Kampet Verore

Children Preparing for Balloon Games at Summer Camp

    Sorry I haven’t written in a while. A combination of 24 hour access to the internet combined with settling in to my permanent site and conducting “Kanpet Verore” aka Summer Camp here in Berat has taken all of my time. It is also hard to know exactly what to write, mainly because every day is a kaleidoscope of experiences on every level imaginable. What to point out without omitting something else. In a word; magic. I feel like I am in this magical existence where I imagine something and it comes to fruition in the most unexpected ways.

Last Day of School Party 

My primary assignment is at what are called Nine Year Schools, or as the locals call them - Shkolla 9 Veçare. As this years Peace Corps Volunteers in Albania arrived at their permanent site in mid May, it is a unique time to try to integrate into the community. After the coldest Winter in 30 years, Spring was more anticipated than ever. Longer warmer days coupled with end of the year jitters produced amusing scenarios as I watched the teachers try to contain their students as they were all counting the days to summer vacation. Testing, graduation and all that goes with end of year planning for the next school year filled the days. I was graciously introduced to all the classes, participated in a few impromptu nutrition lessons, and included in all activities pertaining to the teachers.

One of the new initiatives Albania is introducing to her citizens is the concept of community centers. In some towns, there is a separate building, in others the 9 Year Schools are assigned. In essence the centers are to provide a place for locals to educate themselves on various issues. The Center is to have 10 hours per week after school sessions available for community activities. My director went off to Tirana to participate in a nation wide training for this initiative and brought back the directive from the Ministry of Education to share with the teachers as they were struggling to review text books, test children and submit lesson plans for the coming year. To say it was not enthusiastically received is a bit of an understatement. But since my school has a volunteer, the initiative is not as overwhelming as it could be.

I submitted my plan for the coming school year, lesson suggestions for health classes along with taste and food education. I also submitted plans for several clubs I would like to lead at the school. The biggest project so far has been the Summer Camps. Personally, I wanted to physically veg this Summer, work on language and try to escape the heat dome that is Berat proper. My director is enthusiastic about the school being a community center, and asked if I could do Summer camps from 8 - 10 am daily because at 10:15 am the heat descends like a thick unpleasant blanket, suffocating man and beast. My site mate Antonio’s High School had plans more in tune with mine, meaning they told him not to worry and just relax over the Summer and get to work in September. I invited him to participate in my Summer Camps, and much to our mutual delight, he has been an integral part of the success of the initiative.

Simon Says in English

The first day of camp we had two children, who got our undivided attention in Frisbee instruction and were treated to ice cream due to their exclusive participation. The next day, we had about 50 children and I honestly do not know what I would have done had Antonio not been there. I planned a lesson in personal hygiene, all in Albanian mind you, complete with scenarios, an activity and such. We plowed through that in about 20 minutes. Antonio picked up the slack with various games, and the children seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. Since our second day, we consistently have between 20 and 40 children of various ages, all darling and all quite happy to do basically anything we ask them.

Taste Education

Antonio completed three years of teaching English in Japan before coming to the Peace Corps. It is fun watching him do English games with the children. It is also interesting to watch the children improve in Frisbee through the camps. I am preparing to launch a Slow Food initiative through the school, so the children are being exposed to taste education. One of the exercises was to have different tasting liquids for them to evaluate. Sweet, salty, sour, spicy and bitter liquids with labels to taste and report on. What I found most interesting is that they all liked bitter (it was pure cocoa powder in water) I do not think American children would like that flavor, but Albania has been a coffee culture long before the Starbucks phenomena, and Albanians do not drink the watered down flavored concoctions like Americans do, they drink what I would call coffee ground paste. We will have a lesson with a local bee keeper on honey, a session with a group I discovered at a cherry festival in a village outside of Berat (Women in Sustainable Agriculture) and a session on Ice Cream.

Drawing Leaves for Science Camp

During our Science camp, I had the children sit in the park in front of the library and draw leaves. One of the older girls told me during the exercise “Nature is so beautiful.” Today we had mostly games, ending in the very popular water balloon toss. It is so warm, that even if the children get wet, they dry off pretty quickly. I am so deeply touched by the beauty of the children. The youngest boys are particularly darling, and quite adept at the games we spring on them. My personal favorite is crab soccer where the children have to navigate on their hands and feet, and scooch on their bums while trying to make goals. I physically could not do this, but they took it in “stride.” I was laughing so hard at the sight, one of the children told me I would hurt my head by laughing to long. I must say, experiencing pure joy in the regular doses with these children is something I have missed in my life, and I am curious what I will do to fill this void when my service is over.

On Monday of next week, a national holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan means that camp is cancelled. It has been interesting witnessing Ramadan closely, the cafes are not as crowded and there seems to be a lot of activity after the sun sets near the Mosque by my flat. I would say that what I am experiencing here in term of inter religious coexistence is not “toleration.” It is mutual admiration and support. As the world seems to blow up with daily terror attacks on various houses of worship or in the name of some sort of religion, I am only aware of this because I see things on American or British news sites. On the Albanian evening news, we see the troubles, but they seem distant and actually insane. 

People are more interested in the upcoming elections here. The practice of having a six week election season I personally think is brilliant. As Peace Corps Volunteers, we maintain a strict code of non political engagement. We can not attend political rallies, and have a nationwide “stand down” during the election weekend. This means we are not to travel and basically are to stay in our homes during the entire election weekend. I have invited Antonio to stay with me to make stuffed grape leaves, buyrek and anything else we can think of to pass the time. As my flat is in the midst of a terraced garden over looking the local mountains, it will not seem like we are under house arrest.

One of my Peace Corps Albanian language teachers is working for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This is the group one hears about when it comes to monitoring elections. She is helping to translate for international monitors in Elbasan and Tirana. The English teacher at my school is the translator and county director for Berat. He introduced me to the OSCE director who is a retired US Army Colonel who was also involved as a military advisor to the Albanian government during the aftermath of the governmental collapse in the late 90’s. The Colonel was a veteran of 16 international election monitoring assignments. It is fascinating to listen to these people talk about what goes on in terms of election monitoring. They coordinate with local police, hospitals, the Red Cross, municipalities and basically prepare for worst case scenarios. Democracy it seems is in direct conflict with the quest for power. The Colonel feels confident that the elections will be fair, but was visibly dismayed over the antics in the United States. We were having the most delightful and informative conversation until the US was brought up, his face immediately fell and all he said after shaking his head was that the administration was not uniting our people. As a career Army officer who has used his retirement to help emerging democracies have free and fair elections, I took his sentiment to heart.

