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Spring has sprung in Algiers! We’ve had lovely sunny weather in the 70s recently, and a few friends and I have decided to take advantage of this by getting out on the weekends. There’s not tons to do, but even just getting out of the house and going for a drive is better than nothing.

I also decided I needed to take my car out for more adventurous trips than to the market or the grocery store. Driving in Algiers is not my favorite thing ever (rules of the road and rightaways are either not really existent or not really followed), but it’s definitely doable, especially on Friday mornings when locals are less likely to be out driving around. So this Friday I picked up 3 friends and drove out to Bouchaoui Forest, which is about 30 minutes away from downtown Algiers and has some good running paths. Of course it took us more than 30 minutes to get there, since we weren’t really sure which exit to take off the highway, missed the exit, had to turn around, and got stuck in traffic. [Side story: the traffic was due to construction on the highway. The construction was not blocked off, there were just a couple trucks working on a ripped up piece of road. Because there was no blocked off area, cars were trying to escape the traffic by driving through the construction area (ie on part of the road that was missing blacktop). That particular section was right by our exit, and in the interest of not missing it AGAIN, I made the choice to also drive on the road under construction. When in Algiers…]

But back to the point. After one more wrong turn and hopping out of the car to ask for directions, we finally made it to the forest. Whew! The driving adventure was worth it, the weather was perfect for running, and though the playground on the edge of the forest was jammed with small children, the running trail was relatively free of people.

After about an hour of exercise (and avoiding a gentleman who I had recently refused a visa who really wanted to know how to reverse that decision – one of the especially awkward parts of consular work), we returned to the car and had a much less eventful trip back into town, where we found one of the only restaurants open for lunch on a Friday in Algiers. Fortunately it was a good one, with some really tasty fish and Camembert croquettes (think fancy mozzerella sticks made with Camembert).

Lunch turned out to be an adventure in and of itself – as we waited for our food, the cafe down the street had some kind of fire – we saw billowing smoke and eventually a fire truck showed up. No flames, though, and it seemed to be under control. No one was really panicking. Then all of a sudden we saw a camel walking down the road! Which was weird, because we aren’t exactly near the desert in Algiers, plus were in one of the nicer parts of town called Sidi Yahia, eating at an outdoor cafe across from the United Colors of Benneton store. The camel’s handler was walking it around and accepting money to take pictures with it, a la the creepy Elmo outside 30 Rock in NY. Here’s a photo of one of my friends with the camel. The Mango store in the background gives you an idea of the area. Not so much the natural habitat of a camel.

It’s been a while since I posted anything, but I figured a visit from the big boss was a good reason to get back in the game. That’s right folks, Secretary Kerry made it to Algiers. We had a false start in November, when he was all set to come until urgent matters in other parts of the world caused him to postpone. This time, though, he touched down – for about 24 hours. He was in town for something called the “strategic dialogue” which is basically a fancier way of saying “high level bilateral talks”.

As you might imagine, a considerable amount of preparation precedes a visit from the Secretary of State. A whole team of people travels ahead of him and works with Embassy staff to arrange a detailed schedule of meetings, events, and working meals with various important people. Down time does not seem to be a thing when the Secretary is traveling. So much planning is required that just about everyone in the Embassy has to jump in and help. My job was to organize the Embassy Meet & Greet, where S comes to the Embassy and gives a speech to Embassy staff. (“S” is the State Department acronym for the Secretary. We love our acronyms. S is pretty much the easiest one).

Anyway. In the grand scheme of things, the Meet & Greet is a relatively straightforward job. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a billion details to worry about and questions that need answers. Podium or no podium? Risers or no risers? How many flags should we have? Where should they be? How should they be positioned? How far away should the event attendees stand from the podium/risers? How early do they have to be in place? What are the security requirements? Where is S coming from directly before the event? Where is he going afterwards? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

As for the rest of the visit, each event has it’s own individual set of those questions and variables. The whole thing is pretty complex. To try and help keep everyone on the same page, we had daily countdown meetings to go over the trip.

At the end of the day, though, you really only have time to focus on your event. I’m not sure how the rest of the visit went, though I hear it went well, but S’s brief appearance at the Embassy was a success. He came in, gave a good speech, kissed some babies, shook some hands, took some photos, and moved on to the next thing. During the event my job was basically to stand in the background, be on microphone duty, and try to stay out of the camera shots. I was mostly successful, but didn’t quite escape the lens of one of my colleagues. So here it is, me and S:

I know we’re already about 3 weeks into 2014, and it would have been more appropriate to do this on New Year’s Day instead of sitting on the couch and watching more episodes of “Smash” than one should really watch in one sitting, but it’s still January, so I think it’s still totally legit to post a retrospective on 2013.

The year turned out to be pretty wild. What I thought was going to be a year filled with figuring out how to live and work (and see gorillas) in one of the most remote, poorest countries on earth turned into a year of bouncing around all over the place until I finally landed in one of the wealthiest countries in Africa. (How that wealth is distributed is a whole other story – but that’s really a discussion for another place).

Here’s a quick city round-up of 2013. The Cliff’s Notes of my year, if you will:

1. Washington, D.C. – New Year’s! Fancy party!

2. Arlington, VA – unexpectedly got to spend some more quality time in my Arlington apartment with the killer view of D.C. Also got in one more visit with the fabulous ladies of MSNBC, plus a couple of basketball games (glossing over the fact that IU went down hard).

3. Columbia, SC – a trip down south before heading off to Africa!

4. Washington, D.C. – had to fly outta here.

5. Paris, France – Quick stop for meetings en route to #6.

6. Nouakchott, Mauritania – 3 weeks of Public Diplomacy work! Putting my French to the test! Beautiful beach! Lots of sand everywhere! (even not on the beach), Goats!

7. Casablanca, Morocco – OK, this was just the airport.

8. Dubai, UAE – Fine, also just the airport. But also a snoozecube!

9. Kigali, Rwanda – 3 more weeks of very different (but also interesting) Public Diplomacy work! Running (poorly) at high altitude! A mini-safari with cute baby zebras!

10. Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Airport again. But also the Yotel!

11. Washington, D.C. – 2 weeks here to wrap up what turned out to be a 6 month assignment with Public Diplomacy office of the Africa Bureau.

12. Columbia, S.C. – Packing up my belongings that had made their way down south! The next time I would see them would be many months later in Algeria.

13. Washington, D.C. – A couple more days for meetings! By this point it had become clear that I must learn to love meetings if I want to continue working for the State Department.

14. NYC – MORE meetings! (these were actually super interesting), plus FUN with friends (human and canine)

15. Paris, France – Yup, airport only again. There were a lot of these visits in 2013.

16. Algiers, Algeria – My new home for the next 2 years (inshallah)!

17. Tlemcen, Algeria – a chance to see more of Algeria, plus a chance to get my photo taken by a cow head.

18. Back to Algiers for my 30th birthday!

19. Nice, France, plus Monaco, Cannes, and Eze (the town atop a mountain) – My first break from Algiers!

20. Barcelona, Spain – Part 2 of my first break from Algiers! Good food, good sights, good wine, good cava!

21. London, England, plus tiny town somewhere in Suffolk – Louise’s wedding, aka grade school reunion from the England days!

22. Back to Algiers for various events, including gingerbread houses (oh yeah, and I had to do a little bit of work, too. Like a trip out east with the Ambassador)

23. Copenhagen, Denmark – Christmas vacation part 1!

24. Flensburg, Germany – Christmas vacation part 2!

25. Finally – back to Algiers to celebrate a very merry Christmas!

Whew! Next up will be the U.S. of A. – coming soon! Here’s hoping 2014 will be as adventurous as 2013, with maybe a little more stability when it comes to home-base! Happy New Year!

