the shopping district to grab a snack and use the bathroom.  The prices were crazy and then I realized they sell Heineken beer at the McDonald's!!  How funny!  :) 

We went back to the hotel to rest up for dinner and this time we waited until 8 to go out!  The concierge recommended a yacht club right on the water for dinner so that is where we went.  It wasn't much to look at from the street side, but the inside was nice and we sat out on the deck to watch the boats coming in and out of the port. We enjoyed another great bottle of local wine and we both ordered filet with vegetables and hollandaise sauce (Yumm-o) and a side of pomme frites (french fries).  So good!  We shared a lemon macaron with lemon ice and lemon cream for dessert....ooh la la!!  So many pastries, so little time!! 

We had to leave the next morning for the airport.  It was hard to leave because we had such a great time and beautiful weather.  Getting around is very easy and we plan to go back again...next time we will go north into provence to explore the French countryside. 

Our next trip though, is planned for Barcelona, Spain at the end of the month.  Can't wait!!  More adventures to follow!

Market day

Just wanted to correct my earlier statement and let you know that the fresh baguettes only cost me 12 cents a piece today! 

We are making friends here in town.  On our way to the store, we saw our gelato clerk on the street and she said hello and asked how we were.  Then at our suprette, the clerk gave us two packs of free gum!  We stopped at a pastry shop to check out the goods and then stopped to get our fresh bread.  I learned how to ask for ground turkey at the butcher today so we are having turkey meatloaf for dinner.  Then our last stop was the fruits/vegetables stand where we bought some grapes, bananas & tomatoes. 

We attempted to say thank you in arabic...that is the only word we know!  Everyone was very  nice and I think they appreciate that we even try!

All the fruits/veggies and the eggs were promptly bleached and rinsed.  The tomatoes were chopped up and made into a fine bruschetta which we enjoyed with a baguette, sliced into garlic toast.  YUMMY! 

We sat outside by our pool today while we waited for our laundry to get done.  We are enjoying the nice weather before rainy season sets in. 

Back online...for the moment!

How frustrating to want to communicate and have the internet not cooperate with me!  The service has been on again off again for weeks.  They are supposed to send a technician from the embassy over to our apartment building to see what the problem is.  Our whole building is having issues.
Hopefully they will get it fixed for good this time.  Especially since we have already paid for the whole year's service.  We had to pay the whole year up front about 2 months before we arrived just to make sure that the service was set up and running by the time we arrived.  The customer service is pretty much non existent here.  I know we won't be receiving any credits or upgrades.  We aren't in Kansas anymore Toto!!

Things are relatively quiet here, considering what has happened at other embassies around the region.  The Algerian government has done a good job of keeping the embassy area protected.  We are still somewhat restricted but not as much as last weekend.  Transportation around town (to & from work) has to be in armored vehicles.  We have been asked not to go out alone and to use a buddy so thank goodness Kirk is my "buddy"!!  LOL   There have been some tense moments when things seem to be heading out of control but so far, no huge events.  Friday is prayer day here and after the afternoon call to prayer, there have been people talking in arabic over the loud speakers.  This has only happened the past couple of weekends and made me wonder what was being said.  The local mosque is a few blocks from my house so we hear the calls to prayer quite clearly.

Nothing much new to report since we have been on restriction and all of our trips have been cancelled.  We were supposed to go on a coastal trip this weekend.  Hope they reschedule it soon!

Kirk started his new job in the consular section and seems to be enjoying it so far.  He is learning to take biometric fingerprints.  The consular section is where they issue visas and give services to American citizens. 

We have already planned a trip to Marseille, France for the long weekend in October.  I can't wait!  We are staying in a hotel near the coast and are so looking forward to some good food!! 

We have been working out with our Playstation 3 EA sports until our stuff arrives from the states.  I also go to Zumba class at the embassy.  It is a good stress reliever!  We are getting ready to go out to the local markets and butcher.  They don't shop like we do in the states, it is more of an everyday thing here.  But the good part is we get hot, fresh baguettes whenever we want and they only cost like 20 cents a loaf!! They are so GOOD!   That must be the frenchman in me....good bottle of wine, fresh baguettes and some nice cheese....although the cheese here is not so good!  But the wine and baguettes are A-ok!!

We will try and post updates when we can, assuming the internet cooperates.  We will try and take some photos of our neighborhood to post so you can see what we see everyday!  Don't get too excited...it is not much of a view!!

Rockin' the Casbah!!

 

 We went to the Casbah today.  It is a very historical place.  We toured several of the palaces that were built there and the architecture is absolutely beautiful.  It is also right on the Mediterranean so the views from the rooftops on the top of the hill were spectacular.
Our tour guide took us to the top of the Casbah and we started walking down the hill through the winding and twisting alleys.  It is so narrow and confusing in there....it would be so easy to get lost.  It is also hard to imagine that people actually live in this place. 

 We were allowed to go into several homes and walk around, up to the rooftops.  Kirk took some great photos. It is hard to describe what the views from the roof were....there were clothes hanging on clothes lines all over the place!  In the movies they show people running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop,  and you see all the clothesline on the roofs. It is really like that! There are satellite dishes all over and lots of garbage (unfortunately).  We watched an elderly lady, on her roof, climb up on a rickety chair, right on the edge of her roof to hang clothes on her line.  There are no walls or railings on these roofs!!  I was holding my breath, hoping she didn't stumble off the chair.

