Happy 2020 Is Over! Or, Happy New Year! Whatever you call it. I need to admit something: I woke up today at 4pm. I am still sitting here, sun starting to set, in total shock. Mostly that my husband let me sleep until 4pm – something I’ve never in my life done. Hadn’t he the […]
Hello from Algiers, where the number of coronavirus infections continue to rise. There are some new restrictions, like most shops will be closing at 3pm now, and there’s an 8pm curfew for everyone. We’re still safe and cozy in our Algiers house, seeing friends in socially distanced gatherings, and working almost exclusively from home. This […]
Hi readers! I published, shamefully, just one blog post in October. Not sure what happened there, and now it’s already mid-November and we’re deep into a resurgence of COVID-19 and on the precipice of the certain plummet of our current president. I’ve been advised to keep politics off this blog, but lemme say I’m depressed […]
After living in a place for a year or so, I usually come to realize that I like the guest bedroom more than I like the master bedroom, possibly because I put more consideration into decorating the guest bedroom. I sleep in the guest bedroom now and then to make sure I’m not overlooking anything […]
One year ago today — on July 1, 2019 — we landed in Algiers to start our three-year tour. Back then, we thought we’d be here for two years, but we quickly extended for an additional year. I’m glad we did, because otherwise we’d be trying to figure out where to go next right now, […]
I drove to the garden store in Algiers the other day, and it was the first time in months I’ve driven more than a few kilometers. (Seriously, I last filled the tank in our car about 60 days ago and it’s still at least half full!) On the drive back, I was trying to figure […]
So things have changed a bit since my last post on the Coronavirus situation in Algeria. The number of detected Coronavirus in the country cases keeps rising – it’s currently at about 700 — and the mood feels different. Way fewer people on the streets, and about one-third of those I see are wearing face […]
On Thursday, Adam and I were en route to the Algiers airport, all set to take the delightfully quick flight to Valencia to join our friends for Fallas festival, when the U.S. Embassy Algiers (aka our employer) called and said if we went to Spain – a country with a growing number of Coronavirus cases […]
Have I mentioned how much I love French? I have never before had this much fun learning a language. Not in high school when I was the most consistently tardy, unmotivated, yet energetic student in Mrs. Belanger’s Spanish class; not when I did a seven-week Spanish immersion course at the Foreign Service Institute, or when […]
My husband, inspired by Benjamin Franklin, tracks metrics about his life performance. Everyday, he records whether or not he accomplished certain goals, like drinking fewer than x number of alcoholic drinks, exercising, meditating, and much, much more. He’s been tracking all this DAILY for more than a decade. I’m much less of a tracker. Mostly […]
