Gëzuar Krishtlindjet dhe Gëzuar Vitin e Ri: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

In Albania the sounds of Christmas are less like carols and more like gun shots. (Since December 1st, all the Albanian boys have been running around and setting off fire crackers some quite large and all rather startling, is that a cigarette butt burning next to that car, oh no, it’s a firecra…BANG!!!) While Albanians might be 70% Muslim, they have no quarrels about celebrating all the holidays, any reason for a feast is a good one. So while we thought there would be no decorations, no trees or lights, we were very happy to see the street posts decorated with lights, and Christmas trees in the stores. The only thing lacking is the music, which thanks to Amazon’s 25 days of free Christmas Songs we have been able to fill in ourselves.

Lauren’s classes at the university ended on Wednesday, they didn’t tell her that until Tuesday, while evidently for me all of December was vacation time, with the exception of the very first week, were we did one presentation for World AIDS Day. So at least for me December has been a rather slow month, in which we both have been battling a bit of the flu and we finally had to use our heater, during a very rainy cold week. Now it seems as though all the rain and dampness we had is locked inside our apt. So it is much warmer outside than inside. Last weekend we made our way through the rain to have a pre-Christmas Party with our friends in Permet, which is about 3 hours from here up in the Mountains. So it was much colder there and above the town the mountains were covered in snow. We had a nice time, but the town flooded while we were there so we did not get to explore much of it. Last time we where there my ankle was still hurting pretty bad so we didn’t get to explore much then either. Since the 4 of us all had December birthdays we celebrated them as well. Catherine somehow was able to make, Lauren’s favorite cake, strawberry shortcake, and a good time was had by all.

Last night for Christmas Eve we went to the Italian nuns for mass, which was very packed, at least 60 people there, on a normal Sunday there might be 20. We recognized some of the songs and did our best to follow along. At the end, the priest held a plastic baby doll, and everyone lined up to kiss it, we skipped out on that part. After mass they had some refreshments for everyone. It is hard to describe this, but I will try. First of all Albanians do not believe in lines, and so by the look of the room, you would have thought they were giving away money, people pushing, shoving, knocking over drinks and plates of food, just to get some cookies. Now this is all done in a weird orderly manner, pushing and shoving are in fact normal and expected, so Lauren and I were in fact the odd ones out because we were not pushing ourselves into the room to get food. We had several people come to us and tell us to push our way in and get something to eat. After chatting for a while we walked back home, and on the way we stopped and got a chicken and some beers, then watched Love Actually and went to bed. This morning, we had some left over banana bread, Lauren made some for the nuns, and tried to figure out what to do for the rest of the day.

We hope this finds you all well, we miss you and wish that we could be closer. Have a Wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year. We are off to Italy for a week with my parents on Monday. We have to take a bus to Athens and then fly to Rome, so it will be quite the adventure.

Reasons to be Thankful:

• We were invited to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the Ambassadors’ house.

• That our stomachs did not rupture with the amount of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin and pecan pie that we devoured like we had not eaten in several weeks. I think the 6 Peace Corps volunteers put the 5 marines to shame when it came to eating.

• That I did not reinjure my ankle, playing touch football on a wet hill of a field and that despite my 31 years, I can still throw a mean spiral about 40 yards, while being rushed at by ex-military types.

• That I turned 31 years old last Friday.

• That Lauren will turn XX on Sunday. (XX stands for 30)

• Our host family welcomed us “home” with open arms, 2 hours of wedding video watching (from a cousins’ wedding, we only had to watch 2 of the 6 tapes, and that was just the brides side, the groom has another 6 tapes of video) and a gigantic feast of more turkey, a chicken, a cow’s pancreas, cream of wheat turkey like stuff, egg pie and two bottles of red wine, which mainly I drank along with our host dad. Then they also gave us about 30 pounds of oranges, lemons, mandarins and persimmons to take on our 7 hours bus ride home (they grow them all in the back yard).

• That now our chances of getting scurvy are now even lower.

• That Lauren finally got to see some of Tirana. We had a nice time walking around, going to our office and getting some more books to read, visiting the Embassy for a career day, where we learned all about the foreign service and working overseas, we had some great meals at nice restaurants, and even went to a business convention, where they had everything from plumbing supplies to laptops to wedding dresses.

• That we enjoy so many of the other volunteers. Dr. Mike and Catherine met us back in Sarande and took in the sites of Sarande and Butrint and Mike even took us out to dinner for our birthdays. Two of the other volunteers that lived close by came to have a birthday lunch with us on Friday. I got coveted Oreo’s, which is a big deal here, but we have found two stores that are selling them here in Sarande, which is a big sign of development and one that I may mention in my next report to PC and take credit for.

• That we have made it 1/3 of the way through our service, we are here for 27 months and about 30% of the people who join PC early terminate for a number of reasons during those 27 months. We started with 34 volunteers and now we are down to 30.

• That we do not have a Turkish toilet. You can Google if you are really interested.

• For all of you that have taken the time and the money to send us letters, emails and packages and have even come to visit us. We feel very spoiled and really unworthy.

• That we live on the sea with a very mild climate, at least so far anyway.

• That we have internet access, it is not the best and is a great cause of frustration but for those of you who knew Lauren when she was in Nicaragua, it was an email once a month and a letter every couple of months and if you wanted to call you had to prearrange a time to call her at someone else’s house who had a phone and hope your Spanish was good enough to make them understand that you want to talk to Lauren.

• That we have each other, I could never last here without Lauren and she could never find anyone who could cook or clean as well as I can!

• That the nuns have opened their school to us to teach English and help with computer classes and that they give us such a great example to follow.

• That Gratz College is working with Lauren to help get books for the University of Sarande.

• That despite how bad my Albanian is some of the older grandmas still get such a kick out of me trying.

• That we only have three more weeks ‘til we get to go to Italy and see my parents.

• Finally, that we got a brand new, beautiful niece last week, Maura Jane.

James Bond, Johnny Walker, and Turkish Toilets

Dad’s visit

So after much discussion on the least complicated way to get here from Athens with a month’s worth of luggage, my dad arrived by bus at 5 am on the 9th of October. Ben and I were waiting and waiting, but the bus never came. Finally, Ben said he better go see if he was at the other bus station in town. Sure enough, Ben found my dad sitting and having coffee with the bus driver, and some other guys. Although we told my dad to go to the back of the bus, to stretch out and to sleep, he sat in the front and cheered on the bus driver as he cautiously took the unending mountain curves. He yelled out, “James Bond” and the bus driver ate it up. He even was able to request some of Michael Jackson’s music. Yes, the Albanians love Michael. So after Vinny caught up on his sleep, we had to do laundry…again. A trend must be starting, or my guests really enjoy seeing how we wash our clothes by hand. No garlic this time, but now Vinny’s cruise clothes were covered in blue ink from his bleeding blue bag! Luckily, it all came out, and we did not have to go to the Gabi (the second-hand store). He was dying to go and get more clothes that he did not need!

