How Stuff Works: Gramsh Market, Part 2

Now onto the clothes area...

Here in Albania there are stands/stores that sell used clothing, typically donated by charities in the US or Europe, known as Gabis.  In larger towns they are open everyday and in the big cities they even have real stores with the clothes hung up and everything.  But here in Gramsh we like to keep it real.  Right next to the food area, is a big field that every Wednesday and Saturday is taken over by makeshift tables and covered with clothes, shoes and accessories.  Some stands are more organized, with a table for men's clothing, a table for women's clothing and another for children's, but many look like someone just poured a trash bag of clothes onto them.

The view as you approach the gabis.

Checking out the winter coats that are just now starting
to pop up. 

Buying things works a little differently over in the gabis.  First of all, you have to search through the tables of clothes to find what you want.  Go on, don't be shy.  If you hesitate too much someone else will take that lovely grey sweater of yours.  Second, you can bargain over here.  Now this isn't like Thailand where you can assume that they're doubling the price on you, when I say bargain I mean if they want 500 leke or $5 for that pair of jeans you can get them down to 400 leke or $4 if you play your cards right. (And yes that $1 difference is worth the hassle.)  And finally, don't expect them to throw in something for free or give you a deal if you're buying more things.

Shopping for clothes at the market obviously poses a few more issues for Americans than shopping for food.  The most glaring issue being no dressing rooms.  It helps to have a good eye for roughly what size your clothes are, especially since any clothes you find that do have sizes printed on them can't necessarily be trusted, but you do pick up a few tricks with some practice.  Did you know that you can use your forearm to measure pants?  (The waistband should fit comfortably around your arm from your elbow to your fist.)  There is also the issue of buying someone else's used clothes.  They will be dirty.  You will need to wash them a few times.  And they probably won't ever fit you just right.  But at the end of the day, it is a way better deal than buying clothes from a store here and oftentimes gabis actually have higher quality clothes.  For roughly $5 I can find a used pair of Levis at the gabi while a new pair of Albanian jeans is easily $20 and will wear out in a month or two.  For us PCVs, gabis are the only way to go.

Well now you're tour of the Gramsh Market is complete!  I hope you enjoyed it and that I was able to do it justice.  And hey if you're ever in the area on a Wednesday of Saturday, come on by!  I'll take you to experience it first hand.

How Stuff Works: Gramsh Market, Part 1

I recently saw this idea on another PCV's blog and thought it might be fun to try.  I realize that so far I've focused more on my personal experiences, telling stories about the adventures I've had or projects I've worked on, but I haven't talked to much about how life works here in Gramsh.  I guess that since I live here now the every day things don't seem that different to me, thus I haven't felt the need to share them.  But with my mom's recent visit I realized that it is these little things that make my life here SO different from my life in the states.  From now on I'll try to post one of these once a month in an attempt to explain the everyday.

For now lets begin with my favorite days of the week...market days!!  Every Wednesday and Saturday I wake up to a Gramsh that looks completely different.  People are out on the streets, cars are everywhere and there are some extra donkeys walking by my window.  As the regional hub, Gramsh has the biggest market and villagers come from as far as an hour away just to sell their crops, buy food for the week or socialize.  The market is divided into two main sections, one for food and one for clothes.

Lets begin with food!  The food area is divided into two as well, an open area for fruits and veggies and a covered building for eggs, spices and dairy.  We'll assume that you're approaching the market from the town center (thats how you get there from my house), in which case you'll enter the covered egg and dairy section first.  I like to think of this area as the light version of the market.  It is always less hectic, less crowded and less noisy.

NOTE: People don't usually stare at you with a "What in the world are you doing?" look at the market unless you're like me and snapping pictures of them.

Here is your standard egg stand.

Thats right...there is a room of cheese, just cheese.

If you follow the light at the end of the tunnel, you'll be taken to my own personal heaven here in Gramsh...the fruits and vegetables.  Now I am lucky enough to come from a town that loves its Farmers Market, but the market here still blows me away every time.  Between the vendors set up on the cement tables in the center and those who simply set up shop on the ground, there are easily 40-50 different stands to choose from.  It is definitely more crowded and hectic than the inside area but don't be intimidated.  I like to begin by taking a lap around the area to check out prices and who has the best looking goods, although I've recently chosen an onion guy who I always buy my onions from.  I find that if you always go back to the same vendors, they throw in a little extra after you've paid.  (Free food!!)

This is what it'll look like from the outskirts.  Just be careful not to
accidentally step on anyone's stand.

A typical stand in the center area.

An example of one of the makeshift stands around the outside.

Now you're probably wondering how one goes about actually buying things here.  

Step 1: Work up the courage to actually approach a stand. (I typically have to do a lap around the market before I get to this point so don't be ashamed.)

Step 2: Make small talk with the seller.  Asking questions about what village they're from, when whatever they're selling came into season or the always trust worthy, tell me about your kids work.

Step 3: If there is no makeshift sign by whatever you're looking to buy letting you know the price, ask!

