In 2000, as newcomers in the field, we had no projects, so we were saved by the opportunity to work on a project in Algiers, a place that no one wanted to go to at the time due to the ongoing civil war. After the division of Czechoslovakia and the subsequent division of embassy assets, it became necessary to address their reorganization. Simply put, it was necessary to fit the program of two buildings into one. We did our work, but what started as a risky venture with a taste of danger in a hot country under a cold sun unexpectedly became an adventure with a happy ending. The mark it left on us is deep and inspiring. We had the opportunity to see the European world and ourselves from the outside. We encountered a society of poverty, a world without hygiene, without subways, phones, watches, cameras, the internet, and banking systems. Alongside this, we experienced hatred, terrorism, the kasbah, a mix of races and cultures, the colors of the bazaar, the ceremony in the mosque, the voice of the muezzin, gardens with nightingales, the value of water, sacred places, shades of ochre and blue, and the white bodies of earthy buildings.