Exploring Albania

As I have been living in Albania for a little over 4 months, I have to say that I have probably visited more places in Albania in 4 months, than most Albanians have in their entire lives. I have been trying to visit various volunteers around the country so that I have a better idea of the cultural differences within the country and so I know where to take you all when you come to visit!

The beaches here are definitely gorgeous! So far I’ve been to Durres, Vlore, and Shin-gjin all along the coast. Some of the bigger beach cities certainly have more to do in terms of entertainment and night life, but the beaches are a bit dirtier and the water sometimes less sanitary because they are so populated and don’t have the infrastructure to support large-scale public works when inundated by tourists. So I’m hoping to explore some of the smaller beach towns or places where you can camp on the beach as the summer progresses.

Probably my favorite trip so far this summer was to Pogradec to celebrate one of my friend’s birthdays—she was turning 60!! [so for those of you that have been telling me that Peace Corps was something that you’d always wanted to do, it’s never too late!] Pogradec is located in the south on Lake Ohrid right across from Macedonia. The lake is huge and is right in the mountains, so it’s gorgeous! The beach has plenty of activities like paddle-boating/row-boating/kids rides, etc. It almost felt like I was back at home in Virginia Beach—getting to go the beach every day! We did rent paddle boats a couple days in a row and one day I was convinced that we could see Enver Hoxha’s (former Communist dictator) former palace on the lake. However, apparently his palace was nowhere near the lake and was actually on the river feeding into it…so I guess in actuality, we almost paddled our way into Macedonia. Under the Communist regime there were people who tried to occasionally swim across the lake and into Macedonia under the cover of night….so it was kind of like we were doing that…except in a paddle boat, drinking beers, in the sunshine. Hmmm.

In the evenings the xhiro didn’t start until 10 pm. (reminder…xhiro is the tradition in Albania where everyone puts on their finest and walks around the city at night…usually on 1 main road from around 8-10 pm) This was a nice change compared to Burrel where everyone is pretty much at home and inside by 9:30. However, Pogradec is a tourist destination for Albanians as well (supposedly it’s the city for lovers) so people are on vacation and on a different time schedule. We found an awesome place that had live Albanian music and there was much circle dancing going on. It was sort of like an open beer garden, and there were actually people of both genders and all ages out until midnight! (not very common in other places in Albania) So we circle danced every night, and then found a disco right across the street that was open even later! Needless to say, I definitely got my dancing fix for a little while! Overall, a fabulous vacation filled with beach, boats, beer, good food, and dancing!

This past week I just finished up teaching at school so I have a break from teaching during the month of August. I’m hoping to make it around to a few more places in Albania…there is still much exploring to be done in this amazingly beautiful country!!

Feeling American in Un-America

So I know I haven’t written in a while but despite what I’d heard about the summer in Albania and having adequate down-time, I have been staying busy with all of the classes I’m teaching, settling in, and trying to travel as much as possible. Luckily, for the 4^th of July, I did get to celebrate American style! The American embassy in Tirana put on a party at the Wilson School (school for children of international workers). There were many Americans, internationals, and Albanians there. As a reference point, there are a little over 300 Americans in the country. Considering that Peace Corps is almost 1/3 of these, it’s kind of crazy to think how small of a population that is.

In typical Peace Corps fashion, we weren’t offered a ride on the embassy shuttle, so we trekked through the woods to get to the school and showed up hot, sweaty, with mud on our nice shoes, and with our huge backpacks. …I think that will probably be the story of my life here—lost, sweaty, and with a backpack [the other day I was trying to get back from another city and I didn’t realize the furgon didn’t go back all the way to Burrel so me and my sitemate literally got dropped off on the side of a dirt road by a swamp in a mostly abandoned town. Under normal circumstances, I would probably have freaked out being abandoned on the side of the road in a ghost town after 8 pm…but we both just laughed about it while waiting to hitch a ride…and clearly, made it back ok!].

The party was a nice little slice of America…I actually ate a hamburger for the first time in about 2 years. There was plenty of free beer, a pool, live music, and fireworks—not too different from the 4^th in America. We ended up going out in Tirana afterwards, and somehow stayed out until 5 in the morning (just know that there was much dancing involved..and since I am pretty much always the last person dancing…not too hard to imagine)! Me and a few friends caught the 5:30 am bus to Lushnje where some volunteers got together for the extended 4^th of July party. So our friends were pleasantly surprised when we showed up looking like death at 7:45 that morning after being out all night and taking the bus for 2.5 hours. I can’t say that I’ll be doing that again—but it certainly was a fun night to remember! And that night we celebrated again with some other awesome American food-ness (potato salad, fruit salad, tuna casserole, etc.) and setting off our own fireworks! (you can buy them at the grocery store in Albania…love this country!)

So my first 4^th out of the country was a success! Celebrated with friends, fireworks, and fabulous food! Seems pretty American to me! And a side note and final thought—I think being out of America has made me more of a patriot then when I was living in America. There are certain trivial things that I miss…like access to variety of food choices or being able to go out at night after 10 pm…but there are other values inherent in our culture that just don’t exist here—like our work ethic or critical thinking in the classroom. It’s a continual cultural dialogue here, and it’s great because that’s about 2/3 of the reason why I’m here!