Last night in Albania..

I closed my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Albania on Tuesday, May 14th. I never would have thought that two years in a foreign country would go by so quickly. When I think about what I've accomplished during my Peace Corps service I think the biggest success is finishing. I have lived and worked in a foreign country for two years, adapted to a different culture and sometimes even successfully communicated in the local language. Today I officially completed my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Albania. I'll forever have the memories of the places I've been able to visit, the people I've met along the way and know how much this experience has shaped the rest of my life.

One of those people I met along the way had to close her Peace Corps service abruptly and early, making her leave country and not get to say goodbye to her coworkers or friends she had made in Kukes. She decided that she wanted to come back then travel with me when I closed my service. The last night that I spent in Albania was idealic. We traveled to Kukes to spend the night with another PCV and reconnect with Emily's (and my) favorite family in Kukes. We started the day off by going by the family's crepe shop and having lunch and everyone kept telling Emily how much better she looked now that she lived in America. Then we went to her old Health Center and met the new Volunteer working there and had coffee with her old coworkers. 

We went over to the family's house and at Emily's request that had prepared us a traditional meal, sarma, made only in Northern Albania which consists of meat and rice wrapped and soaked in cabbage. The family consists of 5 girls, ranging from ages of 9 to around 26. One lives in Sweden, one is studying in Tirana, one just got engaged, one is in the high school and one is in the 9-year school! While we waited for the meal to be finished I learned yet one more Albanian tradition, it's amazing that after two years thing still surprise me.

So once a daughter is presented to her future husbands family and the engagement is accepted there is a process called "paje" which essentially consists of the future bride-to-be getting rid of all her old clothes, buying new ones, and preparing for her new home and life as a homemaker. The recently engaged daughter showed us all the clothes, utensils, bags, shoes, cups, hairdryers and hand knitted items she had bought herself and received as gifts from her family and family friends. The goal is to start completely over one you get married and not have anything that you had before. It's a very traditional custom and she said the only reason they were doing is was because her fiance's family was very traditional.

After the presentation of household items and clothing we sat down for a beautiful, I mean beautiful meal. Homemade sarma, grilled peppers, greek salad and homemade bread. Obviously saying goodbye was hard but when the time came we had a fun little photoshoot.

We went back to the PCVs house who we were staying with to sit on the porch and drink homemade Albanian village wine. The power went off, which he said had been happening more frequently because of the road construction. It was just a perfect mixture of everything. A great night with an Albanian family, Emily got to reconnect with people and then the power went off and we sat in the dark and drank wine. This morning we woke up at 4:45am to catch the first ride out of town and headed to Shkoder and then crossed the border to Montenegro to begin our trip. Tomorrow we're off to Dubrovnik! Mirupafshim Nena Shqiperia!

Lake Orhid..

Fishing..

Alex & Mark live on the lake in Pogradec..

Passing time in Durres..

Oldest amphitheater in the Balkans.. 

Waiting for it to sink in..

While I'm officially out of my community, I'm still in Albania for a week. I stayed in Tirana, the capital, for two nights to hang out and meet Garrett's brother, now I'm in Durres, the second largest city in Albania. On my way from Tirana to Durres yesterday I caught a furgon and the driver turned around and said "where are you from," typical reaction for any Albanian that speaks a little English and is curious about your nationality. I told him I was from America but had been living in Bajram Curri for the past two years.. in Albanian. He gave me this look of shock and I just knew it was because I just said I had been living in the "worst place in Albania." I was pleasantly surprised when he told me that he was actually from Bajram Curri and he quickly whipped out his license to prove that he was from a small village from Tropoje.

We chatted a little about Bajram Curri and he asked me if I knew the mayor because he was from the same village that he was from and I told him of course I did! He was just so impressed that I had lived there for two years and knew the mayor. Our conversation quickly faded once the van started to fill up and I put my headphones in. I began to think about the fact that I did know the mayor of this tiny town in the middle of the mountains in Northern Albania and that no one else would from here on out in my life. Somewhere that I spent two years of my life, invested my time, energy and every aspect of my life into had been quickly left behind on Monday morning as I pulled out on a furgon for the last time.

