From Albania, with Love

From Albania with Love

Hello fellow adventurers,

My first official post since I have arrived in Albania. Where to begin?!

The trip to Albania, or Shqiperia as they call it, was interesting. Before we left the United States, it is customary for Peace Corps volunteers to meet for what they call 'staging.' This is basically an orientation to the Peace Corps, a nice way to meet our fellow volunteers, and also a way to gather us all together to ship us all off to Albania together. And that we did! The training was held in Washington, DC which allowed me a bit of time to get over jet lag, before the ultimate time differential of Eastern Europe. Upon arrival, I met my first Peace Corps peer and hotel roomie Steve and we shared stories of home and about how we came to join the Peace Corps. The next day at staging I met more volunteers from Group 17 and got to hear their stories as well. We did our orientation, got our passports and tickets, and were ready to go!

Ever since I left San Francisco, time seemed to move at a strangely brisk pace. With so much information to pack in our eager brains, there was not much time to fully appreciate the gravity of our endeavor, and let's just say that this endeavor had been a dream of mine since I was 12. That was 20 years ago! Needless to say, the experience from then on was surreal. It was actually happening.

My fellow PCV's - Steve, Alayna, and Quinn

After leaving  the hotel in Washington, DC, we boarded a bus with all of our gear. We all took extra care to ensure our bags were under the 50 lbs. weight limit, and that our other bags were of sufficient dimensions as to be considered for carry-on. So as we filed in the bus, we had finally felt the weight of our decision. This was happening, and was to happen very soon. After boarding our flight to Vienna, I realized all too soon that the short flight had left us in Vienna, Austria in the morning, although my body still felt like it was the previous night. Many of my peers were in similar states of stupor and couldn't sleep on the plane or at the airport in Vienna, which left us to head on to our connecting flight into Tirana, Albania without sleep for over 24 hours. But we braved it on, with excitement, hope and $6 Austrian water in our system.

Our arrival in Tirana was met with several Peace Corps staff who greeted us and escorted us to our hotel for orientation in the city of Elbasan. We had waiting in our rooms a medical kit and language learning workbooks to get us started on our studies. At dinner the mayor of Elbasan came by to talk about the city and to welcome us to it. I got a chance to chat with more of my PCV's (Peace Corps Volunteers) which is a lot of fun. Everyone here has been quite nice and it has been fun to find out more about where they all come from, what they did before joining PC, and why they decided to join. I found that I had a lot in common with many of them, and that I also enjoyed hearing about their unique perspectives.

Making lots of friends!

Even though we don't know each other that well yet, my fellow PCV's have been really awesome friends to me. Maybe it's instinct, or maybe an inherent sense of camaraderie, but whatever the case may be, I felt like they had my back, and I knew that I had theirs too. We are in this together, and together we can make this experience (and especially the transition) a little bit easier. Even though I am so far from home, I have not felt alone, and for that I am truly grateful.

Coffee is coffee, but coffee is not always coffee...

Training has been going well. We have had several days of language classes, as well as cultural lessons, and lessons focused on our specific sector - Health, Teaching English, and Development. I feel like I am making progress regarding language learning, although it is quite intense. After three days of Orientation, we were moved to our host family, to live with them for the next 3 months or so. I wasn't sure what to expect. They did mention that the host family may not know any English (!), and that communication in the first couple days may be extremely difficult. To be honest, I was pretty nervous about meeting them. But my teachers assured me that they were also probably just as nervous to meet me! The host families live in areas around our "Hub" city of Elbasan, thus I didn't expect my village to have much in the way of marketplace and other luxuries one would enjoy in city life.

The view from my bedroom balcony - Good morning Albania!

When I arrived in my village, I met my host family, and was taken in with kindness immediately. My family here operates an internet cafe out of their home, which is pretty cool. My host dad makes an awesome cup of Espresso! In Albania, there is a coffee culture. One may chat over coffee for many reasons. When my host father invited me to have a cup with him, I cheerfully accepted his offer. I love this country already!

Later that day my host mother offered me a piece of  the Ballakume, a special cake made for Spring Day, an Albanian tradition to celebrate the coming of Spring. Typically children collect ballakume, nuts, and other goodies from neighbors during this special day. I was honored with the last piece! There is a lot more to this tradition - Read More Here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Day )

My host sister is studying to become a nurse in school and speaks English rather well. She has become the default translator for the family, as my host parents speak only Shqip (Albanian). My host brother loves computers and is studying programming. He walked me around town and we chatted for a bit about life out in Albania. Although he speaks some English, we had a language barrier between us to overcome, but through gestures, and laughs, we managed to converse successfully. It is amazing how much you can communicate even without speaking. He often reminds me to walk slowly "avash, avash" he would say as we make our way down the road. That's how we do things here. Xhiro slowly, and don't rush the walk. I like it and so I shall. Avash. Avash. He asked me today why Americans do things so fast, to which I honestly replied "I don't know."

My host family's house is nice too. I still marvel at the peaceful nature of this place. In the morning I hear the sheep bleating, roosters crowning, and occasionally a donkey braying. It reminds me that I am part of nature and I feel it. For breakfast we had fresh milk from the neighbors cow. I have never had fresh milk before. What a treat! It tasted great. Like store-bought, but less sweet, more savory. I also had fresh feta cheese. Yum!! And eggs which came from the hens that live in the backyard!

My first week in Albania has been a great one, and although I do feel so far away from the home I have known for 32 years, I do feel the love here as well, and am keeping spirits high. Stay tuned. This is going to be quite an adventure.

Mirupafshim!

Jon