Biker Guests

In my attempt to type yesterday, I forgot to mention some guests I had. They were two Bikers, a couple, traveling through much of Eastern Europe on their bikes. I ran into them in a city just North of Lezhe while I was visiting a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer. They were talking to a few other people when I heard English being spoken. Not wasting an opportunity to talk English, I talked to them and invited them to visit as they passed Lezhe, only a days ride away. The next day as I was walking home from and English lesson about 7:00 at night I ran into them. I felt so bad since they had been all over town looking for because the number I gave them was a digit short...Anyway, I found them only about 100 meters from my place. Phillip and Elisabeth were great company and it was fun hearing some of their stories of the trip. Lezhe that night was not at its best since it was raining and while we went to one of my favorite pizza places (during the summer) it lacked the charm inside while it is raining outside. They got and earful of stories about life in Albania and crashed that night on my couch. I went to work the next morning and they were off to another city, visiting another castle and later who knows....

Soooo Cool

Looking back after over a week away from the computer and internet I saw that my cat story has to be finished...sadly, it is...I never saw the kitten again. As for my computer and the office computers...still not working. I am now in the Internet cafe of our Computer guy hoping he will drop by......
Now New Stuff. Last week, my director tells me we are going to Puke for an exhibition and presentation. He said wear warm clothing and that the presentation will be much like the one we organized 2 months earlier in our region....
After we get there..we are standing around in the middle of the street and this young lady with a headset is walking around looking kinda stressed....After a few minutes of watching her walk with her head cut off... the doors to the municipality open, and a bunch of BIG guys in nice suits walk out.....Followed by....... President Topi (the George Bush of Albania)...The band of Big guys make their way in our direction, parting the masses of people, and Topi is stopping to shake hands with all those in his path...(one was me)...sooo cool
Following the handshake...we wander to the Auditorium and we sit near the front. Shortly thereafter President Topi walks on stage and he sits directly in front of me....It was the stage, followed by the orchestra pit, and 3 rows of seats between me and the President of Albania...sooo cool..... After the presentation and serveral speeches later, we went to a large hall and had lunch, with the president and about 350 other people. Good food, beer paid for by Albanian government and lots of Power in the room. Later that day, I met the Vice President of the Department of Agriculture...had coffee with him and 8 others and including the Head of Rural Development. He spoke English and we talked for about 1/2 hour on his visions and how the Department of Agriculture and his Department can work together. I got his card, and hopefully he can help implement my projects if I ever get the GO...
Beside being the only one dressed in a sweater...everyone else had ties...I had a pretty good afternoon. That night I went to a party thrown by my neighbor...He and his Bride (someday wife, his possible 3rd wife after 5 kids from 3 mothers her having 2 of them ages 2 and 4). What they were celebrating I am not sure but she had on a wedding dress. Not an engagement I am sure of that but I can only assume she was wearing it as a hint.
This last weekend starting at 7:30 Thursday morning, I get a call from my host dad from Shales. (See pictures at albanianwindow.blogspot.com) saying that he is coming up for a visit that day. Time unknown. At about 11:30 am he arrives with his brother and a driver as they are passing through on business.(his brother being a veterinarian with the Department of Agriculture. They were totally impressed with my house and liked Lezhe a lot. My host dad had not ever been that far north before. I took them to my favorite (bar/restaurant) which is owned by and older guy, former communist, and the 4 of them had a great time talking and making fun of my superior language skills....When the bill came, the owner put the bill next to me...me forgetting the culture...took it...4 pizzas and 2 bottles of wine...1/8 of my months pay went to that meal....Nobody offered to pay since they all think that I am now rich working for the Department of Agriculture and living in a newly remodeled flat. In Albania..there is only the noun "volunteer" there is no verb "to volunteer".....I guess it was worth it, they talked about it on the ride back. I guess it makes up for all the meals, beer, and cafe, they bought me when I was living in Shales.
They gave me a ride to Shales where I was going to go the next day anyway for the 40 day ceremonies of the host dad that died last month. I stayed with my host family again for the night...Host mom understanding me fine...Host dad...gave up months ago. Computer update(the computer guy just walked in....he said he will fix my laptop neser (tomorrow)...the busiest workday of the week in Albania)
That was followed by a night in Elbasan...3rd largest city in Albania. There were 8 other volunteers staying there in Preparation for the picnic we had for the new Georgian Volunteers who were evacuated from Georgia after the Russians attacked it. They were a nice group and I kinda felt sorry for them having to learn another language. Heck they are young. ...they can handle it.
Other stuff: Last week was my first day teaching English to my co-workers. 2 groups, the true beginners and beginners who had English 15 years ago. I also have my first day as the tokan male American Teacher at the private school. I do conversational English. No lesson planning only lesson reviewing. That gives me 10-12 hours of English Teaching a week. More than many of the volunteers who are teachers.....Just in case you did not know, I am a COD volunteer. Community and Organizational Development. All for now, I am paying for this online usage at the computer guys place.