Afterwards, we showed him the town and sampled Albanian food at a few restaurants. With Vinny’s charisma we ended up meeting another 29 people in town…at the very least. He enjoyed speaking Spanish to them even if they spoke fluent English. And he told the Italian nun that we work with that the Italians were so much better at art and food, etc than the French. To emphasize his point, he used the gesture where one places the backside of his/her hand under their chin and flicks it dismissively. It was really fun trying to translate that for her! He also enjoyed coming up with the most complicated story he could conjure, so that we would have to translate it into Albanian. Most of the time, we said, My dad likes it here very much. It is beautiful here. On one of our evening walks, we walked away from the busy part of town to see if an Italian restaurant was open. We had seen it advertised on the local channel and wanted to try it out. Although it was closed for the season, the owner was inside watching television and she let us in to see it. It was beautifully decorated, and she even turned the fountain on for us. She told us that her husband did all of the stonework, and the paintings in the restaurant. On our way back, there were two cars drag racing, and trying to spin out. Although the street is less busy than other main ones, there are still people and cars that use it consistently. I don’t remember clearly because my heart was in my stomach, but the one car spun out pretty close to where we were walking and just missed a parked car by a few feet. As it was happening, I tried to get as close as I could to the building on the sidewalk, but I only managed to bang into some corrugated zinc that was being used as a fence which made a loud and dramatic noise. After I stopped shaking, we were able to enjoy a nice dinner. It just scares me to think about the young and stupid boys that do this for a kick while not thinking about the small children walking along the street, or how they could lose control and kill themselves or another oncoming car. After we got home, we could hear the same guys doing the racing again since the street is just below our apartment.

Before Vinny left, we did a trip to Butrint, and basically had the ruins to ourselves which was pretty neat.

On Friday, we saw my dad off on the 7am Athens bus. He later wrote and said he talked with a young Albanian who had been living in Boston, and a South African for the whole 9 hour trip. That next day, he took off for his month long cruise. That next week we caught up on our sleep, as Vinny's sweet snoring left us a little tired. One night during his stay, we awoke to a thud. The thud was my dad. Yes, he fell off of the couch and was lying on the floor. Right now he is at sea in route back to Ft. Lauderdale. I hope he managed to stay in his bed on the ship ;)


First Day of School

After finally getting word on the 11th that school would start the 12th, I had no idea what to expect. I had heard that there were 35 English students registered for the first year, but I had no idea what my teaching assignment was supposed to be. My colleague told me to be there at 8:30, and when I arrived, I saw that the mayor, the news, and all of the staff, and students were standing outside dressed to the nines. There was music playing softly in the background, and there were many speeches offering the teachers and students a successful academic year. After the formalities, the students were told to go to their respective classrooms, and the staff was instructed to go to the library. After following the other teachers in, I saw that everyone was taking a shot of Johnny Walker, or Baileys. Before I knew it, I too, had a shot in my hand. I downed it, and thought what was I worried about? After the shot, we went to the classroom, and my colleague talked to the students for 10 minutes in Albanian, most of which I did not catch at all. I, then, introduced myself and he then called it a day. He then told me I would meet with them the next day for 2 hours. He gave me the book, and told me I would be teaching Spoken English.

Somehow, I got through the first week, and am now sailing through week 4. I was also assigned two hours everyday with the second level. They are studying text analysis which sounds more fancy than it is. It is basically practice in the four essential skills for preparation for the Cambridge First Certificate Test, our equivalent of an English proficiency exam. I also teach beginning and advanced English courses from 3-5 everyday. I think it is finally payback time for all that free time on the beach this summer. The classes are going well, and I am enjoying meeting more people, and feeling a little more integrated here. However, the planning is still a big fat pain, and I don’t really like it anymore than I remember last time I taught. I also need to study English grammar since the Albanians know the 0, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and mixed conditionals better than me.

Language Conference

Wednesday the 27th, we had to travel to Pogradec, a beautiful town located on Lake Ohrid. The lake partly belongs to Albania, and partly to Macedonia. Apparently, the Macedonian side has a lot more to offer in terms of infrastructure. All of the group 12 volunteers had to meet for a language refresher. We basically had 3 ½ days of Albanian lessons with our language teachers from training. The hotel was nice, and the food was pretty good, but I can’t say I came away speaking that much more Albanian. Both Ben and I have tutors now, and we do about 2 hours of lessons every week. So slowly, we are making more progress in that department. We also took a group trip to see Enver Hoxha’s (the former communist dictator) villa. It was pretty nice, and today most young Albanians go there to get some wedding pictures taken. On the way back home, we stayed over in Elbasan (our training city) and went to a Halloween Party hosted by the 2 volunteers that live there. There were some very creative oufits, and I felt a little out of place not being in costume. At the last moment, I taped some smarties to my pants and said I was smarty pants, but that didn’t really go over too well.

On Sunday, we made the long haul back home. By Tuesday, I was sick with a sore throat. I knew I was bound to get something since so many of the volunteers were sick at the conference. By Friday, I was feeling better, but I had passed it onto Ben. On a brighter note, as I was sitting here typing, I got a text that we have been invited to dine with the American ambassador for Thanksgiving! I must go plan, as I have a class in an hour. Please keep writing, and sending pictures. Miss you all! PS- can’t wait to meet my new little niece or nephew!!!!

My likes and dislikes thus far:
I like…
-Persimmons! I may have had this fruit before in Nicaragua, but it was a completely different color. Here they look like orange tomatoes; there they looked like brown kiwis.

-When my student yells, “take it easy” when my class gets too noisy.

-That spinach is in season.

-Seeing the excitement in my students’ eyes when they have answered something correctly.

-That one of my male university students admitted he enjoys cooking.

-The smell of expresso that comes from almost any café.
-Dixie, the dog that lives outside of our apartment building.
-That some of the Peace Corps volunteers were Turkish toilets for Halloween!

I don’t like…
-The superior attitude that some of the teenagers here have.
-That three different men have told me it looks like I am married to a “young boy.” Apparently Ben looks like he is 19, and I look like I am old enough to be his mother.
-That it is getting colder, and the laundry takes days to dry.
-That one of my students suggested “Twin Towers” as his team name while playing a game.
-That the students have previously learned that it’s ok to shout “shut up” or even worse.

-That women rarely practice sports or exercise. A foreigner that runs attracts a lot of attention.

-The smoke-filled cafes.

-That Albanians have told me they don’t understand English after speaking my best Albanian. Um….that wasn’t English!
-That my pants are getting tighter!