Thinking about going back to America is so overwhelming that I do as little thinking about it as I possibly can. I was talking to an American Peace Corps staff member who had served as a PCV in Kyrgastan and he referenced a Chuck Klosterman book in saying: "It's like that entire season of Saved by the Bell where Jessie Spanno just kind of disappeared and is replaced by a hot biker chick that dates Slater. Kelly, Lisa or Zack don't question Jessie's disappearance and just went on to their day to day routines. Suddenly, the next season, Jessie pops back up and no one even asks her where she was." He said, that's what it's like going back to America. Everyone knows that you've been gone for two years and that you've been in the Peace Corps but when you return home it's like you never left. This theory has been proven when I talk to other Volunteers who are already home and peoples response to them being home is "good, let's go get dinner" and during that dinner act like you've never left.

This to me is the most intimidating thing to think about when I go home. To begin to reconnect with people and trying to readjust and for them life is pretty much the same but I'm coming off a life changing two year roller coaster. I'll now have a language in my head that no one will be able to understand, references to people that won't make any sense.. and the last thing you want to be is that "girl that was in the Peace Corps and all she ever does is talk about Albania all the time." RPCVs say that you have to be able to explain your two year experience in 2-3 sentences for people to even be slightly interested and not go dead behind the eyes.

We also had a coffee with a PCVs Albanian friends today and when I told them I had lived in Bajram Curri for two years they laughed and told me that I was unlucky to go there compared to other places in Albania. It also made me realize that I was going to have to defend my experience, whether people know about the bad reputation of the town or not; that I actually felt safer living there alone than I did in the states. I think this two week trip around the Balkans before I go home was a smart decision because it will allow me to process the fact that I probably won't go back to Bajram Curri, at least not anytime soon.

Two red heads in Tirana..

Old Communist pyramid.. used to be the burial grounds of the old dictator

Garrett & Collin at dinner..

Raki tasting..

Passing some time in Tirana..

Last night in Bajram Curri...

My last night in Bajram Curri ended like the first night in Bajram Curri began, a huge surprise. I've mentioned before, you never really know where Albania is going to take you and my last night in town completed attested to this. Garrett and I have been running around town handing out pictures, having coffees with families and coworkers to say goodbye for the entire week and honestly it's exhausting. Confession: yesterday after lunch we stayed in my house for the entire day and watched the entire season of Top Chef Canada. Not that we didn't want to see people but saying goodbye is always dramatic... on top of explaining that you may actually never return to this town, not because you don't want to but because it's so far and extremely expensive.

Anyways today we were going to have a relaxed day, handing out the rest of our photos and having dinner at the hotel. This turned into a coffee with my counterpart (which was much needed) and taking pizza home because we had to meet another family for coffee. We took the pizzas up to my house, thinking we would return to them in an hour or so. What actually happened was we walked down what we deemed as "Man Bar Road" to find my neighbor and had a few beers. I snuck off to the bathroom and paid for the beers which completely but a bump in their giddy up because it is completely out of the norm for that to happen. My neighbor then told us to get in his car, which was funny to us because we literally live 10 meters down the street. We ended up going to a village outside of town near the river and having a great meal (with our pizzas still in my house).

It was a great night under the stars eating corn bread, salad and grilled meat. We talked about times during communism, the weight difference of a cow in Albania compared to a cow in America and the difference of a villager and a city person. On the way home we actually broke down, right outside the city, but never to worry, it was under control. 

Over all it was the picture perfect last night in town.. which means nothing that we planned to happen actually happened, which pretty much sums up our time in Albania. Rruge te mbare Tropoje, hopefully we'll meet again.

Going away celebration with the Bashkia..

Last few days in Bajram Curri..

I feel like I just had my going away party for coming to the Peace Corps and now I'm going to going away parties for leaving Albania. It's so surreal that I've lived for two years in Bajram Curri. While some days were long, these past two years have flown by. I have successfully lived and worked in a foreign country, learned the local language, integrated into a community of only 3,000 people and I'm truly impressed with some of the things I've been able to accomplish. A lot of those things are relationships I've gained with Albanians and Americans a like. Without the friendships and support from my community I'm not sure I would have been able to make it. While going back to the states is borderline terrifying I think it's time. You go into something like the Peace Corps knowing that it has a timeline and your experience will only last for two years which makes it easier to prepare. I have two days left in the Bashkia and will be leaving Bajram Curri on Monday with Garrett to go down to Tirana. He leaves this week but I'll be traveling around Albania for a week before Emily gets here to go on our trip. I'm really glad I decided to do a little more exploring before going home, I think it will be a good transition time. We'll be going to 8 countries in two weeks, a whirl wind for sure, but traveling to places I've never been before is one of my favorite things to do.

Garrett's going away party from the Health Center..

Of course I get asked to dance when no one else is dancing..

The entire Health Center of Bajram Curri..

Garrett's PC counterpart..