Palais de Rais, Modern Art, Cervantes and Sacre Coeur

Ummm, last week was a rollercoaster of emotions. Of course, much sadness over the bombings. But I'm amazed at how strong the Algerians are. They lived through much worse in the 90s and while very disappointed, they resiliently continue on with life.

After that, I got out to see more of Algiers. I walked by the downtown university campus and saw the students having a big protest/strike against Tuesday’s bombings and for improved conditions and services at the university. I started off at the Museum of Modern Art which is oddly enough in a Franco-Moorish style building that was perhaps a shopping center in the past. The exterior architecture doesn’t, in my opinion, reflect a modernity, but the large windows and wide open interior of this centrally located museum, make up for that.

There are 4 floors, but only the basement and mezzanine are open currently, showcasing some interesting modern art. I enjoyed my visit, and as often is the case, the modern art and a chance encounter with the artist on site left me with more questions. It's great that such a place exists and is free and open to the public.

With an umbrella that is slowly falling apart, I continued marching through the rain westward to the Palais de Rais, Bastion 23. The Palais de Rais is a restored and preserved ensemble of Turkish-style palaces that is open to the public as a museum. The exterior is plain and massive concrete, but the interior has decorative charm with tiles, ornate ceilings, arched patios and some showcase Arabic calligraphy. After admiring the architecture, I went to the extreme wall that faces the sea. There are gaps for a couple of cannons that once policed the sea. I saw the clouds and a whole semicircular rainbow. It seemed to go from the airport of Algiers on the right all the way to an unknown destination in the west...perhaps acrosss the Mediterranean to Spain, I fantasized...la Barca? :)

In the afternoon, I met up with my friend Nabil and we went to a pretty cool café in the Casbah where musicians used to play.

On Thursday, I went by the Fac. Centrale to visit colleagues and discuss upcoming schedules etc. Everybody seemed to be allright, wheich is good news. After that, I headed towards Belcourt for Mhadjeb, an oily crepe with spicy tomato sauce inside. Asking along the way, I finally found Cervantes’ cave - yes the author of Don Quixote. El Manco, Miguel de Cervantes, was held captive here in Algiers by pirates for 5 years. He escaped 4 times, but was caught each time until his family finally paid the ransom to the pirates. It's a cave and there's a monument, but nobody there really. A local guy helped orient me. He says neighborhood fellows get together and play dominos there. As I peered at the cave and wondered about Cervantes torments there, I heard the sound of a deafening roar of soccer fans off in the nearby stadium. Sheep had invaded the streets too...preparations for the big religious feast where they will be sacrificed for Eid-al Adha.

After that, I went home and took it easy.

On Friday, I went to mass at Sacre Coeur, but strangely enough, I was late and disturbed the mass due to some misinformation from a random man that was standing at the door. He told me to wait and wait, though, my brochure had said mass began at 9am. I had arrived at 8:55am and this man told me to wait. I didn’t see anybody else. An old lady came and she walked by, but the man told me to still wait. Finally at about 9:30, he told me the old lady had gone in and that I should ring the doorbell. A nun came and said I could not enter because the prayer had started already and then an angry priest came and stated the same and slammed the door on me. The door was locked due to increased security concerns, I understand. I wouldn’t have interrupted, but it was that random man that said go ahead and ring the doorbell. I felt bad, and I stuck around to explain my error. The priest was upset at me initially, but after we discussed why the confusion and interruption happened, he was more welcoming and let me enter to pray and see the interior. It’s a big church and the modern geometric style is reminiscent of la Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe in Mexico City. There were only 3 there, the priest and 2 nuns. One of those nuns was British, Janet. She has lived here for 30 years and runs a small community library. She invited me to tea at her place and we talked about Algeria and how to get some more English books here for the public. There’s an organization that donates lots of books, “Books for Africa”. I’m going to investigate it.

Well, tomorrow is Eid al-Adha. Last year for the holidays, I went to Mukalla and the Wadi Hadramawt in Yemen. This year, I’m going deep into the Algerian Sahara…not sure where yet, but it promises to be exciting.

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.

ORAN-gelica

The first time I heard of Oran...was in a techno remix song by the now defunct French group, Les Negresses Vertes.

I had no idea what Oran was then, but since coming to Algeria I heard good things about it, so I went there this weekend. I left early Wednesday on the 7:45am train. 5 hours later it pulled into Oran and I went straight to the Institute de Langues Etrangeres where my fellow English Language Fellow, Martha Schouten had an English Club Meeting going on. I arrived to a warm welcome from some enthusiastic English learners that Martha has been working with over the course of last year and this year.

After that, I explored the town some and as the sun went down I accidentally went into no man's land, the Casbah of Oran...I was escorted out of there by the police and they said that it is quite dangerous at night and that a foreigner like myself should not be around there. So I explored the area around the major downtown hotels. I found Oran to be fairly easy to manage for getting around and what not.

The next day I began heading towards the great mountain that overlooks Oran, Djebel Murdjadjo. It is quite majestic with the Spanish-built Fort of Santa Cruz and the nearby church of Santa Cruz near the summit. I asked a local man which way to go and after briefly explaining the directions, he invited me home for some coffee. It felt like Mauritania or Senegal all of a sudden. Invitations home like this were quite common over there.

