Algeria

You might have noticed I haven't blogged about our time in Algeria in July. Well to put it bluntly, it was tough. If ever I doubted our relationship, it was this month. DJ did exactly what I expected he would do, and simply disappeared for most of the month, after giving us explicit instructions not to leave the house. He was nervous about our personal safety and very very scared of kidnapping.
We managed to leave the house after about a week for a walk, in 38 degree heat, not very successful. The car that his dad has bought in the end wasn't delivered until after we left, so no transport made DJ a very unhappy puppy.
Luckily Hakkim took a week off towards the end of our visit and drove the 12 hours to get to see us. He looks like he's a man with troubles on his mind. He is lovely and adores his family, but he's not letting on his problems. Theriva doesn't want to move to be near him, so he only gets to see his family once every two months.

Kate was a horror in Algeria. She didn't like it at all and misbehaved with me most particularly. It became a "I love daddy I hate mummy" thing which was more than I could bear. She disliked the heat, her grandparents and the food. She stopped eating, lost lots of weight. As did I.

Overall, next time I think we'll stay only a week or two, and treat ourselves to somewhere luxurious on the way home to make it worth while. Hard hard work.