Routine Sets In

As I sit here next to Rina, I realize that I am getting used to Shales and the life here.
My day starts between 6- 6:30 when the grandmother (gushi) comes and has coffee.
I've (almost) gotten used to waking up this early. After breakfast I rush off to school. I pick Katie up and we walk to Shales. Language class start at 8 before school begins. We can hear the children running up and down the hall and the sounds make me happy. At 8:30 sharp the bell rings, accompanied by a cow bell which rings incessantly. I still haven't figured out how that works: Does a teacher run up and down the hall with a cow bell? Is a student assigned to ringing it? Does a teacher stand in the center and ring the bell?

After school, we usually head to the internet cafe and check our email. Today that was a bit of a challenge, as the electricity had gone out this morning in the entire town due to a pretty harsh storm. In fact, I'm pretty sure I saw lightening flash across my room. The internet was not running so KT and I had lunch in KC's parent's cafe. It was excellent, as usual.

During lunch, the rain finally completely subsided and a rainbow appeared. With the blue sky finally present, we were able to complete our mapping exercise of Shales- a watered down version of site analysis, which I enjoyed very much. KT and I discovered a many establishments that had been present and yet invisible to us for the past 4 days: the animal food store, the animal medicine store, (you don't seem need a prescription for anything here), the savings place and fertilizer store. The last one, while huge, looked like a warehouse for the outside. However, once we went inside to investigate it was clear that it was a store had everything one needed to start a garden. Proprietors really need to invest in signs here. Not only would help me out, but I think it would help commerce in general, particularly as so many furgones go through the village on the way to Elbasan.

The mapping exercise really made me cognizant of the variety and number stores that can be present in such a small village. After all, Shales only has 1,620 residents. While some stores are pretty specific, like the Kasap whose storefront is usually small shack with a sign that says "Mish" (meat) outside and a few carcasses inside, many have just enough of what a person might run out of: toilet paper, shoes, tomatoes, laundry detergent, underwear, onions, candy and buckets, of course. Some stores just sold food but most sold household items as well.

I have to admit that when I found out I was going to was going to a town of 1,620 I really didn't know what to expect, but I certainly didn't expect more than a few stores. I'm not sure how this small town supports so many businesses and I'd love to find out. I'm wondering if they are the sole means of income for the proprietor or if in the income from some, like KC's parent's cafe and other cafe's that serve only drinks, are supplementing other incomes coming from family members in Italy and Greece.

Either way, it's was really interesting to check out Shales on a full work day. Tomorrow we are going to meet with a current COD volunteer at the Shales municipal building. I'm looking forward to hearing about her experience and learning about our potential responsibilities, challenges and realistic expectations. I now have so many questions.

I tried to show Rina "That 70's Show" on my laptop after dinner but she didn't really get the humor. After being here for over a week now, I found it was funnier that I found it in New York.
The things that we laugh at in America- 17 year olds sneaking around to get beer- are so funny when viewed from a continent where there is a drinking age to satiate the few countries and persons who need regulations, the enforcement in those countries is lax to say the least and some countries do not even have a drinking age.

The humor was lost, but Rina and my host mom Lavdije did find my joke about makeup as funny as I thought she would (I told them I don't need to wear make-up here because I left my boyfriend in New York). They laughed really hard.

Now, it's 9:30, so I should head to bed. I'm hoping that the internet is up and running tomorrow so that I can finally post pictures. I was only able to post one before it went out on me. Enjoy your fast internet....