Home Alone

Yesterday I ventured off to Puka, a mountain villiage about 1.5 hours Northeast of Lezhe. The road was real bad and the while the weather was good, there was about 2 feet of snow all around town. I went to visit Karen and Patricia for input on my webpage and input on the presentation I am giving to the new volunteers coming in next month. After about 4 hours of business stuff it was too late to go home and since T

they were having a party that night as graduation present to one of their Shqip friends I decided to stay the night. Great food lots of desert and always nice to eat food with an american feel to it. We played UNO the card game. I took the 6:00am bus back to Lezhe and am back at work today.

As for Oreo last night...Leslie took him to her house but as she was walking up the steps the landlord said JO Qen..No Dog. Leslie then stayed at may house until 9:30 and left Oreo ALONE...Think ahead 10.5 hours..Oreo got hold of cardboard and shredded it, used up his poop quota in one night and spread some garbage around the house. I guess I had it coming so I couldn't schold her...

As or my computer it will go to the shop. I have about 5 minutes on it and it shuts off with a bunch of weird stuff on the screen.

As for the survey, I went on a ride along with one of the survey teams. We interviewed 5 farmers and judging by the bodylanguage our team looked and asked reasonably enthusiastic and the farmer were very cooperative. I had to have a few shots of Moonshine (Raki) to at their homes but worth it.

Today was/is a meeting of the extentionists (the people doing the survey)...One guy came in today with chest out complaining about the questions and that the farmer did not understand them. Good thing I did not understand his words...but actions..The guy was my age, but much older in every way ... with the help of my officemates I told him that many extentionists help write the questions and that the reason the extentionists are doing the survey is that they are to help the farmers...(translated he did not like me making him do more work) My co-worker asked what question, he pointed it out and he acted happy or mad that the question was so easy.
As for my computer..out of commission for good. Has to be taken to the shop Monday Morning.

New Teacher

Last night Oreo was a bit better, we did some WWF Wrestling and she seemed a much more comfortable in the house. Her real home however has a private enterence and my place is in and appartment building with non-stop residents marching outside...that also kinda freaks her out too.
Today I just learned that the teacher/nun who is teaching English at the private school where I work 4 hours a week, has taken a position at the Vatican Embassy in Tirana and that today was her last day...That kinda sucks since I had just offered to take the 10 worst kids on my own and help them...an extra hour a week. While they say they have another teacher lined up (my Shqip teacher) I don't think it will happen. If it does, great, but then they don't need me...Her diction is much better than mine.
As for work, they still have yet given me all the information I need for their website, BUT they have started a survey that I set up 4 months ago. It was a survey of 100 farmers on how the department of Agriculture can do more to help them...The question I most wanted and they voted out asked what they felt the role of the Department of Agriculture was...The question was taken out for fear of the answer...Hummmmm. so the survery is a bit wateredown. It has 4 teams of 3 people, a vet, and extensionest from our office and a local extentionist. It covers 20 villages. I hope it goes well. 5 in each village, 4 commedccialt farm

Dog Tired

So the other day at about 9:30 I was sitting in the office minding my own business when the director calls me into is office and says bring your computer. My computer is only working part-time so I hoped it works for whatever job he wanted me to do.We talk in his office for while using his computer and then says "can we use your computer for the projector" I say yes. The time now 9:50. I get the projector and set it up in the large office for some meeting...As I am getting it set up, a bunch of people start filtering into the office. At 10:00 the projector is set up and then the director decides he wants it set up in his office instead, it was too cold in meeting room..As I make to to his office, there are already 20 people there including 4 TVstations and all ready for a press conference.....I did not know about this and I was suddenly responsible for the projector..As I said my computer had been acting up and I was praying....It worked, and thankfully and as soon as I brought it back to my office the computer acted up again. All in all it went well and many people around town saw me on TV.
Albanian Moment. Several days ago a bunch of male co-workers who always ask about my social life (or lack there of) and ask why I am not married yet said a word that I could not understand. Not knowing the word, I asked a very protective co-worker the meaning....that person did not know the context nor who said it and went behind my back and asked around as to who said it...A day later I experienced collateral damage due to the "intervention" and I am hoping it can be forgotten in about 6 months. Such over protection while with good intentions does a lot a damage.
Now it is a week later and the big stuff that has happened is the MUN community project. It was so cool to see 7 good Albanian High School students participate in volunteer activities. While some of the public felt that the girls should be in the home cleaning and the boys should have been doing something productive for the family, most were happy to listen and part-take. The project while not my idea involved the kids passing out flyers and asking for signature and promises from people on the street for them to do something good... Many promises, kinda goofy, and involved promises, while related to community, involved their jobs, but it was the thought and the process that was important.
Other stuff...Last night I picked up a dog from an American Missionary family of 5. The dog was named Oreo...and the family is to be gone for 2 weeks. Walking the dog around was a lot more work than I thought. Oreo is a small dog and everyone believes that the only way to interact with a dog is to scare it and tease it...even adults. The young young kids are good with curiosity and try to be nice but the parents make them nervous and then the dog gets nervous and everyone has a miserable time. Last night Oreo was a little nervous at the house so I let her sleep on the bed...it immediately relaxed only to be stressed again when I took it to work. I took it home after half a day to stay in the house by itself..I hope it will distress and rest.
I played ping pong with Tommy a Co-worker today...lots of spin, little consistency.
This computer is driving my bonkers...it has shut down for no reason 3 times during the typing of this entry.

So I am sitting eating lunch minding my own business...(I have pretty much gotten used to many things...meat markets slottering while you watch so you know it is fresh...meat markets leaving meat out all day without refrigeration, pigs the size of hippos walking aimlessly through town, along with herds of goat, cattle and sheep moving through our city parks...but today) and out of the corner of my eye I see this big fury thing walking across the street...upon second look...it is a bear cub on a leash..while only up to ones mid section in size the first response was...what the ............ and quicky followed by the realization....only in Albania. ... a few people jumped to snap pictures but most just kept walking as if nothing was new.
A few months ago I saw this black lab puppy running the streets of Lezhe and when I said hello to puppy, it came running for some attention...most dogs run away since people think of them as big rats rather than pets and treat them accordingly. Because i was going to be gone most of the month of December I promised the pup that when I get back...I would take care of it. Now almost 3 months later I saw it again going through some garbage with another dog...it saw me came running and suddenly I had a pet.............I took it home, give it a bath, feed it, and it slept in the house...the next morning I let her outside to go to the bathroom, she came back..sort of and we hung out for a couple hours in the house. At about 12:00 we went out for a walk around town with another PC volunteer..after about an hour of hanging with us and while we were sitting outside at a cafe with her by our side....the dog decided we cramped her style and ditched us....
I guess the corn flakes, albanian salami and clean water is not nearly as good as old chicken bones from the garbage and drinking out of puddles...
From one night with the lab I got a room full of fleas and mud...they dont have flea collars or frontline here...who knew...good thing my place is made of tile and cement with no carpet.