Africa

My parents were born in Algeria, a country in North Africa, and most of my family still lives there. So every few years, we go to back to visit family. And even though I'm sure that in a few years I'll look back on the experience fondly and realize that it has taught me wonderful life lessons (note the sarcasm) I'm extremely glad to be back in America. In Algeria, like most African nations, there is very limited hygiene. You have to be really careful about what water you drink, because having the wrong kind can lead to chlorea -- I'm not kidding. Plus, during the last few days I got tonsillitis and the medicine there is more than a little sketchy -- as in strangely colored pills that taste pretty suspicious in my opinion.

There's also the fact that the food is completely different. And by different, I mean not that good. Like I said before, I'm wary of a lot of the products there -- they don't really have health inspectors in a country where many are impoverished -- and as a result barely ate anything. The day I came back, the first place I went was Panda Express to pig out.

So while there were good parts -- I have some really interesting pictures, like a guy leading a huge flock of sheep down the highway -- I am SO glad to be back to modern civilization. A month away from the Galleria was a little more than I could handle.