Zbavtemi se Bashku

Overall, I think our community event was a success! We had over 100 kids show up and were only expected around 50! Although it was overwhelming at some parts of the day I think the events went smoothly. We successfully taught about 100 Albanian children some traditional American games (tug of war, duck duck goose, frisbee, three legged race, sack race, etc.). I think every kid that participated had a good time and we didn't have any injuries (which is always a sucess).

Kids with participation certificates

Success!

Flyers and posters

I designed some flyers for "Zbavitemi se Bashku" or 'Playing together' for the communities of Bishqem and Pajove. Our goals are gender intergration, promotion of healthy eating habits and sustainability.

Easter in Elbasan

Yesterday a group of us got together and went to the Orthodox Church in the castle in Elbasan for Easter. Although there was no service (it was at midnight the night before) we held our own service, led by Lenae and got to talk to the Preist. He gave us died eggs and taught us the tradition of cracking them in a circle. We ate a nice lunch together at Meg & John's (which is so funny because we have a married couple in our group named Meg and John) and then hung out and went to the Gabby (or the thrift market) that is run by the Roma community in Elbasan. Apparently current volunteers find really cool stuff (clothes, house items) for really cheap. I got a plaid shirt in honor of my placement in Bajram Curri for the next two years. It was a good Easter but it was definatley hard to be away from my family. I got to talk to my family on the phone after dinner (10pm) which was a very nice end to my Easter celebration.

Just a hub day in Elbs..

 

One of our many hub days in Elbasan.

Super market trip in Elbasan..

Site placements

Celebrating at Gramelies in Elbasan after we learned where we're going to be assigned in Albania for two years.

Preparing chicken for dinner

About to pass out..

I'm definitely not a natural born killer.

Gezuar Ditelindje te Corey!

"Running around like a chicken with their head cut off"

This phrase has really been brought to a different level for me after today. Coach  Johnson would always say this phrase when we were getting our butt kicked in a game or a random day in practice when someone wasn’t paying that close of attention… But today… I witnessed a chicken running around with their head cut off.. the head that I cut off. I actually  cut off the head of a chicken, watched someone gut it (I couldn’t bring myself to doing that) and then prepared it and ate it for dinner. I have found a new meaning to a lot of phrases that people in the states just throw around, but today it was “running around like a chicken with your head cut off.”

It was my site mates 23^rd birthday and he requested to kill a chicken and prepare it for his birthday. Little did we know (that Albanian hospitality) that his host family was going to get 5 chickens. He killed two of them, I killed one and Alex T. killed another. As you can see, it didn’t go as smoothly as planned.

Bumper cars in Elbasan

When you think of the Peace Corps did you ever think of bumper cars? Me either. But apparently this is a common activity when PCV's get together in Elbasan and I don't hate it. Best 50 Leke I've spent since I've been here.

Une nuk studiova sespa vellia im.

The Wednesday Bazaar in Pajove..

My sitemates in Bishqem

At the Autogrill where we eat lunch everyday we're in Bishqem and at the Market that happens every Wednesday.

Alex, Ian, Brenna, Melia

The Mystery Burger

So, Albania doesn’t have any sort of copyright law. This means there are “Raybans” and “Nike shoes” everywhere for some how really cheap. McDonalds has not made its way to Albania yet, partially because of the copyright issue. So we get this, “Mystery Burger.” Hopefully it’s something that got lost in translation. And no, I have not eaten there… but I will… at least once.

Side note: My site-mate Corey is getting 5 chickens for his birthday and his host family is having us over for dinner. Live chickens. He is going to prepare them for dinner. I have had still some sort of an ignorant bliss about not witnessing the preparation of the meat (my family are vegetable farmers and we get the raw meat delivered to our house from a neighbor) in Albania, even though I’ve known enough not to name my neighbors chickens or get too attached to the lambs… but this is definitely going to be an experience.

Dancing with my host brother

Dancing is so much more fun than studying.

Something like this usually happens when I try to study in the house.

"What is your name..."

 

He helps me with my Shqip and I teach him some English.

Pretty far trade if you ask me...

Sunrise in Bishqem

Scattered through out Albania

Bajram Curri

We got out site placements today and as I expected I’m going to Bajram Curri. I’m going to have two male site mates, Garrett and Eric, both seem like they’ll be a blast to work/live near. Bajram Curri is the northern most tip of Albania and is known for its snow, Albanian Alps and bloodfueds (and the movie Taken). Thank goodness the blood feuds have been taken care of but the weather is another issue. I’ve never lived anywhere where I have to deal with more than 2-3 inches of snow at a time. It is actually snowing in B.Curri now.. That’s right, in April.

Anyways, I’m really excited about. It’s going to be especially challenging because there is a thick Northern dialect and we’ve basically been told it will take some time to get used to the differences in the language. Emily, one of my closest friends here (the red head) has been placed in Kukes which I’m really excited about.

Things to look forward to in B.Curri:

-          Deep fryer left by the previous volunteer

-          Tourism development galore

-          Basketball court in the middle of the town

-          Borders Kosovo and Valbona Valley
-          We're opening up a new site that has been previously off limits to volunteers

Although you’ve seen pictures with me and the current mayor of B.Curri he was not nominated to run for re-election, therefore, even though he has been named as my counterpart, this will definitely change before I get there because he will no longer be in office as the mayor.

I’m really excited to see what the future brings with my placement. We got bottles of wine with the current volunteers and hung out in the park in Elbasan today and rode bumper cars and got to ask questions...

Put into perspective...

Drawing with my brother and cousin.

He hung the pictures in the house right when they were done! 

Shtepia eshte bukur - the home is beautiful.

Happy Birthday Papaw!

My life is a cartoon..

At least that’s what I’ve been told. Unless it’s normal for these things to happen: the family cat breaking into my window every other night by body slamming itself until it busts open (I really hate this cat), me coming home to my brother doing number two outside while telling me not to tell anyone, milking a cow and holding a baby chicken at the same time, being chased home by sheep, being woken up by roosters and/or dogs at any given hour, finally seeing an English movie on TV and the f-bomb is being dropped every other word but no one finds it awkward but me because they conveniently don’t put it in the subtitles… I could go on but I think that’s enough to draw a picture (ha, get it). Something’s that happen here are so abnormal that it takes a few hours or even days to sink it that it actually happened.

Today was my first day in a long time when I stayed home for the entire day and it was probably one of the most tiresome days I’ve had yet. I painted my finger nails with my sister, helped out a little in the farm, entertained 4 six year olds for a few hours; notice studying isn’t in this list which is strange because that’s the only thing I had planned for today but somehow kept being sidetracked. Being sidetracked is easy when you have kids wanting you to do everything with them. It was a good day though; my brother said my name for the first time today. That’s right, 3 weeks later and he’s finally not whispering to his other family members about me but actually talks to me. Such a break through.

Bahhhhhhh.

So everyday I walk home from Bishqem I take a short cut trail up a hill that goes over the railroad tracks. Just like any other day I was taking this short cut… what I didn’t realize was this was not just another day. I walked up to a heard of sheep, about 6-7 babies and a mom and dad. I didn’t see the shepard in sight but didn’t think anything about it. In a split second the sheep start running full speed towards me. I didn’t run away because I’ve always been told not to run away from dogs because they’ll run faster and catch you. Apparently there are different rules with sheep. The entire heard got about 10 feet from me and I started running. Full sprint. Their rope eventually caught them but the damage was already done. I probably ran from them for 10 seconds but it felt like a year. So Lanner, that is why I was out of breath on the phone.

Vellai im dhe motras ime