I didn’t include too much talk of food in my previous Christmas vacation posts. I omitted the info not because food and drink didn’t play a big role in our enjoyment of the vacation, but because my posts were getting pretty long already. So I decided to lump all the food and drink together in one, gluttonous post. Buckle your seat belts, folks – and maybe get ready to unbuckle your belts – here we go!

We hit the ground running night one in Copenhagen with a fantastic dinner just steps away from our apartment:

The next day in Helsingor (Hamlet castle town), we followed up our castle visit with an awesome lunch at the cafe of a nearby art museum:

Another great thing about Copenhagen is that everywhere you turned there were outdoor cafes with heating lamps and blankets on the chairs. We stopped at one of these places (also on the street where we lived) and had some fantastic glogg (Danish mulled wine).

Our daily breakfast place in Copenhagen was an extremely adorable coffee shop with outstanding pastries, breads, yogurts, and jams.

Getting food at markets and outdoor stands in Copenhagen was also a big thing. Mom got her much coveted Polser (skinny hot dog with amazing toppings like pickles and crunchy onions), we shared an order of aebleskiver, and Dad and I split a huge yummy sausage at a Christmas market (there’s also a photo of us taking a bite of said sausage, a la presidential candidates with corn dogs at the Iowa state fair. For obvious reasons if you’ve ever seen those pictures, I will not be posting that one.)

Our evening at Tivoli also provided great opportunity for good food and beverage. More glogg, Tuborg Christmas brew, and a fantastic meal wrapped up our evening.

The Carlsberg brewery provided some more beverage excitement. In addition to the beer we consumed, they had a massive collection of over 20,000 bottles of beer from all over the world.

Back to the street our apartment was on, we tried out a pub right outside our door. Again, pretty fabulous stuff:

And you can’t leave Copenhagen without Smorrebrod and aquavit! Although the smorrebrod was WAY more intense than I thought – HUGE portions! Also, check out the Brooklyn Brewery glass the restaurant gave Dad for his beer! Small world.

On to Flensburg, the good eats (and drinks) kept coming. We kicked things off with Flensburger Pils and yummy soup!

Later, on the main walking street, we kept the mulled wine thing going with Flensburg’s version: Feuerzangenbowle.

Back at the hotel in Flensburg, we had some fabulous, hearty German food. Spoiler alert: there were a lot of potatoes.

Breakfast at the hotel proved to be equally exciting!

Then it was back to Copenhagen and one more aquavit at the airport hotel before jetting off to Africa!

The first food photo in Algiers comes from Mom and Dad’s trip to one of the markets nearish to the Embassy and my apartment:

Our first dinner out in Algiers was at a fancy, traditional Algerian food place called El Djenina – it’s hands down the best restaurant I’ve been to here.

We also had some great home cooking in Algeria. Dad somehow made a great concoction using overly frozen vegetables and turkey breast, we had a fantastic Christmas dinner at a colleague’s home, and then we hosted colleagues chez moi for a dinner of Dad’s fabulous lentil shepherd’s pie!

And then there was the food in Tipaza (fish with bones, so it was a meal AND and activity), and the Casbah, where we had some Algerian sweets and coffee!

And last, but not least, Mom’s birthday dinner at Tantra – lamb, huge shrimp, fish, veggies…yum! Plus pre-dinner birthday cava from my trip to Spain!

Well, that about does it – hungry yet?

For the final leg of the Long family Christmas of 2013 (at least the final leg for me; Mom & Dad still had one more to go) was an 8-day adventure in Algiers.

Now, planning a tourist trip to Algeria is not quite like planning one to Western Europe. It’s not really built for mass tourism. It has massive potential – beautiful views of the Mediterranean, a fascinating and diverse history going back 1000s of years, Roman ruins, nice people who are generally pretty welcoming to the few tourists who do show up, oodles of oil money to make it all happen – but it’s not anywhere close to “there” yet with respect to tourism. I encourage visitors, but only if you’re adventurous. Fortunately Mom and Dad are adventurous.

After our pre-dawn wake-up call in Copenhagen to catch our respective flights to Algiers, once we arrived we decided that staying in was the best way to go. But we had Danish sausage and booze and a mini fake Christmas tree, so all was well.

