Settling In

Well, I made it to Algiers and am actually starting to feel like I kinda could sorta belong in the Embassy community here. Ramadan began a week after I arrived, so it’s been difficult to do much for the majority of my time here, since pretty much everything shuts down for the month. Which actually is OK, because just getting used to my job and trying to make friends with the embassy folks has been time consuming enough. But things have finally settled down long enough for me to try and get back into this blog thing. Another big problem is I still don’t have internet in my house, which is not the complete end of the world, but I’m ready to have internet in my house.

On the plus side, my apartment is GREAT. Within easy walking distance of the Embassy, it is by far the biggest place I’ve ever lived (which, granted, isn’t saying a whole lot). It’s a split level apartment with a patio and a fantastic view of Algiers and the Mediterranean:

Here it is at night:

I’ll post more photos of the interior of my place later, after my shipments arrive. Which could be a couple more months, given the lengthy customs process here.

On the job front, there has been a pretty steep learning curve. Having been prepared for a public diplomacy position, it was quite the change getting assigned to a consular job here, although it is proving to be quite interesting. My days are jam-packed with visa interviews of various sorts, so my French is getting quite a workout. And I’ve also had the opportunity to lend a hand in the Public Diplomacy section, which has been nice. For example, last week I sat on the Fulbright interview panel, which was really interesting. Lots of very impressive young Algerians coming to interview for the opportunity to study in the U.S.

I’ll leave it there for now, with the promise to try harder to do more regular updates!