so, my sleep schedule is as messed up as it's probably ever been. After my travel day and installation here, I was predictably tired. I was satisfied to fall asleep around 10. When I woke up, I was still tired, but there was light at the window, so I figured it was morning. I checked my computer clock; it was 3. I ate another yogurt and watched some of death/rebirth on my computer. I felt a weird mix of hot and cold, so I ate some ibuprofen and tried to go back to sleep. It took me some time, I guess until about 530. The next time I woke up, housekeeping was poking her head into the room. When she left, I looked at the clock. It was two. So, five hours of sleep, then awake for three, then eight more asleep. I wonder when I'll be tired next?
On the bright side, I feel much better. My virus/antibiotic reaction rash has almost entirely gone away. I suppose now I'll shower, clean up my room, and do a little city orientation, by which I mean wandering in the direction of the casbah. But what to wear? I guess I'll step onto my balcony to check the weather.
On my walk today I played a game of 'what are those men with automatic weapons guarding?' there was the obligatory police presence in front of obvious government buildings, but also a surprising number of different uniforms in front of other buildings. I identified one building with poured concrete sentry towers to be the center for nuclear research. Another, a long building green building with white trim and a second floor cloister, was guarded by green uniformed guards with high white leather spats. The best guarded compound appeared to be nothing more than middle to high rent apartments (laundry hanging from the balconies and all), but the gate was flanked by rifle-toting sentries, there were several guard towers, and the whole place was ringed with barbed wire. I'm always confused as to whether I'm supposed to feel safer or not when I'm within range of guns like that.
My walk wasn't exactly what I had planned, but still a great success. I ended up going up the stairs by my hotel and then I continued to climb as far as I could. I was trying to get a good view of the sea, or at least check out the top of the city. When I got to the top (or at least as far as I was going to go), I saw a sign for the place des martyrs, which, at the bottom of the casbah, is generally where I had intended to go in the first place. On the way down, I was greatly excited to see an alimentation selling milk by the bag. I made provisional plans to buy and drink some. Walking down another curving street, I passed a couple of police roadblocks, where drivers were asked to slow down (before being summarily waved on). They're supposed to make things difficult for terrorists, but I think it's mostly just a show of police presence.
Down in the lower casbah, there was a hilarious variety of stores, by which I mean people standing next to goods for sale in piles on the sidewalk, selling everything from soap and light bulbs to bootleg pumas and individual cigarettes. I'm planning to come back one day and check out the wares.
For dinner (my only meal today, for that matter), I bought a fried egg and French fry sandwich. I also picked up a baguette for 10DA (¢15). It's a testament to my fatigue last night that it didn't occur to me until now that my wheel of camembert is imbued with hilarity. It's St. Augustin brand, made in Annaba, where St. Augustine lived. On the front of the box is a picture of the saint himself, piously cutting into a wheel of cheese.
Plans for tomorrow include checking out the martyrs monument, making plans for other travel opportunities (tipasa, bouisseville, oran, inland?), bags of milk and otherwise not sleeping in until mid afternoon. I have breakfast included in the room charge, and I intend to take advantage of it!
Ag! It happened again. Despite my best efforts, once again I've woken up at 230. I fell asleep around 1130 and somewhere in there had a dream set in Sandusky about the 'wild turkey killer', a serial killer who only drank wild turkey and cut the pockets out of all his pants (apparently this makes him more sinister). I asked someone in the dream how anyone knew all this if the killer hadn't been caught. Also how we knew it wasn't a woman. Anyways, I guess I'll stay awake for a little while then try to sleep some more. I'm still planning on getting up at eight. I guess the bright side of a potentially miserable tomorrow is a normal schedule the rest of the time.
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