Imaginary Suffering

When I signed up to be a Peace Corps volunteer and made my way to Albania, I expected to encounter the difficulties that come from living in a developing country. The difficulties were part of the reason of why I signed up. I wanted to be challenged, stretched, to find the real me, the side of me that is only exposed when I have to face adversity. Well, today was perhaps the most challenging day of my service so far, and I have to say that the adversity kept piling up and while at times I thought I might crack under the pressure, I was very proud of myself for perservering.

First, I managed to pull myself out of bed at 8:30 so that I could get to Tirana by 10:00 to meet some friends for breakfast. After pancakes and omlettes we were planning to go to the movie theater and see the "Da Vinci Code". We had been waiting two whole weeks for this movie to come to Albania and finally it had made it here. Just our luck, though, the movie is sold out. Not just for the 12:30 show, but for the whole weekend! "No problem", I thought. I'll just head to the office and get some work done on the internet. I make the 20 minute walk to the office, sit down at the computer, and, dang it, the internet is down!! At this point the adversities are starting to pile up and I am really beginning to see the "true me". After hanging out at the office a while, sans connection, we decide to make our way to the block to have some chicken wings. We get to the restaurant, find a prime table, and decide on a 20 piece basket. My mouth had already been watering for about 5 minutes when the waiter comes and, yep, you guessed it, they are out of wings!!! At this point I am really thinking about catching the next flight back to the States. I mean I expected Peace Corps to have some challenges, but no movie, internet, and wings all in the same day! That's too much even for me. The only way I could think of calming down was to head over and get some Chinese food. Nothing puts me in a better mood than an order of curry chicken. Anyway, I am happy to say that I have perservered and that I do feel like I have been changed a little today. I know that the next time I have to face a day like today I will be better prepared.