Live Theatre Blog

So, one of my sitemates, Eric, is a playwrite from California but now he teaches English at the high school here in Bajram Curri. While he's here he's writing plays each month on his experiences in Albania and they're being preformed in Los Angeles. There has already been one episode (Episode 1: YesNoVeryGood) and the next one is this Saturday and is entitled "Episode 2: Speak American."

Now I know most of you aren't in the LA area but that's the awesome thing about it, it's live streamed online so we can even watch it here (we just watch it at 7am). Click here to live stream the next episode on Saturday,  September 30th. Click here to watch the promo for this episode. It's going to be great.


This is part of fufilling Goal 3: Helping promote the understanding of other people to Americans. I think what he's doing is great and it's an awesome way to keep his play writes up while he's gone. Also, all procedes raised from the plays go directly to projects we're doing here in Bajram Curri! Which is ahhh-mazing. Anyways, check it out and if you miss it, it's archived online!

Hide & sleep elephant..

Click here to watch my stop motion video.

Response video to: Hide & go fish, by my lovely friend Alyssa.

Margaret's wedding, gone viral...

I knew when I designed these invitations, that I wouldn't be able to go. I had been planning on going to the Peace Corps and it wasn't far enough into my service to consider coming home. I knew when I made the save-the-dates I wouldn't be able to save the date with intentions of seeing one of my dearest friends on her big day. Little did I know, technology would save the day.

Coming into the Peace Corps I had no idea what to expect when it came to internet access. I'm lucky enough to have the internet in my apartment that is actually pretty reliable and fast. I was able to go to Margaret's wedding, almost 5000 miles away through the holy powers of Skype.

The ceremony was beautiful and everything Margaret deserved. I've only been to four weddings in my life (including this one): two of them have been Catholic, one Albanian and one when I was really young. The church was breath taking and all my friends looked gorgeous! I tried to clean up as much as I could after a 7 hour furgon ride back from Tirane for the weekend, but it's probably a good thing I didn't have to hug anyone because I didn't get a chance to take a shower.

I attended the reception and shared drinks with my friends and teammates, they were drinking Bud Light as I was drinking wine from Berat. If I focused in on my computer screen, it actually felt like I was at the table with them. I realize that the one thing I miss the most from America is the people. Them sitting around the table and me being passed around on the Ipad really made me realize how much I miss my friends and family from back home and love them for going out of their way and including me in Margaret's wedding.

The art of the 'Pilaf Stop'...

In Albania, most of the population (and all of the Peace Corps Volunteers) depends on public transportation. Minibuses known as 'furgons,' which is the equivalent of a church bus, come in all shapes and sizes, models, smells, with or without or air condition and are a completely different experience each time you go somewhere. Since Bajram Curri is so isolated in the north, most public transportation leaving is on a larger minibus and is air conditioned. Since Bajram Curri is so isolated the number of furgon times a day is limited to about 4 or 5 chances. One at 6am and the rest a little before or after lunch time. The travel time takes from around 4-7 hours to get to Tirane, the only destination out of Bajram Curri.

This day we had about a 20 minute coffee break.

One of the most popular Pilaf Stops,
right outside of Kukes, on the Kosovo Border.

Bathrooms at the Pilaf Stop.

Yes, I said, 4-7 hours. Why such a big time difference you ask? This is where the beautiful, sometimes obnoxious Pilaf Stop comes into play. Now pilaf means rice in Albanian but this doesn't mean you'll eat pilaf, one might get some raki, a coffee, some Oregano Lays or just get out for a stretch. Some women stay on the bus during the pilaf stop but men are typically seen drinking raki (the homemade liquor), smoking cigarettes and eating some pilaf.

Up to the driver's discretion pilaf stops can be anywhere from an hour where everyone gets out, to the driver gets to get out and no one else does, to we stop for 10 minutes for a coffee. I guess you can compare it to a pitstop at a gas station on a road trip, but the 'avash avash' mentality still is in play on getting to the final destination.

I've taken a pilaf stop 20 minutes outside of our destination before. I've been on a bus that took 3 stops and on a bus that has taken no stops, all coming to or from Tirane to Bajram Curri. Since there aren't that many buses that travel form BC I've made friends with most of the drivers and they tend to look out for me. That doesn't mean that I don't try to dehydrate myself before the ride, just incase we don't stop. Having to pee on a bus, not knowing if it will ever stop, is not the best feeling in the world.

Falja e Gjakut (Forgiveness in Blood)...

