Staying Safe – my own personal opinions

Since our ambassador to Libya was killed on 9/11, tensions all around our region have been high, especially in Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia, with America being target #1.  I was still in Virginia when the trouble started and wondered whether I would be able to get back, which I did on 9/14.  Since then I have not left the apartment.  We were confined to our quarters over the weekend; and though we can go out now, and the embassy is open, no one is supposed to go anywhere alone for the time being.  In fact, the embassy has set up shuttle vans to take employees to and from work each day.  In our case, we are only a couple of blocks; and the walk takes 8 minutes.  Nevertheless, we can't walk the streets alone.  So for me, I am still confined to the apartment since there is no one else here during the day.  Fortunately for me, it’s nice here with my wonderful rooftop terrace, sea breeze, and sunshine.  (From here I can see the embassy and check for any smoke rising from it.)  I feel comfortable and safe. 

Tonight Baboo and I are going to walk to the Superette, a 7/11-type store where we buy our staples like cereal, milk, cheese, cleaning stuff.  I look forward to getting out, but I am still very nervous.  I am not worried about demonstrations.  They are usually pretty easy to avoid and I believe the government here in Algeria is strong and tough, pro-US, and can handle (read: suppress) any trouble.  This government, though rigid, has been in place for many many years and was not the subject of any Arab Spring uprisings and, in fact, was reelected this past spring.  So I think this is why they can handle and direct the police and provide security for us.  This is not the case in the other Arab countries where the governments are so new that they don’t have much control over anything yet.  They cannot protect themselves, much less all the foreign interests.  So what worries me is not the possibility of mobs, but instead the stealthy presence of terrorism and the ability of committed individuals to pick me up off the street.  Hopefully, this is not a serious threat and I won’t be worried about it for long.  But for now, the embassy is taking everything very seriously and making significant efforts to keep us safe.  I can certainly deal with any inconveniences.  Of course, our long-planned trip to the golf spa in Tunisia is on the chopping block.  Bummer.

Grocery Shopping

First I should mention that we do not have a car.  And I’m glad.  Driving appears to be a complete free for all with every man for himself.  This seems to include pedestrians too.  Apparently the zebra stripes are just for decoration.  That being said, how do I lug groceries?  Well, I am still exploring, but for now there are a few options within walking distance.  I take a canvas bag and a small backpack.



105 steps from our little street to the main street.
I practice counting in French.

You might remember I mentioned the hills.  My first challenge is climbing up the hills.  Fortunately, the uphill parts of this adventure happen before I load up with purchases.  But sometimes I convince myself that, after huffing and puffing up the hills, I need an energy boost; and where better to find that than … no not the minimarket along the way where I could buy water and an energy  bar … the patisserie.  Just a quick little cookie or tart or … oh how can I pick just one!  And I need the energy!



Does this look like buttermilk to you?

I find my way to a small store that’s like a mini supermarket, where I can get dry goods, dairy products, sodas, cleaning products, and other things but not meats and produce.  This is not to say that I have a clue what any of the labels say.  All the labels are in Arabic and if I’m lucky some include French (although most of the food products are clearly labeled, even in English, that they are free of pork products or derivatives.)  The pictures help.  For instance, I know lait is milk, so I get the bottle that says lait with a picture of a cow.  No, I don’t want sheep’s milk or, yes they have it, camel’s milk.  And once I ended up with buttermilk.  (That was a big surprise in my morning coffee!)  Also, the fresh milk is often not homogenized having a thick layer of cream on top.  I do love cream, but would like to know before I pour a big blob of it on my cereal. 


The Market At Kennedy Square

On the way back home, I browse through the open-air market.  This looks like you would expect … packed with people buying and selling everything from used hub caps to Persian rugs, from plumbing fixtures to gold jewelry, from bras to shoes.  I am headed for the veggies.  There are lots of things to choose from and believe it or not, it looks mostly fresh.  But no touching is allowed.  I cannot pick out the specific pieces I want.  And I have decided that it’s best for me to go to one of the actual stalls rather than the guys with stuff on tables out in the open because the stall guys can show me on their little calculators what I owe.  When I buy from the open-air guys, I can never understand what they are saying to me and I just hold out a pile of money and let them pick out what they need.  Not a good strategy.

When I get home I need to wash all the produce.  First I rinse everything in a sink full of tap water (which we are not supposed to drink, by the way - we have a water-distilling machine in our kitchen).  Then I drain and refill the sink with water again this time adding a bit of bleach.  I let everything soak for about 15 minutes.  Then I rinse twice with tap water, and then soak everything one last time in a basin of distilled water.  After that I let everything drain and dry. 

I haven’t found a butcher (that I will buy from) close by yet; the one we like is far away – a good 45-minute walk, and did I mention the hills.  Nevertheless, I hope I will learn how to go there by myself before too long.  On the way to that shop, there are other grocery and sundry shops, so I am anxious to explore but still too nervous to try to find my way without Baboo.

This is a butcher's window.  It looks very scary to me and all is I know is that none of this is pig.

Gammy's First Impessions of Algeria

I arrived the first week in April to a beautiful breezy day – low 60s maybe – with a few clouds and some drizzle off and on.  A beautiful sea breeze.    I noticed immediately the palm trees as well as the scores of unfinished constructions projects - abandoned building sites.   And the smell of diesel reminiscent of my early trips to Europe.  No emission controls here!

