Albi

Last Sunday was a big day – I went to Elbasan with one of my sitemates to do some shopping and to use the internet. When we left the internet café, I spotted a small animal across the street, with a few people near it that were paying it some attention. At first I wasn’t sure what it was, was it a huge guinea pig? A baby bear? Or maybe it was a misplaced raccoon. I crossed the street and finally realized that it was a puppy – AND that it was all alone – none of the people that were around it were claiming it to be theirs. I couldn’t believe my eyes – this puppy was so adorable, and so small…and it was all alone walking on the streets, surely to meet its demise sooner than later.

Without hesitation I picked him up and decided to take him home – some would think twice about this, but given the fact that I have been wanting a dog here in Albania since I got here – and I especially wanted a puppy – I felt there was no way this was a coincidence. Here he was.



Taking him home would not be an easy feat. Since most dogs in Albania are not pets, there are different views here. Dogs are often abused and neglected - and they are certainly not trained. Given the fact that this puppy is so young – I would guess he’s probably no more than 4-5 weeks old – I thought this would be a great opportunity to show people here how dogs can be great pets. I also thought it would provide a chance to share a facet of American culture – owning a dog as a pet and taking care of it.



Unfortunately, my host family did not like the fact that the puppy was crying outside all night (they absolutely would not let him in the house) and today I found out that they did not want him at all – inside or outside. I was crushed – but at the same time I can understand that dogs are not for everyone and I need to respect my family’s wishes. There was a big dilemma though – how could I still keep the puppy? (oh – I named him Albi, short for Albania…would love some feedback on the name. I’m also not sure what kind of dog he is??) There was no way I was just going to let him go back out into the streets. I even went to the vet here in town and arranged for him to get his vaccinations. My sitemates joined in my frustration, and rallied together to find a safe place at one of the other houses where Albi can sleep. He will still be outside, but we created a kennel for him with boxes, and he has some blankets to keep him warm. He had a bath and some fresh milk on Monday, and on Friday I was able to get a collar and some food for him.

Every morning I will go get Albi, feed him breakfast, and have him accompany me during the day whenever possible. When I move to Elbasan in 5 weeks he will be able to come with me, and have a warm home. It will be well worth the wait when you think about what could have been the alternative.

For the next 2 years…

After recovering from a week of being sick (that’s a story in and of itself – but I won’t digress), I joined the group again on Friday, the day they announced our site placements for the next two years. We were all like kids on Christmas day –we had to wait until 4 PM, and then our program managers handed out large white envelopes with our site information. My picture was on the outside of the envelope, this was provided so that each of us could take the picture and place it on our site on a huge map of Albania, so that we can see where everyone will be. (Check out the photo) I am going to be right in the middle of Albania – it’s yellow on the map - in Elbasan! This has been where our training sessions have taken place twice a week. It is one of the largest cities in Albania, population of approx. 120,000.  

I will be working at the Bashkia (the local government office), in the department of Economic Development. I’m very excited about this – there is a volunteer that has been working there for the past two years, and she is still here for a few more months so I have the opportunity to learn about all the projects that have been started and see how I can move forward. It looks like I will be keeping very busy – some of the focus areas of the department include business development, tourism, and environmental education.

Most volunteers at some point of their service also teach English – and the volunteer in Elbasan has been teaching at the University. This would certainly be a new challenge – there is a huge demand for learning English here. Fortunately there are plenty of resources for us to use - lesson plans, volunteers that are in the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) program, and other materials that Peace Corps provides.

The day didn’t end with that – Friday was also my host sister’s birthday. I got home to a house filled of family (cousins, and of course Nona – she lives next door - see her in action here). It was a big “fest” – and we ended the night with a picture-taking marathon.



On Saturday we had “Culture Day” in Shales. It is a cross-cultural day where Albanian and American culture is on display – from food, to clothes, music, games, and lessons on how to make Turkish coffee. Our host families all gathered, and we chose to make apple pie, mashed potatoes, and a sweet salad with lettuce, spinach, apples, candied walnuts, cheese, pears, and raisins. We had to get creative with some of the ingredients, but fortunately we have a few fabulous cooks/bakers in our group so the end results were impressive.

After culture day I went home to work on our community project – which happens next Sunday. More details to come on that event. What was most interesting upon arriving home was the lamb carcass hanging outside – my host mom and dad had been busy that morning. This lamb was being prepared for dinner that night to honor guests – the parents of my host brother’s wife. I’ve actually gotten used to seeing dead animals hanging in the butcher shops here – but to see it right outside my front door was a different experience. The torture continued as my host parents teamed up to hack the bloody meat into pieces – and they also made it a point to come over to me and show it to me while laughing hysterically. To make it even that much more interesting, when I walked in the house and went to the kitchen to get some water, I was greeted by a tray of lamb parts – including it’s head and it’s eyeball staring right at me…needless to say I didn’t have much of an appetite that night. When I expressed my views/thoughts to my family, their response was “Well where do you think meat comes from?” Brilliant – and so true.

Lezhe, Albania

This weekend all the trainees went on volunteer visits - we get split up to stay with a volunteer who has already been working in Albania for a year. I traveled to Lezhe (pronounced Lay – sha) – a town of about 35,000 people about an hour north of the capital Tirana. Lezhe has great mountainous views, plus it’s about 7 km from the beach – so we spent some time by the water (Adriatic Sea). It was great to get perspective on life as a volunteer from those who have been living it…
I stayed with a girl named Leslie who has been working in the Community and Organization Development sector at the Bashkia (the town government office). She works with the director of hospitality and tourism. Albania has so much potential in this area. For example, we hiked up to Lezhe Castle, which is absolutely beautiful and offers some of the best views of Albania – no one was up there (except for the herd of sheep we ran into and the snake that we saw – yikes!). Instantly we thought of how this attraction could make some money for the town – tours, day trips, a gift shop, etc. (is this too American?)
Part of Leslie’s job consists of developing brochures and materials about Lezhe (in both Albanian and English) to showcase its history and provide detailed information about the town features. Apparently this one brochure has been held up because there was some discrepancy on how it would get printed… they couldn’t decide what paper to print it on, what size to make it, etc. And the volunteer and the director also disagreed on the layout of the photos in the brochure - I was having déjà vu of the planner/artist disputes of my past… ☺

In addition to the Bashkia we also visited several places that the volunteers do work with - a center for mentally disabled children, a Red Cross center for the elderly, and the World Vision office – a non-governmental organization that is dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.…. The center for mentally disabled children was very eye-opening, considering these children (I use that word loosely, some are in their 30’s…) are not able to receive the care/education that can help them develop. The teachers are not trained to teach the mentally disabled, and there is a lack of educational materials to strengthen motor skills and expand their learning capabilities. Due to a shortage of funding there is also no available space for the children to get outside and get exposed to sporting activities – and the classrooms are getting more crowded each year. When asked why there were so many boys compared to girls, we were told that the families do not expect the girls to be able to do anything other than take care of the house – however the boys need to be able to grow their minds so that they can thrive in their communities. Very interesting reality here… Currently, volunteers in Lezhe are working on submitting a proposal to get more educational materials to the center.

All in all it was a great weekend – we even visited a café with ping pong tables – who would have thought? And I met my match – Peter (a volunteer from CA) beat me twice – and it was a pretty poor performance on my part. Oh well, at least I have 2 years to redeem myself…