Traveling around Albania

The past two weekends have been packed – last weekend 3 of us went to a city called Librazhd to visit a fellow trainee, and also to work on the presentation for the photography contest to be held at our counterpart conference. Each trainee submitted 5 photos to be put in the presentation, and we ended up with over 140 fabulous pics – I have posted the link for viewing pleasure. It was a fun project but a time consuming one, especially since each caption needed to be translated into Albanian. It was great being in Librazhd and with friends – we all went for a run Saturday morning, which was nice especially because it wasn’t raining! (I have gotten caught twice running in rain/hail/thunderstorms…not fun with huge mud puddles and cars who seem to love to drive by as close as possible and splash the American girl)

Sunday was packing time, as the whole group left Monday for Tirana for our counterpart conference. This was the first time for everyone to meet their counterparts, me being the exception since I already know him – so I felt lucky and probably a little less nervous for that first introduction (especially for those who have counterparts who speak no English – how awkward those first moments are). We stayed Monday and Tuesday at a beautiful hotel in the mountains – and it was hot enough for us to enjoy the pool. Monday we went on a “tour” of Tirana, which consisted of eating lunch at a Mexican/American/Albanian/Italian restaurant – I think they had trouble picking a theme. And for some reason many restaurants here have birds in them…yes, either birds in cages or random birds that you hear and can’t see. At this restaurant there seemed to be one behind me, in between two walls. Oh – and I also went to one house where they had birds flying in the hallway. And they think it’s odd to let dogs inside…hmmmm.
After lunch we visited an American bookstore and walked around the center of Tirana. I was shocked when we walked through the park and saw a baby who couldn’t have been more than 4 months old just laying on the ground on top of a cardboard box. Sadly, sights like these are not uncommon – the gypsy community here (called the Roma) is extremely poor and they will often use their children to solicit money or food. To use that young of a baby though!? It was disturbing and heart wrenching. (On a more positive note, one of the projects I will be working on is the opening of a new Roma school for these children…) This is just one of many areas that volunteers help with here – keep in mind in Elbasan alone there is an unemployment rate of 37%, there is no waste management system, and the electricity goes out about 3-4 times a week.

Tuesday we presented recaps of our community projects, to give our counterparts an idea of how we can be of service. Our community project was Earth Day – we taught the students at our school the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle – and showed them through educational and interactive sessions different ways they can reuse trash. It was a huge success– we had about 150 kids show up, plus the school director and members of the community (who helped us translate). My station taught the students the effects of river pollution – each student had to write down some characteristics of trash, and then we discussed the impact trash has on our drinking water and the fish in the rivers – that we eventually eat. The kids then made a collage out of trash, representing the decomposition that occurs from the moment the trash hits the river. Since the event we have seen kids in the community stop others who are just throwing their trash on the streets/in the canals – and the teachers in the schools will continue to use our activities in their classrooms.


Wednesday everyone went separate ways to their future sites – I spent 2 days at the Bashkia, getting familiar with my workplace and meeting everyone. The mayor’s office was impressive and he was very welcoming and supportive of me being there. Now more than ever I’m very anxious to speak better Albanian because it will make my job of capacity-building that much more rewarding. Volunteers have shared that the first few months at site build your patience because of the language barrier, learning curve and the fact that a big focus is gaining people’s trust. This makes perfect sense – I don’t know how trusting I would be if a volunteer from a foreign country came into my workplace for 2 years to teach me – the essence of change is always hard enough with people we can understand!

Another highlight of my time in Elbasan was that I visited my future apartment – the landlord was nice, and I’m thrilled to report that she has no problem with me having Albi inside – yippee! It is on the second floor of a house, with 2 bedrooms, a makeshift kitchen (the fridge is a mini – I won’t be buying in bulk), and 2 balconies. Plus I actually have a bathtub and a western toilet – phew…since there is only a turkish toilet in the Bashkia I was more than thankful…

This week is the last week before swearing in. It’s bittersweet in a way, I have grown close to my host family and it will be hard to say goodbye, on to yet another destination in this 2-year journey. I’m sure there will be plenty of visits, since I am only 30 minutes away. But now I’m being sent out into the community, on my own for everything. They say the Peace Corps has its ups and downs and you will be on a rollercoaster the whole time – time to buckle up.

Kruja

Today our whole group took a trip to Kruja, Albania – it was about a 3-hour bus ride one way. On the way we visited a town called Fush-Kruja – which is the town that George Bush visited when he came to Albania in 2007. They actually renamed the café where he had coffee to the Bush Café (STM). Kruja attracts many tourists (even though so many towns here have huge tourism potential – one of the things volunteers work on). The biggest attractions are the Skanderbeg museum and the castle- we visited both of these and also walked around the town, which had amazing views. There is also a market (bizarre) on cobblestone streets – here you will get your fill of traditional Albanian clothing, souvenirs, and basically anything with the Albanian flag icon on it. On the way back from Kruja we stopped in Durres – one of the biggest cities in Albania, located on the western coast. Everyone loves when we can get some time near the ocean – plus there was a beautiful hotel right on the beach –with an amazing pool and outdoor dance floor/café. Looks like the weekend road trip plans to the beach are starting to come together…


Since we were in Elbasan all week last week, I didn’t get much time to hang with Albi – so I brought him along on the bus trip. He slept a lot on the bus, and he made a new friend – my teacher’s 7-year old son. The two were inseparable and had me chasing after them the whole day (which was quite interesting considering he doesn’t speak any English). At the hotel in Durres I actually collapsed on the ground from exhaustion, until the hotel guard yelled at me for sitting on the grass. On the bus ride home Albi fell asleep on his lap, and I handed him my iPod (which he loved) - he fell asleep listening to music he can’t understand.

Gettin Down to Business

This week we had our practicum – all the Community Development trainees spent the week visiting different government offices in Elbasan to gain a better understanding of the government structure, learn what progress has been made economically during the past few years, and to hear about where the opportunities lie for us as volunteers to contribute. Fortunately for me, being in Elbasan gave me the ability to meet some of my future colleagues, and I was able to spend some time in the Economic Development office where I will be based. I also visited the Tax Department and the Office of Social Services. Although I can understand more Albanian every day, it is still very difficult to be in a work environment and not be able to understand the conversation. As challenging as learning the ropes of a new job is, the added language barrier makes it that much more important that we pay close attention to the surroundings and also to body language.

Each volunteer gets assigned an Albanian counterpart that we work with on projects over the two years. My counterpart is one of the Peace Corps Albanian teachers – so I am lucky to already know him and to be able to spend time with him in these final few weeks before swearing in (May 28 – the big day). He has agreed to only speak English to me when absolutely necessary, to help me reach my goal of becoming completely fluent in Albanian. Speaking English at this point hinders the learning, even though sometimes it takes me 5 minutes to speak a sentence that in English would take me 5 seconds…