                                        

                                        

The smells are hard to describe.  Wish we had "smell-o-vision" so you could  share in the experience.  Wow is all I can say!!  There were cats & kittens everywhere.  They were digging in the trash.  There was a lot of waste everywhere.  There were kids playing in dirty cement lots, playing soccer.  Some of the kids got in a little tiff while they were playing and started throwing rocks at each other, not little pebbles, but good size rocks!! 

At the end of our walking tour, we climbed to the roof of someone's home and sat on large cushions on the ground in front of low tables and were served a tradational Algerian meal underneath a beautiful pergola filled with flowering vines.  We enjoyed the beautiful Mediterranean breezes while we ate and visited.  We started with some fresh bread and water or soda.  Then came a salad with shredded beets, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and olives (no dressing).  Then came borak, which is like an eggroll, filled with ground meat, cheese and olives and deep fried.  They were good!  Then came the sherpa (soup), which was a tomato based broth with pieces of meat (think it was lamb), still on the bone, and couscous.  Then they brought out large tajines ( a clay pot that has a triangle type top) with noodles and a choice of either chicken broth with yucca & chickpeas or lamb broth.  After that, came large baskets of fresh fruit, followed by pieces of almond cake soaked in something very sweet.  We were very full when we were done!
                                       

All in all, it was a fun day!  We saw some wonderful places in the city that we want to go back and explore.
                                                             
                                     

Back on line...finally!

We have been without internet for awhile.  The utilities and services are very spotty here and NOTHING gets done in a hurry!  Last weekend we took a trip to the mountains, about an hour outside the city.  If you didn't look at the garbage dumped all over the place, it was actually very pretty.  We were up about 4,000 feet and it was a beautiful  view, once the clouds cleared out. It reminded us of Colorado up at the summit...fresh air and lots of green.

This trip was an adventure for sure.  We had two armored vans with armed escorts in front of us and behind us. By the time we got to the top of mountain, we were in the clouds.  At the very top of the mountain, there was a ski lift (a very rickety old single chair lift) and during the winter time they get a little bit of snow, only at the top of the mountain. We were supposed to hike a little through the forest but as we got ready to hike, the sky opened up and it started pouring!  It hardly ever rains in the summer here....just our luck!  We got back into the vans and headed down the mountain to the hotel where we were scheduled to have lunch.  The power was out when we arrived but they let us in anyway.  The power came back on a little later.  The lunch was actually pretty good.  They served fresh baguettes with a spicy hot relish first.  It was really good but really hot!  Kirk tried a local appetizer (can't remember the name) but it was pasta stuffed with meat and covered in a creamy sauce.  Our table ordered a bottle of local wine....big mistake!  The smell alone would knock you out!  We took a couple of tastes and that was it.  This lunch was much better than the first trip we took...no visitors in the bread basket. LOL!!

Two hours later (remember I said nothing happens quickly here....that includes meals), the storm had cleared and we had a beautiful view from the mountain.  There is a cable car at the hotel which we were supposed to ride but, of course, it wasn't working that day!  So we headed back down the mountain and went to a local market place where they sell local goods and trinkets.  We passed a place where you could feed the monkeys, but we didn't stop.  Thank goodness because I don't like monkeys!!  We did see a monkey climbing on the rock cliff on the side of the road as we were driving.  The local people were filling up empty plastic jugs with the water that was running off the mountain.  There were families bathing in the river and washing their clothes.  All along the side of the roads there were vendors selling all kinds of things. The market place was full of families with their kids.  They had miniature ponies and were giving pony rides, a playground area and there were several places where you could sit in a chair between two live peacocks and get your photo taken, for a fee of course.

The ride home was very interesting.  Kirk took some video from the van because no one would believe it until you see it.  Our police escorts in the front were creating a third lane in traffic and pushing people out of the way...even in a tunnel we were going about 120 kph in the middle of road between the two lanes of traffic!!  It was nice bypassing all the traffic, diplomatic plates do come in handy at times, but this was crazy!  We tried to upload the video but our internet service just can't handle it...here is a photo instead.

 We are getting settled here and getting into a routine.  Kirk was offered the job in the consular section, then found out the funding had "disappeared" so he wouldn't have the job.  The next day, the funding had "reappeared" and as of now, is in the process of being hired.  He should be at work by the end of the month.  Kirk has gone to the local markets during the day by himself...which is not an easy task.

We attended a "black & white" party last night at the Marine House, after attending an official reception before that.  Everyone wore black & white and there was a dj and dancing.  The weather was beautiful and we were able to be outside on the large patio to enjoy the clear skies and beautiful moon.  There were about 150 people at the party and we had a good time.  We didn't think to bring the camera to the party but I wish we had!

Tomorrow, we will be rocking the Casbah, for real!  We are touring the Casbah and are having lunch at the home of an Algerian family who lives there.  If any of you have ever seen the movie "The Battle of Algiers", you know what the Casbah looks like.  We will post tomorrow our adventures at the Casbah and some pictures.