Albania, like all Balkan countries, is trying to establish itself as a tourist destination. One aspect of this is developing its gastronomic offerings. I attended a first ever Cherry Festival in one of the small villages outside of Berat. Cherries are bursting forth everywhere filling the markets and keeping women busy in terms of making jam and preserves. The festival I attended was complete with an Albanian style barbecue, local handcrafts, stalls with raki, cherry preserves and olive oil. I met the director of Women in Sustainable Agriculture, whom I feel will be an invaluable counterpart in many of the initiatives I would like to launch. My personal favorite image was watching Mickey Mouse dance traditional Albanian circle dances, a sign of the mixing of local heritage with global media. 

I am working on several projects in addition to Summer Camp. I hope to initiate monthly health fairs at the school community center with the local hospital and Red Cross chapter. There are plans to open a community garden in the Castle, and I am currently gathering together counterparts through Slow Food in Albania, Women in Sustainable Agriculture, the Culinary School in Berat, my school and Antonio's school for this project. It will be interesting to see if the Edible School Yard can be spread to Albania. I feel it will.

My daily commute

A friend asked me what I do every day. So far, I seem to as I have for decades, wake before the sun, prepare for the day, walk down a cobble stoned road to a river walk along the castle walls to my school. I either work with the children or network with teachers and community members. I then walk back home, picking up produce at various vendors along the way, return to my flat, reading, writing and doing basic household chores. I top the evening off by watching Indian soap operas and the news with my host family. I exchange different food items with them and they with me. I managed to make some banana bread the other day, and am treated every once in a while to some sort of stew, soup or vegetable dish. My house mom is a darling and typical Albanian grandma who thinks she is helping me by re-arranging my clothing and shoes in my closets. I am told that I am being watched in town and given critiques on where I choose to buy produce and grocery items as she has friends who seem to be watching my every move in town. I am glad I have no vices, for I am sure they would be reported immediately. I often fall asleep in the afternoons due to the extreme heat. It will be interesting in this era of climate change how hot and cold the seasons will be during my tenure. My host mom rearranged my furniture putting my table out on the deck. This allows me to set outside and enjoy the nightly sunsets which I am sure were the inspiration for Maxfield Parish paintings. In the evenings, I hear the call to prayers throughout the night from the Mosque, at other times I can hear Church bells.

Clouds Gather near my flat

I miss my parents and the herb cilantro, the latter I am sure would simply add so much to local salads and sauces, but other than that I feel very at home here. Especially now that it is hot, feels just like home in so many ways, but at least there isn't the smog. It amuses me that I was placed in the hottest city in all of Albania, but I have resigned myself to being hot since I can not seem to escape the sensation no matter where I move in the world. The daily contact with the children fills my heart to the brim so that loneliness is not an issue. I am trying to improve my language so that I can be more conversant, but many of the children are fluent in English. 

So the Summer is off to a lovely start. I hope this Solstice is a beginning of a season of enjoyment and reflection for all. 

The Door to My Secret Garden

Week One of Permanent Assignment

After a leisurely couple of days where I took several naps in the mornings and the afternoons, I figured out how to turn on the water for the shower, don my one and only professional looking out fit, put my hair up and walked down the white cobblestone road to meet the school director for my first day at my assigned school. It was a lovely warm late spring day and I was up for just about anything.

The day before I was promised tea at the castle. There is something inherent in European Women’s DNA that enables them to walk on cobblestone in any sort of shoe, obviously their ankle ligaments are incredibly strong, as they never seem to trip or wobble in the least whilst traversing what I am experiencing as a sprained ankle mine field. For our tea at the castle outing, my 70 something host mother was decked out in a skirt with nylons and slip on cork soled sandals with a three inch heel. The “walk” to the castle rivaled my climb of Maccu Picu, only this time I and these lovely senior citizens in front of me were scaling boulders and walking along what was once stone fences that lined long gone roads with 20 foot drops on either side. They gently teased me, calling me a “ballerina” as I was walking on stone precipices with my arms outstretched as I would if I was on a high wire.

The castle is a medieval wonder, a UN World Heritage site complete with a maze of steep slippery shiny white stone roads and steps. My hosts told me that at one time there were hundreds of churches and shrines within the walls. As I tried desperately not to twist my ankles or slide on the slick surfaces, I wondered exactly how people in the middle ages did anything on these slippery things, especially when fighting off enemies in full armour and soft leather moccasin type shoes. The climb was worth it in that the view was simply spectacular, with a full panorama of the surrounding mountains, the old city, the river Osma and I could even see my school.

Something that never ceases to amaze and amuse me is how certain types of personalities are in certain types of jobs, and those “types” seem to be universal. Police for example, are very similar in demeanor everywhere I go , swaggering hyper masculine men and very rigid humourless women with deep voices. Similar characters are found around the world in sales people, secretaries, mechanics, construction workers, cab drivers, truck drivers and teachers. I was introduced to the teachers at my school, and taken to meet the school superintendent. His demeanor I found similar in any school official I have ever encountered, professional, in charge and by the book in terms of dealing with his underlings. Berat, due to its economic base of tourism, has the resources to put into both infrastructure in the city as well as schools. I was assured if there was anything I needed to simply call. 

I have come to the conclusion that everyone in the Balkans has mixed DNA, particularly between the Greeks, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Kosovarans and Albanians. I think (but don’t tell them this,) they are all basically from the same tribes that migrated about the area for thousands of years. Everyone thinks that the other nations land is their land because at some point in the last 1,500 years it was actually. Due to the Ottoman occupation, there is also some of that blood mixed in the pool as well. When I looked at the faces in front of me, I saw the faces of my relatives and cousins both in America and in Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece. 

The children at the school are darling and look like children from anywhere in the US, with their Disney tee shirts and back packs. Best tee shirt of the day award goes to a 6^th grade girl wearing a black tee with bold white letters proclaiming “I am not a morning person.” I watched the children on the playground bicker and tease one another, as well as play and joke. With the older children, one could see the flirting going on amongst the teens. Some of the teachers grabbed their students or children to talk to me in English, one 9^th grader in particular expressed with all the drama and idealism that is suitable for her age, how she tried to be positive about life, but she was disappointed by so many things, so she has gone back to expecting the worst in everything. I told her that this outlook was very Albanian, she agreed. She wants to be a doctor, and when she found out I was an acupuncturist, that was also of great interest. I told her of my desire to start a club for girls who wish to be in the health sciences, and she told me that it “probably was going to be very interesting to other people.” She promised to tell her friends, and she said there might be “a lot of people interested in such a club.”

