Harmony In Setif, Algeria

My Life As An American Living In Algeria
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Welcome to my blog about my experiences while living in Algeria!


Did you know… Birth Cetificates

Did you know that when a child is born in Algeria they are issued two birth certificates? One in Arabic and one in French. If you offer a not so popular name in French then they have to guess the Arabic translation to put on the certificate. Not a very sophisticated method of translation. But, then, if you are not planning on porting over the Arabic version during your world travels, it may not make such a huge difference.

:P

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Our Eid

Today was Eid, the day after the last day of Ramadan. Just wanted to give you a rundown of what we did and some things about the day to give some insight to the traditions of this holiday.

First, nearing the end of Ramadan, you hear firecrackers going off here and there. The igniting of firecrackers are multiplied on Eid. Makes me a little nervous, since you will find small, unsupervised children lighting them.

All morning we could hear the Mosque calls. Many more than usual.

Actually, this Eid is referred to as the little Eid. The big Eid is in about 10 weeks time, when they kill the lamb.

One tradition for today is for all the children to have a new set of clothes and shoes to wear. And for adults too. But the emphasis on the kiddies.

In the morning the children are carted around to thier aunts and uncles and grandparents homes to visit and collect money, candies and cookies.

Today, we had a nice lunch with MIL and FIL and extended family(we live in a family villa). They served Eye-eesh, a tomatoe based soup with dried lamb meat. Very tastey!

At around 3pm, the whole family came around for cookies, milk and coffee. Which we all congregated in the dining room/living room to consume. The men sat at the dining room table as us ladies sat in the comfy chairs in the living room. All the cousins played outside. Usual conversation on the women’s side included talk about the hair stylist’s we all go to, thier pricing and quality of hair coloring, cooking, and the children’s school. Typical topics of discussion. No political talk there. :(

Afterward, everyone parts and I scramble back to MIL’s kitchen to snake some leftovers from lunch, after taking care of my little ones. But, then, I am so so full. Can barely eat another thing! And hubby is off visiting friends.

And now I am here, surfing the net, and composing this post.

Below are some pics of the cookies my SILs prepared:

Algerian Cookies - Sable Algerian Cookies - Crescent Algerian Cookies - White Crescent Algerian Baklawa

Algerian Chocolates … and some chocolates.

Hope you all are enjoying your Eid 2007!

Exports to Algeria in 2006 - Maryland Connection

Maryland Exports to Algeria

Gazette.net reports that there were $141 million worth of products exported from Maryland to Algeria in 2006.

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Fake Phones in Algeria?

Fake Cell Phones in Algeria

Echorouk Reports:

The number of fake cell phones in Algerian black market increased by 12 times in the last eight months compared to the year 2006.

A total of 20,393 fake cell phones were seized in 2007 while 1,709 ones were found out in 2006. These fake cell phones were found with cars drivers and in some eastern and western borders areas.

Please, can someone tell me what a fake mobile phone is? Are they rebuilt or configured by a no-name company? They obviously work, if people are buying them. I am not sure ‘fake’ is an appropriate description, or is it?

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One more day of Ramadan…In Algeria

Yes, us folks in Algeria have one more day of Ramadan to look forward to. Saudi Arabia is celebrating Eid tomorrow, however. Why is there a difference, you ask? Well, some very well skilled individuals watch very carefully for the first sight of of a waxing crescent moon the last days of Ramadan. When they see the crescent, in their country, that is the last day of Ramadan. And Eid will take place the following day. And believe me the act of waiting for news either way, keeps everyone on his/her toes. Not only will it be a relief to feast as you like, but all the preparation that goes into Eid. The cooking, cleaning, women needing thier hair done at the coiffure(hair stylist). Today was a very busy day out at the shops. So, I suppose they will all have a good rest tomorrow. Being Friday, when many businesses are usually closed, it will surely be a long day.

Anyway, may you all have a splendid Eid and eat lots and lots of wonderful cookies for me.

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Serving Others During Ramadan - Baltimore Connection

Ramadan in Baltimore

Muslims in Baltimore assisting the community with food, clothes and health screenings at annual Humanitarian Day.

Read full article here.

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Welcome to my blog’s new home! - DZVIE.INFO

Welcome to my blog’s new home! If you are finding my posts through an RSS feed, then you will be brought here seamlessly.

Please be sure to update your links and bookmarks. If you find bugs or like to comment on our new look, please don’t hesitate to comment.

Ok, off to continue customizing :P

Trip Planning and Travel Blogging - RealTravel.com

RealTravel.com Thumb

There’s a really well thought out website, RealTravel.com, where they offer users travel blogging and trip planner software.

I’ve signed up as harmonylastic. I will enter a blog entry about my trip to the beach and try to give some advice about staying there.

If you are a world traveler, it’s a nice place to share your experiences. And if you are just beginning, it’s also a great place to get friendly and free advice on where you are going. As there is also a well moderated forum to ask questions.

If you’ve travelled to Algeria, I urge you to sign up and submit some blog entries about this country. There is a lot of misinformation out there about travelling to Algeria. It’d be great to see more people blogging about thier experiences here.

And as always, as any good travel website would have it, RealTravel.com offers search functionality for finding the best deals on the web.

If you use the site, please report back your experiences with it.

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I’m Back From Vacation!!!

Hey All!

I finally made it back to Setif after over a month of days of vacationing in Melbou, Bejaia, Algeria. It was nice while it lasted. But I am so happy to be home! :)
After I get through some e-mails and checking up on some networking sites, I hope to get back to posting.

Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of your August. I’m sure we all have big things planned for this Autumn. My favorite time of year.

Chow!

Harms

International Travel Health Insurance - AllAboardBenefits.com

All Aboard Benefits

If you don’t have health insurance and are traveling abroad, you may need to get international travel health insurance to obtain a visa for your host country.

Back, while living in the US, my hubby wanted to travel to Europe. It is typically difficult for Algerians to get visas to travel abroad. Having a US green card makes it a bit easier to obtain a visa. However, with this option he was also required to get proof of health insurance.

Anyway, AllAboardBenefits.com does offer several travel insurance plans for international travellers as well as trip cancellation insurance(which may interest you even if you are not in need of medical insurance).

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