Snow in Algiers!

Snow in the neighborhood

We had a rare occurrence in Algiers last weekend.  The city received about 4 inches of snow!  Although the mountains near here routinely get snow in the winter it has been years since it last fell here.  It happened during a three-day weekend so it didn’t effect work too much but it really snarled traffic.  Gene & I didn’t really go out until Sunday but we heard many stories. No snowplows or anything to clear them and it took a couple of days to melt so with all the hills here it was difficult to drive. Our motor pool closed down for a while on Saturday because they kept getting stuck.

Since it was a heavy, wet snow though it made for great snowballs and snowmen.  You could see snowmen everywhere.  I went to a “Let’s Chat” session this week for English-speaking students from the University here and all the talk was about how much they enjoyed the snow and threw snowballs at their friends. They especially liked the snow because it delayed a big exam for two days!

My containers of lettuce and basil were totally covered so I brought them inside to thaw out. The basil had a few brown spots but otherwise they were fine.

 

lettuce and basil

rooftop terrace in snow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Sunday we also had a chili cook-off with the ambassador, management officer, and defense attache as the judges. Out of eight contestants the judges chose the top three.  Guess who won?  Much to my surprise it was my turkey chili!  I wasn’t even trying to win I just brought some so there was enough for all to eat. All I had was an empty post by the end of the evening.

chili-cookoff winners

snowmen next door