Beautiful places & people..

Since one of my friends left from Kukes early, there is a lack of a female chaperone for the highly active Outdoor Ambassadors group in Kukes. Since we don't have one established in Bajram Curri I always like to help out with the one in Kukes whenever I can. The governor of the Kukes Region completley funded the trip for 15 kids in the OA group, with lodging, food and transportation. He also came along with two other workers in the municipality to take pictures for tourism development. So their was proof of a female chaperone I went to Kukes the night before to pick the kids up the next day. We met with the governor that night and discussed out action plan.

We left Kukes bright and early on and traveled on the old road, through Albania, to Bajram Curri through the long widey road that the public transportation doesn't take. We checked into the hotel in Bajram Curri and headed up to Valbona. We ended up in Çerem, a small village located on the village of Montenegro and Albania. There were grazers and families literally living hours away from any other civilization. It started to pour down raining after we ate lunch around 2:00pm so we decided to head back down. I've never gotten a chance to see the river while it's raining (having a private vehicle changes everything).

The next morning we headed back up to Valbona and hung out all day, taking pictures, playing basketball and cards.. I once again earned some cred (being a woman from the men) playing basketball. It was fun to play with the governor of Kukes and some members of my Bashkia as well. I think the kids had a good time and got to see a part of their country they other wise wouldn't have. The students are in the last year of the high school or just graduated this year and are great kids. Highly motivated, speak amazing English and I think will be able to make a change in their country.