The news today is that another trainee announced he was resigning and going home. He has a girlfriend in the states just like the other trainee that resigned and he decided the relationship is too important to give up. I wish him the best of luck. If you are counting, we started with 27 and are now down to 24.

Yesterday the three of us trainees in Belsh were able to facilitate a meeting with the members of the high school government and other interested students. I helped take them through a problem identification process in order to help them generate ideas for what kind of issues they would like to address as we help them during our community project. We have no direct money available for the project, so their top two concerns of new computers and equipment for their "chemistry lab" will have to be saved for another day. Thursday we are having another meeting for all who are interested in helping compose a school newspaper. It was one of the ideas they suggested and it really seems doable, with a little help from the PC office. We might also try to organize some money-making activities so that we can work to improve the school grounds. I will try to take some pictures and post them so that you can see the conditions these kids learn in everyday.

I'm glad that many of you wrote and told me that you saw the pictures I posted. I will try to post more in the near future.

On a closing note, I was able to enjoy calf intestines and stomach for dinner the other night. I didn't want to offend my family, so I told them that I didn't really like the stomach and I like the intestines, so they took away the stomach and gave me more intestines. Kind of backfired on me. I can't complain though. The food here has been better than I expected.

Life so far

4/04/05

Time has been really slow here so far. Just language classes from 8-1 and then spending the rest of the day playing soccer, reading, or just listening to people talk shqip. Soon my group here in Belsh will have to begin working on our community project, so that will fill some of the extra time. One interesting thing has happened, though. On Saturday my host parents’ son returned home unexpectedly from Italy. He had spent four years working in the U.K. so he is mostly fluent in English. Talking to him has really given me insight into the immigrant culture that exists here. Most young men have their aspirations set on moving abroad and finding work. Mostly because there seems to be little available work here or opportunities for furthering education, but also in order to help support their families. I make this assumption from my limited perspective, but it will be an interesting issue to explore as I continue to spend more time here. I think I read before I came here that something like 30% of Albania’s annual national income comes from foreign remittances.

Other than that, the food has been good, the people are nice, and the land is beautiful (except for all of the trash), so I really can’t complain.



4/07/05

So, here is my typical day, and I have a feeling this routine will persist throughout training.

6:50 Get up. If there is hot water, I’ll take a shower, if not I won’t. Showers happen about every third day.

7:20 Eat breakfast with the family. Usually bread with jelly and butter, an egg, and Turkish coffee.

7:40 Walk a mile to school

8:00-10:30 Language class

10:30-11:00 Coffee break at the local café

11:00-1:00 Language class

1:30-2:30 Lunch at the local café. Usually chicken soup and bread or maybe pasta.

Walk back to my house

The rest of the afternoon I spend studying, reading a book, playing soccer on the road, trying to communicate with my family, and just hanging out
8:00 Eat dinner with the family. Always bread, usually either soup, fish, or grilled meat. Always olives, cucumbers, onions, yoghurt or whole milk. The food here is actually pretty good, and I haven’t gone hungry so far.

9:00-10:30 Hang out. Play dominoes.

11:00 Go to bed

I think I am finally getting over my homesickness. Homesickness is kind of a funny thing when you think about it. When I was at home in the States, I couldn’t wait to get to Albania and experience life here. Once I got here, I found myself wishing that I was back home in the States. It seems that no matter where I am, I’m wanting to be somewhere else. I didn’t really understand how long two years and three months is until I got here. I still miss home and my family, but in the past couple of days I have begun to get into the flow of a routine and I am starting to feel more comfortable with my host family and my community. My language is progressing well too. Walking home from school just now I was able to sustain a conversation with a boy from my neighborhood for about 10 minutes. Of course, the subjects were limited and I had to avoid the past tense, but he seemed to understand what I was trying to say.

Tomorrow all of the volunteers will be meeting again in Elbasan for group training sessions. We have training from 8-5, so it is a pretty long day with a lot of dry material, but it will be good to see the other volunteers, hear their stories and commiserate a little bit.

I am trying to post the pictures I have taken on the web, but I need a photo website that lets you upload your pictures without downloading a program. If anybody knows of any I would appreciate your suggestions. Once I get the pictures posted I will make sure and publish the link.

4/11/05

Today was an interesting day. The big news this morning was that one of the volunteers living with me in Belsh decided to return to the states. I’m sad that he is going. I’ve only known the other volunteers for about three weeks, but I already feel close to them. Mostly just because of all the shared experiences we have had during these three weeks. I know it was a tough decision for him, and I wish him nothing but the best for the future. It will be weird though not having him around.

Still haven’t quite adjusted to the lack of privacy and time alone. There always seems to be something going on, and many of the kids in my host family want to hang out all the time. They finish school at 1pm and then they are bored and looking for something to do, and currently I am the choice for entertainment. I think the novelty of my presence might fade soon and hopefully that will help a little. I just need to appreciate the attention and celebrity because I might miss it when it is gone.

Belsh

Sunday I moved in with my host family in Belsh. I am living with a couple who live by themselves named Nezir and Gushe Tafali. They have two older children who no longer live at home. Nezir is one of six brothers, though, who all live next door to each other, so there is a constant flow of people through the house. The first night was a little stressing because I think my family didn't really believe that I didn't speak Albanian. I think they thought that I was just mentally slow. Every day I am understanding more of what they are saying because we are all getting better at finding new techniques besides words to get our points across. It is kind of frustrating not being able to really talk to the family and get their whole story, though.

Belsh is nice. It is a small town placed around a small lake. Lots of cafes where the men sit and drink raki (local moonshine) and turkish coffee. Belsh has a big trash problem just like the rest of Albania, but it doesn't detract too much from the charm.

We have officially started our training, which consists of daily language classes, cultural training, safety and medical training, and culminates in the completion of a community project. It's hard to find time to do all that PC asks us to do because the family is always wanting to sit and chat and besides there are better things to than study.