A hike and hospitality.

In my short time here in Albania, I’ve learned why they say that the Peace Corps is a rollercoaster.  From one month, week, day, hour even minute to the other, my emotions and motivation can go from one extreme to the other.  So after a week that was full with English classes, meetings, xhiros, coffee dates and trips to the river, I got really really lazy.  I realized last night that the only significant thing that I had done since Saturday was to pay my electricity bill.  Side note: that is in fact not so insignificant in a country that doesn’t believe in lines and probably deserves its own blog post.

So I decided that I would go on a hike this morning.  The hot weather had been keeping me inside way too much over the past week and it was time to face it head on.  Luckily though, given that I had done nothing in 48 hours, my body needed zero sleep and woke up at the ungodly hour of 5 am.  This meant I could hike before it got too hot.  I set out to go across the Death Bridge to explore more of the village across the river.  I’ve been missing village life lately and I wanted to return to the familiar sights, sounds and well to be honest smells of a village. 

But above all, I wanted to be able to walk in solitude and really enjoy the nature around me without getting “That girl is crazy!” looks from other people or having to explain why an American was in their small town.  This of course was not in the cards.  I spent my walk from the main street in Gramsh to the other side of the river trying to escape two women who were walking in the same direction.  I would slow down and they would slow down.  I would speed up and they would catch up to me.  It appeared that the Albanian gods were going to make me be social whether I liked it or not.  So after doing this little dance across the bridge, the women finally turned to me and asked me all the typical Shqiptar questions. (Who are you?  Where are you from?  Where do you live?  You live alone?!?!  Aren’t you bored?  Why are you in Gramsh?  How much money to you make?  Why do you work for no money? Etc.)  They went into their house about 30 minutes into my walk and I thought that I was finally free to enjoy the peace and quiet around me.  So I decided to walk up the trail that I found during my first week at site.  It is a steep road straight up the hillside at the end of the village and at the top is a family compound. I hadn’t been back on this trail since despite the amazing view from the top because the last time I was up there was kind of  an ‘obobo’ moment. 

So I guess I owe you that story…

The last time I had been up there was in the afternoon after one of my first days of school.  I was exhausted but I wanted to explore the town and the areas around it and I wasn’t going to let the likely afternoon thunderstorm stop me.  So I hiked up the mountain and when I got to the top, I found the family compound.  Now here in Albania it isn’t weird to be following a path and suddenly walk into someone’s front yard.  But this family was all outside taking care of their animals and working in the fields.  A little girl came up to me and started asking me all of the typical Shqiptar questions (see above) and slowly I realized that the whole family was surrounding me.  Now lets take a second to recap here… there I was surrounded by a family of Albanians during my first week at site when I barely knew Gramsh, couldn’t really speak the language and even conjugating verbs was difficult for me when under pressure. I was probably the most uncomfortable I had been since coming to Albania.  Socializing in a foreign language is surprisingly stressful.  And to make matters worse, they invited me into their house.  All PCVs here in Albania are familiar with the invitation “Hajde, Hajde.  Pi kafe.  Hajde.”  It is completely normal here to invite people into your house even if you don’t know them and Albanians take great pride in the hospitality they show to newcomers.  But at this moment, I just couldn’t do it.  My brain was so overwhelmed from the language and stress that there was no way I was going into their house.  Blame it on all of the times I had been told as a child to not talk to strangers much less join them in their homes but I had to get out.  So in my broken Shqip I told them I had to go because I wanted to get home before it rained and I tried to leave.  They told me not to worry, that I could stay at their house until it was clear and that if it was dark they would walk me down the hill.  When I kept refusing and started to say goodbye, they offered me an umbrella as a last ditch effort to help me.  I of course said no and went to say goodbye to the girl.  And then she asked me the question that I was totally unprepared for, “Will you come back to visit again?”.  Completely caught off guard, I said yes and ran away.  Man that girl was good. I immediately regretted that I hadn’t stayed their and visited.  Here I was a foreigner who barely spoke their language and I was saying no to their hospitality.  Then it started to rain and rain hard.  At that moment I decided that the Albanian gods were sending me a message.  I resolved to always say yes to Albanian hospitality unless I already had plans.  And since then I’ve for the most part stuck to this rule.  But the one thing I failed to do was to go back and visit that family again.