Step 4: Tell them how much you want. (Warning: Anything less than a kilo will get you a "you must be crazy" look.)

Step 5: Fill the standard blue plastic bag that they hand you with however much you think you want.

Step 6: Watch as they weigh your purchase and probably through in a few more because obviously you meant to buy more than 5 apples even though you live alone.

Step 7: Pay. And you're done.

As for prices, an egg will cost you either 9 or 10 leke or $0.10 and a 1/4 kilo of white cheese (think of feta) will be around 250 leke or $2.50.  Fruits and vegetables change with the seasons but on my most recent trip I got a kilo of onions for 40 leke, a kilo of apples for 50 leke and a kilo of cucumbers for 50 leke all for a total of 140 leke or $1.40.  Tomatoes right now will cost you 80-100 leke or around $1 for a kilo but earlier in the summer they were down to 60 leke or an amazing $0.60. As you can see, with prices like that there is no excuse not to eat fresh produce at most meals, especially when you live off of $5.00 a day.

In an effort to not scare you away with how long this post is and to get around my slow internet, check out part 2 for the clothes!

Pictures from August

Just a collection of random photos from August...enjoy!

The temperature inside my house hovered at around 90 degrees for
the month of August.  Even the candles in my house started melting.

GAD Committee Campout

Reservoir near Voskopoje. Not a bad view to wake up to if you ask me. 

Trying honey raki in Korce.

THOR!!

This month Albania has suffered from the worst wildfires in modern memory.  This photo was taken of the fire along the hillside opposite of Gramsh.  

Brownies and Cootie Catchers

This summer I've been holding an English Summer Course every Wednesday for middle school and high school students.  There have been three girls who have come to class every single week so to celebrate the end of the summer, I invited them over to my house to learn how to make Brownies and watch a movie.  Even though the main purpose of our meeting was fun, I still wanted to make it educational.  Luckily, recipes are a perfect way to practice commands.  So as each girl took turns following the steps I read aloud, the others wrote down my directions thereby making their own copy of the recipe to take home.

I'm a big believer in the idea that when learning a language it is just as important to learn about the culture as it is to learn grammar.  My whole summer course has been focused around this idea, with each lesson using themes like the 4th of July and American pop music to learn different language concepts.  So adding a lesson on American food seemed like a natural choice, especially since Albanians are always curious about what we eat in America.  And lets be honest...who doesn't love an excuse to eat Brownies for lunch!

My little bakers.

Most important step...licking the bowl!

Once the brownies were in the oven, we all sat down and watched Thor together.  Sorry to report Dad but I don't think the story translates into Shqip very well.  One of the girls saw the Cootie Catcher I made last week when the power was out and they were hooked instantly.  (By the way explaining the concept of Cooties is surprisingly difficult.  It also makes you realize how weird we were as kids.)  By the end of the day, I had a new friendship bracelet, 4 Cootie Catchers, and some new wall decorations.

Cootie Catchers!

Our finished product.

Some samplings of the art they made me to add to my
wall decorations.

I'm not quite sure if this is quite what the Peace Corps had in mind when they thought of PCVs sharing American culture but I couldn't imagine a better way to spend a hot summer day.  Plus I'm secretly hoping for the day that I'll pass kids playing on the street and overhear them yelling, "Ew, you have cooties!"

Wedding Season

August in Albania is reserved for weddings, and Gramsh has not disappointed so far.  I'm going to save a more detailed explanation of Albanian wedding traditions until I myself experience one in full but for now I'll provide a small glimpse into wedding season.

During PST I was lucky enough to experience many an Albanian wedding as my host family lived directly above their Lokal.  I learned quickly that Albanian weddings include a lot of circle dancing, a lot of clarinet, tons of meat, some fireworks and the occasional celebratory gun shot.

Here in Gramsh I've gotten to witness the pre-wedding festivities as well.  It is tradition for the families of those getting married to throw parties in the street on the days leading up to the wedding in order for the family and neighborhood to celebrate.  Depending on the family and their wealth, these can range from one night to up to 3 or 4 nights in a row.

This past week, a boy on the first floor of my apartment got married and the celebration was like nothing I've ever seen before.  The entire apartment entrance was decorated in streamers and balloons starting on Sunday.  On Monday and Tuesday night, from around 9 PM - 3 AM there was circle dancing and music on the street.  Wednesday night the celebration was taken to a Lokal but there was one last dance on the street when they returned home from the party.  Thursday was wedding day, so the neighborhood got going early with the music starting at 9 AM when the groom left to go pick up his bride.  They then drove around Gramsh in a caravan of cars honking their horns, until they returned to the apartment and the groom's family had one last dance around the couple.  From there their caravan departed again and the party continued throughout the night at the Lokal.

I myself only joined the party on Tuesday night, when my friend Anna and I decided to dance (yes I circle danced and no I did not make a fool of myself, at least not too much) but it was great just to be able to sit on my balcony and watch the party from above.  The video above is from Monday night.  So urime to the happy couple.  Thanks for letting me experience my first full wedding celebration!