Amar was a real nice man, he put on the Koran on CD and then some rap music and showed me pictures of him at the beach with his wife and their 8 kids. After finishing up the pain au chocolat and coffee, I thanked him and said goodbye. At a nearby square I found some “clandestine” taxis, or “clando” as they are called. One agreed to take me to the Santa Cruz Shrine for 200 Dinars.

The drive was nice, but the road was closed- at least according to him. I still got some nice pictures off. Before 10am, I headed to Place de Victoire, where I was to meet Martha. On the way, I took pics in the market, which I rather liked. Martha, showed off her cool retro place with high ceilings and pretty tilework. Then, we caught up talking about our program and upcoming activities.

She invited me along to visit the ACCESS students and her Thursday English club. Last year I worked with ACCESS students so it was nice to meet and chat with those that are participating here in Algeria. Her English club, is inspiring. These students meet at a place called Lebanon Café and speak in English.

On Friday, I met up with Karima, a local Algerian that I just met online days before going to Oran. She sent me an email via Couchsurfing.com, which I must recommend for those of you interested in meeting worldly traveler types. Anyways, she gave a brief but interesting tour and took me up the mountain that the clando taximan had refused to go up. The views of the city and surrounding area from up there were breathtaking. The Spanish Fort is closed due to an ongoing renovation, but the church area is open to visits.

After that we drove along the coast, which is absolutely wonderful with cliffs and an occasional fort jutting out to sea. Soon, we arrived at her hometown, Ain el-Turck. This small coastal town is the home of the Oran Nightlife and Rai music, was more or less born here. Maybe, I’ll get to see some of that next time. It’s really laid back though.

Karima took me to her home, where her brother had a big pan of paella waiting. Paella, the famous Spanish dish, is a popular meal in Oran as well. This is because, the Spanish were there for a long time and because much of the population were part of the Muslims and Jews that were expelled from Spain during the Reconquista of Isabella la Catolica. Karima means "generous" in Arabic, and Karima truly lived up to her name by offering to spend her one day off showing me around and treating me to a home-cooked meal at her family's home. This does not happen often, but in Oran it happened with Amar and with Karima, and I treasure those hospitable moments. So for those of you that are looking for such unique connections, either being a host or guest wherever you are, try out couchsurfing.com and see what it's all about.

Oran has many interesting sights to see, like the Mosque de Pasha, the St. Louis Church which was a synagogue. There is also a huge mosque in the city that was once a synagogue. The main Place du Premier Novembre has that regal French style reflected in the gardens, the monuments, the lion statues guarding the Town Hall and the magnificent Theatre.

I'll post pics later. :)

A week of diverse surprises..

I signed up for Arabic classes at Glycines, Centre des Recherches Diocesaine….and there I met for the first time an Algerian Christian. Daniel is Kabylie and Christian and works there, and I think he also said he is a member of an order of priests. Fascinating and truly unexpected this was.

For the remainder of this month I signed up for a Classical Arabic course. This beginner course actually began in October, but I just jumped in. On my best day I would rate myself at lower intermediate in Arabic, but more often I perform at a high beginner level. For this course which is going over letters still, I am at a higher level, but I don’t really have any other options when it comes to a classroom setting such as this. I signed up to refresh my reading skills- I’m kind of lazy when it comes to pronouncing all of the “harikat” or short vowels and grammatical things like taa marbutas, fathatains etc. Much of the class, unfortunately, is conducted/explained in French. I guess it’s good for me to review my French, but I’d rather everything be stated in Arabic honestly. Well, I’ll take what I can get and anyways, it’s kind of nice to socialize with fellow students. I was a little tired of the one-on-one lessons.

Later on last week, I had the chance to speak at the University with an Algerian teacher. Friendly and willing to share her frank viewpoint with me, I found some of her comments very interesting. I mentioned that I was surprised to meet an Algerian Christian and she said that there are actually a lot, especially in the Kabylie region. She happens to be Kabylie and Muslim. She explained that ½ of her family is Christian and the other ½ Muslim. The one thing that is common and agreed upon by all of the family, she pointed out was the exclusive use of the Berber language at home and family get-togethers.

She added that some Algerian Christians hide their faith, because of potential political and discriminatory fears. This hidden population was very unexpected, and it blows my mind. Shocked and surprised, but also intrigued and fascinated by another strand of diversity in Algeria.

Speaking of diversity, the few foreign students I have come from some interesting places. I have an Iranian woman, several Turks (guys), and a brand new Russian guy. All of these particular foreigners do not speak Arabic or French. They are learning English, so it’s a unique challenge they face. I also have an Egyptian who already knows French and English rather well, so she is not in the same boat as them. The other interesting thing about her, is she is an Evangelical Christian. Now, what are the chances of meeting and Evangelica Egyptian . I would have predicted Coptic before that. This Evangelical Christian attends an Evangelical Church and said that quite a few that participate are Kabylie Algerians. Anyways, I welcome the diversity they all represent which no doubt enhances our sociocultural panorama at Bouzareah.

Another place I enjoy the diversity is when I get to attend church services here. There are several options run be the Diocese of Algiers and one mass occasionally has a Congolese choir that sounds wonderful. Those that attend are from all over, for example Lebanese, French, etc. There are also several orders of nuns and priests here. Some from the order of Mother Theresa and others that wear special garb particular to their group. Then there are other religious laypeople, like my Lebanese Arabic teacher that dress in everyday wear. The services I've attended have been conducted in French, but I hear there is an Arabic one done once a month. I'm looking forward to attending that sometime and practicing al-arabiyya fil kanisa. (kanisa=church)