My 4th of July came in waves and it’s the most American I’ve felt since I’ve been out of the country. Two sections: Tirane and Corey’s cookout. Along with a story of triumph from a man I met on a Furgon bus, this weekend I definitely was proud to be an American and believed I celebrated the holiday justly.
The American Embassy through a 4th of July party in the park in Tirane that I ended up scoring a ticket to last minute. I felt like I was in a dream land the moment I walked in: buffet lines of nachos, hamburgers, hotdogs, mix yourself ice cream, face painting, an open bar, everyone decked out in red, white and blue... it felt like a carnival themed dream. The American Ambassador gave a speech and we sang happy birthday to America. After that we went out in Tirane, which is always an experience because the capital is so different than everywhere else in Albania. In my town and mostly everywhere else in Albania women don’t go out after dark, men and women don’t socialize together in public unless they’re related and women definitely don’t drink in public but in Tirane everything changes. We stayed out until about 4am… well Emily and I had the best of intentions of going back to the hostel around 2am but literally were lost for 2 hours, guess we’ve gotten used to small town living. The next morning we were even asked “how did you two get back? We saw you go the wrong direction leaving the bar…” well thanks for the heads up! But we ate at the Steven’s Center the next morning, which is an American restaurant that was founded by some missionaries that has awesome food that you can get in America. We ate there Friday and I got a tuna sandwich, before we left for Corey’s we ate breakfast there and I treated myself to a mushroom and cheese omelet with home fries. America was so close in Tirane I could literally taste it.
We took a Furgon to Shokder and I met an Albanian man on the bus that had lived in America for 15 years but had been sent back this year because immigrations showed up at his door while he was taking his kids to school, arrested him and told him his papers were old and he needed to get them renewed before he came back into the country. He said it would take him 18-24 months to get the papers he needed updated and until then his wife and children who are all American citizens (so is he) are in America without him. Now the most interesting detail about this entire story is how he got to America… Still under communism in 1990 he and a few of his buddies decided they were tired of living under such political power so they left in the middle of the night and swam 7 miles to Macedonia. Swam 7 miles. One of his friends got so tired during the trip that he had to swim the last leg with him on his back. Hearing that story just made me even more aware how lucky I am to actually be an American citizen and made me even more in the spirit of the 4th after hearing such a story of struggle to flee from your home nation because of the political environment.
Once we got to Vauji-Dayes, where Corey lives, we went straight to the lake. He has met some really nice guys there and they helped him get the whole thing together. Earlier that day Corey and Tous watched the pig we roasted being slaughtered. Now these were the guys that killed the chicken with me… and they were all gun-ho about moving up to a pig, but after they watched it happen they were both singing a different tune. They explained, “Unlike those chickens, that pig knew where it was going and it knew it wasn’t coming back.” Anywho, his friends also had a boat that he so kindly took us all on rides around the lake. I swam for my first time in Albania and it was one of the more relaxing things I’ve done here. I made guacamole with avocados I had bought in Tirane and we ate them with corn chips I had also bought in Tirane. Corey and Tous made BBQ sauce that was so good I ended up with it in my eye and Corey ended up with it in his beard the next morning. We cooked until 10pm when the pig was finally roasted and it was delicious. It was such a fun night and even though it started to rain a little while after we had eaten, the local on the lake invited us in for dancing, loud music and a few beers!
Garrett and I took the ferry back and even though it was summer weather in Tirane it’s more like fall weather where I live so we sat inside most of the ride back to Fierze. Overall, I think I celebrated the 4th as much I as I could, maybe even more than I did when I was in the states because I realized how proud I am of my heritage by being out of the country.
