August 30, 2005

Abandoned Hospital




Life is proceeding normally. Just finished another book yesterday. It was called "White Teeth". Pretty good, I think I would recommend it.

Anyway, I am in Tirana today to do some work on the computers at the office. Tuesdays are a good day to come because the office isn't full of volunteers like on the weekends. I've started trying to gather some information on an abandoned hospital in Keneta. So far what I have been able to find out is that it was built back in the mid 90s through help from the Internationl Lions Club and has been closed for about 5 years now. I have been emailing the European project director at Lions Club and she has been helpful in getting more info. According to their records, the hospital was still operating so I think they were kind of surprised to here of its current state. I just emailed some pictures of the property to her to see what else she can tell me.

The hospital occupies some prime real estate in the neighborhood and I would really like to see the property and the building used for something beneficial to the neighborhood rather than just another eyesore. Perhaps a community center or something. We'll see.

The Co-Plan office reopens in a couple of days, so I am trying to compose a list of project ideas that I would like to work on and then I am going to sit down with my boss and talk them over. Hopefully they will be supportive. I am also hoping that there will be a little more work activity at the office in the fall, but with all the coming turnover in personnel, it could be an interesting time.

August 22, 2005

Back in Durres

Finally got back to Durres this afternoon after traveling down South for the last week. I left on Tuesday and went down to Erseke to see Jimmy and Janette. Janette put me to work at the municipality helping her layout a tourism brochure they are working on. Erseke is actually the highest elevated city in Albania, so it was a real break to get out of the heat and dust of Durres and up into the cooler mountains. Thursday I went down to Permet and stayed the night there with Peter. Poor guy doesn't have a kitchen sink in his apartment and has to use the bathroom sink for everything. Plus he has a turkish toilet. Martyr for the cause I guess.

Peter and I went down to Saranda on Friday to see Paul. Saranda is the best beach town in Albania, but you still have to get away from the city to find a really good beach. So the three of us decided to hike from the city over to a bay Club Med is trying to purchase to develop a new resort. We set out thinking the hike would take 4 hours, but the lack of a good map and a couple of steep slopes turned it into a 7 hour hike. Needless to say we were pretty out of it when we got to the beach. The beach was absolutely beautiful though, and worth the effort.

After setting up camp and swimming, we were sitting at the camp site when a shepard came up and started a conversation with. Because he figured we were tourists, after a couple of minutes he asked us if we had any extra money that we could give him. We weren't really bothered by him asking, as it is kind of a common occurance here. But after we convinced him that we didn't have any extra money, he asked us if he could have some of our shirts. I told him my shirt was all smelly and dirty, but he just told me to wash it in the ocean and give it to him. We tried to tell him that the clothes that we had on were the only clothes we had, but he was insistent. After about 15 minutes of discussion, he finally accepted that we really didn't have any clothes that we could part with. Needless to say, we slept with all of our stuff cause we were afraid he might come back and just help himself. Just another weird story from Albania I guess.

I posted some pictures from our hike, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the shepard.

August 13, 2005

Weekend

It's been a good weekend. My friend Peter has come up from Permet and has been staying with me in Durres, and the other volunteer from my group in Durres, Katharine, her parents are visiting on their way back to Nairobi, where they live. It was nice to meet them, and they paid for a lunch on Friday which is always appreciated on the Peace Corps budget.

Last night Peter and I decided to go to Tirana about 7 pm to see some people that had come up for the weekend. So we went knowing that we wouldn't have a place to stay for the night. So long story short we stayed up the whole night in Tirana doing what it is that 20 somethings do in Tirana. Mainly dance at bars and clubs and talk to people. It was a good time, but we were a little out of it come the morning. We were able to go the Peace Corps office about 10 am and sleep a little bit there. We have come back for Durres for tonight, and tomorrow will be very low key I'm sure.

One weird story from the night is that we went to get coffee about 6:30 am, and right when we sat down, a kid outside ran his moped into a big trash bin. He didn't get hurt and it was pretty funny. Immediately after this, a drunk guy in the cafe with his shirt off and bandages all around his stomach came up to us and started yelling at us. According to him, he had been stabbed in the butt and shot in the side, but who really knows. I don't remember the entire conversation but it was really quite weird. Then we saw a guy that looked just like Abe Vagoda. And had other adventures.

Tuesday I am leaving to go to Erseke to help a volunteer that works there with the local gov't work on some tourism promotion brochures. After that I am probably going to go over to Permet and then make my way back up the coast from Saranda to Vlore to Durres. Plenty of beach time. Co-Plan doesn't reopen until Sept, so nothing really going on here until then. Might as well get outta town while I can.

New Pictures

I've posted some new pictures on my yahoo photos page. A previous entry tells where to go and how to get in.

Things are good. I'll try to write more later.

August 03, 2005

Cynicism

I don't know if you can tell from some of my previous posts, but I have progressed passed the honeymoon stage of cultural adapation, and I am now well into the judgmental/cynical phase. So forgive my if my posts seem hypercritical of Albania and Albanians. That's just kind of what I am feeling right now. Some of the criticism is deserved, but most of it is probably just my clouded perspective.

Taught English again today. I'm starting to enjoy it more now. Mostly because time has weeded out the kids that would come just for something to do and not to really learn English. So the kids that come still are really interested in learning, so that makes the process easier and more enjoyable. I am still really looking for something to get involved in around here other than teaching two days a week. I should be probably making more of an effort, but it is unbearably hot here now and so no one is really out and about until the evening. Guess I'll just have to wait until fall.

My friend did suggest an idea that I come down to her town in the South and give a training on Photoshop to people in the local government where she works. That would be fun to do, so I hope she is able to work it out. Plus I am trying to get PC to buy me a manual on AutoCad so I can learn that program better. Co-Plan uses it quite a bit for mapping and other reasons, so I could probably help out more if I was more accomplished with the program.

Still haven't found a potential Albanian wife yet. But the pressure continues from verious Albanian acquaintances. I just keep saying "kismet" (fate) and that seems to satisfy them for a while.