I am settling in here in Algiers. So far it's been mostly the usual chores related to moving in and getting settled: check-in at the embassy, necessary briefings, medical office, get my badge, drink beer at the Marine house. Then go to the grocery store(s), meat store, vegetable market, etc. All in all it is progressing nicely, I think. There is a wine/beer/liquor merchant who delivers to the house, $100 minimum order, which is very handy. The selection is not vast, but certainly adequate.
Everything is more expensive here than it was in Tirana. I've been told that produce is very seasonable, but we'll see. I've seen some out-of-season items, like bananas, pineapple, apples, so they must import some things. So far I have not found much in the way of Italian cheeses -- no ricotta or provolone, and only the bare minimum of grating cheese. But it may be around the city somewhere. There is a lot of French cheese, at least brie and camembert and so forth. Sometimes they have things that are packaged differently and it's easy to miss the first time or two.
I think we're about done with the daily trips from embassy personnel; they've brought the freezer, some bookcases, installed the wardrobes they had ordered made. Tomorrow they're coming to hook up the washing machine properly so we get cold water instead of hot when it's set on cold. This building we're living in has four stories, and we live on the first. The couple above us got here about a week before we did, and the third floor couple got here about three weeks before us. Our apartment is a 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath, with a storage room and a large entry hall. The embassy welcome kit is basically all we have, which is a pretty bare-bones set of essentials, very cheap. A few dull knives, two coffee cups, three pans, etc. Sandra, one of our sponsors, got us some extra plates, so now we have six instead of two. It will be a lot more comfortable when our air shipment gets delivered, which they say can be two or three months. Plus the extra time explained in the next paragraph.
Cindy left for Tirana early, early this morning and will return Sunday morning early. Taylor was spending her spring break in Tirana with friends, and then she was going to come here last Friday and bring Rover. She got to Rome and they wouldn't let her board the plane to Algiers because she didn't have her passport/visa. Alitalia shouldn't have let her leave Tirana, but these sorts of rules are not really enforced too much in Albania. Finally tracked down her passport -- the guy at OPDAT disregarded the instructions to FedEx her dip passport to Embassy Tirana and decided to send it via pouch. In the process of trying to find it, it was discovered still at Dulles; it was scheduled to leave today. So the upshot of it all is that Taylor and Rover went back to Tirana, and Cindy went to get Rover and visit with Taylor. In order to leave the country the embassy had to retrieve her passport from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so we'll be a couple weeks behind in getting our diplomatic credentials, which will impact when we can get our shipments. All in all, this little escapade will cost us a thousand dollars and cause us not to get our stuff for a few extra weeks.
Here are three photos of the house. The first is the living room/dining room, which is a huge room.
The entry hall, the second largest room in the house.
And the kitchen, smallest room in the house. Not much in the way of counter tops, but looks of cooking space: the GE gas range has four burners, large oven and small broiler over; the counter top Bosch range has four gas burners, and the Bosch was mounted gas oven. I'm going to have to meet a lot of folks to justify all this. It would have been wonderful in Tirana.
Everything is more expensive here than it was in Tirana. I've been told that produce is very seasonable, but we'll see. I've seen some out-of-season items, like bananas, pineapple, apples, so they must import some things. So far I have not found much in the way of Italian cheeses -- no ricotta or provolone, and only the bare minimum of grating cheese. But it may be around the city somewhere. There is a lot of French cheese, at least brie and camembert and so forth. Sometimes they have things that are packaged differently and it's easy to miss the first time or two.
I think we're about done with the daily trips from embassy personnel; they've brought the freezer, some bookcases, installed the wardrobes they had ordered made. Tomorrow they're coming to hook up the washing machine properly so we get cold water instead of hot when it's set on cold. This building we're living in has four stories, and we live on the first. The couple above us got here about a week before we did, and the third floor couple got here about three weeks before us. Our apartment is a 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath, with a storage room and a large entry hall. The embassy welcome kit is basically all we have, which is a pretty bare-bones set of essentials, very cheap. A few dull knives, two coffee cups, three pans, etc. Sandra, one of our sponsors, got us some extra plates, so now we have six instead of two. It will be a lot more comfortable when our air shipment gets delivered, which they say can be two or three months. Plus the extra time explained in the next paragraph.
Cindy left for Tirana early, early this morning and will return Sunday morning early. Taylor was spending her spring break in Tirana with friends, and then she was going to come here last Friday and bring Rover. She got to Rome and they wouldn't let her board the plane to Algiers because she didn't have her passport/visa. Alitalia shouldn't have let her leave Tirana, but these sorts of rules are not really enforced too much in Albania. Finally tracked down her passport -- the guy at OPDAT disregarded the instructions to FedEx her dip passport to Embassy Tirana and decided to send it via pouch. In the process of trying to find it, it was discovered still at Dulles; it was scheduled to leave today. So the upshot of it all is that Taylor and Rover went back to Tirana, and Cindy went to get Rover and visit with Taylor. In order to leave the country the embassy had to retrieve her passport from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so we'll be a couple weeks behind in getting our diplomatic credentials, which will impact when we can get our shipments. All in all, this little escapade will cost us a thousand dollars and cause us not to get our stuff for a few extra weeks.
Here are three photos of the house. The first is the living room/dining room, which is a huge room.
2 comments:
I'll trade you my two kitchens for your one any day!
have a pleasant stay there
Post a Comment