Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Kruja


This last weekend I went to Kruja with Kumar, Dritan (Kumar’s counterpart), and Stephanie (a German who has been living here for the past two months). In Kruja, we visited Skanderbeg Castle and shopped in a little bazaar. Skanderbeg Castle is the most famous castle in Albania. It has been mostly destroyed by earthquakes and the Ottomans (Turks), but is still the main reminder of the nations biggest hero, Gjergj Kastrioti or Skanderbeg. He kept Albania out of Ottoman control for nearly 30 years. Albania only succumbed to the Ottomans after Skanderbeg’s death. The double-headed eagle on the Albanian flag comes from the coat of arms of Skanderbeg’s family. The castle in Kruja was his stronghold. You can see the sea from on top of the mountain where the castle is and it is towards the center of Albania. It was great to go and see the castle and town. Before we headed back the Fushe-Arrez, we visited the café where President Bush stopped during his visit to Albania. It is now named the George W Bush café.

June in Fushe-Arrez


The last three weeks have been great! School finished for the summer two weeks ago at the beginning of June. At the end of that week the bashkia (town hall) held a community picnic up in the mountains. It was a two Kilometer hike up the mountain to the site. Kumar and I were having a rough time towards the top (mostly me). I kept slipping on loose gravel and I was wearing trail running shoes with good grip, while most of the Albanians were wearing flip-flops or dress shoes and having no problems climbing up. I felt like a failure. Oh well, I finally made it to the top and there was flat area with two make shift goals for soccer games and there were speakers hooked up and music was playing. I met up with a couple of my students and talked and then we started circle dancing. A while later, after many people left to go back home a soccer game started. I managed to get myself on the bashkia team (even though I don’t work there). I was the only girl playing and then about 20 minutes later they allowed an Albanian girl onto the opposing team. It was great! I was so happy to see that another girl was allowed to play in what is usually a men only game. We played two games and my team won one and lost one. The next day though was fantastic! Everyone was congratulating me on play soccer and were so happy that I played. I gained a lot of respect from the community for playing that game it was unbelievable. I found out later that I also was on the local tv channel in a clip they were doing about the community picnic. It was pretty exciting!

Since then, I have been helping out at a children’s camp. It is financed by the church and run by two of the teachers at the 9-vjecare (1st -9th grade school). It is a great camp! They meet at the school at 8 am and then go to a place by the river. All of the kids eat their breakfast and then we split up according to grade level and the kids read to each other for about 40 minutes. We then have a game time. There are some organized games and some pick-up games of volleyball or soccer. Then the kids go swimming in the river. It is really something special. I have heard of very few summer camps. So far, Kumar and I have helped teach the kids the importance of throwing their trash away in a trash can and not just on the ground. This was a big accomplishment and at least at camp they still follow our advice and throw away their trash properly. The teachers who run the camp are fantastic and could not be doing a better job. They really have a good plan and have managed to secure toys and come up with different activities for the kids to do throughout the morning. It is great!

Friday, June 18, 2010

First Week in Fushe-Arrez


My apartment in Fushe-Arrez is beautiful. It looks like one that is in the United States. It is very cold in the apartment, but that’s normal in Albania due to the fact it is built with wet cement (cement not dried in a kiln, but in the sun. It sucks out all the heat from a room). I even have a western toilet!! Which to some people might not mean a lot, but Turkish toilets are a pain and are the norm in northern Albania. I feel really lucky. I have an enclosed balcony, a living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. I do not have a washing machine, which will make washing clothes a very cold endeavor in winter.

My first week, I observed classes, which were mostly just tests because of it being the end of the year. On Tuesday of that week, I visited some volunteers in Kukes. It is a town about two hours away from FA. It is huge compared to FA and has several large super markets. It has a large outdoor market as well. It was nice to visit some Group 12 volunteers (they have been here for a year) and see what it was like after year.

It was there in Kukes, where I also picked up Abby, my new little kitten. She is adorable. She is a mostly white calico with orange and black spots. She is very cuddly and loves to play. I love having her around. It helps when some of the loneliness creeps in. She just makes me laugh and helps give me something to love.

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.