Bye bye beach- Mirupafshim plaxhi

So this is the final part of our series covering the month of September and the first week of October. School finally opened so I have been going out to a few schools and have been watching my counterpart give presentations on swine flu that I write up and she presents. We do have a lot of brochures and posters to hand out, it seems that the UN and USAID have been very active in getting items out to help control the panic that has been spread through the media about this flu. Many Albanians do not think swine flu is much to worry about, in fact a good way to get a laugh is to ask someone after they sneeze if they have the swine flu. So my job has not picked up much, it seems what they really need is a good book full of lesson plans that cover on health multiple topics. In fact the Peace Corps is working on such a book, which I helped to do some editing on, but it will not be ready for a while. So my work day is still limited to about 2 hours a day at the hospital listening to my counterpart tell me how Lauren and I should speak more Albanian when we are at home and maybe I would get better. We are constantly told that while Lauren speaks more than me, I speak cleaner than her. It’s amazing to me that since I can say 20 words really well, I must be the better speaker, but then we are in a male dominated society, so just by showing up I get bonus points. We did both finally get tutors, Lauren’s is one of her students at the University that she taught over the summer. She is about 42 years old and speaks English really well. She also works at the tourist office in town.

Lauren recently ended her summer review course, with all two students, as they prepare to start a new school year. She just found out this week that the University will finally open on the 12th. However, she still does not know what courses she will be assigned. Things are a little less urgent here, as you might gather. She is trying to remain calm about the fact that there is no designated textbook for many of the courses, and students are asked to make photo copies of whatever resources the teacher gathers for them. Considering she has none since she does not know the subject, this may prove slightly challenging to get done by the time she learns which course she will teach. My tutor, we met over the summer when we were working at the camp run by the nuns. She was helping the nuns out with some of the programs. She is 28 and also works as a tour guide for the groups that come from Greece to visit Butrint, one of the three World Heritage sites found in Albania and only 20 minutes from Sarande.

We have also started working with the nuns again, Lauren teaches two English classes at their school while I co-teach a computer class with my language tutor. Lauren has 4 teenage students in her intermediate class who are quite good at English already, and has about 20 kids, aging10-19 in her beginners course. They are so eager to participate, and learn English. In fact, many Albanian students take private courses after the school day ends in order to further their education. Could you imagine if it were normal for most American teenagers to go and take Spanish, German, or Italian after school and actually want to be there? For my sessions, I guess co-teach would be a strong word, since the class is conducted in Albanian, but teaching a computer course does lead to a lot of pointing and watching what someone else does. So I am getting by rather well. I also recently met with an English-speaking director of a local foundation who needs some help with several different projects. So I am excited to do anything that he can throw at me. The first being, to design his foundation a website. He lost out on two funding opportunities because he did not have a website, which the funders required. We will see how it goes, and I’ll post the link when and if I get one up. He also wants me to help update the local tourist map of Sarande, which a former Peace Corps volunteer helped him design about 4 years ago. Lauren and I are the first volunteers placed here since him.

So life keeps on going here in Sarande, although at a much slower pace than over the summer. Many of the little cafés and restaurants have closed down for the winter and the crowds are long gone. The weather has started to cool down a bit at night but we are still in the 80’s during the day. The beaches are also deserted. We are told it will quiet down even more next week when the university students head back to school, many of which will be headed for Tirana. We have started working out pretty regularly, something that neither us ever did back home with any diligence. We brought the P90X series that you may have seen on an infomercial. Tony, the teacher, is crazy but highly entertaining. He yells at us not to go and eat any crispy crèmes during the breaks. If only he knew what we would do for a big fat hot crispy crème! Eating healthily, however, still remains a challenge, there are no green vegetables and the selection in general is decreasing by the day. It will be very interesting to see what we can get in the winter months. We eat a lot of pasta and rice and do our best to throw in what vegetables we can find. We can get meat here, it is just always a little iffy. You can’t just walk into a market and buy unfrozen meat like we can at home. You either buy it frozen, or go to the butcher and get it “fresh”, meaning you tell them which part of the hanging carcass you want. Since we have not ventured to talk with the butcher, we buy it frozen. Yet, many of the stores don’t have generators when the electricity goes out, so hence the iffyness. Sometimes when we walk home from classes, we see unidentifiable meat roasting on a spit. It always looks and smells so good. However, we recently learned that it was kerkec, or lamb’s intestines. Yum. Our neighbor promised us one day that we could cook it together since it is such a delicacy. How do you say, “Um, I think I will be especially busy that day unfortunately” in Albanian? In two days, Vince, Lauren’s dad will arrive on the ever so enjoyable 9 hour Athens-Saranda night bus. We are really looking forward to his visit, and even more excited about lulling off to sleep to the sound of his sweet snoring! Just kidding Vinny!

Peace Corps, Greece?

We were thinking of asking our director if there was a need for two volunteers to rough it in Greece and spend the next two years determining if Peace Corps Greece should be a top priority for new site placements in 2011. As you may have seen from our pictures, Greece was nice, very nice. In fact, once we got there and saw all of the action, we both watched completely mesmerized. It was total stimulation for all of the senses. We started the journey by taking the night bus from Saranda at 7:30. There were a total of 7 passengers, maybe. It was interesting to note, that all of the Albanian passengers were very concerned with their seat assignment, and diligently sat (in the front, next to each other )where their ticket told them to. Ben and I headed to the back, took off our shoes, and spread out. After about two hours, we stopped at the Greek border, first was Albanian customs, and then got back on for the 1 minute bus ride to the Greek customs. I had to use the bathroom since the bus did not have one, and got stuck using a porta-potty which was the worst one I have ever used. Lesson learned: the “nice” bus to Greece does not have a bathroom. After speeding through the border, we continued on our bumpy, rickety way. Neither of us slept really, and when we got to the bridge where busses cannot pass, the bus boarded a ferry, and Ben came from the back of the bus (the only part where you can lie completely down) to say hi. Naturally, he left his sneakers and pillows so that he could return after the exciting bus on a ferry ride. Little did we know, that this was the part where the bus driver gets his 37 minute snooze. He hurried to the back of the bus, looked at the pillow, squeezed it into position around his neck, and started snoring instantaneously. 9 hours later, we had arrived to Athens, at 5:30 Greek time. We waited with some others for the metro to open and then headed to our hostel’s general location. We didn’t really have a plan, but we hoped maybe we could get into our room early. No such luck. The very nice Kenyan, Kevin told us he would keep our bags but that we could not check into the room until noon. So we ventured back out into the dark streets of Athens. Many of the shops and cafes were covered in grafitti, but luckily as the sun rose, the grafitti disappeared as the shopkeepers lifted up the garage-type security doors. It was quite beautiful to experience Athens waking up. It was so serene and the view of the Acropolis (which means High or Sacred Rock), which was a quick walk from the hostel, was spectacular in the early morning light. It must have beckoned us, because before we knew it, we were at the top and overlooking the entire city center. The Acropolis did not open up until eight so we sat, and waited patiently to enter wondering about all the dogs.

