Reflections

This past weekend I went to Shales to visit my host family – it was so great to see them. I arrived to find that my host mom has kidney stones – yet she is still going out to the fields and mountains to work. I have so much fun with my family when I see them – and now that I can have longer conversations in Albanian it’s even better. My sister and I stayed up late Friday night talking, then on Saturday I went to visit her at the local government office where she works. After drinking coffee (I can not get enough coffee here – ever) and having lunch, I headed back to Elbasan, despite my family telling me numerous times they didn’t want me to go, and they couldn’t believe I had waited 3 weeks to come back to see them! I noticed a big difference going back to “village life” after living in Elbasan for 3 weeks. Living in the village does not provide the opportunity for much work (most families have farms/gardens), and basically the people that live there stay there all their lives, unless they leave to go work in Greece or Italy. Family units are the foundation of life in the village – almost every person that my host family introduces me to is a “kusheri” (cousin). The aura of village life is one of appreciation and contentment; there is not much complaining, and days are filled with genuine hard physical labor and talking with family and neighbors. One of the first things my host mom did when I got there was take me out to the garden, where we picked cucumbers (because she knows they are my fave!) and peaches off the tree (she had ulterior motives of course because I am tall enough to reach the ripe peaches)

My host dad, working in the field

Upon coming back to Elbasan I realized I had been attacked by flies – there were big red bites all over my legs and arms. No wonder the Peace Corps gives us mosquito nets to hang over our beds – they are killer here. I was able to enjoy some downtime on Sunday, starting off with a 6 mile run (Athens is only 20 weeks away – yikes!). The roads here are a bit complicated to run on (which is why I’ve been running in the park – but since one lap of the park is ½ mile, it can get a little mundane to run in circles). So needless to say I explored a side road only to be met by large rocks under my feet and construction vehicles passing me, leaving huge piles of dust in my face and eyes. (Thanks Mom and Dad for the Visine – it has come in handy!) My Sunday (and any downtime I get) was spent exploring, drinking coffee, spending time with Albi, reading, writing, listening to/downloading music, and dare I say it, cooking. The cooking part has been a bit difficult since I didn’t budget properly this month and am left with about 15 dollars for the next week.

At the Cross Border Institution Building Seminar

Ahh the joys of being a volunteer – it’s actually very satisfying to live like this, one because you really have to stick to a budget, which definitely means creative cooking, monitoring your travel, and thoroughly thinking through the shopping list (I have given up Diet Coke for this reason, and also because you can only find Coke Zero and Pepsi “Max” here – I would pretty much do anything for a cold Diet Coke right now). What you also realize though is that money distorts true visions of a satisfying life – we can easily live without many things that we “think” we can’t do without. Good ole consumerism – having a million choices staring us in the face every day doesn’t really leave us much choice but to jump on the bandwagon to keep up, even if we don’t have the means to. Being here has provided me the opportunity for me to focus on the service I came here to do.
The speed of life at times forces us to walk quickly, not listen to others, and not see those who are in need of help. Here in Albania, the people may need language help, technical help, or they may just need to talk with someone from a different culture to give them some hope for their own future or the future of their kids/grandkids. Taking part in these activities is the most rewarding part of being here.

“Our greatest mistake, as individuals, is that we walk throughout life with closed eyes and do not notice our chances. As soon as we open our eyes and deliberately search we see many who need help, not in big things but in the littlest things. Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him." – Albert Schweitzer, philosopher/theologian/musician/doctor