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 […]
Tag: Algiers
One Year in Algiers
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, […]
Who Had It Better: Diplomats of the Present or the Past?
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 […]
We Had the Choice to Leave, but We’re Staying in Algiers
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 […]
Coronavirus in Algeria
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 […]
Why Learning French is So Fun (For Me)
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 […]
Best of 2019
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 […]
Settling in to Life in Algiers
Hello readers! August was a slow blogging month but a fairly busy IRL month. I went home to the States for a nine-day visit with the family in Michigan, and then to Washington DC for a few days for good friend’s wedding. Adam stayed in Algiers for most of that, although he did fly to […]
Our New Home, Algiers
Bonjour and marhaba from Algiers, our city of residence for the next two years. We arrived a little more than three weeks ago and, as in times past, I feel the urge to put off a post on our new city until my impressions are more fully formed. But that could take ages. This is […]
Our Next Post is Algiers
Yes, that Mediterranean city you may or may not have heard of that is located in the North African country of Algeria. That is where we will be living from 2019-2021. I’m not super stoked, but I’m not dreading it or anything. Literally every one of our friends and colleagues here in Jerusalem thinks it’s […]
