You know when you look back at your life and reflect to how different things are then how they used to be.. but you never really can pin point when things changed or how they changed.. well, this is the week that I think marks the change for me here. I guess that's the amazing thing about journaling in general, it's easier to look back and see when the difference happened, but I may or may not be on the spot but I think this is the week.We got a new mayor when we moved into site and I had met him and he knew that I was working at the Bashkia and I thought we had a good professional relationship. The head of my sector for the Peace Corps called me last week and told me that she was going to meet with him and the Vice Mayor in Tirane to discuss my work thus far and the Peace Corps in general. She came up here the next day to meet with me and told me that they knew that Garrett, Eric and I were here to work but weren't aware of our mission or that we were assigned to places in Bajram Curri. She kept saying how excited they were to work with me and that they wanted little things like English classes for the municipality and small grants. I think I have really connected with her and she feels like my Albanian mother and even calls herself that.. and I really like my nickname, "Bajram Curri Princess." Anyways, I was very excited to hear this about the mayor and v. mayor and was ready to come to work the next day to talk to them. I was invited to the 8:00am staff meeting every morning and the mayor said I should have known about it all along but he didn't know my mission. With a lot of 'shume respekt's thrown around and business cards exchanged, I sat through my first Albanian staff meeting.
I actually go to work now.. and have work. I have people asking me to help them, even though I offered to help with anything I could but wasn't taken up on it but by the people in my office. I feel like I'm actually a worker there now, like I'm accepted. I knew it was going to take a while and I was prepared for that and it's so satisfying to actually feel like I have a place there now. We're planning to have an English course for all of the Administration of the bashkia, write a small grant to help fix up the basketball courts in the center of town and have been working a lot with the Ministry of Sports and developing the new Bashkia Webpage. I'm going to training in Kukes on Thursday for training of maintenance with my counterpart and I'm so excited to actually be working and feeling like I have a place.
Anyways, avash avash, but this is a great step and I hope I'm not wrong, but I think this marks the week that changes everything for me in Albania from here on out.