Ballin' in Burrel

I spent this past week visiting my friend and fellow PCV Lenae up in Burrel.  Burrel is a small town up in the middle of the north of Albania about a 7 hour trip from Gramsh but it was worth every minute on the furgon to see all the amazing things the volunteers up there have going on.

The main reason I went up to Burrel (other than the promise of chicken fajitas) was to volunteer at Lenae's basketball camp.  She had planned a week long basketball camp for girls with supplies and balls donated from her friends and family back home and one very generous college basketball team.  So off course when I got her email asking for volunteers to come up and help my immediate response was yes.

Now I guess this is the moment I should be honest and say that while I love watching basketball and talking about basketball, my basketball skills probably peaked when I was in the 6th grade.  But my dad had been reading me bed time stories about basketball since I was a little kid and all those years of being a Kings fan couldn't go to waste.  This was my opportunity!

I'm sure you're expecting me to sit here and tell you about how I schooled everyone on the court and am now entertaining various NBA contracts, but instead you're just going to have to settle for my account of a good ole fashioned week at basketball camp.

We had on average 40 girls every day, split into 4 teams based on age.  We focused on a new skill everyday: dribbling on Monday, shooting on Tuesday, passing on Wednesday, defense on Thursday and fun on Friday.  I was in charge of the morning warm up and stretching.  Despite my lack of neon spandex, I still tried to channel Richard Simmons to the best of my ability.  After a warm up and ball handling drills, we split into stations and each team rotated to a different volunteer.  Then we would play basketball games like Queen of the Court or Knockout and the older girls would move on to games of 5 on 5.

I know it all sounds very simple but I have to say I've never been more impressed by my fellow volunteers.  First of all, the organization and planning that it took to pull of this camp was amazing.  Second, the patience and forethought it took to think of ways to explain basketball to girls who had never seen a game cannot be overstated.  And last but not least, the Shqip skills and energy from everyone involved was mind-blowing.

It is no simple task to hold a camp in a foreign language and as much credit as the volunteers deserve, the girls who participated deserve even more.  Thank you for sitting there while we tried to figure out how to say things in Shqip.  Thank you for trusting us enough to dribble around the court blind folded within 30 minutes of meeting us.  And most of all, thank you for not laughing too hard at my lack of flexibility during warm ups.

Just to prove that yes they really did dribble blindfolded.  And no I
did not let them crash into anything.  PS-Thank you Lindita and Zana
for teaching me directions during PST.

Team meeting with Lela and Kuqe.  I guess I finally see
why everyone here thinks I'm Shqiptare.

Lenae showing off her sitting down dance skillz.

Me and some of the younger girls after the last day.

Me and Tu pac, Lil Wayne and Kayce.

Team Lela and Kuqe.  Miss these girls!

And since you made it all the way to the end, I'll share a story with you.  When we were deciding the colors for the different teams, it seemed simple just to choose the colors we already had yarn for.  But what we didn't think about is that in Shqip, purple is lela.  Now it seems like a simple enough word but here is a fun fact for you, Shqip has two different l's.  There is the single 'l' and the double 'll'.  These two letters are the bain of every PCV in Albania's existence.  Now they claim that there is a large difference and from time to time, I can hear it but never in my life have I been successfully able to distinguish between the two when speaking.  So while I was really excited to be team leader for Ekipi Lela, it wasn't until the first day when I was trying to call my team over that I realized what I had gotten myself into.  So while they were learning how to dribble and pass, I was learning how to say lela.  After the first day, I understood that I was saying it wrong.  After the second day, I could say the first l correctly.  After the third day I could say it but only if I said it really quietly (not too helpful on a basketball court).  But by the final day, I am proud to say that I mastered how to say lela.  It was such a running joke among the girls on my team that on the last day when we sat down as a group to go over what we all had learned during the camp, one of the girls immediately jumped in and answered, Jen learned to say Lela!  I think lela might just be my new favorite Shqip word.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  It was brought to my attention today by one of the girls from the camp that Lela is in fact spelled Lejla.  I thought about correcting it in this post but instead here is a more accurate view of my life here in Albania.  Just when I think I've got it all right, something new comes along.

Pictures from July

Sometimes pictures say it better than any of my stories could.  Here is a collection of some that I took over the past month.  Enjoy!

This little guy hung out on my balcony for a few days.  

A collection from the absolutely AMAZING 3 care packages my FANTASTIC family
sent me.  Mom, Dad and Nick you are the best ever!

My middle school summer English class learning how to have a watermelon seed
spitting contest for the 4th of July.

July 10th was the anniversary of Gramsh's liberation from Nazi control.
There were banners and flags all around the main street.

To celebrate, there was a memorial service during the day and a concert on
the square at night.  Here are some men dressed in traditional costumes singing.

An interesting plant on a hike.

Its not everyday that you get to see donkeys and mules hanging out.
It is everyday that I hear them walking down the street outside my apartment.

The grapes that I got from the family I visited.  In the background
you can see my makeshift candle-holder aka wine bottle and book shelf.