When in Tirane we went to the Kinema Millenium twice. Once on Friday night for the raging dance party and again in the morning to watch the award winning film, Falja e Gjakut or "Forgiveness in Blood." In Northern Albania, 'blood feuds' are what the region is infamous for and why for so long locals and foreigners alike thought of this area as unsafe. There are still modern day blood feuds going on but there is no danger to outsiders. The basic beliefs behind these feuds is 'an eye for an eye' and they believe in the Kanun.

In this movie a family who delivers bread travels through a backroad that used to belong to their family but no longer does. The father of the family and his brother end up killing the owner of the road after a dispute about them not traveling on the road while delivering bread. After his death, their family is open for the taking of blood from the property owners family. The uncle is arrested and the father flees but cannot find safety and has to return back to the home at night. The family has to stay indoors because since the father cannot be found, the oldest son is in danger. The oldest daughter must quit school and continue the bread business. A 'besa' or 'blood money' was determined instead of the death of the father. The besa was excepted but only for the father which leaves the son still in danger. The son is then forced to abandon his family and flee to the countryside.

Stories like this are more common than many people realize in modern day Albania.  Sometimes when the oldest male (father or son) are killed in the bloodfueds the oldest daughter must take an oath of allegiance to their family and become 'sworn virgins.' Sworn virgins take the role of the men, live and dress like men and do the work of men.

There are still modern 'negotiators' that relay information from family to family about accepting besa's or ending the feuds all together. I would recommend this movie, if you could find it online and deal with not having subtitles because it accurately depicts what modern day Albania looks like and what the environment I live in is like. Here is the Facebook page with clips of the film.

Girls night out in Tirane..

"Happy Times" where we ate dinner. Popular items: Chicken Caesar Salad, Lemon & Chicken soup,  Baked Spinach and Cheese and free quesadillas.

The Emilys and I in Tirane..

Taking a Jager shot (300L) in celebration of new offices..

Too typical.

The table next to us didn't finish their birthday icecream cake, so we finished it for them.

We followed the music and ended up here.

Graffiti in Tirane...

Ju befte mire!...

Click here for the reciepe.
All things can be found in Albania if you search hard enough but the tuna & curry was from Amerik.

Ardhur bubullima dhe shi...

A normal everyday view from my bedroom window..

Here comes the first rain storm of the year, over the mountains from Kosovo...

Slowly the mountains are hidden by the clouds..

Hajde shi. Hajde.

Christmas in September...

Packages from Ashley & Mom!

Highlights: Tie-dye duct tape, tuna, baked beans, crystal light & dark chocolate.

Life on a water schedule..

The water depot in my bathroom.

Sunday, I wake up and am ready to make something for brunch. I realize my water depot (this big silver tank, connected to the ceiling of my bathroom) is empty from the weekend. Guess I'll go get some pilaf from Grandma's since I don't have any water to cook with expect the bottles I have in the bathroom to flush my non-flushing toilet. We're supposed to get water around lunch time, so as long as I'm back by 12:00, I should be fine. 3:00pm rolls around, still no water. I can't mop, I can't cook, I can't even wash my face. The next time we're supposed to have water is around 8:00-9:00pm. I break the monotony and go play basketball and walk around town for a bit, oh, and grab a pizza since I can't cook.  I return home a little before dark and wait, bathroom spigot open just praying for the sound of water pushing air through the pipes to begin a full stream of water. 11:00pm comes around and still nothing. Looks like no shower tonight.

Maybe tomorrow, we're supposed to get water at 5:30-6:00am, I'll just wake up early for work and wait for it. Monday morning comes around, I reluctantly wake up but know I won't be able to do anything unless I get water and I'm running day 4 with no shower. I patiently wait.. and wait.. and wait.. and then I finish the rest of my book and then have to go on to work around 9:00am, still with no water, still with no shower. Now, I have heard from locals, the reason that there is not as much water is because it's summer.. I know this makes no since what so ever, but it's Albania and sometimes things aren't meant to make since to me.

My toilet flushing bottles.

I can't sit at work because I can't quit thinking about how I might be missing the water, but I know I'm not because you can always tell when the water comes if you're not at home if it's during the day; everyone starts to water the streets. Yep, they're watering the streets and I'm hankering for a shower on my 5th day ska dush. I deceide, since the normal 3 times a day water schedule isn't in place right now that I'm just going to stake it out and wait all day for it to come. I turn my faucet on, and wait, trying to pass the time by getting some work done.