The school has so many children that they have to split the day so there are enough class rooms for everyone. In one promotional video I watched during training, it proclaimed that Albania had the youngest population in all of Europe, as I see all the children in this and other schools within Berat, I appreciated the validity of the statistic. The older children attend in the morning, and the younger children attend in the afternoon. After I was introduced to the afternoon teachers, the director, the school secretary and one of the teachers took me to lunch. I met their children, one of whom was quite angry when his mother would not buy him ice cream. Again, this behavior is not limited to Albania, and the look on the mothers face as she tried to deflect his rage while holding firm against junk food was quite familiar indeed. 

The school is beautiful, very clean and nicely decorated. I am curious as to how I will be serving, but I have found that when one is in the Balkans, you just go with it instead of having an agenda. Things always work out as they should, never how you envisioned, and often better than you had imagined. When I was in Russia, I learned there was not a word for “goal” which made for great cultural misunderstandings between the east and west especially in terms of business. The journey and the exchanges along the way were more important for the Russians, while the Americans were all about outcomes. The Balkans are in the middle, so I am not sure where they are on this continuum.

There are three directors at my school. The head mistress, Albana, is young and extremely competent and professional. In our training we were warned that it might take a while to integrate into the community but to be patient. I will not be experiencing this as Albana basically took charge of the situation and has a complete grasp of what it means to have a Peace Corps Volunteer. I sat in on meetings where she was setting out strategy for me to meet the teachers, the students and set up a schedule. My counterpart Yilka is a biology teacher. She looks like my cousin Katherine who is the Dean of the Chemistry Department at Cal State San Marcos. Yilka has a great sense of humor, and I can tell she has a very soft heart. She introduced me to 18 classes of children today, dutifully telling each class that I was a volunteer from Peace Corps, that I would be with the school for two years, and pronounced my career title better than I have been doing, which is probably why no one to this point understood what I do. The youngest grades were the most darling, with the children quite interested in where I was from, and telling me I needed to stay for three years, not just two. Of course they are expecting non stop entertainment and miracles for Summer activities, as I am an American capable of producing such things. One child asked if I was going to take them swimming.

The day was completed with my observing two biology classes for different grades where the subject was on recycling. Shum interasant. I am curious, while the children were very engaged in the subject, how much they can put into practice. I was invited to have some cake with my host “parents” this evening, and was able to catch up on the news. One segment showed some public works employees fishing trash out of a river, with the segment featuring the minister of tourism who was pointing out that tourists do not want to experience the great outdoors of Albania when there is trash everywhere (my interpretation and translation, but you can get the gist of the segment). I remember a few weeks ago seeing the Prime Minister on the news addressing a crowd of people in front of a large industrial plant that was going to be a recycling center. 

Albania is truly one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I have ever been, since I have been on four continents, that is saying something. The mountains are stunning. So majestic and a bit wild in their unhindered grandeur. They almost have the same mystic as the Andes to be honest. Here in Berat, the natural beauty is complemented with unique architecture. Not only are there medieval buildings, there are churches and mosques everywhere. It seems as if the people are really trying to make things better here, but the corruption in Albania as a whole, not here in particular. is what drives the best and the brightest away. The issue is how to respect people’s desires and encourage them to be their best, but inspire them to transform what they have into something amazing. 

To me, a people who speak this incredibly complex and difficult language with ease must be extremely intelligent. They get clitics and use them casually for goodness sakes. To have endured what they have endured for a thousand years must also have affected them deeply. But the planet simply has no where else to go to for those seeking a better life, and we are going to have to learn how to make the most of where we are instead of constantly dreaming that some other place has the answers, the fulfillment of our desires. The world is in an uproar with those fleeing war and environmental catastrophe and not willing to let such refugees in. For people who want to make more money, when they live in a lush productive land with adequate water, land for food and room (since everyone keeps leaving) that has excellent possibilities, it is less urgent, in fact it actually is against their better interests considering the turmoil that surrounds them. 15,000 Albanians self deported from Germany last year mainly because they could see the writing on the wall. 

When I witness the beauty of both the natural and man made world here, see the bright and engaged children eager to learn, and witness the deep commitment that the Albanians have towards family and friendship, I honestly do not think that moving to America is what they think it will be. Especially with the racist hateful US regime giving carte blanche for border patrol agents to abuse women and children, thugs to oppress the vulnerable and clamping down on all immigration, now is not the time to dream of America as the destination for anything.  I hope to convey to them on some level that they have something extremely valuable here which could be the envy of the world if they could invest their hearts, souls and dreams in this incredible land instead of focusing on leaving for foreign shores.

The Next Step

I am now an official Peace Corps Volunteer, I signed the oath, got the pin and was directed to where I will be spending the next two years serving in the best capacity I can within my assigned community. I am curious if the massive fatigue will ever leave now that I am official, or it will simply increase. I was not alone in this feeling. After the swearing in, the volunteers were set free for several hours while our Albanian counterparts were involved in workshops to help them orient themselves to having Americans in their midst. Everyone, regardless of age, complained about how exhausted they were feeling and the desire to just go to bed instead of gearing up with limited language capacity to meet new people.

With the impending protests and gay pride parade in Tirana, the staff had to reorient the entire training they had spent months preparing so the volunteers and counterparts could leave before the onslaught that had the potential to become violent. I felt sorry for the staff, as their stress in managing this entire experience was more tiring than what we volunteers were feeling. Designing and executing such a project is more time consuming than the volunteer obligations of pre service training. Not only was the staff responsible for conducting the trainings and logistics, they also had to deal with the inevitable events that go along with managing humans in a foreign country. Their charges are not familiar with how to deal with challenges on a daily basis. Lost phones, illnesses, personality clashes, security issues and in one case a volunteer injuring himself requiring an airlift back to the states for surgery were mixed in with trying to secure housing and assignments for 41 people. This was no small feat, because the personality and skills of the volunteers are incorporated with trying to find suitable housing and counterparts. In some instances everything is set into motion after months of discussions, in person meetings, inspections of housing options, negotiations and such only to fall apart at the last minute, causing the staff to scramble for alternatives. 

Our counterpart conference got pushed up an hour on Friday, and was shortened to basically an hour on Saturday (originally it was to be four hours) to allow us to be able to disperse in time to escape the threat of the protests. Before the meeting, I was in the hotel lobby leisurely trying to post my last blog entry after breakfast, and I was gently told by one of the trainers that I had 10 minutes to check out of my room and take all of my luggage downstairs to a pre assigned room for temporary storage. I was asked to please spread the word. I thought to myself, actually no, I will not be checking out in 10 minutes, it is logistically impossible to get 41 people dispersed on four floors of a small hotel to pack up, check out and assemble massive amounts of luggage to a hotel lobby in one teensy elevator in 10 minutes. I am not refusing the order, sorry, I simply can’t do that, nothing personal, but it is just not going to happen. 

