Simulation Station

Today we were sent to five different stations in Elbasan to practice our Shqip under the guidance and assessment of new language teachers as part of our language assessment and learning. New here means that the teachers we went with are not the usual teachers that come to our villages.

The stations included an Orthodox church within the castle walls, whose concealed beauty made the awkwardness of 6 random Americans showing up unannounced well worth it. Until that visit, my voyages to Elbasan had been pretty tame. This is partially because I was too exhausted to explore, but more because my time to explore is almost always limited to the hours between 4:30-6 when just about everything is closed and I am tired and tiring to catch a furgon home.

Besides the Orthodox church, we went to the market where I was able to discover just how cheap Spinach is (1$ per Kilo), a café where we interviewed a staff member, and a few more interviews. Unfortunately by the time our turn came to interview the school, the director had to close the school. We got to interview the head of PST, Mira, instead, which was a good substitute as we got to learn about her past.
All that walking around deserved Pizza, but as it is still Passover I ate a salad and then headed with a few other trainees to a picnic that the current volunteers made for us. I spoke to the proprietor of the pizza restaurant who told me that the wine at the store was handmade by his family, and that he purchases enough for 2 years every other year. That is if I understood him correctly, the odds of which are, unfortunately, a bit low now.

The volunteer picnic was fun. Current volunteers came from all over the country and it’s always good to get to know your cohorts and coworkers in a more casual setting first.