Then I had to go back to work (boo). And this is where the adventurous part comes in. Mom and Dad wandered around on their own for a couple of days. Algiers is not what you’d call easy to get around. The streets are very windy and hilly and there are walls everywhere so you can’t see across large areas to get a sense of where you are. BUT they found their way around, made friends when they got lost, and even tried out the metro – which is one of the few infrastructure-related things the government has put money into. It’s very nice and clean, if limited in its service (it also takes at least 30 minutes to walk to the one line from my place. They are expanding it, but aren’t there yet). Here’s Dad waiting for the metro:

After a couple days of work, it was suddenly Christmas! Which we celebrated pretty well in my apartment with the tiny fake tree. Fake trees are not my cup of tea, but as long as I’m in Muslim countries, it will be the way it goes 🙂

Christmas involved what it usually does for the Longs: Christmas cosmos, Christmas bread, and some Veuve Cliquot.

The weekend after Christmas, we expanded the adventure a little bit. Another issue in Algiers, especially if you are working as a diplomat, is security. The Algerian government requires us to have police escorts pretty much anywhere we go outside of Algiers, plus when we go to the Casbah, within the city. This is a weird thing to get used to, but really not that big of a deal, it just means you can’t take spur of the moment trips – planning ahead is key.

We started the weekend with a trip to Premier Mai market – no police escort required for this one – it’s a massive market pretty close to my apartment (we drove, though) with pretty much everything you need.

That afternoon, the police-escort part of the program began with a trip to Tipaza, a town about an hour away from Algiers. Tipaza is known for its amazing Roman ruins, that are basically perched on the edge of a cliff. We were fortunate to have outstanding weather.

First we had a fish lunch sitting right next to Roman ruins:

Then we walked over to the main area of ruins, which is absolutely breathtaking (and inexpensive – there were 5 of us and it cost about $1.25 for the whole group)

Our day in Tipaza just happened to be December 27th – Mom’s birthday! So that evening, once our police escort returned us all safely to Algiers, the 3 of us went out to a lovely French/Algerian restaurant called Tantra to celebrate!

The adventures with escorts (the police kind) continued the following day with a morning visit to the Casbah, which is a neighborhood of Algiers known for giving Algeria a strategic advantage during their revolution against French rule because of the rabbit warren-like teeny, windy streets and houses that are squished very close together. It made it easier for Algerian fighters to hide/escape from the French. For more see my previous post on the Casbah here.

Our visit this time was actually a bit different, which was nice for me! One highlight was our tour guide took us to a local coffee shop that was not accustomed to tourists dropping in (and seemingly even less accustomed to having women there – Mom and I were the only ones), but everyone was super friendly and we had some pretty awesome coffee and sweets.

Another fun moment was when we stopped at a copper shop – I was taking a picture in front of it and the shopkeeper insisted that Mom and I go inside the shop and take a photo by the Algerian flag. A little awkward, but we ended up with a pretty good picture out of it!

Mom and Dad’s last couple days in Algiers involved me working and them hanging out/exploring. Then they jetted off to Barcelona for New Year’s, while I stayed in Algiers to work (and ring in 2014 at the Marine party).

Mom has many more photos on her blog if you want to check them out. They include photos of their New Year’s in Barcelona – I stayed in Algeria ’cause I had to work. I think you have to get invited, so email her if you want to see more pictures!

The second leg of the 2013 Long family  Christmas was a trip to Flensburg, where Mom and Dad lived for several years and where I was born. It’s just a hop, skip & a jump (plus a 3 hour drive) from Copenhagen, and you can actually see Denmark from the area where my parents used to live. (Insert “I can see Denmark from my house” joke here. This is the last one, promise).

But first, we had the drive. In the rain. It pretty much rained the whole trip, which meant it wasn’t cold enough to snow, which was sad, but not that sad because it meant it wasn’t that cold. I don’t like the cold. But I do like snow, which presents a bit of a problem. Oh well, somehow I’ve made it this far. Living in a country where it’s 60 degrees in January is probably a good way to go as well.

