Driving

For those of you that have forgotten my last blog...it was "albanianwindow.blogspot.com". This one is "newalbanianwindow.blogspot.com".

My next blogging session will have my mailing address for anyone that wants to spend $50.oo to send $5 worth of Cookies, or a letter...much cheaper.

Last time I left you with blood on my leg and pants. Today I start with, the blood got on my sheets too. Somedays this place drives me crazy, the driving here while I don't want to say is bad, because I could not drive here, it is lawless, crazy and filled with a bunch of A Holes. I see several bicycle tourists and they, like me on my trip, are blessed with naivety. If they knew how their close calls are intentional and that if something happened, few would help, then I am sure most would not come...well maybe..I would have still made the trip. The only law the seems to make sense is "I am more important than you, so I will go faster and be first" Arggg!!!
Last weekend was filled with localized adventure. In a town only 1 hour away is a resort called Nor Park......It had a great restaurant and swimming pool. A great alternative to the beach. The place was clean, pool and deck were large and more importantly very very clean. Only problem. No rules. There was lots of running pushing, yelling....... all part of being Albanian.
Another adventure was that I found a clean gym. It just opened up a few weeks ago and hopefully they will run it differently than the other gym in town. The owner is a karate instructor and his brother and dad work there too. The owner speaks English, so we had a good talk about gyms. When I went there in the morning 6:00 am, the only other people there were two Americans who have been in Albania for 15 years on a religious mission. They work with the Bee Farmers, so I had met him before. Yes as in Bee (honey). They are an older couple who keep to themselves mostly, but have made themselves available to PC volunteers if needed..
Spare time summary: Between Ping-Pong, the full serious of the "Godfather" on DVD, a good gym and lots of cafes to study shqip and read, I pretty much have enough to keep me busy during the winter months.
Next months also starts my teaching/playing games in English at a school 3 hours a week along with my teaching English here at work 2 hours week. Including the teaching I am doing now, it looks like 10hours a week teaching.
As for my projects, Kozeta my counter part came back from holiday. We discussed some projects and hopefully next week when the director gets back from vacation, we will get rolling on a few things. Since Kozeta has been on vacation and is the only one that speaks English, and since many of the other department heads have also been on vacation, and since the lights go out for hours at a time, the last month has been filled with me wandering from office to office talking Shqip. These people are so great, allowing my to butcher their language and use only the simplest of words. Some of the conversations lasted almost 1/2 hour and I had fun...I hope they did. Some topics were interesting, some not. As for how good my Shqip is...I had a problem at the bank with my account, they spoke no English...I got it fixed in only a few minutes...was not pretty, but they never got mad nor reached over the counter to slug me. All for now, off to English class. I am sure you are thinking...we cannot even understand Peter, and now a whole country is going to talk like him........get over it.

Korce Trip

Hello folks, now you have experienced our first problem with trust. I am sorry we have had to change but I cannot write whatever is on my mind when others are involved. Detail in last Email.
Last weekend was a Beer Festival in one of the cities across the country. While it was only 300 kilometers away it took me 8 hours to get there and 6 hours to get back. I was in the city of Korce. The drinking was not the fun part but the next day was when we wandered to a nearby village. Myself 2 Peace Corps Volunteers, hooked up with an Austrailian and went on a self walking tour. Richard the Australian was what they call "Couch Surfer" He travels around the country sleeping on peoples couch. There is a website I believe couchsurfer.com where people around the country with couches to spare in their homes, allow travelers to sleep there He was a 20 year old kid, out on the road for 18 months traveling the world. Not a bad education. What Richard did is look up someone in Albania who had a couch and after visiting Greece came to visit our Peace Corps friends in Korce Albania.
Back to story....After 5 months of seeing sheep in the middle of the road, Donkeys carrying large amounts of produce and pigs in my yard I now take things for granted. Richard had his eyes wide open and took pictures right and left. It was a great way to again appriciate what and where I am. I had the most fun, when a local, saw us wandering in his village and insisted on taking us to a church he was building himself. The other two Peace Corps members speak Shqip very well but he still insisted on talking to me. Anyway, we were with him for almost and hour and I pretty much understood all he was trying to say and he understood me. I will not say it was a pretty conversation...he used easy words and I used easier words, with gestures and sound affects but non-the-less we talked for an hour.
Chuch history:
200 years old
Destroyed by explosion killing his grandparents who were burried nearby;
Pictures of Christ on the wall represented his grandparents and parents
He works most of the year in Greece
Works on building the church only 2-3 months a year
I only wish I had been able to speak more Shqip. He had a vast wealth of history in his heart and would have loved to been able to talk in detail about it.

Things I get mad at...Last night in the dark, I moved out of the way of someone walking...fine..they moved also....I smacked my leg on this steel rod sticking out of the sidewalk about a foot. WHY it was there WHO knows...WHO...Cares nobody...WHO I want to SMACK...the workers that left it there many years ago, and the government for letting such hazards stay there...Who to blame..me...I knew it was there. I have walked by them many times...just forgot while I was being nice...A bloody leg with blood on my pants for being polite
All for now.