So back to present day.  I decided to climb the trail and risk the fact that the family might be outside.  In my ignorance, I thought that since it was only 8 AM maybe they would still be in the house.  But of course I was spotted by none other than the grandma.  Shqiptar grandmas (gjyshes) are notorious.  The best way I can describe them is as a combination of a babushka and an Italian grandmother.  And as anyone who has either knows, there is no saying no to them.  I still held out hope that I could get through with a simple hello and how are you but that hope was dashed as soon as I spoke.  Her face lit up and she yelled inside that the American was back.  Apparently I wasn’t forgotten even after almost 2 months.  And at that moment, in all honesty, I almost cried.  I couldn’t believe that they would remember the American girl they had talked to for maybe half an hour max 2 months ago especially after I had refused their invitation.  And not only did they recognize me but they remembered that I had a little brother and that I was from California and that I was teaching English.  I hadn’t felt this loved since I left my host family.  And when this time when they told me to “Hajde, Hajde. Pi kafe. Hajde.” I didn’t even hesitate. 

First, one of the sisters took me down to the grape vines.  She was explaining to me the different types of grapes they have: grapes for wine, grapes to eat, grapes for raki (Albanian moonshine) and we picked a few bundles of grapes to eat and headed inside.  There they turned on the morning news and I sat around with the women eating grapes and drinking milk while the little kids danced around the house.  It was perfect.  Granted there were times when I didn’t understand or when conversation was difficult but I felt at home.  After an hour, I had to leave to make it back in time for tutoring and I actually felt sad to be leaving.  I said goodbye to everyone and promised that next time I wouldn’t wait 2 months to visit.  And just when I thought their hospitality was as good as it could get, they gave me a bag of grapes to take home.  I wish I had the words to explain how much their hospitality meant to me. Since I don't have a sitemate here, I am constantly faced with questions about being alone but moments like this make me realize that while I might be the lone American in Gramsh, I am never alone here.

As I walked home, I made a point to say hello to everyone I passed.  I even gave a few grapes to some kids in the village.  And I met two more gjyshes on the bridge back into town who asked me the typical questions.  But this time, rather than internally rolling my eyes and counting the seconds until I could continue, I enjoyed our conversation and asked them my own questions.  When we said goodbye I got a good gjyshe chest and arm rub from them both and I knew it was going to be a good day.  

Sometimes, it can be easy to get too comfortable here.  After being productive all I want to do is sit at home with a nice big cup of tea and watch a movie or read a book.  But days like this remind me of why I came here and why I have to continue to push myself.  Plus it doesn’t hurt that now I have 2 huge bundles of grapes to enjoy!

An Appeal

Hello friends,

Since I've been here in Albania, many of you have asked if there is anything you can do to help support me.  While I love a good letter and care package, I have a slightly different request at the moment.

As you may have noticed from my pictures, Albania is a beautiful country.  I can honestly say that I haven't seen this much natural beauty in such a small area ever in my life.  Yet many youth don't have the opportunity to appreciate and explore their own country.  I was lucky enough to grow up in a community that put a premium on educating youth about environmental preservation and conservation. Lessons on composting and recycling were mixed in with trash clean ups and class gardens throughout my childhood.  Here in Albania, youth face a very different reality.  The ideas of preservation and conservation are new in this country where until 20 years ago, plastic bags didn't exist and having a car was a privilege few enjoyed.  Since Albania's rapid development, these things have become common place and have led to serious environmental issues.  The Outdoor Ambassadors (OA) program is a nation-wide program run by PCVs along with local counterparts that seeks to provide Albanian youth with the opportunity to learn about and explore nature.  Students participate in activities ranging from hiking trips, ecology lessons, trash pick ups, town beautification, and public awareness campaigns, to name a few.  I myself have had the opportunity to see the OA group in Gramsh in action and I can say that I can't imagine a better program to be involved with.  Not only does OA provide a space for youth to explore the nature around them, but it also provides an outlet for students who, unlike in America, don't have a plethora of extra curricular activities to chose from.

While I could go on about the wonders of OA for way longer, I will spare you and get to the point.  Every year OA hosts a summer camp for youth from across Albania.  Here, students have the opportunity to attend classes on topics ranging from nutrition to biodiversity as well as have a camp experience that we in America take for granted.  For most camp participants, this will be their first opportunity to meet with and socialize with youth from all around the country.  This year, the OA committee needs donations to make the camp possible.  Any donation would truly help (just $20 can pay for 1 day's worth of food and housing for a student).  The deadline to donate is August 1st and if our goal isn't met by then, we will lose all of the money that has been donated so far and have to cancel the camp for this year.  All of you who know me know how awkward I find it to ask for donations and that I wouldn't be writing to you unless it was something that I truly believed could make a difference.  So I would encourage you to visit this website to learn more about the program and how you can make a donation. 


For more information on the OA program visit their website: http://www.outdoorambassadors.org/

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I promise another update will be coming soon.

Sotire Waterfalls

Ever since I found out I was going to be in Gramsh for the next two years, every Albanian has told me about the waterfalls near Gramsh.  While few have actually visited them, the Sotire Waterfalls are famous here in Albania.  So needless to say, seeing the waterfalls has been one of my goals for awhile now.  From the time I first came to visit Gramsh, I've been dropping hints to all of my students about how much I love to hike and I think waterfalls are beautiful, etc.  Now while I would love to believe that my not so subtle hints made this trip possible...this was one of those "only in Albania" moments.

It started one afternoon when walking back to my house I ran into my friend Egla.  Egla goes to university in Elbasan but she comes back to Gramsh every weekend and her little sister is in 11th grade at the school I'll be working at.  Egla mentioned that her sister and her friends were going to go on a hike the next day and wanted to know if I wanted to go along with her.  But there was a catch, they were leaving at 7 AM and I had just finished telling the director of the school that I would meet her to discuss my summer courses the next day.  So I had to tell Egla that I couldn't go along with them.  But Egla is a tricky one and even in our short time of knowing each other she has figured out exactly what to say to keep my interest and as I walked away she said she would try to enjoy the waterfalls without me.  And that was all it took.  No way was I going to let them go to the waterfalls without me.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how I could talk to the director to let her know that we needed to move our meeting.  Luckily the great thing about living in such a small town is that you're never too far from anyone.  So as I stood at my normal dyqan checking out the banana selection of the day, I heard my director's voice calling to me from the heavens.  After I took a few minutes to realize that I was in fact not hearing things, I looked up to see my director standing on her balcony across from the dyqan.  SCORE!!  So Romeo and Juliet style, I yelled at her from the street that I was invited to go to the waterfalls the next day and we needed to move our meeting.  And just like that...I was free!

So at 7 AM I met Egla and her sister in the city center to walk to the bus.  I figured I'd be able to relax during the hour long bus ride to the waterfalls maybe even catch up on a little sleep but woah was I mistaken.  I've never been more impressed by the energy 16 year olds have.  These kids were dancing and singing the entire ride out to the waterfalls.  And when I say they were dancing I mean that at one point we even stopped the bus so we could circle dance around it for a bit.  

When we finally got to the waterfalls, we hiked for around half an hour and then BOOM, this was our view.

Needless to say it was totally worth all the craziness.  Apparently the waterfalls change slightly throughout the year depending on how much water there is but they keep going year round.  When we visited, there were 3 main areas.  The two pictured above were the coolest.  The one on the left is a long single waterfall that ends in a nice little swimming pool and the one on the right is a bigger waterfall that falls straight onto the boulders in the river below.