Evidently the Greek Police take care of all the stray dogs so they are everywhere, but they all seemed very friendly, just looking for a little treat. The ones up at the Acropolis didn’t like the military jeep, or the delivery truck all that much but didn’t seem to mind all the people. The Acropolis and the surrounding sites (which include the Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, etc.) were very cool to see. Much of the site is under renovation, so there is a lot of scaffolding and lots of workers cutting marble and marking out cracks in the foundations that need to be restored. The view from the Acropolis is amazing, you can see the entire city of Athens, which stretches out in all directions, ending in the south at the sea and seemingly never ending in all the other directions. From the Acropolis we ventured down to the brand new Acropolis Museum, made mostly of glass so that you can see the Acropolis as you tour the museum but also so you can see the newly uncovered ruins found beneath it. While we did our best to enjoy it, our lack of sleep the night before was quickly catching up with us and we headed back to the hotel. After a long nap, we head out to see the Plaka area, which is the swanky neighborhood of Athens, with great restaurant and café lined cobble stone streets and lots of stores. Around every coroner there was a church or fountain or a great view of the Acropolis. We found a nice little Greek restaurant away from the crowds and enjoyed our first Greek meal which included a free dessert crepe. We spent the rest of the night just walking around and looking at stores and trying to plan out our route for the next day. We had thought of going to Delphi, the World Heritage Site about 3 hours north of Athens, that the Greeks once believed to be the center of the world, but it would have been another 6 hour bus ride so we decided to just hang out in Athens and enjoy some good Greek wine. We spent the next day seeing all the other historical sites within walking distance of our hotel. After a while you do feel like you can only see so many pillars and old piles of rocks. I guess if we had gotten a guide to explain the significance of said piles of rock we might have enjoyed them more, but we were satisfied with just exploring on our own.

Towards of the end of the day we made the hike up Lycabettus Hill, which is even higher up than the Acropolis and is the best place to watch the sunset over all the monuments. From there we went back to the Plaka for dinner where we met an Albanian who told us he had not returned home in three years because it was too dirty and unsafe for his kids. He was highly surprised that we spoke some of his language and even stood up for his country saying it was not all that bad. My guess was that he was there illegally and that was the main reason for him not returning to Albania. There are lots of Albanians illegally in Greece and they are not looked upon very kindly by the Greeks. Even though they take all the low paying jobs and the vast majority are kind responsible people, many Greeks have nothing nice to say about them. This is unfortunate because both countries share so many customs and traditions and have the same ancient influences, with main difference being that Albania was taken over by the world’s strictest communist regime for 50 years and missed out on any chance to become what Greece is today.

We had to get up rather early on Thursday in order to catch our ferry to Santorini. Lauren was very pleased to see that the ferry was quite large and even had an observation deck, TV to watch, and several coffee bars to help us pass the 5 hour journey. We made several stops along the way and the views of the different islands were fantastic, one could spend months just going from island to island. But we were heading for the best of the best Santorini. Pulling into the port you have to cross over the rim of the volcano which was long ago pushed in by the sea. The remaining crater rim is now home to the quintessential Greek white and blue villas, hotels and churches all teetering on the edge of the volcanic cliffs.

After a short windy bus ride to the top of the cliffs and over to the town of Fira we jumped on another bus to the opposite side of the island, not only to discover a beautiful black sand beach, but also that our hotel was back in the town of Fira where we had just left. After a gyro we caught another bus back to Fira found our little hotel, which was very nice. Because the towns on the rim of the volcano all face west, Santorini is believed to be on of the best places in the world to watch the sunset. We would concur. Both nights we spent on Santorini we were drawn with hundreds of other people to the sides of the cliffs to watch the magical sunset over the sea. We also went to the famous red beach, visited the town of Oia, ate some great meals, and did a lot of exploring. We also just barley missed being trampled by a pack of donkeys and paid $14 dollars for one margarita, but it came with the sunset so it was worth it.

We also discovered a great little place to have waffles and even better we found a new favorite dessert. It’s called bougatsa (http://whippedtheblog.com/2008/09/23/bougatsa-heavenly-greek-custard-pie/), and it is really good. If you have a Greek bakery or restaurant near you, forget the baklava and ask for the bougatsa. We loved the entire island, the bus drivers left a lot to be desired for they have no concern for pedestrians and refuse to answers any questions about where they are going and despite the no-smoking signs they all smoke. We also could have done without the old naked men, but other than those minor items it was the perfect little island.

Next we had a much shorter ferry ride to Mykonos, on a much smaller and disorganized ferry. There were no marked lines, so everyone was trying to push their way onto the ferry with their luggage. After storing our luggage, we found our seats and settled in for the 3 hour ride. It was amazing to see so many different cultures represented on one little ship. Greece attracts all types of travelers from all parts of the world. In Albania it is a rarity to see anyone that is not white, a sad fact that adds to a notable undertone of racism here. It is also interesting to see so many people communicating in English as a second language. Since most foreign visitors do not know Greek, they interact in English. So it is pretty fascinating to listen to a Philippino and Greek nationals ask for and receive directions in English. Upon approaching Mykonos, we could see the infamous windmills in the distance.

We had decided to stay on the beach rather than in the town center. So we boarded the Paradise Beach shuttle with some other backpackers and traveled about 15 minutes to the south east end of the island. I have to admit when we arrived to the reception and there was a “bodyguard” only allowing one person into reception at a time coupled with the little white “bungalows” (picture shed you might find your back yard) everywhere, I was thinking of the song Hotel California, “you can check out any time you like but you can never leave.” It was a little bizarre. Once everyone got checked in the “big man” behind the desk came outside, stood next to the bodyguard, and explained the facilities and asked if we had questions. Next we were taken to our little white box which was the mid-range accommodation with a private bathroom. Camping was the economical option, and a bigger “bungalow” was the more luxurious option. After making sure there was no special kool-aid drink in the fridge, we left the slightly depressing bungalow behind to go check out the beach.

Apparently Paradise Beach is one of the biggest international beach parties of all time. Since it was post-season, there was not too much going on, but the young crowd that was visiting made the most of their time, and started the party early. Several half-dressed, very intoxicated, entertainers got on top of the beachside bar and tables and danced to the blaring techno music. Naked sunbathers enjoyed the show from a distance. The beach was sandy, very blue, and had rocky cliffs on either side of it. Although it was nice, it was a little weird with all of the naked people. During the first and second week of September the weather in Albania was gorgeous, and for some reason no one goes to the beach after September 1st so we had the beach to ourselves for those two weeks, so I guess we were a little spoiled. That evening we had dinner at the designated cafeteria on the beach, and then headed to the beach bar to watch a more intensified version of the daytime beach party. I would say the toga guy and the swimmer girl in were the most entertaining of the bunch. Yes, the toga boy only wore a toga, and the swimmer girl only wore a bathing suit with a long scarf on her head with high heeled boots. To our left, a group of 4 visitors in their 70s thoroughly enjoyed the dance scene and one of them even actively participated in the dancing by imitating the “swimmer girl’s” swimming-like motions.

