I woke up with really sore gluts (for non-gym people those are butt checks. There seems to be much discussion of those in this blog lately). This really isn’t surprising since the small hill to my house seemed like a 90 degree climb last night. But, I was really happy to be so sore because it means is that The Biggest Looser combined with the lower body Pilates is working. That workout is sure to give me a fit to strip body by the end of PST. So, if any of you watching have a good workout video (biggest loser, Carmen Elektra, yoga, Pilates, abs, toes- I’m not picky) to send to me please do!
When I managed to get past the soreness to get dressed, eat and leave I left my room unlocked for the first time in three days and returned home to a room that hadn’t been touched. Class in Elbasan was just as encouraging.
Two different current COD volunteers presented their work and COD policies. The first volunteer works in the north for the department of agriculture. He described the multiple jobs that he had, surveys he implemented and spoke about the potential for business growth in a small city. The second volunteer presented on “How to Start a Small Business”. This is a course developed by two current volunteers to teach business skills in emerging markets. The two volunteers spent a year developing the course and tailoring it to developing countries. The course is so successful that the volunteers have taught others how to teach the course, sent it to Washington and the Peace Corps has templated it to teach all over the world. As we have heard so much about the course, the brief over view the volunteer gave was welcome and illuminating.
Lunch consisted of a really fresh salad at the pizza place. For non-pizza eating reasons refer to the first paragraph. After lunch Mira, the Albanian head of PST, had us all group into our satellite sites. We then had one representative go to the tables of each of the other sites to learn about the community projects they were doing, while we hosted the rotating representatives from the other groups. The majority of the other projects (5/6) seemed to revolve around trash in some way. Trash scavenger hunts, trash pickup, earth day, sanitation awareness, trash collection and so on. Clearly, trash has been bothering us. Perhaps this because as outsiders, we don't understand the other pressing issues facing our villages and this is the most visible one. No matter how much we try, after 3 weeks, we are still Americans speaking poor Shqip peering in. At this point our primary understanding of the country is visual. It will take months, if not a year, at our jobs until we can understand the non-visual assets and problems. How can you fully understand corruption, work attitudes or untapped potential unless you are in an office or school interacting with people on a daily basis?
Hearing the other volunteers speak, it became increasingly clear that I will have a hard time processing all the information until I have a filter (i.e. site, sector, placement) with which to filter the information. In the afternoon, two current volunteers, Karen and Amber gave a great talk on the work they are doing with the agric-Puke and other organizations in the north. It was inspiring and informative but hard to fully digest without a framework to apply it to.
Mira approached me after our lesson and told me she had heard I'd been trying to organize a Seder. She then said that I was welcome not only to have a Seder but sleep on her floor after (we can't travel at night, and I can't travel on Passover anyway). Excellent. Amazing. What a supportive staff. I was so thankful. I cannot believe how welcoming the Albanian staff has been. I'm so excited to cook an Albanian Seder. I'm sure there are others who have done vegetarian Seders; I just need to find them....
Listening to the current project, hearing that I can have a Seder and knowing that I was finally going to see Tirana the next day injected me with energy. I am really looking forward to going to Shkoder. I keep hearing over and over that it was so beautiful. In that mindset, I realized I didn’t really need internet. Instead, I relaxed with some volunteers, having a city beer tasting the freedom I'd have in Shkoder. Then I headed back to the village looking forward to my home cooked Kos.
I got home and gave Rina another computer lesson. Ok, to be honest it was a far, far cry from a lesson. She asked me if I could teach her tonight and I told her yes. I set her up her hands and then told her to practice typing using a few Shqip words to get a feel for where the letters are on the keyboard. After watching for a few minutes, I started packing for Shkoder. She sat on the bed practicing. A few hours later -why it took so long I cannot answer- I checked the computer expecting to find tons of Shqip words, but found a mangled alphabet typed out several times. Actually, I don't even know if you can call it an alphabet. But the point was, she going exposure to a computer which she rarely gets and some practice. I think if we keep up the lessons and she practices every night she will learn to type pretty well. She wants to learn and I want to teach.
I went to sleep, exhausted, packed and happy to have finally sorted out all my clothes (which is what took so long).
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment