I am OKAY

2 bombs went off this morning.

I AM OKAY.

I was doing work on my computer at home. Santa Maria, madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros pecadores ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte...

Dec. 11….2007…a day I wont ever forget…

This morning in my apartment, I heard 2 explosions. My first thought was bomb attack. Algiers has been the site of intermittent explosions throughout the past years. I went out to my balcony and looked, but saw no smoke or nothing. I didn’t hear sirens or screams or anything, so I assumed that it was probably the demolition of some old building or something.

Then I started to receive SMS text messages from the embassy. The first was cryptic enough…”Please stay at bouzareah university away from the windows”. I couldn’t call/text back because I had used up all of my prepaid credit the night before talking to my sister Patty. 15 minutes later, another SMS from the embassy arrived, “Please send an sms to say you’re well.”

I got dressed to head out and buy a card at the place where I bought my mobile phone. The guys there are about my age and they are friendly and nice to me. The other day while I was walking in Bab El Oued, they happened to be driving around and saw me and picked me up to head back to my neighborhood.

I walked in and they immediately made jokes about Al-Qaeda and terrorism. I guess when you live in a place where this kind of stuff happens now and then, you need a sense of humor to get over it. They said that a bomb went off in Bouzareah and Ben Aknoun…they had heard that from Radio Trattoir (Radio Sidewalk aka work on the street). There was considerably less traffic on the streets and virtually no mobile phone reception.

I bought a 200 DZD credit card that had a picture of the famous Roman ruins in Timgad near Batna. The network was saturated and I couldn’t respond to the embassy messages. Then, I went to a pizzeria I like. On the way there, a new SMS came..this time from my friend Karima in Oran. This one hit me hard…it said “Hi Miguel, 2 bombs exploded in Algiers. One in a student bus. Are you ok?” I felt extreme sadness at hearing that. I thought of the smiles and faces of my Bouzareah students. I hope none are affected. I also take that school bus when I go to Bouzareah. That could have been me in there.

At the pizzeria, I chatted with the owner in Spanish. He used to work with latinos in Amsterdam. The people I saw there and on the streets had a look of disappointment..dejection. The pizzeria TV that was normally on, was off…I think he just didn’t want to let the day’s tragedies overtake his pizzeria territory. But the tragic news remained on the mouth of all who came there.

A young girl stood at the corner pondering/waiting to get her order in and from behind he covered her eyes playfully. Gotta keep a light heart and playful attitude to get through the day.

I headed back home and stopped again at the mobile phone dealership. The guys there were still making jokes and laughed about students’ body parts being all over the place. Or some students arriving to school now without an arm or leg. I didn’t like it, but I think they needed to make laughter to stomach the sadness. Suddenly, it began to hail?!?

I went home and headed to my neighbor’s place. She was shaken and reiterated her stance on this terrible state of affairs here. It’s happening on “11’s” There was a bomb on April 11 and now Dec. 11. and don’t forget 9/11. I also heard some bad news from her…a colleague of hers has a sister that works at the UN in Algiers. The UN was one of the targets and unfortunately she was among those injured/wounded. I actually just met her a few weeks ago. Sadness.

The TV is reporting now 60 dead. I saw images on Television Algeria and it was heartbreaking. I felt my heart sink deeply when one of the orange school buses that thousands of students and myself ride regularly to go to the university appeared on the screen totally obliterated. I’m speechless with sadness over this horror. I think of the students, (and regular everyday citizens) that ride the “course” as it’s called. How it’s crowded, packed and at times uncomfortable. How everyone laughs at the mad rush and goes headlong into it. Or how students strike up conversations with each other and meet up with old friends. I’ve enjoyed riding it, though at first it took some getting used to. Now, I may not be able to continue riding it.

I’m home now and more hail came, but the sun is now out and there is less traffic noise and pollution today…but less life and more sadness than yesterday. I’m going to wash clothes and study Arabic.