The next morning, we hit the beach in the morning, walked over the cliffs to another close-by beach, and then headed into the town of Mykonos. Although it was very windy, it was still warm and very sunny. We saw the windmills, the side-side area know as Little Venice, and basically spent the whole day getting lost in the never-ending maze of cobble-stoned streets which were lined with beautiful bright-colored and white painted houses and shops.

We splurged on an amazing lunch at an Italian restaurant called Casa di Giorgio and at one point Ben looked over at me and said, “I just want to live in this” referring to his bowl of pasta carbonara. Again we live on just basics in Sarande, so it doesn’t take a whole lot to excite our taste buds. As the sun descended, bars and the nightlife started to come alive. We found the club “Space” that all of the backpackers were talking about on the shuttle the prior day, and finally were able to piece together part of the conversation they had about clubs. Although they were speaking perfect English, we could not follow the conversation they were having about the club scene for the life us. I guess Space is a hot spot. Just not sure what is appealing about techno music, but that is just me. So around 9 we headed back to the cult I mean Paradise Beach, and had another sleepless, mosquito buzzing over our faces, night. Did I sell you on Paradise Beach yet? Oh yeah there was some pigeon coup thing too, like they had exotic birds on display or maybe that is how they sent messages out to their cult leader.

Anyway, the next morning, we caught our last bit of sunshine, and left our little bungalow behind to catch the 1:30 ferry back to Athens. Around 6 pm, we were on the metro and heading to catch the 8:30 night bus back to Saranda. We got our tickets, and grabbed one last Greek dinner in a local taverna. Although Ben’s chicken took over an hour to prepare, it was well worth the wait. Greeks eat dinner around 9 or 10, so I think we threw the chef off when we asked to eat at 7. The chicken actually tasted like chicken too, which was a HUGE plus. The chicken we buy here has the consistency of fish…interesting, huh? Ben also managed to find an open bakery so we could savor one more bougatsa. Turned out be apple filling in the center, but who is complaining? What an equally nice surprise! Nine 1/2 hours, and a flat tire later, we arrived in Saranda at 5:30 am, and went straight to bed. What can I say except that Greece was fantastic and if you ever want to go, mid-September is the perfect time!

If you want to see all the pictures of our greece trip, use the links below:

Athens:
http://picasaweb.google.com/tstoltz.lb/HighlightsOfAthens?authkey=Gv1sRgCPi939GLi665Ug&feat=directlink


Santorini:
http://picasaweb.google.com/tstoltz.lb/HighlightsOfSantorini?authkey=Gv1sRgCN6nlrK_gJ_Jbg&feat=directlink

Mykonos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/tstoltz.lb/HighlightsOfMykonos?authkey=Gv1sRgCJzCvqnIsOrmqQE&feat=directlink

Tirana, Let’s Paint this town…

Yes, it has been a really long time, and for that we apologize. It is amazing how fast time keeps going by even while at the same time it seems to creep. Now that October is here, the crowds are long gone, but we still get the occasional cruise ship and the ferries from Corfu are still coming once a day. Life in Sarande has slowed down, not enough to quiet the motorcycles outside our roadside balcony but enough for the discos to close down and stop blaring the Rocky Theme at 2am. As a side note, since the city is built on the side of the hills facing the sea, there are several long stairways in which one could reenact Rocky’s run up to the Philadelphia Art Museum, but if you want the music you have to do it at 2am.

So to make up for our slacking we are going to do a three part series this week (if internet stays on long enough) covering the month of September. Enjoy.




Part one: Tirana


As some of you more diligent TIA blog readers may remember, I was elected to the Volunteer Advisory Committee, which is a body that serves to represent volunteers’ concerns to staff. I like to think of myself as union boss but with absolutely no power. The VAC meets quarterly with the Peace Corps Staff and our fist meeting was at the end of August. Tirana, the capital of Albania, is only 137 miles from Sarande but due to the conditions of the roads and the buses that travel the roads, and the donkey carts that block the roads, and the thousands of Mercedes that speed across the bad roads, the trip takes about 8 hours. So even though they have Chinese food and real super markets, the hassle of the 16 hour round trip ride makes going to Tirana one of the last things on our “want-to-do” list.

So, as a means to ensure a quicker trip, I decided to hitch a ride North. Two other volunteers and their friend were also going to Tirana. During the summer many people from the capital vacation in Sarande and usually don’t mind picking up an American guest to chat with during the drive back. Magically within 10 minutes a nice new Mercedes pulled up and offered us a ride within an hour of the Capital, as long as we didn’t mind the little dog in the back seat. Without coming to Albania it is hard to explain the large amount of Mercedes here, there numbers seem to rival what I can remember of Germany. But whether they are used, rebuilt, or have “fallen off the back of the truck”, I am not sure, but I would guess that 1 out of every 3 cars here is a Mercedes Benz. Not only did our driver take us all the way to Durres, he called his friend and had him pick us up in Durres and take us the last hour to Tirana. I think travelling with 3 young women probably sparked this hospitality.

Tirana is the largest city in Albania with a population of over 500,000 and growing by the day. Like many developing counties large amounts of people have left their homes in the country side in order to find jobs in the capital. So much so that it is expected in the next few years, Tirana and the close by port city of Durres will merge into one large metro area that will be home to over half of the country’s population. When communism ended in the early 90’s, Tirana had more horses than cars, legal building were thrown up all over the city and large amounts of unemployed people moved in from all over. While today the ubiquitous Mercedes has taken the place of the horses, Tirana itself has made some headway under its current artist turned mayor Eddie Rama. Seeing the dull, dilapidated, decomposing communist style building everywhere, Mr. Rama decided to make the city his canvas. While critics would suggest that painting buildings is not quite cleaning up the city, many people of Tirana have embraced the idea, so much so that Mr. Rama is now head of the Socialist Party and recently lost the election to become Prime Minister, although, he is still demanding a recount and he and his party have refused to be seated with the new Parliament. They are even talking of starting protests this weekend. So we will see maybe we will be painting our city soon.

One thing that Mr. Rama could do would be to at least paint some street names on the sides of buildings. The lack of street signs and even street names makes getting around the capital a very interesting game of oddly named landmarks. Example: from the bus station go to straight until you get to the UFO store, to your left will be the statue of Skanderbeg, continue to walk so that he is staring you in the back. Next turn left at the “looks like it is about to launch a space ship” building , look for a rock with a piece of metal sticking out of it, go through the cave and then the second door on your left will be your hostel. If it sounds crazy in English try it in Albanian.

