Berat and Vomit

It has been a while since i have written anything here. I try to write something at least once a week, but I haven't found the time lately. Just got back today from a conference in Berat. Berat is in the south-central area of the coutry and is really a good city to visit. They have one of the best preserved castles and "old town" in Albania. Anyway, the conference was for my group of volunteers and it was basically just a follow-up language training for 4 days. It was good to see everyone, some of whom I hadn't seen since June. And we were all able to celebrate Halloween together, which made for some very interesting moments. Some of which included shirtless bumper cars. The less said the better.

One good thing that came out of the conference was that I was elected by my group to be one of three representitives on the Volunteer Adivisory Committee. This is the committee that is the conduit for volunteers to express their problems and concerns to the staff in an official manner. And the VAC works with the PC staff to work for solutions to the problems. We had our first meeting in Berat and it went fairly well. We had a rather delicate issue that we needed to address with the Country Director and I think it was all handled in a professional manner and that hopefully we will see some positive changes soon.

The other thing I really noticed this weekend is how easily Albanians become car sick. It is not uncommon here on the mountain roads for people to get sick, and I never really found that to be too unusual. But coming back from Berat to Durres today, I couldn't believe the number of people that got sick. And the road from Berat is relatively smooth and straight. The only thing I can attribute it too is that most of the people here haven't grown up in a "car" culture like Americans have. From the day that we are driven home from the hospital, a large portion of our lives is spent in the car. And most people here just don't experience that, so I guess their inner ears just aren't as used to movement as American's.

It's getting a little chilly outside. Today I was forced to break out the wool socks and my coat. Luckily the constant rains that accompany winter here haven't started quite yet. It's nice to be able to walk around and not break a sweat everywhere I go, like during Summer, but I think the cold is going to get a little old too. I don't have any heating in my house and my nose already gets cold while I'm on my couch reading. Oh well. I'll just pretend I'm in Alaska or something.

The weekend was good. I went to Elbasan for a volunteer's birthday and we had a good time. From there I had to go up to Tirana for a training on being a warden. We have a emergency plan for Peace Corps and because I live in a city with quick access to Italy by way of ferries, I am going to be one of the consolidation points if we have to evacuate the country for some reason. The training was rather boring, but it was fun being in Tirana with a bunch of the other volunteers. Plus PC gave a per diem and paid for our hotel rooms. That really helped to cut down on the costs. Tirana can be expensive on a PC volunteer budget.

The weekend was a little sad too, as I found out that one of the volunteers in my group has to go home because of medical reasons. She had been sticking it out, but they found out her situation is worse than they thought, so she is going home. It's always sad to lose someone, and now we are down to 22 from 27. Also, my friend who is a volunteer in the Repulic of Georgia had to go back to Washington for medical reasons, and may not be able to recover in time to continue service. To both of you, if you read this I wish you speedy recoveries.

Work is the same. Nothing to say there.

Ok, happy birthday in a couple days to my sister-in-law Staci.

Business

Small business is alive and well in Albania. And by 'small', I mean small.

Food shopping for me, usually involves a trip to the fruit and vegetable market. Imagine a crowd leaving the stadium after a college football game, add stands with fruits and vegetables, and that is basically what this market is like. Loud, crowded, and lots of produce. The interesting thing for me though is the number of vendors. The market has easily over 100 different people selling produce. Some stands specialize in cucumbers and other olives. All are very small, individual and family businesses.

After my last trip to the market, I stopped to buy some meat at a different store. While telling the girl behind the counter that I would like some chicken and beef, I noticed that there were some eggs for sale on the counter to my left. I inquired about buying some eggs and the girl told me that wasn't her part of the store, and I would have to pay for the eggs separately. This was fine by me, but you have to understand that this store is maybe 15 feet by 15 feet, so for two separate business to coexist there seemed a little wierd to me.

But then I started thinking about it. About how much I really enjoy small shops. I enjoy that I can get to know the guy that runs the food shop by my house. That I know that he will be there every day, and that getting to know him isn't a wasted effort. Small, family businesses create community here. Something that I think America has been losing while being swallowed up by big-box retail stores. I understand the value of economies of scale and there are certainly positives that come with Walmarts and Costcos, like low prices and convenience.

The more I think about it, though, the more I begin to think how quickly I would trade the convenience of buying my groceries and oil filters in the same store for a little more community and the existence of true neighborhood commerce in America.

I don't claim to have the answer, but I fear that with the status corporations have achieved in America that era may well be past us as a nation. I wonder if Americans would be willing to pay slightly higher prices and trim a little convenience, if it meant more community. I would hope so, but I don't really know. Everything in America seems to be about time, efficiency, and price. And corporations have resoundingly met those needs, but at what cost?

Pictures

I put up a couple of new pictures on my Yahoo! pictures page. Mostly of our new youth project group.

Oppression

Every once in a while here I have what I call moments of understanding. Trying to live in and understand another culture is basically impossible because I will always be an outsider to life here. There are random moments though, and I never really know when they are going to come, when I feel I gain a new understanding of the people around me.

The latest moment happened in church on Sunday. I was trying to concentrate on what was being said, which is always difficult since it is all Albanian, but I started looking at this elderly couple in front of me. Looking at them, I realized what a gift true freedom is. For the majority this couple's lives churches didn't even exist in their city, and any public or private expression of faith was punishable by imprisonment or exile.

It made me start to think about how closed this country truly was just 15 years before. Everyone had to consider everyone else, family and neighbors included, as potential spies that could report them to the Party. They had to think about everything they said beforehand out of fear of saying something unacceptable. Communism had even taken away the freedom to have a dissenting opinion.

I feel like I know all of the facts about the period of oppression here, but I don't really understand them. I guess I never will because I didn't live through it, but hopefully more moments of understanding will be quick to come.

On a lighter note, another quasi-funny story. The process of learning Albanian has created several embarassing moments, so I have kind of gotten used to it, seeing as how they still happen regularly. On Saturday, I was at a project planning training for youth, and the kids asked me why I wasn't married. I was trying to make a joke, which isn't a good idea when you don't fully understand the grammar of the language. I wanted to say "Girls don't like me." So I said "Gocat nuk me pelqen." But when they all laughed and one girl looked at me with wide eyes and said "Homo?" that I realize I had actually told them "Girls are not liked by me." Which here means "I don't like girls." It took some explaining but I think they understand what happened. No more making jokes for a while.