We spent the rest of the day swimming, grilling, dancing, talking and taking pictures.  I was exhausted by the time we decided to head back to Gramsh but luckily the bus driver knew exactly what I needed because as soon as we left he turned the music to best song ever.  (I'll give you 3 guesses.) Thats right he played MAMBO NUMBER 5!!!  Naturally I still remembered all of the words and impressed the kids with my singing ability.  And after another hour of dancing and singing on the bus, we were back in Gramsh.  It was the perfect completely unplanned and unexpected day.

PS-I'll try to add some more pictures when my internet is a little faster.

Albanian Paralympics

A few weeks ago, I along with a dozen other PCVs got the chance to volunteer at the Albanian Paralympics.  The games lasted for three days and included teams from 5 different cities.  Myself and 3 other PCVs were assigned to the team from Elbasan, the city where we had PST.  Some of our athletes even knew the families we had stayed with during PST or remembered seeing us in our villages.

(Note: While in America I would be exceptionally creeped out if someone random told me they had seen me multiple times and could even remember what I was wearing, here that is a totally normal experience and oddly comforting.)

The games consisted of 4 different events: wheelchair basketball, running, weight lifting and Topi Goal.  While we in America are familiar with the first three events, Topi Goal had all of us curious from the moment we saw it on the schedule during volunteer training and it did not disappoint.  Topi Goal (or Goal Ball) is a game meant for visible impaired people but can be played by anyone.  The court is around the same size as a volleyball court with three players on each team.  The goal of the game is to roll the ball past your competitors to score a goal.  But the twist is that everyone has a blindfold on and they can only rely on their hearing to know where the ball is.  Because of this, the ball has little bells in it so it can be heard and the game is played in total silence.

My attempt to catch Topi Goal in action.

While our team didn't manage to take gold in any of the events (we did get silver in basketball, weight lifting, women's Topi Goal and bronze in men's Topi Goal for the record) it was still an incredibly rewarding experience to get to talk to all of the athletes and to see the joy and pride they felt in having their own games.  People with disabilities have only recently been able to access special services here in Albania and in many areas of the country they still face a lack of resources, understanding and acceptance.  To be able to see such a large group of athletes participating in the games and basking in the attention they deserve was an amazing experience and one that I won't forget for a long time.

An Apology and Some FAQs

I guess I should start off with an apology.  I know that I have been horrible at updating this so far.  As of this week I have internet in my house and no more excuses so I promise I will try to be better.  And if not you are of course more than welcome to come to Albania and give me a stern talking to!  (Translation: Come visit!!!)

But now to answer some of your FAQs:

1) What exactly am I doing here?

Well I've been assigned to work at the high school here in Gramsh.  I'll be working in tandem with another English teacher, Laura.  For right now the school year here is done so there isn't really anything for me to do at the school but next year Laura and I will be in charge of teaching the first year students at the high school.

2) What about the summers?

Well this summer is different than I imagine next summer will be because I am just getting set up.  For now I'm focusing on getting to know everyone in the community, which means a lot of coffee dates.  I'm also talking to some of the students to try to continue the two youth groups the previous volunteers had here in Gramsh.

3) What is Gramsh like?

Gramsh is a smaller town in the central of Albania.  The area is made up of a series of small mountain ranges and vallies and since Gramsh is right near 2 rivers, there is clean running water 24/7. (Which is a big deal here in Albania.)  It also has an amazing view of Mt. Tomorri, which is this beautiful huge mountain that stands all by itself.

Gramsh with a view of Mt. Tomorri in the back.

View of Gramsh from across the river.

When I say that Gramsh is small I mean that it takes about 10 minutes to walk from one end to the next.  It is made up of two main streets that run through the town and little side roads connecting the homes up in the hills.  Since Gramsh is so small most people know each other and even after only being here for a little less than 2 weeks people are starting to know me.  When I first got here I could here people asking each other questions about who I was or staring at me blatantly but now those questions are few and far between and are met with a "Thats Jenny, she is American."