The VAC meeting in and of itself was uneventful, but it was nice to get to see some of the other volunteers and even nicer to eat some American food, like a Cheeseburger, BBQ chicken and a milk shake. The VAC meeting was at the Peace Corps Office, which I can’t even being to explain the directions to, but it is close to the US Embassy. I got to see most of the staff that I had not seen since swearing in ceremony in May, and I also had my ankle looked at by the medical staff. It is doing much better but still not 100%. The bus ride home was also thankfully uneventful (no one threw up). Since the trip is so long there is a built in “Pilaf” stop, where everyone gets out and uses the rest rooms and can buy a bowl of pilaf. This is just a big bowl of rice, sometimes with some beans, sometimes with tiny bits of beef like stew poured over it. It hits the spot for 50 cents and I have learned that you should always eat where you can see the bus driver, this will let you know when he is about to leave, and you won’t get left behind. This happened to us on another trip, where we took too long finding a bathroom and when we came out the bus was gone. Fortunately, someone noticed the Americans where not on board and the bus had stopped about 300 yards down the road. After the Pilaf break, we got back on the road and continued the journey though southern Albania which is definitely a sight for the eyes. We passed though small towns and big ones, followed a crystal clear river and transversed though both mountains and valleys. Lauren was very happy to have me home, but very upset that I had not brought her back some of that BBQ chicken, burger, or milkshake.

Pass on down the plastic bag, please! Warning… not for the faint of heart.

View from the Road to Korce

Ben just leaned over to me from his side of the bed and said he was sick of people telling him “Te shkuara” or may you get better soon. He has been getting this a lot for his ankle everytime someone sees the “strange” apparatus on his leg. More recently, he was wished a quick recovery, after a bout of food poisoning most likely from the famous Saranda mussels he ate last evening. After his stomach settled down, the good ole sickness decided to pass onto me. Now, that I got it out of my system, I am doing much better and even decided to start blogging ;) Poor Joan has been encouraging us to drink some coke to settle our stomachs, and has gone off to the beach to “get out of our hair.” The mussels she tried must have taken pity on her. We feel so bad she has to entertain herself today, but she is enjoying the pebbled Ionian beach just a 5 minute walk from our doorstep.

The vomiting seems to be a reoccurring theme for us this month in Albania. Last weekend we took a trip to see a few other volunteers living in the northeastern part of the country. We noticed that the bus workers were passing out plastic bags to the passengers. We just assumed that they were for trash. Little did we know that for the next 8 hours of the winding, hot, and painfully bumpy bus ride, we would be subjected to the noise and smells of several passengers getting sick from the long journey. One teenager boy even took advantage of a quick stop to get off the bus, and throw up along side the road. To his surprise, the bus took off, and he had to chase down the road after us to get back on. When we told another volunteer about the experience she laughed and asked us why we thought she puts vicks up her nose, and takes a Benadryl before she travels anywhere in Albania by bus. Smart woman!

What was also very memorable on the EIGHT hour bus journey were all of the flowers or pictures on the side of the road where people had been killed. There were not any guard rails along the narrow curvy road through the pine forest. Several times we had to swerve at the last second to avoid an oncoming car, bus, or minivan as we rounded the bends. Usually, the bus driver would beep his horn to warn others drivers we were approaching, but sometimes he did not…so it was quite the exciting ride. For 4 hours of the bus ride, I was seated on the bus floor between Ben’s legs. The driver decided to let on more people than there were available seats, and one of these passengers was in her late 60s and was going to have to stand for 6 hours. No one offered her their seat, so I decided I would fit fine on the floor so she would not have to fall forwards and backwards in the aisle as the driver avoided and passed other cars. She was so happy she stroked my hair several times and told Ben that I was such a good girl. I told her in my best Albanian that I was just grateful to be better protected from the projectile vomiting ;)

After we arrived to our destination, we spent two days in the city of Korca famous for its brewery. The Korca brewery made Albania’s first beer, and they have both a light and dark beer. Both are pretty good! The city is big, clean, and has the reputation of being Albania’s most cultured city. It has even been called the Paris of Albania. The streets are lined with trees and trendy bars and cafes. The first night we were there, we were able to meet up with several other volunteers and exchange stories at the annual Korca Beer Fest. Ben and I had not left our site for 2 ½ months so it was great to finally get out and see some new scenery other than the inside of our apartment! There was live music, 50 cent beers, 20 cent grilled sausages, and 90 cent bacon wrapped chicken skewers. The outdoor setting was really nice, and it was not overly crowded or noisy. The next day we spent getting a better feel for the city. We got a firsthand tour from the volunteer that lives there and saw the beautiful orthodox cathedrals, parks, and the enormous colorful market. I bought about 2 kilos of Italian plums for the equivalent of 50 cents! We also sampled the next closest thing to a cinnamon roll which was pretty tasty even if a distant relative. We walked a lot, but Ben did pretty well for the most part. The bruising is now gone, and he just has to build back his calf muscle. The volunteer that we stayed with is a retired doctor, and he gave Ben a few exercises to do, and told him he could start to walk without the brace. This was great timing since my mom was arriving only 3 days later.

I smell garlic…

When my mom asked us if we needed her to bring anything, I don’t think she anticipated the list she got. I think we got a little overexcited. We asked for pancake syrup, peanut butter, spices galore, school supplies, and some new articles of clothing that had gone one too many times through the 2 hour Albanian washing machine cycle. So after we met Joan at the ferry with her suitcase that had been stamped EXTRA heavy, we lugged the big red suitcase up the hill to our apartment. After her 2 minute tour of our place, we went through all of the goodies she brought. As we unpacked them though, it started to smell like an Italian restaurant in our kitchen. Shortly thereafter, we discovered that either the airport officials opened the savored minced garlic, or the lid popped open at the some point during the journey. Luckily, none of the oil spilled onto any of the clothing, but unfortunately Joan had enough of a garlic aroma on her clothes and underwear to ward off vampires for a full year ;) So began the first Peace Corps experience.

We hand washed all of her clean but smelly clothes and left them soak in three different containers throughout the apartment. When we were done we enjoyed a 90 cent beer as we ate lunch and Joan enjoyed the view. After lunch, we rested and caught up about life during the last five months. In the afternoon, we had a visit from 2 volunteers that were in town, and Joan got to hear about their towns and experiences. Next, Joan ate a rice and bean dish that we make regularly along with some Greek red wine. After dinner, we went out for a “coffee” with our next door neighbors/landlords/Ben’s counterpart. The new café we went to was only a 1 minute walk, was located on the water, and had a great view. Joan was so excited when she found out that coffee really meant that she could order juice, beer, water, soda, or even ice cream. After convincing her that ice cream was very normal to order, she got two big chocolate scoops complete with chocolate sauce. She was impressed that the cafes were filled with people of all ages, and was really into going out for a “coffee.” After coffee, we did a small Xhiro so she could get a taste. She was decked out just like the Albanians, and she was hit with all who met her. They could not believe how pretty and young she looked. She got the “very good” gesture that Ben loves to mimic over and over. Day two, we went to the beach which Joan thought was very nice but very salty, and then went out to eat an Albanian dinner. Joan enjoyed the Albanian meatballs (qofte) and spaghetti with sea fruits. Afterwards, she very valiantly tried the Raki with Ben. She thought it was great and tasted just like whiskey. Later we met up with my counterpart, and had another “coffee” around an in ground pool of a newly built hotel.