The roads leading from the airport to the city were dotted with roadblocks.  And in the city it seemed there were armed police every couple of blocks.   Between our apartment and the embassy (a 10-minute walk), there are two police checkpoints.

The city, at least where we live, is very hilly with tiny, switch-back streets; no sidewalks.   Barely room for two small cars to pass each other.  As a result, they honk at every turn; lots of honking.  (Our kitchen window is right over the street.)

    Street side of our building.  The street is only as
wide as you see it here.

The little courtyard just inside the blue gate.
The white door leads to our stairway.

Our building is nice.  There is a small ceramic tile courtyard just inside the front gate.  Our apartment is on the third and fourth stories.  It is bright and spacious – at least the living area is.  All marble floors and counters with 3 crystal chandeliers.

The kitchen pantry

I was overwhelmed by all the boxes stacked everywhere even though Baboo had unpacked lots of stuff already, including all our consumables (an extra shipment State Dept allowed us for being assigned to a remote post).  The cupboards are stuffed, but somewhat organized in a way I would have done myself.  Good work, Baboo!

Good Morning Algiers

Our bedroom is tiny with our king bed taking up most of the floor space.  However, we have a floor to ceiling, wall to wall slider looking out over the city and the sea.  Really spectacular view.  The sun comes up directly into this window, but we have one of those cool European blackout shutters to bring down.   We have a gorgeous deck off the 4^th story.  (A photo of this at the bottom.) The people on the first floor (this is an all-American building) have their own deck filled with flowers – so I see a hobby in my future.  I like the apartment a lot and spent my first day trying to get the bathroom a bit organized so I could fit my things and take a shower.  It is quite adequate with lots of hot water (at least today), good pressure, and plenty of space to put my stuff.

Baboo took a bunch of photos of the apartment when he first got here.  If you would like to see more, send me an email.

Looking out the LR window from my desk.  The grates on the windows are for security and mostly safety since
there are no screens or decks.  The grates keep you from falling out over the cliff when you open the sliding windows.

We went for a long walk the first day.  Baboo showed me some of his favorite shopping places, including the small artisan shop where he had bought hand-made silver necklaces for our daughter and me (as well as a fun one for granddaughter and a fun carved box for son-in-law).  We bought a few things at the “supermarket” and a box full of yummies at the patisserie.   All the people in the shops were very friendly.  I suppose in time I will wander off by myself, but it did seem kind of complicated with long stairways, winding streets, and crazy traffic (though I think most places outside the US [including some places inside the US] are filled with crazy drivers).  Anyway, I felt a bit intimidated. 

I did walk up to the embassy myself on Monday.  (Baboo had taken me up there with him on Sunday morning so I knew the way.  It’s very close to our apartment.)  I was a bit nervous and decided I would probably wear a scarf whenever I am out alone.  Not all the women do – seems about 50-50.  But my hair is so light (even though I am in desperate need of a touchup!) that I just don’t want to be conspicuous.  I didn’t worry about my personal safety (except for playing chicken with the cars coming around the little bends in the streets – did I mention there are no sidewalks),  I just didn’t want anyone to think I was a saucy blond walking the streets alone and I didn’t want anyone to speak to me because I was sure I would not understand them.  I did speak with our cleaning lady on Monday.  She does not speak a word of English, so I felt pretty proud that we were able to communicate in French.

The people at the embassy were all very nice, as expected.  Baboo had made a big deal about my arrival, so everyone else did too.  It was sweet and helped ease my nerves.  One person even asked to see a picture of the kids.

For the first several days after arriving, the weather was bright and sunny with a wonderful breeze coming through.  I could even smell the sea.  The weather was very reminiscent of San Diego.  And to top it off, a big full moon rose from the sea.  Then the rain started, pouring buckets for most of the next 5 days with lots of thunder and lightning.  Since our building is on a steep hillside, I couldn’t help but think that we might slide right down to the port.  I even had to turn on the heat, which is radiator heat; each one gets turned on individually.

We have the Armed Forces Network (AFN) TV here, with the same goofy military commercials we came to know and love in Budapest.  The programming in not too bad though.  We watched most of the Masters golf tournament but gave up at midnight.  And I think Baboo is enjoying having someone to talk to in the evenings.  I try to be really cheery when he comes home from work.  So far, that’s easy.  One day I baked some beer bread.  Didn’t have any beer so I used a bottle of Sprite.  This is the first time I have used a metric oven, and it came out perfectly!  (Thanks to the previous tenants who left a C-to-F cheat sheet.)  My biggest challenge was figuring out the “universal” markings on the oven -  what’s “bake” what’s “keep warm”, and what’s “off.”

I’ve been here two weeks now and I am finished unloading all the boxes!  I tackled them one by one, going through a whole box before going on to the next.  I broke down the boxes and took them downstairs for pickup; but a neighbor had a good idea: keep them around until after the local elections on May 10 in case we are forced to evacuate quickly.   A sobering thought, but a good idea.  In the meantime, I found all sorts of stuff that I can’t believe we actually shipped here.  We shipped our bikes but we can’t use them.  Security forbids it and besides, there is no way we could compete with the cars on these hilly little streets. 

We are expecting one more shipment of all the stuff I sent when I left Virginia.  After all that, we'll be settled in for the duration of our assignment here.

The view from our patio.  Lots of room for entertaining up here.