Last Days of PST in Pajove

It has been a while since I wrote last. I have been very busy since my site visit. I am now actually living at site as sworn-in volunteer for the Peace Corps.

Since my last entry I took the language exam where I received the mark of intermediate-low. I was hoping for at least one step above that, but at least I passed. The day before that exam, we finished our community project by giving our last English lesson to the school in our village (we had been giving lessons for a couple of weeks, as the only language at the school was French) and then we played a game of volleyball and did some Yoga with the kids. It was so much fun. As I am awful at volleyball, my team tried to keep the ball away from me or in the breaks they would try and give me quick lessons. I tended to be the biggest liability on the team.

The last week, I helped put together a thank you party for all of the host families in Pajove and the near-by town of Bishqem. It went very well. We talked, ate, and did some circle dancing (because in Albania it is not a party if there is no circle dancing).

Then the next day, we got sworn-in as Peace Corps volunteers. The US Ambassador, John Withers, did the swearing-in. The mayor of Elbasan was also in attendance. It was even reported on the national tv news. No one saw me, I was too far back in the crowed. It was a great event!

The next morning I left early in the morning to go to Tirana and then on to Fushe-Arrez. I had a ton of luggage and had a taxi drop me off at the “bus stop” for Fushe-Arrez. However, the bus was supposed to leave an hour from then according to one driver and not at all according to another driver. I had no idea where I was in the city and it was a nerve-racking couple of minutes trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually the bus came and everything worked out, but when you have that much luggage it is not always fun to not knowing what is going on.