Bread... Finally!

I finally get to eat bread. To you this might not mean anything, or rather it might be plain confusing, but to me it is really important. It wasn’t the first few days. Actually, it was quite a relief to have a break from bread. Yes- the bread is amazing and homemade and super fresh, but I still don’t like eating 8 huge dense slices a day. However, by the 7th day of Passover, I was craving 8 slices a day, and now I’m really excited to eat bread tomorrow morning. To celebrate that I can eat bread, my family made me a huge burek. It was so nice of them, and of course, delicious.

The rest of the day was just a productive. Diamante had come to help us and she was truly invaluable. Within 1 minute of suggesting that we talk to the mayor she had whipped out one of her three phones, found him and made a meeting for 10 minutes later. 10 minutes later we met the mayor and bounced our environmental awareness project day off him. He loved it. I then asked him if he thought educating people about throwing trash in the river would be good or offensive, as it is a widely accepted and propagated activity. He thought it was good and necessary as it’s causing a big sanitary problem. Lastly, we asked if he had any suggestions. He did. He suggested we get the women to start putting the household trash in one area. The mayor thought this would be an excellent way to start training people for the time when our village could afford trash collection. When we asked how to gather up the women of the village, he pulled out his cell and called Natasha.

Natasha is a health care worker at the local health center which we heretofore believed was closed. It’s not. We went to the health care center and waited. She finally appeared but unfortunately, Diamante had already started her private interviews and wasn’t there. We marched her over to the care and with the help of Diamante got a meeting for next Tuesday with her and as many women as she could round up by then. She thought between 15-20 was feasible.

Kristine felt better and had returned to our village, so we updated her on our project and then power walked the 3.75 miles to Belsh. The road is beautiful, hilly and filled with unexpected lakes, distant mountains, terraced hills and goats. This sounds like the start of a cheesy romance novel, but it’s actually the truth. I’m really glad I didn’t take my camera because I would have never, never made it to Belsh. But I did. Kacey and I made it in exactly 1 hour. Sweaty and thirsty, I decided we had to find an ice cream shop immediately (big surprise). We found a great gelato place that was only 10 leke per scoop. I had banana, chocolate- which tasted like banana in a good way- and vanilla. You guessed it- we took the furgon back.

Tomorrow is Rina’s birthday. I’m going to get her something in Elbasan but I’m not sure what. I hope I can find something in my budget that she likes. I think after I get home we are having a party to celebrate her 17th… thank goodness I can eat bread! I would be pretty pissed to give up birthday cake twice this week.

General Observations

Today was simply not as exciting as yesterday. There was no PC vehicle to come and whisk us off to the big city. We basically had language class, lunch and went home. However I do have some observations that I have yet to mentions. One is the shirt I was that said “I am crazy Lover” among the mass of sayings I cannot now remember. The second, which I actually cannot believe I haven’t mentioned yet, is that Katie’s donkey is named Madonna. Yes- as in the singer or Kangetar. Katie’s host mother loves Madonna so much that she named her donkey after the ‘pop star’ as she is sometimes called her. The last two are discoveries that have to do with my everyday living and are rapidly developing into coherent routines.

First, because of Passover, my family who tries so hard to please me has now started to allow me to make my own egg white omelets in the morning.

This all started Saturday after the tape measure incident. I asked if I could cook my own breakfast the following morning so I could eat less oil. Well… after the tape measure magic, my host mother heartily agreed. I woke up early enough to cook and cooked an egg white omelet with spinach and onions fresh from the garden. My host mother was fascinated by this so she literally stood next to me and watched me the entire time. She was also incredibly helpful- she handed me the ingredients and such. Sunday and Monday she cooked the omelet for me and though it was good, I’d like to be in control of my oil. So, even though I’ve asked every day this morning she finally allowed me to cook again. This is quite an achievement for me. I cannot believe I have an almost oil free breakfast and am able to cook, which I really really enjoy. I think the cooking went really well today. I supplemented my omelet with her homemade bread which is delicious and we drink coffee together which is always quite a nice way to ease into the day.

Rina has been very interested in this new American way of cooking and asked me to teach her. Tomorrow, I’ll make 2 omelets one for me and one for her. Now I can not only have a very healthy breakfast, but can teach Rina how to eat healthier.

Second, I finally ventured out to the non-pee toilet. This might be a bit personal for a blog, but it is part of my everyday life and yours too! Anyway, as it turns out the outhouse that I’ve been so scared of is actually quite nice. In fact, it is possibly the nicest outhouse I’ve ever been to. It doesn’t smell at all, has plenty of toilet paper and has a brand new porcelain toilet. The down side is that it is out of the house, so nighttime use is pretty much out, you have to change from your inside house shoes to your outside house shoes and that it is a power flush (the nice way of saying dump a ton of water in after you go).

