Thank You for Eating American Cheese

Got to walk around the neighborhood a bit last night: I’m really up in the sticks here. There are a number of government ministries and institutions here, as well as a few areas with large homes well-fenced (who doesn’t love spools of barbed-wire atop 15 foot walls).



I went to a party “chez Susanne” with some other people from Glycines. “Chez Susanne,” we found out when we arrived, is a large chuch/charity home that houses all kinds of people who have come from the more southerly parts of Africa, as I met men from the Congo, Soudan, Nigeria, and Senegal. We were invited because of our western-ness or our assumed Catholicism, which was awkward but not too much so. I did get to eat some very red sausage/hot-dog contraption with pitted olives in the middle of it. There was also couscous and the delicious/disgusting milk drink that goes along with it. I’m really still up in the air about this thing, although I did manage to put down a few glasses. It is a lot like plain yogurt, a bit milkier and a bit tangier (that’s tang-ier, not Tangier…although I wonder what could make something “a bit Tangier…”).



There was also a band of young guys, guitars and bongos, that played some “rock algérien(ne)” as they said. It was mellow and reminded me a little of Hoba Hoba Spirit, if anyone knows them. Altogether the scene was odd. I even met a Polish biologist (specializing in the reproduction of desert animals) who has been teaching at the University of Algiers for 36 years.



I walked around town a bit more yesterday, only further confirming the Marseille bit I wrote a while ago. Really, look at some pictures of the town. I knew that the French tore down huge swaths of the city and built boulevards and buildings in the French style, but I guess I never realized to what an extent the city was/is “European.” What amazed me the most, however, was/is the sheer number of shoe stores in the city. Really, blocks and blocks with a patisserie, a “taxi phone” store, and two different shoe stores. This in a town where, from my count, 68% of the population wears flip-flops or other sandals.



I also found out last night that Kraft, along with General Foods, is owned by Philip Morris. So all that Jell-O you eat (or consume in Jell-O shots, as Joey is want to do) is helping get little kids addicted to cigarettes. Thanks a lot. Why do you hate kids so much? Speaking of odd things, is anyone aware that in the South some people soak pickles in Kool-Aid and then eat them? I guess this really happens, and I want someone to try it and report back.

The real discovery of the day came from my Cuban friend here: just down the street, past a boulangerie, there is a store that sells 3 bootleg DVDs for 500D (about $7.50). He assures me that they are much better quality than those one can buy in Moroccan medinas. Goodbye grant money.