Day three, we just made the 8 o clock bus, and headed off to Butrint which is a very impressive archaeological site that has been inhabited since the Paleolithic ages. Julius Caesar used the site as a military base, as did the Greeks before him. Although Joan was not overly thrilled about visiting ruins in the horrible heat, after entering the site, she was pleasantly surprised that the ruins were the most shaded ruins she has visited. My counterpart who is also a tour guide happened to have a tour that day so he invited us to tag along and learn more about Butrint. After the tour, we headed to Ksamil, a beautiful sandy beach with turquoise water, and lush small islands that you can swim out to. After a relaxing day at the beach, we waited patiently for the bus, gave up and paid the tourist price to a cab driver who thought it was funny that I was gripping the handle on the door as he floored it.

The next day, Joan tried the famous Albanian suflaqe which is like the Greek gyro. I explained that the French fries were supposed to stay wrapped in the pita as you ate it. Afterwards, we beached it up again, and then got ready for a fish dinner out. Our friend/neighbor/postal worker suggested somewhere other where Ben and I had planned, and it had a beautiful view. As I explained above, Ben and I did not think the mussels were so beautiful but Joan got great cod, and Ola got delicious shrimp. Sunday we were supposed to head to Gjirokaster and show Joan another Albanian city, but it ended up being a beach day for Joan while Ben and I reckoned with the revenge of the mussels. I think it was this night that on one of our many trips to the bathroom, we found Joan lying on our kitchen floor with the Balcony doors wide open. In the morning she told us she had tried to fall asleep in our sweatbox, but even her wet washcloth therpay had not helped an ounce. So she decided even the floor had to be better. By Monday, we were back in business, and had an appetite again. We had a slow day, but Ben took Joan on a walking tour of the neighborhood so she could get oriented a little more. Tuesday, Joan accompanied me for an early coffee, which was really a coffee, with some Peace corps staff, and then headed to the University with me. She enjoyed meeting my 2 faithful students, and then we had another volunteer stop by for a quick visit along with her dad and brother. In the evening we did a very long xhiro with our next door neighbors and had “coffee” at a very nice place on the water where their son works. We had a very interesting conversation about how communism affected their lives, and how the country has changed so rapidly since the fall 20 years ago.

The following day we went back to the same spot we had gone for coffee the day prior since Joan really liked the spot. It is right on the water, has a great breeze, and is always packed with people. It is probably the most popular place to have coffee. We splurged and got frappes, a cappuccino, and a piece of tres leches cake. Before we left, Ben asked a young guy next to us if he would take our picture, and he said “yo” which means no and gave Ben the fingerwag for extra emphasis. Ben wanted to give him a fingerwag of another kind, but he refrained. As he walked away, I told him his man purse (fannypack over his shoulder) was very nice =) Well, actually I only told my mom and Ben. Other than that occurrence, we had a great rest of the afternoon and last evening. We took a long walk to say hi to the nuns, and see the clinic, and classrooms that they operate. Sister Ana thought Joan was my sister, and was very happy we came to say hi. Afterwards, we took a cab to the Lekurs Castle, and watched a gorgeous sunset over the city. We ate a delicious meal complete with a liter of wine for 30 dollars. Since the taxi driver was waiting for us, we were not able to stay for the live music, but it was quite windy at the top so the two hours we spent was perfect. Today, Ben headed to Tirane for a meeting, and Joan and I got a few hours in at the beach. After lunch we bought her ticket, and went out for one last “coffee” iced tea and Glina sparkling water with lemon which was her favorite. Around 4 we headed to the port, got her checked in, and put her on the ferry. It cracked me up that even though people had to show their passport, and ticket to an armed cop to board the ferry, my neighbor and I walked right on with Joan. They headed off promptly at 4 just as the last 2 passengers showed up. After what seemed like 10 minutes, they decided to come back and let them on so we got to say goodbye again. We had a wonderful visit, and lots of laughs! Now, the sun is setting, and the call to prayer is echoing across the bay. Joan is probably now settled and just about to venture out and find a nice greek dinner. My neighbor has checked in on me several times to make sure I am OK, and even suggested she would sleep here with me tonight, and that I could go to work with her tomorrow to pass the time. Wonder how I will get out of that.

Miss you all!

Ben vs. Hole

The month of July has been very hot, in the 90’s, but thankfully not very humid. The tourists have started coming in droves, the beaches are full and the nightly Xhiro is packed. As I mentioned before, I think, we started working at two summer camps, one at a school run by Italian nuns and the other at the orphanage. Unfortunately the camp at the orphanage got bogged down in unfinished paperwork, something about who was responsible for the children, so they closed it down. So from 5 to 7 every week night we have been walking 15 minutes each way to the school. Once there, Lauren teaches a small English class, while I play games with the older boys, aged 11 to 14. Lauren tries to play as many games as possible so the kids do not think they are in class, but it is hard because we do this all outside, and her kids have to sit and watch all the other kids playing ball or doing relay races.

Meanwhile, I take my kids and play soccer or some variation of soccer or other game on the sports field that the nuns have built. It’s the only one I have seen since I got here. There are not any open spaces for the kids to play sports here. I also taught them kick ball which was an experience. They don’t play many games here, volleyball and soccer are about it. So anything where you have to throw a ball or catch a ball are strange to them. Boys here are also the favored gender and are very spoiled. Which means they can be very poor sports when losing and often cry if they do lose, or god forbid, if a girl beats them. The nuns told us that not long ago they couldn’t play any games because the boys would just cry all the time about not winning. So even though we are just playing games, the experience can be very stressful. Not being able to speak the language while trying to control or teach a group of kids is a challenge, but the Nuns are never far away. They have a total of 200 kids at the camp with about 15 other helpers and even some volunteers from Italy that have come to help for a week or two.