Work Out Resumes

I’ve always struggled with my weight. Just putting it out there- I mean what women doesn’t? As much as I hate Mel Gibson, I will the scene in “What Women Want” when the women go running by a thoughts such as “I wonder how many calories that tab of butter has” and “I wonder how many calories I’m burning now” stand out as the few understandable ones. Anyway, I think as an adult I’ve become somewhat obsessed with my weight. That is partially not my fault. My metabolism has slowed considerably since I turned 23. Of course, I didn’t realize this until I turned 25, but that’s a whole different story.
When I was an adolescent- and partaking in sports 11 out of the 12 trimesters possible in high school- I considered a good meal a huge bowl (think cereal) of ice cream. I also liked to nuke bowls of pasta sauce- which is neither here nor there. In boarding school, I was one of the few vegetarians. Being such, my options were limited to bland pasta that I got to nuke in the cafeteria with the equally lacking red sauce. There was salad, but at that time in my life, I had not yet discovered salad.
Now, I have discovered salad and become an ardent fan. In addition, I have learned how to motivate myself to work out alone and am slowly starting to learn how to enjoy running outside. Today I did the Biggest Loser DVD and realized that I really need to get serious about getting in shape. This is partially because I always feel better when I’m in shape, partially because I always feel better after working out and the harsh reality that summer is coming up really soon and I live in country full of beaches. Getting in shape is exceptionally hard for me when I’m a perpetually broke volunteer tempted with a hot and delicious 25-.30 cent Burek made so delicious because it is dripping in oil. The decision to run in the Athens marathon and rapidly approaching summer should provide some motivation. Hopefully, I’ll stay committed to the dvds. Also, this week will certainly help to me to kick the bread habit and burek habit.
Today, for example I bought a yogurt and some tomatoes for lunch. I’ve actually never bought yogurt in Shales because yogurt is made at home and therefore hard to purchase. Even milk is a rarity in the stores in my village. People either have a cow or buy milk from their neighbor with a cow, as my family does. Today, however, we went to Elbasan to language class where yogurt and milk are readily available.
See, Albania officially celebrates two Easters: Orthodox Easter and Catholic Easter. They’re not picky- if only Americans would follow. Both are national holidays and are celebrated on the Monday after. Because today was the first Easter, we were locked out of the school. Now, since we only get the exact amount of money needed for travel to and from Elbasan on city days and a few dollars for lunch, we did not have money to get to the city. The PC car came and whisked us off to Elbasan. We had classes in the PC office in Elbasan. During lunch Ornela took us to the best burek place in Elbasan. I could not partake so I bought the yogurt.
Being in Elbasan was such a treat. We rarely get to go to the city, so it’s always fun. Plus, today we had a personal chauffer meaning we didn’t have to wait in the rain for a potentially full furgon with frequent stops. The driver took us back to the village and en route solved a mystery. The house on top the hill in Than is actually not a house, he told us, but a hotel. Ah… we thought.

No More Washing Machine

Computer lessons are going surprising well. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous when Rina and I started the lessons. She didn’t really understand the mouse (which, in all fairness, is hard to use touchpad mouse) and was hesitant to type. However, now that we are at our 4 or 5th lesson, she is going really, really well. Typing and form have both improved: She is typing words, sentences and using the correct finger positions. Also, her speed and comfort with the computer has really improved. I’m so happy that we are doing the lessons.

Today was a pretty boring work day. We all need those I guess. I’m pretty broke from my Shkoder trip and thought the money for the trip was for 2 weeks, but in reality is supposed to last 3. Obviously, that means no gelato for me. In addition to my trip, I have the added cost of Passover: I cannot eat bread at home to fill me up or buy cheap 30 Leke bread products in Elbasan like Burek. I’m stuck with salad, if I have to eat out, at 250 Leke and buying tuna at the store which is really expensive (1 can is 120-240 Leke, while an entrée sized salad 200-250 Leke). Also, I really tried to keep the Passover spirit of using utensils that haven’t touched bread by buying new knives, Tupperware (for the tuna) and spoons which was not only incredibly difficult but expensive. So, yeah, I’m broke again.

In supplementing my brokenness was my dire need to do work and update my blog. I haven’t been able to post pictures for some time now, and have a pressing project due.

For our environmental awareness day, I am in charge of creating the lesson templates and the learning standards. Luckily, we got a head start on processing the information on Thursday, but realized after Kristen typed the timeline up that we still have a long way to go. So, I spent a few hours last night developing the template, but then had to research projects for our group to look at. Lastly, in addition to the blog, which takes a very long time to maintain, and the lesson templates, I am going to give an informal information session to the language teachers on Judaism. Now, this is truly a wonderful opportunity. After the Seder which 5 teachers attended, many of the teachers who came and didn’t had their curiosutiy piqued about Judiasm. I’m so happy to entertain those questions as the more people are informed, the less sterytypes and misconceptiosn arise. And, as most of you know, am happy to discuss and debate Judiasm extensively. However, no matter how much I enjoy it, today t was antoher work thing to research.

Anyway, as I sit her typing I realize I should relay some other household information. First, as you know I do not have a shower. There is a shower, and a hot water heater, but I bath in a bucket in the middle of the bathroom. Following that protocol, there is a toilet in the bathroom, but that is used only for peeing. Today, I learned the washing machine will no longer be in use.

The other day, I asked my house mother if I could use the machine to wash my clothes, and she said “Neser”- tomorrow. “Ska Problem”- no problem I told her. I really didn’t car, and it was far from an emergency, though I thought that was odd as she usually is actively encourages clothes washing. So, Saturday came and went and clothes were not washed. Not a big deal. Today, Katie came over before heading to Church to get my lesson template. I ran out to meet her, came back and found all my clothes outside being scrubbed down by my house mother. I ran out to tell her to stop. If I knew she would have to manually labor, I would have washed less or waited longer to do it or done it myself. No problem she told me, though I felt awful.

Within minutes the clothes were up on the line drying. I told a few people about this incident today, and learned that some people don’t use the washing machine in the summer. From a sustainable point of view, that is amazing. It is truly a good allocation of resources. However, I still am uncomfortable with anyone washing my intimates by hand. But, now at least I have faith that the other items on the “bring to Albania list” next to “rubber gloves to wash clothes” will be used and loved.

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.

Tape Measure Incident

Sitting in the furgon on the way to Elbasan today started to laugh. I realized how good life is. I’m literally living my dream.
I’m in Albania, which is an incredibly beautiful country situated in, as far as I’m concerned, on one of if not the most beautiful bodies of water in the world: the Mediterranean. I’m near a ridiculous amount history (Italy and Greece) and am close to the East. Well... closer than I was in New York. Surrounded by this striking scenery, I get to meet and work with other likeminded Americans focused on working and helping others. Not that there aren’t American’s helping others in America. There are, but it’s just different being with an entire group of people who concurrently dedicated at least 2 ½ years of their life to service and living an ascetic lifestyle.
On that note, today I received a fantastic package from one of those American helper people individuals- my friend Will a doctor in New York. Will sent me Matzah, which for me during Passover was somewhat of a miracle in and of itself. Surely, it pales in comparison to sparing the first born or parting the red sea, but considering he was amazing able to send the package with extremely little information (I’m talking about my name and city) and have it arrive- intact- 4 days later it should at least receive mini-miracle status. In the package was regular, egg, whole wheat and chocolate matzah. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see flour and water.
Besides the package, my day consisted of the usual round of COD technical sessions. This morning’s session was led by Rob, a volunteer in Shkoder. While it was great to hear him present his work as a professional, I had literally already seen most of it when he took me and the other trainee, Bill, to his office in the Bashkia . After his session, a roundtable of various volunteers who worked at municipalities throughout the country spoke to us. It was interesting but based on my discussion with Diana the day before and site visit in Shkoder (I stayed with one of a select few NGO volunteers in the country) I started to have a sneaking suspicion that I was going to work for an NGO.
Unfortunately, lunch is not very exciting as it is Passover. I basically had yogurt and tuna out of a can. Not something I’d like to repeat everyday for a year, but isn’t that was Passover is about? Suffering a bit? It was during lunch that I was talking to some volunteers about general nonsense and used the phrase “new information has come to light”. I love this phrase. I really do. But when I went to reach for the source, my mind went blank. I could not for the life of me remember where it was from.
I tried pretty hard to remember the phrases origin but as the day passed and I occupied my brain with other issues I forgot to remember. In particular, there was a session with NGO volunteers, which included Becca the volunteer who had come to Seder and Wendy the volunteer I stayed with. That was followed by a diversity session that seemed all encompassing except for the fact that it excluded religious diversity.
During this time, I gave up on racking my brains on the phrase’ origin and went to a great outdoor café off a side street after class with some of my fellow trainees. As I sat in the café the Athens marathon came up. I had heard a buzz about it, but wasn’t fully clear on the details. This time I was given all the info and fully committed. I’m going to do it. After all, it is the original race- Athens to Marathon. I don’t know if I’m going to do the entire 26 miles, but I’m in for at least a 10k. Wimpy- I know, but better than nothing.
I returned home invigorated and went to my room to change. From my room I could hear English blaring from the TV. I went out to see what it was, and low and behold the Big Lebowski was on. Talk about full circle. Within 2 minutes, I realized the origin of “new information has come to light” I also realized that Shqip lacks the diversity of words for good and complete. Thorough- as in “He’s a good doctor and thorough. Very thorough” looses too much when translated at “Doctor Mire dhe [and] mire. Mire.” Or “He’s a good doctor and good. Good.” It’s just not the same. Nor is the Big Lebowski when all the Moses jokes are taken out. I understand the necessity given the audience and fit for TV format, but it’s really not the same without the Sandy Koufax line.
The novelty of watching the big Lebowski with Shqip subtitles having worn off, I went to my room to fetch my tape measure which caused quite a stir. I went to the bathroom to measure myself and emerged with the meter in hand. Immediately, Rina and my host mother wanted to measure themselves. I was a bit hesitance as I didn’t want to be revealed to be fatter than my host sister, but agreed as she is 14 years younger. Low and behold my waist was smaller. Well, I was pretty shocked as she is really thin. She was equally surprised, so we measure my waist and her waist again and discovered that yup, it’s true. I teased her a bit about it since I get teased and spanked on a daily basis by them and thought I should turn the tables a bit. Hey- if you’re going to dish it you gotta take it.

The teasing lead to a serious discussion on eating healthy- my personal concern but now one that I happily share with Rina. If I could teach her how to eat healthily I would be so happy. I explained to her that I eat very little oil or sugar. Oil, though good for you, is really fattening. French fries I explained aren’t exactly packed with nutrients and low calories. That is why, I told her, I didn’t want oil on my sald. She told me that she wanted to learn how to cook American food and I promised I’d teach her.

I also told them that the next morning I’d like to cook. This is because my host mother, who has absolutely the best intentions in the world, has started to make me fried eggs for breakfast. Normally I would love sunny side up eggs, however these come with salt and in a bowl (quite figuratively) of oil. So, I begged her to allow me to cook tomorrow. I hope it works!

CDM Work

Today Tausha- a group 11 volunteer- came to help us with our Community Development Project (CMP). It was an extremely productive session. We brainstormed our objectives, goals and visions on scraps of paper which made us think of how we wanted to structure the activities and pinpoint our learning objective.
Tausha’s Shqip is excellent. Having been in Albania for only 22 days, ours is not. She took us to the school director so that she could help translate and facilitate the meeting. We explained our idea of an environmental education day connected to earth day. He was extremely agreeable. In fact, he suggested calling in tv crews to have it filmed. He called in a few teachers and we exchanged numbers with them. Since the director was the librarian last year and we have our class in the library and he was very familiar with PC, which I think helped us. He agreed to stop by next week to get the details of the project.
At around 10 Diana the head of COD stopped by to discuss our placements with us. After my visit to Shkoder I was thrilled to see her and wanted to tell her how happy I was with the work I saw in Shkoder and with Aarhus in particular. Aarhus combines my three interests perfectly: community engagement, environmental justice/awareness and helping developing countries leapfrog in terms of development.
We went to language class and then met Tausha for lunch. During lunch, she disclosed to us that she is a vegetarian. As such, she knows all the places to scourer for vegetables. She pointed out various the vegetables and spices found around the village, including fennel and rosemary.
Tausha went home and we took the scraps of paper home to sort through and write up. PC work, including CMP, is becoming an increasingly bigger part of my life as the PC progresses and I adapt more and more to my new home. It’s encouraging to realize it’s really not that tough to adapt physically. Of course, that is easily said when you adopt your new home at the very beginning of spring (as opposed to the start of winter) and you genuinely enjoy the food.
Since today focused on CDP, I realize that I should post some pictures of the key players in the neighborhood. There is a seed store, Kommuna (Town Hall), Post office, a few schools, butchers, pastry shop, many drink only cafes, about 4 general shops, a hairdresser, hardware store, vet medicine shop, an internet café, a cemetery and cement factory. Can you figure out which is which?

Travel Back

Seder

Woke up and headed straight back to Elbasan. I don’t get much rest these days. In fact, I’m amazed that I haven’t given up on this blog yet.
Our schedule was changed a bit so that we could debrief our country director Hill about our volunteer visits. Luckily, we all stayed with the best and most productive volunteers so we had only good things to say. I felt particularly lucky; my hosts were so busy with work the husband in the couple had to skip out on a few activities while we were there.

Lunch was spent creating and printing our Haggadas from the internet and recipes for making Matzah from scratch. It is officially the first night of Seder. In fact, I am writing this entry a few days later because of that night was so hectic and one really shouldn’t write (or work or travel or do any of the 39 prohibited activities) on the first two days of Passover.

After our mandatory PST sessions finished, I organized my people. I had 1 volunteer, 4 trainees and 5 teachers coming to Seder, of which only the volunteer had been to a Seder before. I would be fulfilling PC goal number 3 educating other about American culture all around (The 3 Peace Corps Goals haven’t changed since 1961), although I’m not quite sure when they were thought up, that #3 was meant to include other Americans.

After I rounded everyone up I had 6 of us: 5 trainees and Ornela, our language teacher who had generously donated her apartment to the cause. In my attempt to clarify what we needed to purchase, I tried to explain that we had to buy food for a huge meal. They knew it was an important religious holiday but they didn’t know it included a huge meal- how could they? They’re not Jewish and had never been to a Seder before. While people were trying to purchase the various foods typical for an American feast, I explained that for this festive meal we couldn’t have beer, rice, legumes or anything else people wanted to buy. I had explained that we needed an egg, shank bone and bitter herb, and then when they set off to help me purchase the various items had to clarify we needed just one egg, one small shankbone (not a huge leg) and a small bitter herb for the plate, not to eat. It’s tough to learn and/or follow the rules if you’re Jewish so I can only imagine how hard it for someone who had never been to a Seder before.



Unfortunately, I hadn’t headed my parents’ advice about bringing matzah and Will’s matzah had yet to arrive so we had to make our own. We bought some flour in the supermarket and headed to the open market to buy an egg, fruits, vegetables, a shank bone and something, anything, I could use for a bitter herb. The word horseradish wasn’t in the Albanian dictionary and though I tried desperately to describe it and its importance I failed severely. My only hope was to go to the market, see it and buy it.

We split up into tasks: main course, salad, soup and wine. I couldn’t eat the meat regardless, so I put someone else in charge of making the meat dish and went off to find bought the ingredients for a stir fry. We tried in vain to buy a rolling pin for the Matzah and went back to Ornela’s to cook.

At Orenela’s house, Kacey started reading about the holiday. She shared the facts with others aloud, which I was grateful for. It gave me the opportunity to brush up on the story and clarify some of the food rules for people which were slowly becoming more understandable. I realized as I was chopping vegetables that I had completely forgotten to buy a bitter herb. At the market I had become so involved with fielding questions regarding the Passover worthiness of products and finding a rolling pin that I completely forgot my quest for the horseradish. Since the market didn’t have it, my only hope was the EuroMax.

KT and I literally ran across town to get the horseradish at the EuroMax. It wasn’t there. I didn’t know what to do. I looked at the spices and found some curry to cook the stir fry with but nothing bitter. The best thing and only thing I could think of was some sour cabbage. At least I tried. KT and I ran back to find the cooking, timing, and stirring going strong in full force. Kacey was making the Matzah and doing a fantastic job. Chris was timing her. By that point she managed to churn out about 20. Ornela had made the soup and just about everything else. I stated to make the stir fry with the spice I had found at the Euro Max. I then tried to find a Seder plate. Granted, this was one of the tasks I didn’t anticipate being difficult, but should have had the foresight to realize it would be, but I’ll know for next year. I explained that I needed a big plate to hold all the various items that we purchased and the salt water. In trying to help, I think we took out a decent amount of dishes with limited success. We ended up with ¾ the items of one plate- much better than nothing.



The teachers and then volunteer arrived. We now had 11 people and I was almost ready to start. I changed, settled people down and lit the candles with the volunteer. Everyone stood around as I passed out the Hagaddahs and started to read. It quickly became evident to me, that no one except me and the volunteer knew it would be a long time before we eat. Why should they? I failed to tell them and they hadn’t been to a Seder before. I told them that it was best to grab a seat as we were in for a lengthy discussion.

We began. I welcomed people, described what the Hagaddah was for, where the word Seder came from and pointed to the Seder plate. At the point I had talked about the Seder foods so many times, between the shopping, describing and Seder plate searching, that I was getting a bit sick of explaining. I must have been successful, though, because another person was able to explain the items on the Seder plate at that moment. It was really rewarding.

I started to read and had my pile of supplemental info next to me. I said all the Hebrew parts, but passed the English bits to others. Eventually we just read in a circle. After the talking, discussing and reading was done, we finally got to eat. People had all sorts of questions and I was really happy that KT was there. She knows the bible inside and out and was able to help me out with many questions.


Dinner ended and we actually finished the Seder. It’s amazing how willing first timers are to come back and finish the Seder. I don’t even know if I needed the 2 extra glasses as enticement. I wonder if by my 3rd Seder here, everyone will stay till the end…


After dinner we headed back to Mira’s office. On the way, I realized we were basically walking back to the PST office. When asked her if we were sleeping in the office, as she had instructed us to bring sleeping bags, she said no, we were sleeping in her apartment. As it happens, its basically behind the PST office. Poor Mira, she really doesn’t have a break at all.

We finally arrived and the apartment is beautiful. It not only houses Ledi and Mira, but couches, tv and a shower. It was a dream…. Not only that but we were able to run out and buy ice cream. I know that is totally not in keeping with Passover, but I think for most of the guests it was a real treat to be able to purchase something- anything- past 7pm.

Return to Shales

Leg Wax, Leg Wax, Leg Wax! I woke up early, really excited to get a leg wax. I couldn’t believe I finally found a place. I went at 8:45 for my appointment but as I tried to communicate the girl at the front desk that I had arrived for my leg wax it became quite apparent that Wendy and I had spoken to a different girl the day before. This didn’t know who I was and was quite confused when I kept pointing to my leg, slapping it, peeling my hand away and making Shh noises. Clearly, the appointment had not been recorded as I believed it had been. Regardless, the girl was incredibly eager to help and went to set up a room for me. I sat on the table, pulled up my pants leg and she started applying the wax. I should have known right away by the stickiness(think gluestick or honeycomb) and warm temperatures that something was wrong. After about 2 minutes she told me the wax wouldn’t work. The wax wasn’t hot enough. She felt terrible. Clearly, the lengthy discussion the day before regarding making an appropriate appointment time that accounted for the spa’s readiness was not imparted. I told her Ska Problem. I asked her how long it would take for the wax the heat up, she said 20 minutes, so I said I’d return. I explained that I had to catch the 11:00 bus, and she somehow understood my terrible shqip.
I headed out to buy my last northern Burek and some food to tide me over during Passover. I found some tuna with varying accompaniments. The burek was great- not only was it spinach but it came with a side salad of all things fresh and good for about 50 Leke.
I returned to the hot wax. My legs no longer hirsute, I weighed myself on the first scale I saw inside and headed back to Shales. (Yes- you read that correctly. Most scales are on the street. You pay the scale’s owner a fee, and then weigh yourself and probably everyone with you on the scale. That’s a very popular activity here. Many fatter volunteers have been weighed by their host families, most within days of arriving in Albania. According to them, Albanians like weighing fat people).
My timing was perfect. I caught a bus that left a few minutes later and low and behold received the same driver I had going to Shkoder. I guess he was still a bit shaken from the whole incident because he drove very carefully. When I arrived in Tirana, I debarked and checked my belongings. The bus drove off just as I realized my phone battery had fallen out. I ran after the bus, hit it on its side and got it to stop. The ticket collector came out of the back door and then pointed at my bags. In running after the bus I had left my bags behind. He held the bus. I got my bags, brought them back to the bus, and pointed to the half empty phone while trying to figure out how I was going to lug my bags up the bus while I searched the floor for the battery. While I was thinking, he miraculously disappeared and reappeared with the battery. I thanked him profusely and started to orient myself.
In Tirana I debated trying to find the Mexican restaurant or Steven’s place, but decided not to do either as I really like Albanian food. I actually don’t miss American food at all. Maybe I haven’t been here long enough or maybe most of the food here is food I love and eat in America anyway (Tomatoes, olives, plain yogurt, cucumbers, cheese, Greek salad, pizza, anchovies, spinach, and gelato). If I miss anything it’s sushi and that’s not quite American.
I decided the best thing to do was to find the furgon to Elbasan, which turned out to be down the long road from where the Shkoder bus dropped me off. Along the road I found a Belgian chocolate shop which was detrimental to both my physique and wallet, a post office and plenty of banners celebrating Albania’s acceptance to NATO. Even after these pit stops I had plenty of time before I had to return so I decided to take myself out to a big fancy lunch, which probably was the worst thing to do given my extremely limited budget and unpredictable transportation schedules. I went to the restaurant overlooking the main park near the Elbasan furgon. I figured that even though I had plenty of time, it was better to keep the furgons in view. I had a salad with cabbage and fennel for the first time since arriving in Albania, a salty pizza (yummy!) and enjoyed the beautiful view. Luckily, the pizza was only 450 Leke about what it would be in Elbasan, even though I was in a park in the capital city, which saved me from total financial ruin that day.
The furgon took a long time to fill up. As relaxed as I was when I arrived in Tirana, was as stressed as I was leaving. Every time I thought we had enough people, the driver would pause, get off and go wait at the street again. Finally, we left. The ride was not the safest. I won’t go into the details, but I will say the driver to Tirana was fabulous and not every furgon driver seems to recognize that a narrow road in the mountains requires safety first and speed second.
Obviously I arrived in Elbasan alive. I went straight to the Shales furgon and was relieved to see many trainees still milling about, trying to tie up loose ends and trying to find furgons to all the miscellaneous villages. I caught mine and left relatively fast. I sat next to a trainee who told me about her visit. As she described it, her village is so small that going to Elbasan for hub days is like going to Hollywood. Funny because it’s so true. No matter how much I appreciate my family here and their amazing hospitality and kindness, and enjoy the company of the other village trainees, Elbasan is sort of like Hollywood on the few days I get to go. I get to see other English speakers besides the 4 I spend every day with and have multiple lunch options. It is just like Hollywood but with better people.

Meet and Greet Shkoder

Once again, I woke up and had the luxury of a hot shower with excellent pressure. I was then off with Wendy to start our busy day. It was Monday, official bring your trainee to work day.

The first thing we did was pick up some tortillas. In understanding that the other trainee, Bill and I had been eating bread, soup, yogurt and assorted salty cheeses for 3 weeks (which I have to say I do really enjoy) and having lived through that diet themselves as trainees last year, the current volunteers decided that we needed to eat Mexican. Bill and I thought this an excellent idea. We were looking forward to getting a home cooked American meal. Fortunately, Wendy had befriended a missionary who many years in Mexico included much time making tortillas with Mexican women. We approached a black gate on a side street, were buzzed in and found a quite modern looking beautiful church inside full of children running around the front yard. We met the directors, got the tortillas and headed out.

We then met up with some of Wendy’s counterparts who took guided us to the Gabi. The Gabi is a huge market where every sort of used and gently worn clothing and accessories from underwear to purses is sold. Time was short as we had many people to meet and offices to see, but I’m glad I shown it as it was tucked away and hard to find: a true local establishment.

Our first stop was the World Vision office. World Vision is an NGO that helps children in the developing world. It came into Albania during the Kosovo crises 9 years ago and stayed because it believed its services were still needed. Though I didn’t get to meet anyone as the Skoder staff was in Tirana at a meeting, it was beneficial for me to visit the office of an American NGO in Albania particularly a Christian charity to understand its promotional and accountability materials. I saw flip charts with notes, brochures, maps and fundraising mission statements. While World Vision’s materials constantly denote that its mission is derived from a religious ideology- the need to serve those less fortunate- the materials also stress that it does not proselytize and seeks to help children in a non religious way.

The next stop was the Bashkia where I met Rob’s counterparts. I saw where he works and witnessed an incredible hub of activity. Since everyone was busy and actively engaged in his or her work, we only stayed long enough to be introduced to his counterparts.

Next, the four of us went to Aarhus. This is a phenomenal international environmental NGO based on three pillars of environmental action. As I understood them, they were:
Access to Information: Supplying free access to the internet and informing citizens of pertinent issues relating to the environment.
Public Participation: Encouraging citizens to participate in the environmental dialogue through public hearings and other modes of communication between the government and stakeholders.
Access to Justice: Providing citizens with legal consultation and linking citizens to their local government so that they can change the trajectory of environmental projects.
The NGO was founded in Denmark about 10 years ago and is now affiliated with the UN under UNECE and the OSCE. Aarhus has offices in Shkoder, Tirane and a new office in Vlore, a large port city in the south. Officially, it’s involvement in Albania is referred to as a presence. The Shkoder office has 2 university interns in addition to the 2 full time employees. We met with the interns, who explained the projects they were working on to us.

After Aarhus, we visited OSCE, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Again, it was great. This quasi-governmental agency oversees and monitors many of the democratic processes in former Eastern European communist bloc countries such as Albania in issues of voting, transition of power and demonstrations. The overseer of the office is always international and the employers are from all over the EU. Right now, the director is a tall Austrian- Valter.

Following the meetings, Wendy helped me scope out a place to get a leg wax. I’ve been dying to get one since we got to Albania and now the weather is turning warmer realize I desperate need it if hose is not in my future. We found a very nice spa like establishment off the boulevard on the way back to her house. I went in and after much discussion as to when they open and mentally sketching the trip back to Elbasan booked a wax for 8:45 the next morning, the earliest I could within their available work hours.

We returned Wendy’s and Will’s to prepare dinner. The 6 of us (4 volunteers and 2 trainees) made Mexican and ate a hearty meal. I enjoyed the meal and started to get mentally ready to leave Shkoder, the hot showers and for the long journey back. Shales is great, but I think in my heart I’m a city girl.

Shkoder

It was almost a miracle to wake up and have a hot shower that I didn’t have to pour on myself with a cup. I am forever definitely indebted to Wendy and Will for providing such wondrous luxury.

Wendy and Will went to church, so I went to Rozafa Castle, Shkoder’s castle. The 40 minute walk was a great way to see the city. The city got denser as I approached the center, and passed by the statue of Mother Tereza, the most famous Albanian, and then thinned again.


After the “Welcome to Shkoder sign” the glass fronted stores slowly metamorphosed into fruit merchants and open markets. Apartment buildings dissipated. Closer to the castle, the street was lined with chop shops, bumper cars and houses.

As I started to climb the road to the castle, the houses became smaller and denser. The pavement turned to rock and mud and I was pretty happy that I had worn those fancy Spanish Pikolinos I had fought so hard for. Clearly, the woman walking in front of me had not been as wise. As she walked through the unpaved street casually swinging her high heels I was became truly happy that I had only brought one pair of heels with me and that they were safely stowed in my village.

I got to the top of the path where I was happy to find out there was only one low entrance fee. It was 200 Leke alike for tourists and foreigners. I paid and wandered around. The entrance was wet as promised. As my memory tells me, myth has it that the Rozafa castle is always wet because of the woman who sacrificed her life for it. When the castle was being built the wall would not stay up.

The three brothers who were building it realized (I’m not sure how) that they needed to sacrifice one of their wives to make the wall stand up. They decided that the first wife to bring her husband lunch the next day would be sacrificed. The oldest two brothers ran home and told their wives not to bring them lunch the next day. The next day, the youngest brother’s wife came to the castle with her husband’s lunch. She was told she would be scarified and resigned herself to her fate.

However, she said, leave me one arm to hold my new born, one breast to feed him and one leg so that I can rock him. Fine, she was told. So the walls of the castle are always wet with her milk.

The inside of the castle was amazing. The grounds were pretty well documented and the walls were thick enough to walk on. On one end, there was a secret stairway that I missed the first time. In case the castle is under siege there is always a way out. At every turn there was a new incredible panoramic vista of the city or its outskirts.

In addition, I could clearly see the lake that goes to Montenegro. There is a museum with various non-secured items. One of which, a cannon ball, a child picked up to show his mother.

Walking back from the castle along the fruit vendors I experienced exceptional inflation when purchasing oranges. I picked out my oranges and silently I put them in a bag and waited my turn for the scale. I was told, after they were carefully weighed, that they would be 60 Leke ($.65).

I then pointed to the strawberries and asked “Sa Kushton?” How Much? I was told 300 Leke. This was clearly out of my budget so I went back to buying only the oranges. The merchant held up the bag and declared 100 Leke. I was furious! I tried feverishly to construct several sentences with the essence that 30 seconds ago they were 60 Leke, how could they be 100 now? How did they go up by 40%? 60 Leke, I stated, that’s all I’ll give you. Somehow I must have made my point because he quickly gave in and I bought my oranges for 60 Leke.

After my showdown, I went on an adventure to the sea. On the drive there, I passed the usual animals: Cows, sheep, dogs, cats, donkeys and, of course, chickens. However, because I was in the north, I also saw pigs for the first time and goats. In other words, animal sightings that could not be beat. It was the first time I dipped my foot in the Adriatic in years and it was fantastic. There is nothing like a spring day at the beach when everyone else is still too afraid to come out. I picked up some shells and I plan on keeping them close to me for the next 2 years remembering my first time on the sea here in my new home.

Dinner was another fabulous affair, the other trainee and his host volunteer, Rob joined us for dinner on a balcony that could have taken place in Italy.
I ate fish for my first time in Albania, deviating from pizza, as I really felt I should enjoy life fully, like a Shkodran. Fish is much more common in the north than in the center. It's especially popular in Shkoder due to its proximity to the sea and Lake Shkoder. My fish was good, but I should have splurged for the local specialty Krap, as I’m not sure when is the next time I’ll be in Shkoder.

We dined on the balcony and then headed back. Because Will and Wendy have wireless, I was able to get online and chat with a few people, another true treat with me. Between the 6 hour time difference and me having to be home by dark every night, I am rarely able to catch people online. Tonight I was. I spoke to a few of my religious friends who reminded me, as my parents have been for months, that Passover is coming. Until tonight, Passover had been way off in the distance. It was something I’d have to deal with after I leave for Albania, live in Albania. But now, I am in Albania and I have to deal with the fact that Passover is coming on Wednesday. I don’t have Matzah. I have a Seder at Ornela’s on Wednesday but I’m woefully underprepared to lead it. Tonight, my friend Will generously offered to ship me Matzah. I’m not sure it will arrive in time for Wednesday but it’s a pretty generous thing to offer regardless and I’ll have it for the rest of Passover. I’m actually really excited to eat Matzah and taste Passover. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Tirana

Off to Shkoder

My first time in Tirana was overwhelemed with the energy of NATO acceptance. A very, very big deal here. The road from Tirana to Shkoder is a new one. Unlike the road between Elbasan and Tirana it is flat and relatively wide. It does not wind through the beautiful mountains, nor does it provide exceptional vistas or roadside stands with fresh olive oil but it is fast and easy.


The bus ride should have been smooth. However it wasn’t. About 40 minutes into our ride, the other trainee and I, along with everyone else on the bus heard a sequence of extremely loud screeching noises. Most everyone looked out the window to see a relatively new Mercedes careening off the road into a rock. I don’t know whose fault it was.

Some thought the driver was trying to pass someone in front; I didn’t see it I don’t know. Whatever the reason, the man across the aisle from me was visibly shaken. He started to complain loudly to the ticket collector, who tried to calm him down and then decided that the best course of action was to take himself and his family off the bus. The ticket collector got the driver to stop and the man, his wife and child deboarded in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. A few minutes later, the driver got pulled into a gas station by a police officer. The officer got on the bus, spoke to the driver and then got off the bus with the driver. They chatted. After an acceptable bit of time passed, I started to get a nervous. I thought I too might be stuck in the middle of the road, but unlike the man with the family, I didn’t speak Shqip or know where I was. I started to text my volunteer hosts when the driver appeared and we took off. I should note that after the incident he drove much, much more conservatively and I felt quite safe.


I arrived in Shkoder expecting to see the lake I had heard so much about. I didn’t. I saw a theater and huge empty hole in the center of a roundabout wrapped in white. Later, I was told that’s where the statue of 5 heroes used to be. As I stood there waiting for them, I tried very hard to see the beauty in Shkoder. I couldn’t. Admittedly, I was really disappointed. My hosts picked me up and we walked to their house. It was on that walk that my disappointment literally evaporated and I fell in love with Shkoder. Shkoder is beautiful- believe the hype.

We walked near mosques and churches. Along a restored pedestrian street that seemed lifted from a movie. Down roads with beautiful and diverse architecture which effortlessly melded together.

I put my stuff down in my hosts’ apartment. The married couple I stayed with was extremely hospitable and welcoming. They showed me their fantastic shower- a closed stall- and I thought I had come to the lap of luxury. We chatted for a while. Then Wendy, the wife and technically my hostess, took me on a very detailed tour of the city.




Wendy explained the religious issues, pointed out stores, neighborhoods, spoke about the history of the city and explained her work in Shkoder. We passed a few organizations she was connected with and I got a bit of a feel of the work she does. It was getting dark and as I had started traveling what felt like forever, I and everyone else was ready for dinner.


Before I talk about dinner, I should divulge that Shkoder is known for its Italian food. The entire city has a strong connection to Italy. When communism ended, Italian money flowed in to Shkoder to repair its churches. Many Shkodrans are catholic but more importantly for me, most of the restaurants are Italian. Italian restaurants mean delicious fresh pizza, pasta and fish.


Wendy and Will, her husband, took me to a great new pizzeria down the street. There we met up with another volunteer and her friend. We chatted and I started to get a fuller picture of the work the different volunteers do in one city and the collaborative opportunities that “site mates” create.


After dinner, Wendy took me to Chicago, a beautiful restaurant overlooking the city to meet one of her many counterparts.
Fiona was recovering from a sickness, but it was still great to meet her, though unfortunately, I couldn’t carry on a conversation as well as I would have liked. However, the company was great and the view was fantastic. I could see the entire city glittering from that point and as we sat there, there was a short black-out reminding us that even though Shkoder feels like a modern European city, the infrastructure in Albania is still far from perfect. But then again, so does the infrastructure in the US.

Preparing for the Volunteer Visit

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).

Meeting Rosana

Thursdays are long days. We have COD development from 8-11:30. Straight after we have school until 1. That is ta long time without a break. Thankfully, we were really productive during PDM (Project Development Management) today. We narrowed our community development projects down to one. By choosing one, we were able to focus on implementation and action. Part of an action plan in Albania is thinking of the people that could help us implement our project. In our village, this means English speakers, people with access to the school and if we're really lucky, a contractor with materials to donate.


Armed with our list of people to find, we went to the school. Though it was 10:30, the school director was not in. We asked when he'd be in and were told 10:30. Well, we thought, that’s interesting because it is 10:30 and he's not here. We figured the most prudent thing to do would be to seek out someone else and then return. We decided to go find Rosanna, an English speaker Katie had found while wondering around our village for the mapping exercise. Rosanna not only spoke English, but had obtained a university degree in it and had taught it. Katie knew she lived around the school, but not the exact place. We asked the people around the school where she lived were lead to a house directly behind the school. It had a beautiful well maintained garden and a gate.


Happy and surprised, Rosanna came out to welcome us. She was just as hospitable and welcoming as we thought she’d be. She revealed herself to also be an incredible and eager resource who wanted to work with us, help the village and work with the school. She repeatedly told us how happy she was at the chance to practice English and help. As she stood talking to us, the uninvited Americans, her husband were hospitably cut up some apples. When he presented them to us, we felt embarrassed for talking their food, but Rosanna explained that Albanians are very hospitable and must offer guests something to eat. She insisted that we eat as a sign of respect. We ate the fruit and left happy to have an ally.

