Tomorrow I have my language assessment, which is basically like an interview all in Shqip to check what we’ve learned, if we can conjugate verbs correctly and all the fun stuff I don’t miss from Spanish class in college. Unlike Spanish class in college this is actually applicable to our day-to-day lives here and without a basic knowledge of the language we would be lost and incapable to be able to communicate with anyone who didn’t speak English, which is not why we’re here.
Tomorrow marks the one-week count down for when I leave my host families home. There’s a since of security that I’ve gotten in my home here in Bishqem and I think it will be hard at first to live on my own in BC without the family atmosphere since I’ve been here in Albania. It’s amazing to think that exactly 9 weeks ago we were dropped off from America without any knowledge of Albania except what you can find on the internet (which isn’t that much) and now we have enough Shqip to get by in daily life and have enough knowledge of the culture to understand things like the head-bob (which I’m beginning to master), what to say and not say on a furgon and when to expect everyone to stare at you because they’ve only seen Americans on the tv (most of the time).
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| He cooked fusole just for us! |
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| Group picture with our favorite Italian in Pajove |
I’ve also built somewhat of a family with my PST group of 8 trainees in Bishqem and Pajove, which is going to be hard to not have everyday. Even though we drive each other nuts most of the time it’s almost like they’ve become my own little dysfunctional family in Pajove. Boston, Arizona, somewhere in Maine, Washington DC, College Station Texas and little Ol’ North Carolina have been learning just as much about Albanian culture as we have American culture and how it varies throughout the country; and in less than a week, the little clump of American’s that have been my only insight into normalcy before Albania will be spread through out the entire country of Albania. I’m obviously going the furthest north (there isn’t anywhere more north) and will be the furthest away from any other PCV’s besides my two site mates.