But on with the story. Our drive was in the rain. See, look – here’s one of the big bridges we drove over on the way:

Upon arrival in Flensburg, we went straight to a nice restaurant across the street from Mom and Dad’s old apartment (and overlooking the water) for lunch and my first Flensburger Pilsner – it was pretty great. Those Germans know how to do beer.

Once we were fed, we drove to downtown Flensburg where, after a bit of driving around, parked along the water and found our way uphill to the main walking street and the fantastic Christmas market!

It was along this street that we realized that prices in Germany are approximately half as much as prices in Denmark, even though we were literally steps away from the border. Maybe if I had cared more about those econ classes I had to take in college and grad school I would know why. But I didn’t, so I will have to remain in the dark on that one.

Anyway, the next morning was “find places Mom and Dad remember” day. First up: the hospital where I was born. After a not insignificant amount of driving around and getting lost-ish, Mom’s iPhone came to the rescue and showed us how to get there. Turns out the women’s clinic was knocked down in the ’80s, but we took a picture in front of the new hospital! Also we showed photos from 1983 to the old guy working at the hospital’s information desk. He was still bummed out that the old hospital got bulldozed. Anyway, here we are!

The next search was a little way outside of Flensburg in Schafflund, where the Longs lived for the first 10 months of my existence. Turns out things change in 30 years. Finding the actual house where we lived wasn’t in the cards. But, we found a delicious lunch and took a picture by the town’s sign.

Next, we kept the road trip going by hopping back across the Danish border to a super cute little town called Tonder, with yet another Christmas market. We had to get our fill before going back to Algeria and its lack of Christmas!

The following morning it was time to head back to Copenhagen, return the car and get on a plane back to Algiers. But first, we had some photos to take. Here’s Mom and Dad in front of their old apartment (it’s the one on the top floor on the corner with the balcony):

Then we had one more “memory lane” stop – the Saturday morning market:

Finally, it was back in the car, in the rain (yep, still raining), and away to the Copenhagen airport Hilton.  One final Flensburger Pilsner, a couple hours of sleep, and Part 2 of the trip was over.

Keep staying tuned! Part 3: Susi & Jan go to Algeria is coming soon!

Even though Christmas is long-gone (at least it seems like a long time ago), I thought I’d post a brief-ish recap of my holiday season.

Spoiler alert: it was pretty awesome.

It started off with my escape from Algiers about 10 days before Christmas to meet up with Mom and Dad in Copenhagen! And to get there, I got to fly over the Alps on a super clear day:

Then I arrived in Copenhagen and, suddenly, it was Christmas! Hooray! Christmas is not really a thing in Algeria, as you might expect. Copenhagen is pretty much the opposite. This is the street right out side the fantastic apartment where we stayed in Nyhavn:

Turns out, Copenhagen has some pretty amazing food and beverage options, which we took advantage of immediately upon arrival. (And continued to take advantage of for the entirety of our time there…we were definitely never in danger of going hungry.)

We hit the ground running our first full day in Denmark. Turns out you can pretty much walk anywhere in Copenhagen if you’re committed enough – and we were committed. Our first order of business was to make our way to the train station (picking up some roasted almonds en route). From there we headed to Helsingor, where the Hamlet castle is! Helsingor is very very close to Sweden; it’s right across a very narrow portion of the sea. Little known fact, this was actually made clear in an early draft of the play, but Shakespeare cut that part out, because the play was already running long. At one point, Hamlet darkly and dramatically proclaimed: “I can see Sweden from my house!”

That joke would have been hilarious 5 years ago. Anyway, this is Sweden:

And here we are in and around the castle:
                 

Then it was back to Copenhagen. Nighttime in Copenhagen is beautiful – and in December you get a lot of nighttime hours. It started getting dark before 4pm. But it meant we had lots of opportunities to see the Christmas lights!