Finally, around 4:30 I hear the spatter of air and water from my bathroom. Oh Zot i madhe! I quickly turn on my depot so it can begin filling with fresh, cold mountain water. Things on my to-do list start piling up. I should take a shower last, even though I need it the worst, just because I'm going to be mopping and cleaning. I'm filling up all my empty flushing bottles, mop buckets and drinking bottles. I start mopping the floor, running the washing machine! Things are looking up!

Suddenly I hear what sounds like a waterfall. O Zot i madh. The water tank is overflowing! I have to jump through the stream line waterfall coming down in front of the door of my bathroom to turn off the water. I finally get water and now it's everywhere! That tank filled up faster than I expected. Well, looks like I'll mop, flush the toliet and take a shower at the same time.

Life on a water schedule.

Gezuar per 6 muaj!

Click here to watch my first 6 months in 90 seconds.

Albania in the news..

Council of Eur: draft to stop parents knowing sex of unborn baby. This is intended to prevent the practice of selective abortions, more commonly associated with cultures that prize male offspring most.

Albanian judge dies in Vlora. A remote-controlled explosion took the life of the 33-year-old judge, Skerdilajd Konomi, who was a judge in the Court of Vlora. The explosive was activated near 09:30 in the morning, while Konomi was traveling in his car in the main road of the city of Vlora.

U.S. Mountain running team heads to Albania. The U.S. will be one of 33 nations represented in the competition which includes both senior and junior divisions (juniors must be at least 16 in the year of competition and not yet 20). The U.S. Mountain Running Team will travel to Tirana, Albania, to participate in the 27th World Mountain Running Championships this Sunday.


Albanian children 'more likely to read' compared to entire UK.  Children in the UK are significantly less likely to read for pleasure than in nations such as Kazakhstan, Albania, Indonesia and Peru according to international research.

10th anniversary of 9/11..

Stamp passing through Kosovo today, going back to Bajram Curri..

From circle dancing to business meetings..

We have been told time and time again that Albania is a 'coffee culture' and that business meetings usually happen over cups of coffee instead of in the office and you must become friends before people will even trust you to work with. This came to light to me, very brightly, this past week. After attending the celebration for the warrior, where over half of the town was at one time and where I was circle dancing, all at once, with the mayor, my counterpart, my land lady, my office mates and my neighbors, I woke up the next day and it was like a switch flipped. People that I had been casually talking to since I arrived in Bajram Curri, all of the sudden had a different spark in their eye when I talked to them. I finally got that meeting I had been waiting almost 3 weeks for with the mayor to discuss progression of the logo designs.. It was really like a different Bajram Curri... same friendly people, but I felt like more of a part of them than ever before. Next week will be my 6 month anniversary from being in Albania. Sometimes it seems like way longer than that and sometimes I feel like I got here yesterday. When I think about how much I've learned, experienced and seen since I've been here my head starts to spin. This is truly a once in a lifetime experience. To be thrown into a culture and it's either your sink or swim. So far, I think I'm treading quite nicely in the deep end of the pool.

The things you own end up owning you..

"The things you own end up owning you. 
It's only after you lose everything that
you're free to do anything." -Fight Club

How I spent my Wednesday evening.. Lotus flowers. I'm hoping to go across the entire border..

VisitKukesRegion.org progression...

The homepage of VisitKukesRegion.org explains the logo, history and who the website represents. Most information was found on a 4 year field study done by UNDP-Albania, that after a few meetings I got permission to use for the website. Having a regional website was one of the initiatives that UNDP-Albania believed that the Kukes Region should have for travelers abroad to gather information before they traveled.

Each town out of the 5: Bajram Curri, Lake Koman, Kukes, Shistavec, Valbona Valley, all have their own color represented in the logo that was designed from a pattern found on a traditional Northern Albanian quilt. The color is pulled through the webpage and subpages of the town. The logo in the background of the page is also modeled off of a quilt.

Each town has subpages of: History, local attractions, local events, nearby destinations and travel tools. All are helpful tools for travelers domestic and foreign on how to navigate the recently accessible Kukes Region.

Video from the feste..

Click here to see traditional Albanian dance from the feste..

Ftese per Islam Bali Nokshiqi ne turizem..

The Tourizm where the party was held..

My neighbor in the red and her sister visiting from Tirane..

Rastin, my neighbor who invited me to the feste, married to the woman in the red dress..

Gerti thinks he's a malsor.

First time I have seen this much USD in almost 6 months..

Circle dancing at the feste...