For the last 4 days or so the computers in the office are shutting down. In September, our specialist, put an antivirus on our computer. Now most of our office computers are down, including my laptop and many the computers in his internet cafe are down. ... so he cannot fix ours just yet...until his business is up an running again. hummm

So last night, walking in my hood, I saw for the second night in a row this little kitten about 6 weeks old hidding in the corner on the steps leading to the road. This time, I could not walk by him,which I did the night before so reluctantly. I picked him up, took him home, bathed him, made him a bed (box and dishtowel),fed him some kos(yoguart) and tried to kill the pound and a half of fleas on him. He slept quietly UNTIL..................about 4:00 am. What do you do? Since I live on the second floor, I marched him out and let wander outside...... he did not come back. Ouch....If you were at cat..what is a better life, indoors 24/7 with food, shelter and 10-16 hours a day in a small room by yourself or out in the my hood...I decided he has a place to sleep if I see him again, food if I see him again but being stuck indoors....I would hate it.
End of the cat story for now. All my sence of respondabity is up in the air and feeling kinda guilty and not sure if I did the right thing.

Movies

This was a weekend of what to expect as fall and winter approaches. Sunday and today, it rained so much that coming out of a another PC apartment yesterday, my foot was completely covered in water. It was so deep in the entry way that the bricks they use to walk on, where completely underwater and I could not even see them as I wandered to the sidewalk. The clothes that I had hanging out to dry were wetter when I brought them in than when I put them out.
As for the good things...Friday we had a meeting in Tirana (the capital). In the wake of the evacuation of Georgia we had our refresher on what to do in an emergency. It was a full day leaving the Friday night and Saturday night open for some heavy money spending activity. Saturday night, we went to one club called the "Living Room" was on the the top floor/roof on an old ugly building overlooking the city. It sold Corona Beer for $6.00 and Heineken for $5.00. OUCH...at most places, beers go for $2.00. The place was incredible, and since we were "Rich Americans", they gave us a reserved table. We showed them my nursing our beers, some for over 2 hours. They I am sure were real happy with that.

Friday night was spent at the movie house seeing Ironman. It was awesome. Maybe the fact I have not seen a movie in 6 months affected my opinion but it was a great movie. 5 guys just going to the movies was a blast. Why was it so fun for me with 5 guys (I share my office with 3 ladies, in Lezhe, are 3 PC women, and while in Shales there were 4 PC women and me....
The movie house had real chairs, not seats, with small armrest tables and wide armrests. Lots of cushion. Definately worth the $7.00 or 600 leke.
As for this week coming up it is make or break. If my director does not give me the okay for doing some projects...I may have to go somewhere else. World Vision or Opportunity Albania.
a couple NGO set up here to help Albanians. All for now, still paying for internet use.

Hey All,
So you are wondering what the effect Russian's invasion of Georgia, has on us. Well, there were Peace Corps Volunteers there and they were evacuated. Each person was given the option to go home, or finish there service in Albania. Many of the them had been in service for a year and chose to go home. Some had just finished training and were about to leave for their sites. Most of those that had done their one year chose to leave, those that just went through training came here. Albania now has about 15 new voluteers. Gota go

Sept 5,2008

Gossip News in Albania,
We may have the first dropout of our group. Why..who knows. Group 9 had over a 25% dropout rate.... We are group 11......Modern Technology ...makes the grapevine move so much faster.
Good News....The Peace Corp person that set us up in our jobs, housing and, came for a visit yesterday. We talked a lot about work and shes had mentioned that she has set up a meeting with herself, my director, me and the head of the Department of Agricutrure. She liked my ideas and hoped that we could get the Head of Agriculture to help us get the ball rolling on many of our projects.
Bad news...the school I will be teaching 4 hours a week at has also recruited another PeaceCorp Volunteer..she is cuter, younger, always smiling...Speaks very good Shqip...We went to the meeting with the school director together and he dragged her into the fun. She has the young kids, I get the older kids...Comparisons in Shqip abililities are always a fun thing to be a part....hummmmm.
Today, I am taking off to another city ...Schroldera(spelling) North of here. This is one of the cities where I would have really liked to have been place..Job Wise, no, but city wise...It is supposed to be progressive, and very active, with lots of bicycles and places to go. It is one of the larger cities in Albania.
My computer is not working for some reason....computer story has more to come..not interesting stuff but can be a major problem here.

Labor Day in Albania

Yesterday was Labor Day so the 4 of us PC volluteers in Lezhe got together for a dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, onion rings, watermellon, and of course beer. The grease involved in such a meal just does wonders for ones figure and nights sleep. Last night I had an idea for a new home video called "Stomachs gone wild" I am sure all of you have not only seen such fun but experienced it.

Please notice on the ride side of my entry is the mailing address if you want to send package with $5.00 worth of cookies for $50.00....please don't or if you just want to send regular mail. Plan on a minimum of 10 days.

Also included on the side are my friends stores/businesses. Check them out.

A busy Week

August 29.

On Monday Gjavajir, the host dad of one of my Training Sitemates in Shales died. He was working on the second floor with some electrical wiring and was electricuted. We found out on Thursday and by Thursday night, myself and 2 other of us who had training in Shales had gone back to Shales to pay our respects. This week the remaining 2 volunteers will be there. Gjavajir, treated Stephanie as one of his daughters calling her nearly daily after she left Shales. He was also the host dad that helped us the most with our community projects. He was only 58 years old, and looked and acted like he was 45. Something unseen here in Albania. From 30 to 80 you just look and act old all the time. While the funeral was 2 days earlier, there were still people coming by to pay their respects. All week the family (wife,sons, daughter-in-laws and grandchildren) remained at the home and greeted those that dropped by. Lots of silence, and a fair amount of eating.

I stayed with my former host family for the first time since I left them in June . It kinda felt like going home again. I even spoke to them in Shqip. It was not pretty, and conversational moments lessened drastically after the first hour but they still could ask me questions, and me of them. Havash Havash (spelling) Step by Step. They cooked my favorite meal, turned the TV on the the American Movie Station with Shqip subtitles and we were back to normal again. We watched a really bad (is there any other)Steven Seigal movie and an okay Clint Eastwood, Charlie Sheen movie.

Following the services in Shales, I took the furgon back to Elbasan, the old Peace Corps office and I met up with one of the PC English teachers for coffee to discuss the business plan I had written and Emailed to her. After about 10 minutes of business discussion and 3 hours later, I left back for Lezhe, only 3.5 hours to home. As for her doing the business...... in Albania, venturing into the unknown and with something that requires lots of work is something that is seldom done. I hope she does, but....neser is part of her culture too.

Since the Peace Corps is one week late in paying us and I am living on borrowed money, I decided stay at home Saturday and took a hike to the telephone tower. The tower is at the top of a large foothill, that from the top, one can see, what seems, forever. Most of the locals had know I idea how to get up there. After getting what seemed to be the right answer from someone who seemed to know, I ventured up there. About have way up, it got pretty confusing so a stopped to ask a sheepherder. A lady who was nearby working on her home, heard the confusion and came to the rescue. She spoke okay English having lived in England for a year and invited me over for coffee. I met her cousin, mother, aunt, newphew and son. Her husband was in Italy. Anyway after about 30 minutes of me talking ½ Shquip and her talking ½ English, she decided that going on a hike with me was more fun than building her new home. So we went on a 2 hour hike. When we had finally go up there, the 4x4 trucks that passed us going up, asked us who we were...Albina, (my new friend) did all the talking. As it turns out, Albina's kid and one of the guys kids , went to school together. The workers then liked us even more and they opened a few gates and let us climb around a bit on the towers. We just did the roof top adventure however, the towers were a bit much for Albina, and I kinda got the feeling the workers may have gotten too carried away with hospitality. I finished the day with Frisbee with the some neighborhood kids and homework (PC quarterly reports due in 2 weeks).

Too give you all an idea of pay and life out here...her male cousin, also building a home not far from hers, is a teacher. He makes about $200 a month, and is the sole supporter of himself, wife, 3 kids. I get just a bit more than that a month and feel restricted. The people at my job make a bit more than I do, and they have what is considered good jobs.

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