Day 2 in Copenhagen involved lots more walking – fortunately the weather hovered around 40 degrees, so we didn’t freeze, which was nice. We saw Amalienborg, where the Danish royal family lives:

Then on to the little mermaid statue:

Then back to Nyhavn, where our apartment was (here’s our street in the daylight):

And a boat trip around the canals:

Finally, once it started getting dark, we walked over to Tivoli where, if we weren’t in the Christmas spirit when we arrived, we certainly were by the time we left!

The big event of Day 3 in Copenhagen was a trip to the Carlsberg brewery, which included some pretty enjoyable tastings. Here we are with the 2 guys who created the beer back in 1800-something.

We met the Carlsberg delivery horses – kind of the same idea as the Budweiser Clydesdales, but cooler because they’re Danish. The horses didn’t particularly like me, but Dad made a friend:

And here’s what the horses used to drag around to deliver beer:

Finally, we got to sample some more beer up at the really nice brewery bar:

On to Day 4 in Copenhagen – our last day! Sad. We did some more shopping, hitting up the Royal Copenhagen china store, where Mom and I stocked up on Christmas decorations. Then we decided to walk down to Christiania, a commune based around folks who enjoy indulging in the occasional joint (in reality, probably not that occasional), and, from what I understand, are trying to become an independent neighborhood that doesn’t fall under the jurisdiction of Copenhagen authorities. There’s actually a sign as you leave the place saying “you are now entering the E.U.” It was kind of obnoxious, but I guess to each his/her own. The real downside was that you aren’t allowed to take pictures there, but if you want an idea of what it was like, just envision what you think a pot-centered commune that wants to be independent from the city would look like and you’ll probably be right on the money. It was interesting to see – not my cup of tea exactly, but I guess some people like it.

Anyway, that was wonderful wonderful Copenhagen. Stay tuned for Part 2: Flensburg!

While on my recent road trip with the ambassador, most of the photos I took were for official purposes. If you check our embassy’s website or facebook page, some of them will probably appear over the next few weeks. The photos I took on my own device were limited to landscape pictures taken out of the car window. So here are a few.

We were traveling up in the northeastern part of the country and thus, as you can see, near the mountains.

It was also very rural – we passed lots of farmland and tiny towns.

The vast majority of the houses looked like the one below – half built. Apparently people go make money doing whatever it is that they do to make money, then come build a house until the money runs out, then leave it unfinished while they go earn more money.

That’s about it; I just thought I’d share some of Algeria’s scenery. Enjoy!

Our Ambassador is very passionate about getting out of Algiers. He wants to make it clear that we are the U.S. Embassy to ALGERIA, not just to Algiers. He set a goal of getting to all the Wilayas (the provinces of Algeria) before the end of his tenure. And he’s getting pretty close. Last week, he went out to the eastern part of Algeria on a mammoth, 4-day, 5-town trip. I had the opportunity to go with him.

We went to Tebessa, Constantine, Mila, Jijel, and Souk Ahras, if anyone is curious and wants to do some google mapping.  Those towns are not close to one another, and most of them don’t have airports and/or hotels, which meant a lot of time in the car.  I was what we call the “control officer” for the trip, which means I was essentially the event planner and logistical point person for the whole thing. Overall, the trip ended up going quite well, and the Ambassador is a very smart man and good to travel with. And I didn’t do anything to get myself fired, killed, or accidentally left in the middle of nowhere, so I’m calling it a win.  It was not a perfect trip, however. Here are some things I learned for next time.

1. When traveling in Algeria for 4 days and 3 nights, do not forget your toothbrush. You will not be able to run out to the corner drugstore and the hotel will not have them at the front desk.

2. If you DO forget your toothbrush on a 4-day, 3-night Algerian adventure, brushing your teeth with your finger and fingernails using the toothpaste that you DID manage to remember is not a great option, but it will prevent fur from growing on your teeth.

3. Do not forget lotion, especially in winter. Your skin will be dry, and no, the hotel will not have any.

4. Sticking to the schedule will not happen. The events may all happen, but you will be late.  A lot.  It will behoove you to get over your general irritation with lateness as soon as possible.

