Albania Here I Come!

Here is the post you've all been waiting for- after 15 months of waiting it's hard to know where to start or even believe that I am finally here!

Do I start with the nightmare move the day before, my mother's generous help in cleaning the randoms bits I left behind, my friend's support Saturday night and Sunday morning, orientation in Philly or the flight? I'm going to skip past all that as many of you were actually physically there, orientation and the flight as you all can probably imagine what a Lufthansa flight from JFK is like, and can probably, if you've ever met me, realize that I was the one forced to pay extra for my bags, and go right to the country itself... Ok, I'll give you one tiny bit of info- after reading that we should eat before orientation, and told we were in charge of our own dinners after orientation, I was greatly surprised to receive $140 dollars from PC for dinner and breakfast upon registering. I called Rachel and we promptly set out to the fanciest restaurant in Philly, and had ourselves a meal worthy of that bonus and one's last meal. And now, But now, on to my new home country.

Flying over Albania we got a chance to see the water, beach and then the snow capped and green mountains- how could one complain?












After landing in Tirane, the capital, we loaded up into a bus and drove off to Elbasan.

After flying for about 13 hours, and traveling for a mind boggling 24 hours, everyone fell asleep (after, of course, eating our first Albanian meal).

My delicious french fry veggie sandwich on the bus ride.

We awoke to a beautiful hotel where the entire Albania PC staff greeted us. In our rooms, we each received a letter with information on our HF (home families) with whom we will move in with on Saturday. I learned that I will be spending the next 10 weeks in a village that is "the habitat of 1,652 people... located in the southern part of Elbasan ". The letter also stated that though the house will have an internal restroom that can be used only for "taking the bath and pee" and outhouse for... Anyway it's very exciting to find this out.

After finding out about our HF we were off on a tour of Elbasan, which is populated with every type of architecture and public space imaginable, from the modern to ancient ruins.

Our hotel is near a bumper cars track, park, and several restaurants. The amount of construction is truly impressive. I was particularly struck by the way Albanians paint their buildings,yellows, blues and reds truly made the architectural elements stand out in a special way. The paint enabled the buildings to radiate an energy that the concrete could not.

I was also struck by the amount of satellite dishes and colorful cmus that were used under the paint.

We returned to our welcome dinner at which we all stood up and introduced ourselves. I was lucky enough to sit next to Monika- the person in charge of assigning home stays. She said she had visited my family and they were very kind. She also said she had informed them of my picky eating (i.e. vegetarian habits) and that they will understand my situation.

Most importantly to me, was that all my food neuroses were assuaged. Talking to Monika made me realize that she had truly taken the time to get to know me and the family and make a great match, something I am really thankful for.

Now, I am sitting at the hotel bar, where beers are $2, enjoying my time with the other volunteers and fighting off my exhaustion. Tomorrow we start PST (Pre-Service Training) and get our shots- ouch.