Back in Albania...

A little side note about my re-entry back into Albania coming back from Turkey. After my stint out of the country, it was only appropriate that I should have a typical Albanian welcome back into the country. As I was headed back to the capital of Macedonia [Skopje], I assumed there would be pretty frequent buses between it and Tirana…seeing as they’re both capital cities and all. However, when I arrived at 7 am to Skopje, the bus to Tirana wasn’t until 7:30 pm that night. So I ended up on a bus headed for another border crossing closer to Lake Ohrid. I ended up getting dropped off close to the border with 2 polish backpackers also trying to cross into Albania. The 3 of us got a taxi to get across the border.

The drive was only 5 km and should have only taken about 5 minutes. About 2 minutes into the trip, our driver hits dead-on a stray dog running towards our car [not even an attempt to swerve as to try and miss it]. Sadly, I’m used to this occurrence…but the 2 Polish guys in the back yelled “ohhhh fuck man!! …what are you doing!?” They were certainly shocked! About 30 seconds after this, our engine starts smoking. The driver pulls over and realizes that his car is overheating. So he proceeds to grab a plastic bottle from his car and fill it with ditch water and dump it inside the steaming engine. We start going again, but about 50 yards down the road he stops again to dump water on the engine. We do this about 4 more times [by now we’ve been in the car 20 minutes], until finally all of us get out on the side of the road and try to stop any car that’s going past us headed to the border. Finally, another taxi returns from the border and our driver gets him to take us there.

After getting there and crossing over to the Albanian side of the border, I used the most disgusting Turkish toilet I have yet to use in this country! Think unmaintained Turkish toilet…upwards of at least 6 months! It was disgusting!!...and smelled like dead babies! Ugh!
After this, we’re pretty much stranded on the Albanian side of the border waiting for anyone to drive by us headed in our direction. The 2 Polish guys were ridiculous (and very funny) and proceeded to try and hitchhike for us with the most ridiculous poses…think cheerleaders…or yogis…but instead 2 Polish guys with beards hoisting out their thumbs. Most Albanians drove past us laughing…and a few gave us thumbs-up for looking like fools! Finally, a mini-bus came by and got us on the right track. I parted with the 2 Polish guys as they were headed a different way and I continued my 7 hour journey down towards Gjirokaster in the south of the country to experience part of the folk festival!

However, I couldn’t help but laugh about my cliché arrival back into the country…broken down cars, awful toilets, wild animals, and a considerable amount of waiting on the side of a road [story of my life in Albania]. Mire se vini ne Shqiperia!!

Reflections on Turkey

It was especially nice to be in a city welcoming of tourists and to not feel awkward wandering around with a huge pack on. In Albania if you’re walking around with a travel pack, people usually stare or say rude things making you feel super self-conscious. It was nice to not feel so ostracized and to just fit in with the loads of foreigners there. I forget what it feels like to be normal…or at least not to stand out so much.
It was interesting being in Istanbul and seeing the parts of Turkish culture that are still prevalent in Albanian culture…and also to realize the huge differences. Some of the vocabulary is similar. Beyond that, some of the mannerisms and body language are also similar. Certainly in the bazaars it was easy to see the Turkish influence on Albanian haggling and bargaining and the aggressiveness of the sellers sometimes. In Turkey, as in Albania, there’s usually a person out in front of the shop/bazaar stall that tries to charm the customers walking by [such slogans as “oh I have missed you long time,” or “hello beautiful girl, where are you from?...”]. It’s almost a competition to see who can be the most charming…in the abrasive sense, of course. They also love yelling prices at you or picking up and showing you everything that you have no interest in.
It was extremely interesting to me that while Turkey would seem to be more conservative…there are at least more people openly practicing Islam…it was socially more liberal. What I mean is this. In Albania, while the country is technically around 80% Muslim, the majority of these people are only culturally so and do not practice the religion. You would think that if they have lost the ties to the religious aspect of Islam, their social standards would also be somewhat different. However, the social code is very conservative…women work at home and stay at home most of the time. The men frequent the bars and go to the cafes and play dominoes. Even if couples are married, they rarely go out together and VERY rarely display public affection. In Istanbul, it was the opposite [not to say that the rest of Turkey is like this…I imagine they would be more conservative not being in such a major metropolitan area]. There were certainly more women covered in long dresses and head scarves practicing Islam…but they would be walking down the street holding hands with their boyfriends or out to dinner or something. It was just SO nice to be back in mixed-gender company and not be the only woman out after 8 pm! It was nice not to be so special for once [I’ll probably get back to America and wonder why I don’t get all the attention any more ;) ]
Lastly, I realized after being in the Peace Corps for a few months, my standards for hostels have gone down the crapper. Pretty much anything seems nice to me! After sleeping on numerous questionable surfaces…visiting Albanians, sleeping over at other PCVs houses, using wool blankets that looked about 100 years old and hadn’t been washed for maybe that long, etc…where sometimes I’d be lucky to have a blanket, pillow, or sleeping surface besides a floor, anything is an upgrade from that! I realized my perceptions had changed when a friend I made came to meet me at my hostel and commented that his was so much better! Oh man! …I thought I was at the 4 Seasons! Sharing a room with 8 people where I actually got my own bed, blanket, and pillow! …and there was running water and electricity all night! ….what can I say, I guess my standards have changed :)

Trip to Turkey!

I took a brief trip to Istanbul towards the end of September, and while I had been planning on doing the trip for a while, it ended up being perfect timing for me taking a little breather from Albanian culture. I spent about 5 days there but even with the short amount of time, I love the city! I met up with another volunteer friend for the first few days and then flew solo for the last few days meeting new people and making new friends.
After finally making my way out of Albania (after 2 mini-buses, a taxi, another bus and getting to a city where the info I had found on-line about a bus to Istanbul was incorrect…so I had to get another bus to Skopje—the capital of Macedonia—where there was actually a bus!), it was about a 13 hour bus ride from Skopje to Istanbul. Unfortunately, I confused many members of the Macedonian Muslim community because I was traveling on Big Bajram (end of Ramadan)…and since I was speaking Albanian with them, they couldn’t understand why I was by myself on such a big holiday and kept asking if my mom and dad where back in Macedonia because everyone spends Big Bajram with family. Nope! They are definitely back in America!...
I got into Istanbul at about 6 am and wasn’t meeting up with my friend until 3 pm that day. So I went to the touristy area (by the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya) and watched the city wake up. I always love seeing cities as they come to life. I will admit that my first official stop after getting in on the bus was a Starbucks! No shame! But after 6 months of mediocre coffee with no variety in Albania, I was ready for my hazelnut soy latte! And crazily enough…in the Starbucks I frequented I found 2 other Peace Corps volunteers serving in Azerbaijan. They actually are serving with one of my dance friends from college—Evan! Small world!
My first day in Istanbul I spent wandering around the city. Istanbul is HUGE and gorgeous! I spent quite a bit of time in the Taksim area which is probably the most westernized part of the city with its more youthful population and its excess of western stores. It was nice to go shopping after 7 months! It’s also the place for nightlife! Somehow we ended up going out 3 nights in a row until at least 4 am! Every night I said I was going to get to sleep early…but somehow I ended up out dancing […once I get dancing, you all know I can’t stop]. However, it was nice to be able to go OUT again…since at my site in Albania everything is closed by 9 pm now. And I certainly can’t go out dancing! Dancing highlights included a Prince tribute (requested by myself) and I got into a dance-off with a 45 year-old man! He’d been dancing up on the stage all night like he was hot shit…dressed all in black, mustachioed, and wearing …none other than a doo-rag! It was slightly amazing! [in the ridiculous sense, o f course!].
Otherwise I did most of the touristy things—I went to the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, the Aya Sofya, shared a hookah with friends, ate fish sandwiches by the river, drank Turkish coffee with Turkish delight, drank apple tea, and ate some FABulous mezes! (like tapas, but Turkish style) I also ended up taking a cruise up the Bosporus to the Black Sea. I did not take a Turkish Bath nor did I see the Asian side of the city…but like I say…always leave something to go back for. I think my favorite things I did were the spice bazaar (shocker of the year…I could have probably spent 3 days there), and the Aya Sofya. The Aya Sofya was originally built as a church but then was turned into a mosque and now stands as a museum. It was just crazy walking into a place that was juxtaposed with so much religious imagery it almost brought me to tears. Scripts in Arabic juxtaposed next to a mosaic of the Angel Gabriel, etc. It was awesome!
My other favorite thing I did was the last meal I ate. A newly-made American friend and I went to an area that’s full of outdoor restaurants strung with lights. We determined that we were not going to go to a restaurant if the waiter accosted us to eat there [frequent occurrence in Turkey is for the waiters to compete to get customers by basically charming you and grabbing you and seating you and forcing you to hear the menu]. So we ended up at one where no one had said anything to us, and they didn’t even have a menu outside and it was full of a bunch of older Turkish m en. It ended up being the perfect meal with amazing food! We even received a free round of raki and grapes from the table beside us because one of the men heard me say something in Albanian and he had spent some time there. We ended up going back to our hostel area and met up with people and went to a hookah bar and I learned how to play backgammon! And then we went out dancing!! A PERFECT last night out of the country if you ask me!
Overall, it was a great trip out of the country. I had forgotten how much I love travelling and exploring new things and running into other people and making travel buddies!

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!

First Days in Burrell

So in the first couple of weeks that I’ve been here, I’ve been trying to find structure and potential project ideas as I meet a ton of new people and put my roots down. I’ve had more coffees than can be imagined (and thank goodness “coffee” doesn’t mean I actually have to drink coffee…just the act of going is “coffee” and I can drink juice or water if I want to….or else I prob would have had a heart attack from the record 6 coffees I managed to go to in 1 day). I am working partially at an alternative school and partially at the Bashkia (Albanian version of city hall). Surprisingly, I find myself teaching A LOT more English than I ever would have expected. I am teaching about 7 classes now, and it will be 10 once I start English classes at the Bashkia. And I’m also teaching 4 computer classes a week at the alternative school. While I don’t feel fully equipped to teach English (not what my training was in for the last 3 months), it is good for me now to have structure and something to do in the summer when everyone else sort of takes a big break from work. Though none of the classes will continue in August because I think the whole country goes on pushime (“break”).

The alternative school is like a vocational school and is an alternative to the high school. Since students aren’t required to attend high school, they can go to the alternative school and learn a useful skill such as cooking or sewing. The school is part of a larger NGO based in Tirana that is called Useful to Albanian Women. My first week here I got to go to their first graduation which included a fashion show. The students made both traditional Albanian and modern Albanian clothes. This gave me a chance to see the cultural palace (insert your own air quotes since it’s a great rendition of communist architecture), which I’m hoping will be a potential venue for many projects and community events and hopefully provide an opportunity for me to teach some dance classes in the future.

Otherwise it’s been kind of crazy for the election that is coming up on June 28th. My city is definitely majority Democratic which is in support of Sali Berisha (current Prime Minister). The other dominant party is the Socialist party under the leadership of Edi Rama (current mayor of Tirana). It’s kind of typical election hype…both Berisha and Rama have made it to Burrell in the last week. And almost every day there’s a DP for the PD (my abbreviation for “dance party” for the “party democratic”). Everyone always asks what party I support and I don’t support any since I’m supposed to be non-political in the Peace Corps. …though I am considering revising this to “I support anyone who is of the dance party.” But I honestly don’t know enough about Albanian politics anyways to make an informed decision. It’s just frustrating because neither party really has a party platform except “change for Albania” but no other major divisive issues or obvious differences. And both parties blatantly use America to garner support when America doesn’t officially support either party (seriously…American flags are flown alongside the Albanian one and the EU flag). It’s also frustrating when people ask me if I’m a democrat in America and I say yes because here the democrats are more like the Republicans in the U.S. and the socialists more like the American democrats (but people here don’t understand that).

It’s been fun getting to explore the city…which mainly means staking out grocery stores and good coffee spots. Me and my site mate Kristen (who is an English teacher) have been cooking wonderful meals since we’ve been here! We both LOVE to cook and we’ve already had some interesting experiments with food! I’ve also gotten the chance to make chocolate chip cookies, cherry cardamom scones, pesto grilled cheese, and soynut butter and banana sandwiches for my office (they didn’t quite understand the last one…they don’t do bananas on sandwiches here). I’m hoping to also teach the cooking kids at the alternative school how to make various ethnic foods…Mexican, Indian, Thai, etc. in the future.

Time is already flying by and I can only imagine that these 2 years will pass like nothing.

Swearing In and Leaving Host Family

After the busyness of traveling to Tirana and my future site, taking final language exams, and preparing to leave my host family, the last week with my family flew by!! I couldn’t even mention leaving to my host sister Eliza or else she would start to cry. Somehow I ended up volunteering myself to be 1 of 2 people to give a speech in Albanian at our swearing-in ceremony where we officially became volunteers. I haven’t given many speeches in my life…let alone in a language I’ve only been speaking for 3 months. But it ended up being really fun…and hopefully I got some of the humor across to the audience (which included host family members, Peace Corps staff, mayors of various towns, and the U.S. Ambassador). They did laugh at the places that were supposed to be funny…so I guess that’s good! The other guy who spoke actually went to William and Mary as well. Way to represent Tribe Pride!! At some point it will probably be on YouTube (I’ll post the link when it is)…but until then, if you want a copy (in English, of course!) let me know and I’ll send it to you! We also ended up being in the national news that night! …as we were walking back into our favorite bar in Gostime all dressed up in our finest, right as we were walking in the news spot about Peace Corps came on TV. …impeccable timing!

Otherwise, the last week I spent hanging out with the sitemates drinking beers at our favorite spots in Gostime, and spending time with my host family. If any of you come visit I will have to take you to my favorite restaurant in Gostime…the couple that owned it always made grilled vegetables especially for us and it was FABulous! There’s also another favorite guy of ours that we called the “peanut guy.” When we got beers there, he would bring free peanuts on the first round, free cheese on the 2nd round, and various things for the 3rd round including cherries, walnuts, and hard-boiled eggs that were usually an odd greenish color. Just a slight insight into the Albanian hospitality that we’ve received since we’ve been in the country. They LOVE Americans! …which can’t be said very often in other countries in the world.

The 2nd to last night in the village the site mates and I did a “pub crawl” of our favorite lokals in the village. We ended up at Seth’s host family for a little while, and per usual, his parents cooked all of us dinner and we had a dance party to follow! (his family was a trip…3 brothers + Seth to make 4….his host mom would always be jealous to find that I had a sister in America and just girls in the fam. I told her I would take Albi, the youngest brother back to America with me. And I just might…he’s an adorable 12 year old and the best dancer of the bunch!…and considering how much they all love to dance in his family, that’s a feat! …or a feet!) I do have to admit that I certainly won’t miss walking back home around 10 at night in the pitch-black street with scary dogs and large ditches on both sides of the street. However….I will miss Seth to walk me home at night….though he probably won’t miss walking me home!

The very last night I spent with my host family. The day was actually very reminiscent of my first day with my family as they sat in my room and watched me pack up all of my stuff (the very first day they sat and watched as I unpacked all of it). It ended much as I will remember most nights with my host sister Eliza. We ended up taking about an hour walk around the village talking arm-in-arm and upon returning to the house we played cards for about another 2 hours while eating a ridiculous amount of cookies. She is an amazing girl and I will definitely miss her smile and laugh and her amazing ability for charades when I had no idea what she was talking about! I’m excited to return to visit frequently and am still SO blessed that I had such an amazing family!

…on to new adventures in Burrell where I can finally call a place home for the next 2 years!!