5. Algerian politicians are like politicians anywhere else. They like to talk.  A lot. This is one of the main reasons for number 4.

6. In small town Algeria, the U.S. Ambassador is a celebrity/something new and interesting to stare at. In general, people will be excited to see him. You will be glad it is someone else’s job to keep the Ambassador safe. Also, everyone will want to see the Ambassador and take photos with him/of him. This is another reason for number 4.

7. Arabic is useful when traveling with an ambassador who has spent most of his career in the Middle East and speaks amazing Arabic. If you don’t speak it, you will not understand anything that happens at the meetings with government officials.

8. The local staff member who accompanies you on the trip (and helps set up all the meetings) is invaluable. See number 7.

9. The local politicians will offer to feed the Ambassador. When you accept their lunch offers, be prepared for as many as 7 courses, some of them involving mystery meat. Making lively conversation with the other French speaker at the table helps distract from the fact that there is no way you will ever be able to make a dent in the colossal amount of food you are very kindly being served. These lunches also contribute to number 4.

10. Shopping is a bfd. All the local crafts people want to see/talk to/touch/take pictures with the ambassador. They will also sometimes refuse to accept money from the ambassador when he wants to purchase something. He is legally not allowed to accept personal gifts like that. Diplomacy ensues. The Algerian vendor reluctantly accepts payment.

11. A pad and pen is essential. Even during meals. Especially during meals. Note-taking is a very large percentage of your job.

12. A camera is also essential. There will be cute children and pretty gifts presented to the ambassador that you will have to capture.

13. Also always have on hand a gift for your hosts that the ambassador can present to them. These gifts will be heavy, hardback books. Suck it up.

14. Additionally, you will need to have a hand free to take the gifts the ambassador receives from his hosts. These range from books to pottery to flowers to framed pictures.

15. It is helpful if you can grow another arm. Two more would be better.

16. Even when you think you’ve scheduled too much time for a meeting, you are wrong. You will always be running late.

17. You will encounter a variety of terrains during your trip. For instance, you may be expected to trot around on cobblestone ramps for 30 minutes in your heels while a nice Algerian lady expresses continual and extreme concern that you will face plant into the aforementioned cobblestones. You will not face plant. You have trained for this moment with years of high heel wearing.

18. No matter how insanely stressful it is to plan and execute a 4-day, 5-town ambassadorial trip in remote Algerian locales, this is the coolest job ever. You get to plan and execute 4-day, 5-town ambassadorial trips in remote Algerian locales!

19. When 4-day, 5-town ambassadorial trips to remote Algerian locales are over, you are confident you’ve earned those cocktails you’re drinking.

20. When you finally get to brush your teeth, it feels AMAZING.

One thing that will be a new annual tradition in my life if I stay in this job is the Marine Birthday Ball.  Marines are assigned to almost every Embassy worldwide, primarily to protect classified information, but they do a bunch of other good stuff too.

So, it’s the Marines’ job to throw a big birthday bash every year on the anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps.  This year was the 238th birthday of the corps.  For those of us who are not Marines, it’s basically an excuse to dress up in black tie attire and drink with our colleagues.

This year, I ended up as the narrator for the evening’s program, which was fun.  It basically meant I read a script about the history of the Marine balls, plus a bunch of stuff about how awesome the Marines are.  In between, the actual Marines march, do their fancy flag presentation thing, cut a big American flag birthday cake, and give speeches (as did the Ambassador).  Other people from the host country and international community generally come too – it was very cool to see other countries’ military people all decked out in their versions of dress uniforms.

There’s really not much else to tell; the evening went well, the program went OK, except for some technical difficulties that ended up not being THAT big of a deal, and about 45 minutes later I was at my table with my friends.  So that’s about it – here are some pictures of me dressed up.  There’s a picture of me with Marines somewhere, but I’m not sure whose camera it ended up on, so these will have to do for now: