Erseka

So I arrived in Erseka (my students' pointed out that I have been spelling it wrong in class this morning so no more Ersake)  on Thursday afternoon around 5pm after driving down from Elbasan once my Swearing-In ceremony was finished. The ride itself wasn't horribly long (only one pilaf stop) but it was still a good 4 hours.
When we were changing furgons in Korce, Jason and I ran into my landlord so we rode with him to Erseka. It started raining on that leg of the trip and the driver was nice enough to drop us all off at my door.

My landlord showed me around the place and I started arranging stuff and asking him questions while Jason waited around for his counterpart to come and give him the key to his apartment. Unfortunately for Jason that didn't end up happening until around 9pm. We had decided to go grab a pizza for dinner around 8 and his counterpart snagged us right as we ordered so we waited til after dinner to go check the place out.

Compared to most cities, Erseka is very small and seems to get smaller every year. This is due to the fact that there's very little work here. From what I gather there used to be many more jobs here and since they have gone missing many people have gone in search for them in other places. I know there's a fairly decent amount of logging that goes on around here along with some farming and other smaller industries, but I get the feeling that if people find a opportunity to leave Erseka they jump on it.

Start slightly random almost stream of conscious stuff here:

So far things have been pretty relaxing here. My temporary apartment is pretty nice, and my landlord is pretty easy going. I've managed to cook a few meals without burning down the place. Fought off two scorpions Friday and Saturday. Taught a few classes today. Went with Jason for a long walk along the outskirts off the city. I accidently left my wallet at a supermarket today only to have it returned a few hours later by the store owner's son. I inherited a small library from Marie and chewed through Ender's Game over the weekend and am about half way through another book right now. Jason and I ran into the local missionaries on Saturday and discovered that they will be hosting a camp for blind students over the summer sometime. I created another facebook page and gmail account specifically for my students and friends here. Going to visit Leskovik and maybe help Jason and his counterpart with an anti-smoking lesson. Got invited to go on a field trip with the 11th grade students to Sarande over the weekend. Probably won't go but it was really nice to get the invitation.

I can tell I'm gonna have a lot of good times here.

An end of sorts

This week marks the last week of training. Our languages classes are over, we had our final tests last week, and we have our final assessment interviews with our program managers over the next few days. Thursday we will all be sworn in as official volunteers by the Ambassador and then head off to our sites. It's a pretty exciting time but it's also bittersweet for those of us who have become very close with our host families.

Over the last ten weeks my host family has done so much more for me than I imagined they would when I arrived on their door step. Not that I had low expectations, but I really had no idea what to expect. I had no idea that they would come to mean so much to me.

They helped me with the language so much that I give them almost as much credit as I do my teachers for my level of Shqip. They've helped me integrate by bringing me to parties and family gatherings. They've taught me how to cook some new foods and play some new games. I've translated American movies subtitled in Greek into Shqip for them and they've broken down what was going on in Shqiptar films and television so that I could understand them better. They are always asking about what my life was like before I came here and what America is like. Whenever I tell them I've talked with my family and friends back home they ask how they are doing and want to learn more about them. We've talked a lot about the differences between politics here and in America. We've went on long hikes in the hills and bunkers in the surrounding area and played many games of futboll. They've helped my training group with projects and let us pester them with new phrases and questions when we learned them in class.  They helped us deal with the very few problems we had in the village as well. We've shared tons of laughs and even a few scary times ( like when Ben broke his leg and when we thought Vasil had broken his arm).  

Honestly when I read back over this list it all seems so small. I know they've done a million and one things to help me in the short time that I've been here. No list could ever encompass what they've done for me. I'm just glad I'll have the next two years to say thank you.

Pastaj

So what to say about Durres? The hotel was pretty nice. I managed to squeeze in a short walk on the beach before things got started in the conference rooms. I met Ardi, one of my future counterparts, briefly before we headed off to dinner with everyone else. Our meeting was a little awkward because he didn't want to come across as stepping on the toes of my primary counterpart, Niko, who was unable to make it to the conference. We did manage to talk a fair amount over dinner, although I was trying to get over a cold at that time so I kept coughing and being slightly disgusting which didn't help the flow of conversation. Ardi and I went our separate ways after dinner and, after a short xhiro around the hotel grounds, I found my way into a card game.

The next morning brought promises of warm breakfast and I'll I can say is that the staff at the hotel did not disappoint me at all (I did hear that the milk for cereal was pretty awful but I've yet to find any milk that I've enjoyed here and being that I'm not a huge fan of cereal it wasn't any hair off my back). After breakfast, we split into our sectors and went through a few sessions with our counterparts about working together.

Because our trip south was going to be a long one, Ardi talked with the rest of the counterparts heading close to our region and decided that the best course of action was to head out before the closing speech. Jason ( the HE volunteer who's going to Ersake with me), Laurie (a COD going to Korce), and I thought that this was a pretty good idea. Our counterparts had even been talking to a furgon driver who said he would pick us up pretty quick. So we dragged all our bags to a nearby cafe and waited for the furgon to arrive. Being that time is a more fluid concept here, our ride showed up about an hour later. Before we left we even got chat with some the people who had attended the closing speech, apparently we didn't miss much.

The ride to Ersake was a long one and required us to switch furgons two times. We switched from our original van in Elbasan and after Laurie and her counterparts got off in Korce, the group of us heading to Ersake managed to grab the final furgon of the night that was heading to Ersake. The trip was like visiting a museum dedicated to the different landscapes, living areas, and road conditions in Albania. The trip took us through lush hills and flat plains, through one horse towns and modern cities where every cafe had a plasma tv. We traveled on both some of the best kept and worst kept road. While most of the roads were fairly straight cut, however once we got past Korce, most of the last leg of the journey was switchbacks leading us up to snow capped mountains.

Right before we got to Ersake, Ardi had the furgon stop on the edge of town near his house. We said short goodbyes and departed with Jason's counterpart, Mondi, leading the way. The next stop was my future apartment, which was where the TEFL I am replacing was currently living. Marie, Katie (the COD who still has a year left in her tour) and Meredith (the TELF in Humarra who had come to work on a project with Marie)  helped us take our stuff upstairs and into the apartment.

After Mondi left, the four of us grabbed some drinks and talked while Katie got to preparing dinner. The rest of the night was basically a continuous conversation ranging from stuff about Ersake to the differences between the volunteers in groups 12 (Marie's) ,13 (Katie's) , and 14 (Jason and I's) and just just about everything in between. We all got along really well which is hopefully a sign of things to come.

The next few days are kind of a blur. The next day I went to a few classes with Ardi and then joined Jason and Mondi for a tour of the city. We met with the mayor, the director of the local hospital, the directors of both schools, and the minister of education. After awhile Mondi had to go back to work and Jason and I went back to Marie's place and chilled with Meredith while waiting for Marie to get back. After she returned we went to an awesome pizza joint where we met Katie for lunch. Afterward, Jason and I did some more tooling around Ersake while the girls got some work done. We eventually met back up with them at a really swanky cafe that looked like something you'd find back in the states.

That night Katie again lived up to her rep as one of the best cooks in PC Albania by making a herb crusted chicken dish.

The next day I went back to school with Marie and sat in on some more of Ardi's classes. I also finally meet Niko and participated in two of his classes. After class, the five of us muched on leftovers before Meredith caught the bus back. After that we took a walk to a neighboring village and narrowly missed getting rained on. Later than night, Jason and I headed off to grab a coffee with Mondi. We walked around the same  few blocks for almost an hour and just as we decided to head back we finally saw him walk into a store with a friend of his. We followed him in and the group of us headed out to the swanky cafe again. Of course when we got there it was closed for a private party being held for an Albanian popstar who was from the region. So Mondi invited us to have a coffee at his house instead. We talked with his family and drank some raki and tea for about an hour. They are pretty nice people and it was fun talking with them. I imagine it might happen fairly often.  After all that was over we headed back to Marie's place and had a Mexican themed dinner with her and Katie.

I think I'll save the next bit for tomorrow. I'm not a fan of writing such long posts when I'm sick and my allergies kicked in hard today.

Events that have kept me off the computer lately

I spent two weeks teaching classes at the local high school and middle school in Kuqan as part of my practicum as a TELF volunteer. It was quite eye opening and fairly enjoyable. I had some success using group work in a few classes and watched as those same ideas melted faster than butter on a hot plate. I didn't have too many discipline problems although I did have to tell one kid to slow his roll when he was becoming a bit more of a distraction than I wanted him to be.

Most of the kids seemed to have fun, but it was interesting to see how many students were in the upper classes that knew no English. This problem stems from quite a few things: the use of the Russian style of teaching in which the teachers teach to the top ten percent or so and let the other kind of fend for themselves, the set up of the Albanian school system which makes it nearly impossible for a student to fail a class, often a lack of interest in the student. It can even stem from an undiagnosed learning disability. Whatever the cause there are always two or three students in every class that have no clue what is going on and most teachers don't have the time to help these students catch up.