We went back the school but the director was still not in. Since it was a beautiful day, as many of the next 200 will be, we decided to be Albanian and have a coffee meeting. It was semi-productive which means it was great. We drew up a rough plan of our environmental education fair so that we’d have something hard to look at. With a solid target and goal, we felt we could now get the ball moving on our project.

I chose to have an internet lunch instead of food as I was trying to catch my father before he left for the states. I missed him by 1 hour. Failing at that I tried to find and buy a longer and better valued international calling card than the overpriced and ubiquitous $5 ones sold every bodega in New York. I bought one from callingcards.com but then received an email stating that the purchase could not be completed unless the company calls me. Odd. Of all my experiences purchasing multiple and varied products online I have never received a message that a phone call must ensue to confirm the purchase. I called the number given to me in the email and was told by the person answering that not only would they have to call me but that they would then have to confirm the purchase via a .gov or .edu email. What a scam! This company never, ever states on any of its material that you must have a .gov or .edu email to purchase the card or that you must receive a call from them in the states to confirm. Callingcards.com takes your credit card info first, and then tells you this policy. I thought the point of an internet store was to cut out the phone. Silly me. Frustrated by my fruitless and expensive lunch I went back to class.

After class I tried to copy Kristen’s lower body pilates workout to my hard drive but failed. The three other volunteers met us at Kristen’s and together we asked Villy, her English speaking host cousin, a ton of questions about our proposed project. According to Villy there had in fact been a trash pickup Kendra’s year but she had somehow omitted it. Perhaps it is because only 20 people showed up. Puzzled, we asked more questions about this new discovery but didn’t really get any additional information. Villy also told us that the volleyball project last year had been a huge success and felt that our project would be equally successful.


The sun was still shining when the conversation was over, so asked Kacey if she’d be interested in working out at my house for the first time. I thought my house would be a good idea to have it my house if we were going to include Rina who’d said yesterday that she would join us. Kacey agreed and off we went literally down the muddy, rocky road.


I changed ridiculously fast (awards are welcome at any time) and headed out to the dinning room/cooking area to do Pilates. I put the computer on the eating couch and we started to move. Rina refused to work out with us and chose to watch Analia from the soap opera couch. The beginning was quite educational. The lead demonstrated the various muscles in the body, included the buttocks. This was done through a very intimate close up of her clenching her purple clad butt checks. Rina busted out laughing, as did Kacey and I. It’s pretty funny when the camera zooms in on a middle aged women clenching and releasing her spandex butt checks to demonstrate proper form, but it’s a whole different ball game if you don’t even understand why the camera is zooming in. Rina eventually got bored watching us emulate odd leg moves and started blaring her Spanish Novella (Spanish soap opera dubbed in Shqip. They are widely popular here). Well, the Novella didn’t quite go with the Pilates so we moved into the bedroom and finished up. Then I had my coup- I had my second bath in as many days! Don’t laugh. It was so exciting. I showered two days in a row and worked out two days in a row. Think about it.

Bell Ringing

Language class was amazing today. I realize in reading my posts, that I spend a good amount of time describing the food (you all must think I’m a bit monomaniacal) but I do and think about quite a number of other things.

For instance, today I thought language class was really helpful. We read a dialogue once. Then we closed our books and had to remember and transcribe the dialogue from memory.

Our attempt was so comically bad that our teacher cracked up. We finally got in almost right, but are all still struggling a bit.

After class, I made a fabulous discovery. I learned how the bells ring in the school.
(I posted a few days ago my confusion over the cow bell and school bell ringing at almost the same time).

On my way out of the building, I came across both bell ringers. Yup- there are two. One stands by the entrance and manually rings the school bell, while one walks up the stairs to ring the cow bell.

I sort of guessed that, but wasn’t sure. Now, I’m sure. Thankfully, the bell ringers were happy to pose. Then Kristen posed next to the bell.



I saw many chickens crossing the street today. That has nothing to do with the bells, but since I’ve been trying desperately to capture a chicken crossing the street with my camera, the sheer number of chicken crossings was great because as soon as I missed one, there was another crossing right behind it. I think I captured about 5 different chickens crossing the street today on my camera.



Usually, this is hard to do because it takes a few seconds to reach in my pocket, get the camera, turn it on and zoom of the moving target. Today, they were fast as usual, but I kept my camera out and on. I was determined. My chicken hunting skills lead me to make two huge generalizations. Number one, chickens really do cross the street to get to the other side. Number two, chickens can be really fast when they want to be.

Chicken crossing pictures in hand, I went home to change and back to Shales to workout. Kacey, Chris and I worked out to “Biggest Loser”. It was great to work up a sweat and loose some fat, but doing it in Albania, particularly in a cross-gender group is tricking. As we laid out our bodies across the hall to all watch the video, Kacey’s house mother gave Chris house slippers to wear during the work out. Yeah- those are a bit dangerous to wear during jumping jacks. You could easily kill yourself. For real. Who knew house slippers were murderous?
Out of respect he kept wearing them, until we told him he had to take them off or he’d hurt himself.

After the work out, we took a long walk to stretch out. We each made a pact to change our diet in one way the following day, with the looser buying lunch for everyone. I am going to try very, very hard not to buy a chocolate bar tomorrow (not so easy when they are $.10 and new European combination.

I went home and luckily, because I had both workout and warned my family I would smell bad after and asked for a shower before hand, I was able to obtain my fourth bucket bath. Yes- by now I no longer suck. I am by no means a pro, however my confusion at how to shower while being the shower no longer exists. In fact, I bet I could get the entire shower down to one bucket pretty soon. That'd be sweet. If there was ever a water outage or sever limitation on water in New York I'd be hands down the cleanest women on the upper west side. That's right. You'd all be struggling with clothes and deodorant, and there I'd be all shiny and clean from one bucket.

Feeling refreshed from my shower, I asked Rina if she wanted to work out with me tomorrow. She was a bit apprehensive about working out at Kacey’s but eventually agreed to come. It will be great for her to get out of the house and to work out. I think we will both enjoy it. Hey- after all the housework she does, she could easily kick my butt and might ended up shocking both of as in the workout world.