I thought it better to keep this brilliant insight to myself as the trainer looked quite exhausted, and I am sure she was just as flabbergasted by the change in the schedule as I. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I commandeered the one and only luggage cart in the entire hotel to expedite the process, much to the delight of my room mate, who told me I never looked as beautiful as I did when entering the room with the cart. We piled on our numerous bags and such, and she attempted to get the loaded cart to the lobby while I checked us out of the hotel. As you can imagine it was a mad house and the line for the elevator was massive. In case you are wondering, no, we did not check out and assemble our luggage in 10 minutes as I had silently predicted.

I had never heard my health sector director speak as fast as she did in the next 45 minutes as she did during the abbreviated session. I was actually impressed with the speed that she was able to get through the material in so little time, especially since I never heard her pause for a breath. The volunteers and counterparts were supposed to plan our first few months together in about 15 minutes during this segment. I tried to introduce the concept of Slow Food in Schools, the class exchange program and the idea of a health club. I am also interested in having an art and science either club or classes where the children are invited to observe nature and make art inspired by their observations. The session had a very detailed plan of action as a template for our integration. 

I am actually quite surprised at my level of Albanian language skills, while rudimentary at best, I am able to convey basic thoughts, speak simple sentences and understand things. The vocabulary has finally started the descent into the gray matter, it took a while but it has started. The health sector director, as I said, was speaking nonstop at a rapid pace, very important directions for the counterparts. When I say rapid, I am not sure if she actually finished a sentence or when the sentence ended, it was sort of like a stream of consciousness that went on for ever, and I understood……. “Please take the volunteer to register with the police in the first few days after their arrival” Oh my god, I understood……..  “Please make a plan for your first few months and send me a copy of your ideas in the first month.” Oh my god, another sentence comprehended…….. My delight was not shared by others, some of which were not paying attention and again, I felt really sorry for the sector trainers who were obviously quite frustrated by having to cut their carefully planned sessions by 2/3rds. I am sure they were very unhappy with both the Democrats and the Homosexuals for planning their events on the last day of our training, but what can you do? Freedom of expression obviously had precedence, much to the complete inconvenience of us all and at great expense to the tax payers of Tirana who had to pay overtime to legions of police.

And then the moment arrived, our documents were passed out, and we were instructed to get out of Tirana as fast as possible. I was absolutely dreading the thought of navigating across Tirana in the heat with all my heavy luggage, a sleeping bag and water filter. My counterpart and site mate informed me right at the end of our meeting that the professor from the High School at our site had a car and was going to drive our luggage and deliver it to my home stay. I almost wet my pants with relief, it was like the Angel of luggage transportation appeared on cue and answered my fervent prayers for some sort of solution. I loaded up my bags in the car, said good bye and my counterparts and I caught the city bus to the regional bus station and boarded a “Berat” bus with ease. Some of it actually was familiar in parts from the confused sprint we had “practiced” the week before. 

It is amazing how wonderful life is when you are not carrying 150 pounds of luggage, a very profound insight on many levels actually, almost tee shirt, self help book and bumper sticker worthy slogan if you think about it. Since it was in the low 90’s in Tirana and a bit muggy, I can not tell you the pure joy I experienced over NOT having to make that last push with three large bags, a sleeping bag and water filter. Since I plan to give away most of what I am carrying now, it was bliss knowing I will NEVER have to do this again EVER (lug bags etc.) Most of my fellow volunteers did not have it so easy, and I had great compassion watching them try to move heavy back packs and such through the hot muggy city streets.

On the way to Berat, the school director showed me many pictures on her phone of the different activities of the children. It seems as if I have been placed in one of the higher achieving schools in the country. I also learned from here that there is a project in Berat called (in English) “You Are What You Eat.” I hope to connect with this organization in terms of implementing some sort of nutrition program. I had traveled some of the road before on my shadow visit, and it was as interesting and beautiful as before, less mountainous, but still presenting the great contrasts that is the reality of Albania. One sees a computer or appliance shop next to an open field where a shepherd is navigating his flock of sheep, a new mercedes bypassing a donkey laden with firewood, bill boards promoting various expensive consumer goods with Roma beneath them begging for money and food. These are a few examples of what I witnessed on the road to the next phase of my service. 

We arrived at the bus station and caught a city bus to the center of town. After a while it then appeared, the UN World Heritage Site worthy architecture of this beautiful medieval town, the town of a thousand windows as it is called here. The other bit of information I was told was that Berat is the second most beautiful city in Europe. I could not seem to get at what was the first, I am guessing Venice. My counterparts were graciously offering to feed me lunch or walk around the city, take me shopping and such, but I felt the urgent need to meet my host family, unpack and sleep. We arrived at the stop, got off and the director pointed up to the foothills of the castle and said my house was there. Again, I silently blessed everyone I could think of that I was not having to haul luggage up these old cobble stone walkways that are on a 45 degree angle. Albanian women are famous for dressing very stylishly at all times, which means heels in terms of footware. I felt a bit sorry for my counterparts as they climbed the hill in their beautiful shoes, while my cushioned arch support sole flats were having a much easier time with the experience.

We came to the house and my host mom greeted us. I have for the last five years, kept complaining that I was wanting my happy ending after great sorrow and trial, just like in the movies thank you very much. There just had to be some sort of purpose to the endless ordeals that kept getting worse by the week in spite of many valiant efforts to switch directions, there had to be something to point to and say, see, all that (fill in the blank with awful event) and look at where you are now! Today, I got my happy ending. I feel like I am staying in a boutique B&B on the side of a mountain in a medieval fairytale setting. It is just beautiful, a garden terraced home with a large tile deck overlooking the river, part of the old city and the mountains. One can walk to the castle from here. I feel like I am living out the Balkan version of Eat Pray Love, only the love part is the adoration from the children that warms my heart. 

The couple I will be staying with is very warm and kind, the mother actually reminds me of one of my now deceased aunts in demeanour and looks. She is always telling me to be careful when I climb the stairs linking the terrace gardens and the floors of the house. When she took me to a local cafe for tea, she produced a bottle of hand sanitizer for both of us to utilize before the beverages arrived, telling me that when you are on the buses, you pick up a lot of germs. The sanitizer she told me was from Greece, and was rose scented. 

I have a sit down toilette, called French in these areas, which means I will, well, be able to sit instead of squat, and is such a liberating feeling considering my lack of thigh muscle strength let me tell you! I have my own kitchen, a porch and my own bathroom. The absolute cherry on the cake is I have NO TELEVISION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Albanians are much like Americans in that they are constantly watching TV. While I have learned language and such by watching TV with my first host family, I really dislike the constant noise of the darn thing, both here and in the states. When I live as I please, I do not have a TV, and do arcane things like read books, listen to music and write. I also am able to, you know, think, when not being inundated with ads and the inane nature of what is on the tube both here and in the states. Sometimes it is nice to be ignorant of all the thought engineering enabling mass consumerism proclaimed by television. 

I was able to share pleasantries with the couple, Sara and Abraham, give them their gifts of dates from California as well as a beautiful wall calendar with pictures of my home state. I unpacked for real this time, put things in drawers and closets and no longer have to rummage through bags to find whatever because I could not put it away, and be a real person for the first time in years to be honest.

After a nap where I felt like I had been in a mini coma, Sara came up to my flat with Chai Mali or Mountain Tea which is the word for the local wild crafted herb tea where ever one is in Albania. Sometimes it is a sage tea, other times it is a local flower or mint. We sat on the deck sipping tea and enjoying the sunset. She offered me supper, which I declined, and then offered me some yogurt, which I accepted. I had a left over muffin from lunch that I enjoyed with my “kos” which is the Albanian equivalent of Keifer, and simply relished in the silence of being alone.

Tomorrow, we go shopping to the local Pazaar, and she also wants to take me to the Castle for tea. Okey dokey, I can fit that into my schedule. I will be going to my assigned school on Monday and begin the process of integrating into the program there. Abraham has promised to get internet hooked up for me sometime next week. I learned that there is a music High School at the foot of the hill where my house is, I wonder if I could connect it with the Orange County High School for the Arts. The possibilities are endless. I told Sara after she complemented me on my Albanian, that I need to practice over the summer to be more fluent. That is my goal. That and loosing quite a bit of weight the last year of stress layered on my body. One of my site mates, Antonio, and I hope to coordinate on some projects. I have yet to meet the two volunteers that are from Class 19. Antonio and I are to meet with the local Girl Scout Troupe to discuss possibilities. 

It is so wonderful to not be freezing all the time. I know the heat is coming, but for now, I am truly enjoying not being really cold every minute of the day and night. I am contemplating purchasing an air mattress so I can sleep on the veranda when it gets to the promised 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. I chose Albania mainly to not be hot, oh well, the heat will be a small price to pay for this location and situation. Some of the northern sites only get up to the 50’s during the summer. Last year was the coldest winter in 30 years, some of the more rural areas had no water or electricity for almost two months in the depth of the cold spell, forcing schools to close due to the freezing temperatures. If the volunteer had no wood stove, it meant living in their down sleeping bags. 

All in all, I feel truly blessed, and hope to enjoy my time here as much as possible. I am also hoping that this happy ending to a very long stretch of unhappy occurrences for ever so long, will be a start to a continuous happy beginnings and a middle for the time being.  

Swearing In

In certain ways, I feel like I have lived several weeks in these last few days. The logistics of moving stuff without the aid of a car is but one of the challenges, along with finishing up language exams, culture assignments, preparing for new housing arrangements and getting to know the new counterparts. Mix all this in with saying goodbye to people I have shared a very intense and intimate experience with for over two months and you get the hint in terms of the level of exhaustion that has set in. I was joking with one of my fellow trainees that I felt like the mouse everyone learns about in Psychology 101 that is in the maze that gets shocked no matter what they do, so the mouse simply crawls into a corner and shakes. It seems like each phase of this journey is one leaping into the great unknown after the next. While I am leaping yet again, it will be really wonderful to just stay put for a long while. From what I hear, my site assignment sounds wonderful. I hope it works out, wonderful in the past has sometimes turned into not so wonderful in the end.

Our last day in Elbasan was a blur of saying goodbye to host families, lugging the remaining luggage we had not brought to hub and learning about our permanent housing. I had been hoping for what is called a hybrid situation where the volunteer has a somewhat independent housing arrangement, say a small guest house in the back or a floor in a house or flat. To my delight, this is what I was assigned. Some people were really jazzed about their assignments, while others were visibly disappointed. We saw a Peace Corps film on Nepal, and that housing was rather spartan compared to anything any of us here in Albania are receiving.

The miracle of Peace Corps Albania logistics went to work again in terms of getting 41 volunteers and all their luggage to our hotel in Tirana for the swearing in on Friday. I was envying kangaroos as I loaded all my things onto the luggage truck, how convenient to have a pouch built into your body to store things. It was so glorious to take a shower with water pressure. After I washed my hair, I went out in search of food and water. I found this small place called “bio fast food” a sort of healthy Albanian take out. I ordered a vegetarian pita and the young man behind the counter told me to speak English. It was so fun to watch him make the Pita with all the care of a Swiss watch maker.  After walking back to the hotel and eating the pita while watching Indian soap operas with Albanian subtitles,  I fell fast asleep and woke early the next day.

Being completely decadent, I took another shower and dressed for the swearing in. Since this was the 20^th class of volunteers to complete training, our swearing in ceremony was at the United States Ambassador’s Residence in Tirana. Everyone came down to the hotel lobby dressed quite nicely to the point that I did not recognize them, we had always been in sweats and stuff during the entire training. We donned our Peace Corps Albania pins, an Albanian and American Flag over the Peace Corps Logo, got into the bus and watched in wonder how our driver went from one near death experience to the next in terms of driving us through Tirana traffic. We were dropped off a ways away from the residence and walked for quite a while to get to the compound, which looks like a planned community. The compound houses staff in small homes and condos surrounded by neatly manicured lawns, rose bushes and high walls with barbed wire patrolled by guards with automatic rifles. At the pinnacle of the property is the Ambassadors Residence which looked like a mid century large home. Inside there was an art show featuring folk art from around the United States. Several large tents were set up for us where we would sit for the ceremony. 

After we posed for pictures and were seated in our section, the guests started to arrive. Teachers from all of the schools where we had our practicums, along with our language instructors and sectors arrived. Our host families had ridden on a chartered bus to attend the ceremony. It was truly a sweet sight to observe when host moms and dads, sisters and brothers embraced their American volunteer. In one instance a four year old child called out the the American and ran to her, leaping into her arms for a long embrace. The heads of the main religious institutions in Elbasan were also present. The priest at the Orthodox church and the Imam from the Kings Mosque sat next to one another with their calendars on their laps obviously trying to find time to do something together. I did not know it, but one of our classmates mother is the American Ambassador to Montenegro. She and her husband drove in, quite a distance I might add, to watch their daughter take the oath of service. But the true guest of honor was Ambassador Lu, the American Ambassador in Albania.

Ambassador Lu I learned is from Orange County, California, Huntington Beach to be exact. He served in the Peace Corps in West Africa and has been a career diplomat in Pakistan and many other locations. He has been the Ambassador for three years in Albania, and is well respected by the Albanian people. Both my counterparts and my host family wanted pictures of me, the Ambassador and themselves. After the swearing in, Lu simply stood at the reception in one place so people could pose with him.

The service was quite moving. We had remarks from our country director who bravely addressed us in Albanian, two of my classmates who presented in flawless Albanian as well. A young Albanian man who has experienced American Peace Corps volunteers for nine years spoke on his experience growing up with Americans, and another class mate presented two poems in Albanian as well. Ambassador Lu’s remarks were partly in Albanian and partly in English. He spoke of his experience as a Peace Corps volunteer, and then gave us three insights to carry us through our service.

Since he served in Africa as well as being a diplomat in many different countries, he has had to learn quite a few languages. He told us that in all his career, he has never encountered such a difficult language as Albanian, with its “clitics” (which drove me and my site mates to despair in week eight) 300 different cases for plurals and so on, so we should not be upset with ourselves that we might be struggling. He also told us to not watch television news because Albanian politics is, as he put it, rough and tumble and winner take all, which is not indicative of the true nature of Albanians. He then spoke about the deep hospitality of the Albanian people that had been present before any sort of organized nation state, before and during communism and afterwords, and that we should honor this with our service and warmth in return.

The event culminated in our taking the Oath of Service for the Peace Corps and saying the Pledge of Service with our country director prompting us. Afterwords, the Paove site mates danced an Albanian circle dance. Guests were invited for “refreshments” while we new volunteers posed for class pictures with the Ambassador. I put quotations on the word refreshments because much to my horror, soda, bagged cookies and potato chips were offered to everyone, the staff must have spent untold minutes cutting open packages and dumping them into bowels. Oh well, the snacks were very American when you think of it, but geeze, it is cherry season, and that is kind of Americana with George Washington and the cherry tree story, but then I am an unabashed Slow Foodie so what can I say? 

We were driven back to the hotel to eat lunch on our own, and then meet our counterparts for a few hours of work shops, meet and greet and a shared supper. I met mine, two women from the Nine Year School in Berat. One is my counterpart, a biology teacher and the school director. I feel a genuine warmth from both of them, as well as a good sense of humor. When I told them I was not married, they both congratulated me as if I had accomplished something of value. I was able to say in Albanian that I have three schools with classes who are wanting to share in a culture exchange through World Wise Schools. I hope to introduce Slow Food to them, and also assist in terms of health lessons. We finished the evening watching a video of pictures from our training, that was sweet in terms of reminding us all from where we started this entire experience. 

Our training sessions have been cut short to help us all clear out of Tirana before the Gay Pride Parade and national protest of the government, they are unrelated events but for some unknown reason were scheduled on the same day to begin at noon. Our security experts felt it in our best interests to get out of Tirana before the “festivities” On my Albanian twitter feed, I follow the EU in Albania where I saw a tweet inviting people to come and march in the Parade, so it is anyones guess what all the homosexuals on bikes will do if they class with the Democrats who are calling for a boycott of the up coming election. I am sort of sorry we will not be present to witness this truly unique occasions, but it will also be nice to just get to our sites and settle in. I long to sleep uninterrupted for a few days, we shall see what is feasible. We are supposed to go to our schools right away and start to network in the community.

As we were driving to the swearing in, I asked people what they were thinking, and the answers were quite interesting. One man said he was thinking how tight his necktie was, a girl was thinking about how she hoped we would not have an accident on the way, another said she just wanted to get on with things. I was thinking of the contrast of our ceremony, of the adulation the Albanians had for the American Ambassador, how proud the Albanians were to have hosted the Americans, and what we were swearing an oath to do as Americans in Albania with what is going on in America right now. How Ambassador Lu worked in West Africa helping the locals build in infrastructure and his dedication to diplomacy, his fidelity to American values of diversity and inclusion and how the leader of the nation the Albanians so admire has done nothing even remotely similar to what our Ambassador and we volunteers have done to prepare to serve our nation and the people of Albania. I was one of two people who actually sang the national anthem, and I was told that I garnered filming focus because of it. 

What is the America I just swore to serve, took an oath to protect my nation and the constitution for all enemies domestic and foreign? I feel that nationalism is a form of idolatry, one of the big 10 in terms of no no according to the commandments. What does it mean to protect my nation and the constitution? Do I work towards the essence of America which in it’s own way is Universalism?

America is a deep experiment in the evolution of humanity towards the highest form of civility, the equality of every human being because they are a human being and not because of their status, physical appearance or anything else. America is a grand experiment on the state recognition of the dignity of every human being. America is the impulse that founded the basis of the United Nations, where the welfare of every human on the planet has a right to safety, security, dignity and wellbeing. It is this America that I recognize and will work towards upholding and sharing with my Albanian counterparts. I look forward to not only the next two years but hopefully being part of a force for this impulse in my own nation, where the dignity of every person is cherished and supported. Laws exist because we have not reached the state in human evolution where we can count on our fellow human being to be moral towards others in all situations. I know that in time, we will come to recognize that our wellbeing, safety and security is dependent on the wellbeing, safety and security of our fellow human being. It may be a long time in coming, but we can established the framework for a just and equitable culture now. It may be the dream of this that inspires the admiration we are receiving in Albania, the near celebrity status of our US Ambassador, a Former Peace Corps Activist, that the Albanians can see. I hope I have the ability to live up to these ideals. The swearing in ceremony was a reaffirmation of my commitment I feel towards deep citizenship as an American.

Mirëpafshum

There are two things I dislike about getting older, no, three actually. One, I dislike that quite frequently my body just does not cooperate with my will forces. Two, I dislike that my brain is slower. Three, I dislike that so much of life is full of endings, and when you age you have quite a few endings to contemplate usually with a pang of pain in the process. 

This evening was the last evening I spent with my host family. Since we volunteers sprinted through Tirana our last Sunday of training, I was unable to celebrate with my family the way I had intended. I had fixed my host family supper as a beginning of the goodbye process the week before , in anticipation of the build up to separation. Today in Elbasan, I purchased some Baklava and some sort of Albanian variation of Rum Baba’s (which were divine I might add) as my contribution to the marking of my departure on my last official evening in Bishqem. 

My language exam went much better than I expected. I truly was prepared to completely bomb, but I was able to actually carry on a marginally intelligent conversation for 20 minutes. It seems my technique of writing down all the answers to possible questions paid off, except for one aspect. When asked about my profession, I dutifully answered: Unë jam Mjeke Popullore dhe Myeke Ackupunctore. My interviewer was very interested in the Acupuncture, and I was completely unprepared to delve into explaining Chinese Medicine in Shqip, the best I could come up with was that it was beautiful and interesting because it was successful, those descriptions were the extent of what I could pull out of my brain on cue. I was gently informed that I needed to work on that aspect of conversation in the debriefing after the exam. 

What is the Albanian word for “meridian” “five element correspondance” and “needle”? How do you explain “Qi” in Shqip? I was so focused on comparing Orange California with Bishqem Albania,  and getting my parents professions and ages pronounced properly, it truly never occurred to me to look up a couple of words so I could explain Acupuncture. I thought this was quite ironic and hilarious all at the same time, but I certainly felt the nudge from my Angel that I need to make up a few sentences on the subject for my counterpart conference. I was told my pronunciation was good though, and that I speak slowly and softly, which is actually how I speak normally when in professional settings.

On the way back to my host family from hub, the beauty of the valley was what I allowed to soak in as it would be my last ride there for maybe forever. There had been a wallop of a rain storm that day, and the clouds started to part while we drove through the farms and vineyards. As I saw shepherds with their flocks, and women in white scarves bent over at the hip gathering herbs in open fields, I had the insight that these activities have been going on since the dawn of time, and will continue after I leave. I was allowed to observe, just for a little while, but it is time to go, and they will continue without me.

As one of my site mates and I walked to our respective houses after the furgon dropped us off, we were stopped by a man I had never seen before. He warmly greeted us, and asked us if we were happy with our assignments. Wow, I had never met this man and he knew I was a volunteer and the name of the city where I was going to serve. He wished both of us great success while in Albania. 

I had lugged a bag and my water filter and fire extinguisher into the city  that morning to leave at hub. I then purchased a bag to help with what is left of my things, and did laundry so I could meet my new host family with freshly laundered clothing. After coming out of the Language Proficiency Exam, I had a levity to me that I have not felt in a while. There is something about  feeling somewhat competent that puts a skip on your step. My host family made a wonderful supper with pork chops, potatoes, fried peppers and salad as a farewell supper. I felt so at home, and was able to chat a bit in Shqip, telling them of my Acupuncture language fiasco. They insisted I take fresh eggs with me to my new site, I declined not knowing how I could possibly carry raw eggs and everything else I have to carry on numerous buses to my new site. It was decided  instead that I would take two large jars of plums and peaches, and some pop corn on the cob, all from their farm, grown and produced in their kitchen. Somehow I will find room in all of my bags for these treasures that come from their heart as well as their land.

The grandmother or gjusha as they are called here, came by, and I was so happy, since I wanted to get a picture of her. I also wanted to get an intergenerational picture of the hands of all the women in this family, as it is the hands of women that are involved in transforming the land, raising children and feeding both animals and human alike. Gjusha has no teeth, which is common for women of her age in this part of the world. This woman raised seven children in the midst of the communist regime. I was sorry I could not really talk with her beyond pleasantries, I would be so interested to hear her talk about her life and what she thinks about how the world is turning out these days. She enjoyed my sweets, and asked questions of me that I could actually understand and answer regarding my next plans.

Endings are part of aging. When I was in Naturopathic School, our counseling class focused on grief, because my teacher, a PHD psychologist, said that encountering grief was the basic experience of all human emotions. We are always in a state of letting something go, and how we process this determines our physical and emotional health. For me, the last few years of my life has been filled with acute soul crushing grief, too many good byes, too much letting go to the point of not wanting to be intimate anymore because of the guaranteed eventual pain. I healed much of my sorrow by caring for an infant who actually enjoyed my presence and would allow me to hold and cuddle him without feeling suffocated and the need to recoil from my touch. I feel that the people I am to encounter here in Albania may heal the rest of my brokenness. What is actually ironic is that both of these experiences involve little or no spoken language.

For me, relaxing is listening to podcasts, books or lectures. Recently, I was listening to a lecture on the nature of the make up of the spiritual world, from the Angelic hierarchies through the Trinity. The lecture spoke of how at the core of Divinity, there is a deep mystic silence. I have often wondered what exactly God and the Angels hear and what language they speak, and a bit in amazement that they must understand all languages. It is also an interesting phenomenon that when people loose a sense, the other senses become heightened. For those who are blind, they tend to have acute senses of smell, hearing and touch. While speaking isn’t necessarily a sense, I have found that when I can not speak for various reasons, my senses become quite acute. I also have developed through my clinical experience a keen sense of observation because I have found that some clues to people’s current health status are not always something they can report on using language.

There is a deep communication that occurs when there are few words. The essence of who we are does not get hidden or lost in the maze of verbal expressions, beliefs and misunderstandings. The warmth of simple caring for another person, of fixing a cup of tea, of laughing at a cartoon or marveling at fireflies and a mauve sunset actually have no  vocabulary, sentence structure or verb case involved. All of these encounters have no words but convey the depth and beauty of the human soul sojourning on earth.

I do not say goodbye often, because I dislike endings. I like au revoir till we meet again, because I believe that we will at some point either here or in the hereafter. Some of the richest encounters I have ever had have been short term and sometimes without words. The meeting of our hearts here in Bishqim has had few words, but the understandings are deep. The beauty and dignity of being a human being does not need words to be evident, in fact they shine through more strongly when there are none. Watching a family love one another, of a grandmothers delight in the dancing of her grandson, of watching a young couple relish in the newness of infatuation, searching for any excuse to touch one another, of a mother comforting an injured child, of a stranger helping me with my bags, knowing I am a foreigner, of the clerk putting extra care into wrapping pasteries into a box with a bow, so much is there, so much is conveyed without a sound.

I will miss the sound of the frogs and crickets, at night, and the roosters in the morning. I will miss the lilting song of the cow mooing in the barn. I often wonder what they are actually saying to one another. I will miss the simple warmth of the presence of another human being who can not talk with me, but cares deeply for my welfare anyways.  I will not say goodbye to this land and her ecology, I will not say goodbye to my host family, for they will always be a part of me, this experience of inclusion, of the beauty and dignity of being a human being actually will never end in my heart or in the valley of Bishqem.

Week Nine and a Half

It has finally arrived. This experience which could be considered  the diplomatic version of boot camp is nearly at an end. As I have said before, while I answer questions in language class about my life in the US, in many ways it seems like that was years ago and I have always been here in Albania. My esoteric nature wants to get philosophical,  who are we really, is there anything but the present, but my vocabulary can not express such deep insights, so I stick to answers such as my dad is 85 and a dentist, and the finer aspects of what Orange , California has to offer. Because we have been given our volunteer handbook in hard copy and are required to actually read it and become familiar with the various policies and procedures of Peace Corps, I need to once again make sure my readers are clear that this blog is comprised of my insights and opinions and in no way does it represent the Peace Corps or it’s mission. In other words, Stephanie në Shqiperi is not an official publication of the Peace Corps.