My sitemates and I each had to teach eight classes and observe seven while still attending language classes and coming up with ideas for our community project. All I can say is that when practicum was over on Friday we really had something to celebrate. So we bought a few bottles of wine and played a few games of scrabble to relax once it was all over.  

The following Sunday I caught a ride to the town of Belsh, or what I like to call the land o' lakes. There's something like 84 lakes in that area but I only saw one of them. I went to Belsh because another group of trainees was holding their community project and seeing as how the group had invited anyone who wanted to join them and I hadn't yet gone to that area I figured I'd pop in. The group in Belsh is split between community development (COD) and health (HE) volunteers, and they had decided to host a walk/ run around the largest lake near the city and follow it up with a field day in front of the local high school. While no adults got involved by the end of it about 50 kids joined in which was pretty awesome. We were all really happy because we thought the crappy weather would drive people off but the weather was ok for the most part aside from a few minutes where the sky spit rain.

The next day I caught an early bus to Elbasan and met with all the other trainees and head off to the capital city of Albania, Tirana, and the seaside city of Durres. After making a perilous journey through fog covered mountain switchbacks in a touring van, we made it to Tirana and disembarked to get a small group tours of the Peace Corps office and important sites around the city. The tours were led by current volunteers so they talked to us about their experiences in Tirana and in Albania in general while we walked. Almost as soon my group left the office we ran into trouble. One of the other trainees snapped a picture of the US embassy as we were walking by it and the security officers were more than happy to discuss with us at length the follies of taking pictures of secure facilities. All I'm gonna say is that perhaps they could put up a sign that says don't take any photographs. The rest of the tour was fairly uneventful aside from a car rolling over my toe as I was walking across the street. Good thing I was wearing my boots that day. When the tour was over, we returned to the bus and headed off to Durres.

After having to turn the bus around three times a busy road and almost parking in the lobby of a pharmacy, we arrived at the Tropical Resort. It's situated right on the Adriatic and has a semi private beach behind it. We were there to attend the Counterpart Conference and spend some time getting to know the people we will be working with for the next two years.

Well I'm really tired so I'll end it here and pick it up where I left off next time. 

Random Facets

Sorry It's been so long between posts, I've been pretty busy the last few weeks.

People send a lot more time outdoors here than people do in America.

When playing chess, pieces do not take each other; the eat each other.

If you don't ask for a glass you'll probably end up getting a brightly colored bendy straw with your coke.

In some areas of the country more people speak Greek than Shqip. Most places where this occurs are in the border areas, but it does occur in a few towns that are very far from the border too.

August in Albania is wedding season because that is when many Albanians return from Italy to spend time with their families. From what I've heard just about all businesses in Italy give their employees a month off at this time. I'm not really sure about that, but I've yet to met an Italian and ask them about it.

Albanians love American pop music but because most of them don't have time or tools to access any other forms of American music they tend find other American music kind of strange if it's stuff that is very far from pop music.

The range of American movies shown on TV channels here is quite strange. The movies range from Alvin and the Chipmuks to The Shadow to The Blindside to Tropic Thunder. Mixed in with these are a ton of crime and action films. They also get movies coming over from Greece, Italy and other European countries but they don't seem to be as popular...at least not in my house.

That being said there seems to be a great appreciation for films about Albania. Just about every night there are films telling the stories of Albanian partisans who fought the Nazis or dramas set during the communist era. I haven't seen any Albanian films about the post communist era though, and I would really like to find some.

The status of schools and schooling ranges drastically across the country. Some schools barely function and have major infrastructure problems whereas others are very modern.

While the country in general needs major improvements when it comes to waste disposal, there are more than a handful of areas where modern systems have been set up. Citizens of places like Korce and Ersake love to boast about how clean their cities are.

Using double negatives is grammatically correct in Shqip, which throws a lot of English speakers for the loop when learning the language and also causes much grief for those Albanians who are learning English.

While I haven't done an extensive search for them no one I've ever talked to has seen a red potato here.

Local elections were held this past Sunday and got me thinking about why we always have elections during the week. Does anyone really know why? It hasn't ever made much sense to me.

While I don't think they occur that frequently in big cities, it seems like short rolling black outs are fairly common in villages and small towns. The power went out 3-4 times yesterday for a total of about 3 hours or so. Today it went out for maybe twenty minutes. It's not an everyday or even weekly thing but it seems to happen at least a few times a month.