Monday, April 26, 2010

13 months in...


Now that the winter has (finally) subsided and I am defrosted, I can actually form thoughts to write. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here in Albania over a year now – the time has gone by fast and before you know it I’ll be making plans for the next steps of life…  From a work perspective, in the last few months I finished a tourism development project, continued work on a new website for the mayor of Elbasan (check it out at www.qazimsejdini.com), attended the Albanian Model UN Conference, and worked on Albanian – English translating for the upcoming 2009 Bulletin, which highlights all the work that the Municipality has done in the past year. This includes improvements in infrastructure, education systems, social services, sports and culture, and more.  Just over a month ago, 50 new American trainees arrived in Elbasan, ready to embark on their own journeys.  I have been fortunate to be involved in several training sessions for the new group, and after they swear in at the end of May there will be over 100 volunteers working here in Albania.  A very encouraging number, albeit challenging for finding communities to accept volunteers, as this country is only the size of Maryland. One of the projects I work on here is the PC Albania newsletter, which consists of interesting and funny stories from fellow volunteers. Check out the latest edition here

 I’ve managed to do a bit of traveling in the past few months as well. In the beginning of March I went to Rome, where I met up with my friends Jess and Jeff.  J&J took a long vacation, beginning in Rome, then to Egypt, then to Barcelona. So I met them on their first leg. Rome was beautiful – we visited most of the tourist spots including the Colosseum, the Vatican Museum,  St. Peter’s, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Capitoline Museums, Campo de’Fiori (a huge flower and vegetable market), and more. And of course I can’t leave out the fabulous restaurants and wine bars ;) On our last day we ventured to the northern part of the city and visited Villa Borghese, Rome’s most famous park.  It was there we finally gave in to our gelato craving, while people watching and navigating around (Jess you are such a great navigator ;)).  The trip was too short, and I didn’t get to spend much time with my friend who was kind enough to let me stay at her house in Rome. I look forward to going back at some point!