Other than missing Tabasco sauce and mustard, I have not really had many difficulties adjusting. Obviously the language is an issue, but I feel it will come with time and practice, in addition to not really feeling understood in my native tongue by my fellow citizens  in my home country anyways. As we enter the final aspects of training, we are being given massive amounts of last minute information that is designed to help us navigate our new lives. These well formulated trainings and manuals are really not sinking to my brain in the least due to overload and fatigue. 

For me the tipping point was clitics and being led around Tirana at break neck speed to show us where our buses would leave for our site assignments in the south. Our poor staff members were not informed that due to construction projects in Tirana, the transportation sites had been moved. My take home from the experience is that I have decided I will take a taxi to the bus station because I have absolutely no idea where we are supposed to go after being led in many different directions looking for the bus stops. The intent and effort of this exercises should have been useful, but the outcome was a two hour sprint through Tirana traffic and public transportation, which was basically a waste of time for me and frustrating since we kept whizzing by these really beautiful buildings, shops and restaurants and never actually found most of what we were supposed to locate without back tracking and changing directions several times.

I am simply going along with the flow, trusting things will work out and trying to remember simple past and present perfect verb conjugations so I can appear somewhat coherent and understandable during my language proficiency exam. If we do not pass, we then are required to work with a tutor for a minimum of three hours per week, which for me is not exactly a punishment. In fact, I am tempted to purposefully flub my interview just to get the service. I was planning to actually focus on language all summer so I could integrate more productively in the Fall. My site mate and I did a bit of planning on one of the lengthy bus rides through Tirana in search of the stations that had been moved. He is a foodie as am I and we talked about how we could coordinate our efforts for language, science and food education. I genuinely look forward to working with him. Whenever I mention the name of my site mate to other volunteers, the immediate response is always, “he is the best person,” which for me says something.

We toured the Peace Corps Office in Tirana, which unless you know what you are looking for, you would never know what is behind the walls of the compound. For security reasons, there are no identifying markers on the building. You know those terrorists, always trying to make their point by murdering aid workers and those actually helping the local population. I saw the supply of anti serin antidote in a glass covered wall unit that is part of the standard security measures all foreign US offices must have on hand. Good to know actually that our service personnel can mitigate such attacks. 

 The Peace Corps Albania headquarters is a beautiful three story house that has been transformed into an office building. There is a wing dedicated to the medical officers, and if we need it, where our care will be offered. The rest of the building is for staff. We will have mail boxes there, and are told eventually we will have meetings in the class room at several points in our service. To my surprise there was a power strip waiting for me in the mail room with my name on it. 

Our last language class was a mixed bag. We are all tired and distracted with the impending language exam and thoughts of moving. It is hard to believe we have been experiencing these classes for the last two months. I will miss the regular contact with the teachers. I do not think I am alone in the feeling that my site mates and I are basically at a saturation point for anything that resembles learning. Our language teacher today indulged two of my site mates desire to listen to Credence Clearwater Revival, which this generation calls CCR, (for me CCR reminds me of the Chemistry book we referred to during my labs in undergraduate classes but the twitter generation doesn’t indulge in long words apparently) during our drills on past tense sentence construction. It is amusing to me that all the music I grew up with is now quite popular with the 20 somethings. We have a couple of more presentations on culture and our practicums to go, and then we come to the big event: the swearing in ceremony. After the swearing in, we will have a meet and greet for the counterpart conference where we are introduced to the members of our new community who will be working with us on various projects. We have been given several more manuals to read about various policies and will be quizzed on this to see if we have read the material. 

Tonight one of the other health sector volunteers invited several of us to celebrate her birthday with her host family. I walked to the house which is in the next village over from my host village. There was a drenching rain this morning, which meant by the afternoon the valley was a lush vivid moist green. I took some pictures of my host mom gathering her chickens and the grandson, along with some pictures of the vineyards, flowers and animals of the valley. It was fun to sit with my fellow health sector volunteers and hear more about their lives. What was particularly interesting is that all of these volunteers are from the south, Georgia, West Virginia and Tennessee. One was a Vermont transplant who had lived most recently in Oklahoma and Texas. I found it interesting listening to them basically trash their states citizens for their zealous right wing hyper religious politics. It is easy to dismiss people from certain areas, but there are always exceptions to the rule, and these peoples stories need to be told as well.

It is a bit of a shame that we are being exposed to so much information in these last days, mainly because we are all saturated and much of what we are learning is so darned interesting. We had a session on a project that encourages youth from around the world to compete in writing contests. The Write On! Project was started by a Peace Corps volunteer in the country of Georgia and it spread, so that youth from all the Peace Corps service nations compete in regional, national and international competitions for creative writing. We were treated to a self defense training session, and for those moving to northern territories, a dialect class was offered. While I was looking forward to being in a mountain territory in the North, I was relieved that I was to be placed in the South where I would not have to learn new approaches to Albanian language. I am having a hard enough time with what I have been taught, to now throw yet another wrinkle into the mix might truly cause me to crack.

After the language exams, we go en mass to Tirana to stay in a hotel for our swearing in and the counter part conference. In the prep sessions for the logistical feat to happen for that, I was reminded of the true miracle of organization the Peace Corps staff arranges for us volunteers. In addition to letting us know all these logistics, we were given the details of our swearing in ceremony. Since Peace Corps has been in Albania for 20 years, my class Albania 20 swearing in is a special event. Usually it takes place in Elbasan at the Hub site. This year, we will be visited by the US Ambassador and nearly 300 guests will be present. One of our speakers will be a person who was a young child when his family hosted some of the first volunteers. Ambassador Lu will address our class. I am so looking forward to meeting, from what I have observed and how he is viewed by the Albanians, he seems to be quite extraordinary. I will write a separate post on the ceremony as it I am sure will be quite eventful. 

For now, I am trying to spend as much time as possible with my host family. I will miss them, and feel so grateful to have met them and enjoyed their kindness and hospitality. It is hard to imagine in so many ways going to a different site and getting to know a whole new set of people. Two years in many ways is a long time. We are told that the first year is the hardest, while the second year is the most fun. I personally want to get to the fun part earlier than that. So far, I really have been having quite a blast, so the fun part may come quicker to me. In any case, it is a rich experience I highly recommend.