In first weeks at the camp, I heard several kids call me, in Albanian, “Chinese” and “Japanese”. I wasn’t sure what would drive them to call me this, so I asked on of the teachers. She immediately wanted to know which kid it was and told me it was very bad. I pressed her to understand why it was bad and try to figure the historical significance but to no avail. So the next day, when Lauren and I got to camp we were told the kids had something to tell us. Since it was the end of the second week, we figured, augh, they want to say thank you to us for coming. So all the older boys and girls lined up in front of us and one stepped out and said something in Albanian very quickly. We asked him to slow down and repeat. He did say it again but too rapidly for us to understand. Lauren thanked them all and said you are welcome. The teacher then asked if we had any questions, so I hinted that we wanted to know what the boy had said. She told us that he was apologizing on behalf of the group for calling us Chinese…

So Wednesday night we left the camp on our way home to make dinner. From playing soccer almost every night, I had developed a bad shin splint that was finally healing, but in general I have been very tired after playing for two hours in the heat. So we stopped and bought two bananas, two peppers and two potatoes at one of the many little markets that line our walk to the school. After leaving the dychan, Lauren and I were talking and I stepped into a small hole in the side walk and twisted my ankle. Now this unfortunately is a normal occurrence for me, going back to an eighth grade basketball injury. Usually my ankle will go out and pop right back in and I might have a little pain but no big deal. I tried to step down and knew this was no ordinary little twist. I jumped to get weight off my ankle and Lauren knew something was wrong. She told me to sit down and rest, but I knew my ankle was swelling and I just wanted to get home, still another 7 minutes or so away. So I hopped and as I did I got nauseous and finally stopped when I though I might throw up. I told Lauren maybe I would sit down. Here is where things get a little cloudy from my point of view, I remember sitting, then I remembering laying, I remember a lot of people gathering around me, a lady dumping cold water on me, then I remember having a very nice dream, from which I was awakened with more shouting and people trying to get an ambulance. Poor Lauren didn’t know what to do with me, I had passed out from the pain, my eye’s rolled into the back of my head and I slammed my head into the concrete. I came to, after a few scary shakes as Lauren explained to me. At this point Lauren thought I was having a seizure. She was trying to call the Nuns because she knew they had a car, but they were finishing up the camp. Plus she had me telling her no hospital, no hospital, she also had lot of Albanians speaking Albanian and broken English trying to help her and get me an ambulance.

So after bouncing my head off the concrete once, I think I got a slight concussion and proceeded to pass out again. Someone woke me with another startle but this time there was a guy in a white coat there, all worried about my head for some reason. At this point I still had no idea about what was going on, and just kept telling people it was ankle they needed to be looking at. They told me my head was bleeding and then I needed to go to the hospital. Now I am not all that tall but for Albania I am well above average so when they slid me in the ambulance and I looked down and noticed my feet dangling past the end of the stretcher, right where the door was about to be closed, despite the sheer agony I lifted my ankle up and out of the way of the slamming door. The jarring ride didn’t take all that long, but seemed like a hour. The cold water that had been poured on me had given me bad chills, so I started to shake pretty bad, all while Lauren was trying to call the Peace Corps to talk with our medical officer. We got to the hospital in less than 10 minutes. I kept trying to tell them I worked there and even asked for the one doctor I knew who spoke English, but he was gone for the day and they were not that interested that I worked there. So a nurse came and started to clean my head wound, and was very impressed with my ability to speak Albanian. Lauren took one look at this process and went and sat down before she almost passed out. As many of you know Lauren and blood do not get along, neither do Lauren and hospitals for that matter. The doctor came in and asked me to move my fingers, he meant toes since they use the same word in Albanian for fingers and toes, as several random Albanians walked in to watch what was going on. He said my head was just scrapped, but he wanted an x-ray of it along with my ankle.

They put me in a wheel chair and wheeled me along the smoke filled lobby to an elevator. We went down one floor and then the orderly, who was the same guy that picked me up in the Ambulance, wheeled me to a set of stairs and said to get up. So now with my swollen ankle and slight concussion, they wanted me to hop on one foot down 10 stairs… looking back it is kind of funny but you have to think about what happens with the people who can’t walk at all? The X-ray room was straight out of the 50’s, I had to again hop to the elderly doctor who set me up to do my head and then my ankle never offering any led covering for the rest of my body. Then I had to hop back to bottom of the stairs and wait for the X-rays to develop. They were all normal, I hopped back up the stairs, got wheeled back to the elevator and then to an exam room, that I shared with an elderly woman who was having back problems. They asked if I had any allergies, wanted to give me some medication which I declined and told me that I was free to go. We asked about crutches and ice, they said they had neither but I should get both. They wheeled me out front to where Sr. Maricruz was waiting with her car. Lauren had done well in working the phones. We asked who we had to pay and the orderly just looked at us, no payment required. We even got the x-rays rolled up in paper as a keepsake.

Lauren waited til we got home to tell me that they had shaved a chunk of hair out in order to clean my wound.

So now I am writing from bed, with my two bags of frozen “mixed vegetables” wrapped around my elevated foot. My head ache is dull but not too bad now and the pain in my foot is nowhere near what it was. So now I just have to keep off of it for another day or two and then slowly start using it again. The problem is Sarande is built on a big hill so it is not the most conducive place to recover. So for now I have been biding my time between watching episodes of Entourage, Family Guy and listening to Pod Casts of NPR on the computer as well reading my new book this month, Three Cups of Tea.

Lauren is reading a book that was given to us by the missionary here, Richard, and the book is called the “invisible servant.” It is a book he wrote about his time here, from his first visit, to giving up his job to come work here for free, to being shot at, airlifted by British commandos and still living here after 14 years. We have met him twice and he has been a great resource with regard to living in Albania as well as how to work with Albanians. He does not sugar coat it by any means but his insight has been invaluable. We are hoping to work with him on some projects in the future (like filling up holes in the sidewalks); he is taking leave for the month of August but will return in September.

Well that is about it, everything else is about the same, my work at the hospital is slow, we did do a beach clean up, but it fizzled out, with only about 7 minutes of people cleaning and then claiming it was too hot to continue. Lauren and I cleaned two bags of garbage as the rest went and got ice-cream. One of the “beachistas” as he called himself was quite impressed that Lauren had come all the way from America to clean the beach. My counter part informed me that the beach was cleaned nightly by the city, so we didn’t really need to do much.

Lauren has started a review class at the university for the students so that they can catch up on some of the items they did not get a chance to cover last semester. She only has two students coming so far. So that’s where we are at today. We are very excited that Joan, Lauren’s mom, is coming to visit in less than a month! And again, we want to thank those of you who have sent packages and letters, the post lady has come to know us very well. Hopefully by our next entry I will be up and walking, maybe running and my hair will have grown back! Anyone know how many times you can freeze and unfreeze peas and corn before you can no longer eat them?

Foggy Saranda Afternoon

P.S. Oh yea...one more reminder to add to the list of daily reminders that we really are in the Peace Corps. I gave Lauren a haircut the other day. I don't remember if we talked about the "lovely" multi-layered haircut she got here during training, but after 2 mos., she finally gave in and let me trim off the point. I enjoyed the experience much more than she did!