4) Do you get to live by yourself or are you still with a family?

In Gramsh I'm living by myself.  It was amazing living with a host family in Kuqan and I miss the constant support and attention that I had when I lived there but it is refreshing to be in my own space.  I'm sure the novelty of cleaning and cooking for myself will run out soon but for now I'm enjoying the independence.  But don't fear, the two other apartments on my floor are occupied by older couples who always invite me in for juice and cookies whenever they see me.  The women also have offered to teach me how to cook real Albanian food and to give me any tips on cleaning that I might need.
My apartment is a lot bigger than I ever could have imagined.  I have a bedroom, bathroom, living room and a kitchen.

My Bedroom

My living room including the stuffed dog that my landlord left for me.

My kitchen.

5) How is the language?

During training, the Peace Corps makes it their number one priority to get us culturally and technically adjusted to our new country, and the biggest part of that is language.  We had language class most days of the week for around 4 hours.  All of that study time along with living in a family where nobody speaks English makes learning Shqip surprisingly easy.  Don't get me wrong, I have had many a struggle with the language.  There was the time that I almost cried in class because I couldn't roll my rrs.  And then the one time that I tried asking my host mom if she needed help with anything but instead I told her that I needed help and she proceeded to call anyone she knew that spoke a little bit of English to try to figure out what was wrong with me as I stood there blissfully unaware that I had made a mistake.  But everyday I'm amazed at how much Shqip I managed to learn in only 3 months.  I took years of Spanish but would be surprised if I could carry on a 5 minute long conversation but in Shqip I can make small talk, talk about most subjects and even explain to my landlord that the faucet in my bathroom is leaking (true story).

Some of my favorite phrases/words are:
avash avash - means slowly slowly but can be used to explain just about everything in Albania
ylber - means rainbow but it sounds really cool
mirë - technically means good but it can be used to have entire conversation in Albanian

6) What is the food like?

Food in Albania is very similar to other Mediterranean countries.  Their main foods are lamb, rice, yogurt and a lot of bread.  Bread is very important and a part of every meal here.  When they say do you want to eat they say do you want bread (Do te ha buk?) which I think speaks for itself.  Some popular dishes are byrek (philo dough filled with either cheese, spinach or tomato), fasule (bean soup), pilaf (rice dish sometimes with vegetables or meat), and soup with any sort of meat that is around.
The thing that I appreciate most about Albanian food is how fresh most things are.  Most Albanians do their shopping at the market, buying fruits and vegetables from the local farmers.  This means that they only eat whats in season and that everything is organic.  So far my favorite dish here is stuffed peppers, eggplant and squash.  It is amazing and I will make it for anyone who bothers making the trip out here. (hint hint)

But I'm sorry to say that this is the end!  This has taken me 2 hours to finish and it is beautiful outside so I'm going to go enjoy the weather.  I hope this will tide you over until I get around to updating again.

Gramsh it is!

On Friday we found out where we'll be serving for the next two years here in Albania.  They told us one by one and surprisingly I was the 4th person to pop up!! (After a life of living with a last name at the end of the alphabet it was like Christmas)  I'll be going to Gramsh along with one other girl in our group.  Gramsh is a small town in the mountains with a river running through it.  It is only about an hour and a half away from Elbasan and apparently has amazing cheese!

I'm really excited to be going there!  It sounds like the perfect assignment for me and everyone I talk to points out how nice the people in Gramsh are.

Here is some more info about it: http://estateinalbania.com/news/gramsh-city-albania

Weekend in Vlorë

 This weekend all the Trainees had the opportunity to visit current volunteers at their sites.  I got assigned to Vlorë, a large beach town in the south.  I'll follow up with details about the trip later but for now enjoy the pictures!

Vlorë

Vlorë

Finally proof that I'm in Albania!