David in Albania

Sky Mall Catalog

2007-01-17T20:45:00.000+01:00

I flew out to Portland last week to apartment hunt. My impression of the city was really favorable, so I am getting excited about the move.

My cultural readjustment is progressing steadily. My little brother has shown me that I am really behind on trends on the internet, and it is going to take a while to catch up on all the movies I haven't seen.

On the flight home from Portland, I was flipping through the Sky Mall Catalog (always good for killing about 20 minutes). I found a product I liked.

Automatic Cereal Dispenser
With the automatic Breakfix Cereal Dispenser, fixing the day's first meal will never again be a messy, time consuming chore. Breafix uses the same principles as a coffee-maker, dispensing pre-measured portions of cereal with a touch of a button - no mess, no fuss. Controlled portions also help to keep pounds off. Looks great in your kitchen and cleans in a snap. A healthy gift for the whole family - the kids will love it! Only $79.99!

I do agree that making cereal is a "time consuming chore", but I feel sorry for the person that hasn't yet figured out how to pour cereal in a bowl. I don't know about the weight loss claims, though. Couldn't you just get a big bowl and push the button twice?

Back in the USSA

2007-01-08T23:02:00.000+01:00

Well, I am back in Kansas. I have waited about a week to write anything on here just because the whole readjustment was a bit strange at first. Over the past couple of days I have finally started to feel comfortable here again.

I am still not quite used to all the TV channels. So many channels and nothing to watch. There was a show on the other day called "101 Things That Have Been Removed From the Human Body". I caught it at #45, which was a Matchbox Racing Car. It also seems that anyone that is either emotionally disturbed or a complete idoit has his/her own reality show now. Watching basketball and football has been nice, though.

Wednesday I am flying out to Portland to look for an apartment and then I will come back here on Sunday. Right now I am planning on driving out there later this month, but that still seems a ways off.

Now you've gone and done it

2006-12-23T16:10:00.000+01:00

Mirupafshim Shqiperi

Thursday I officially resigned as a Peace Corps Volunteer, so by this time next week I will be back in the States. I was offered a job, and I accepted.

I am not really sure how I feel about leaving. My emotions are quite mixed up right now. Part of me is incredibly excited to go home and see my family again. Part of me is really sad to leave all of the great friends I have made. Part of me is anxious about how I will react to being back in the land of plenty. Part of me is remeniscent about all the great times I have had here. Part of me is ready for some new work challenges. Part of me is ready for some indoor heating and 24-hour electricity. Part of me will always be in Shqiperi.

I suppose I will write more when I am back in the States just as a form of therapy for dealing with everything.

Mirupafshim Shqiperi dhe miqte te mi. Ju do te jeni ne zemren time pergjithmone.

Snake Style

2006-12-17T15:15:00.000+01:00

No one's gonna take me alive.
The time has come to make things right.
You and I must fight for our rights!
You and I must fight to survive!

Have you seen the Knights of Cydonia video by Muse? Best music video I have ever seen.

Krize Dritash

2006-12-11T13:55:00.000+01:00

S’ka Drite Fare

Despite many promises to the contrary, Albania is again without power this winter. Last night on the news they played a montage of the Prime Minister and several other government people making very authoritative declarations that the idea of another dark winter was absolutely absurd. Then they ended the montage with a guy from the electrical utilities saying, “Do jete nje kufizim.” In other words, “About all of our promises, well…. we kind of lied.”

So, I am writing this entry on my laptop at home, and right now it says that I have 21% battery left so I am typing as quickly as possible.

Actually Durres isn’t so bad; we only are without power for about 4 hours a day; whereas some villages in the country only have power for 4 hours a day.

On a positive note, I went to Kruje last week. Kruje is a city close to Tirana that was the home of the national hero Skanderbeg. The city is on the side of a mountain and so it has nice views of the surrounding land, and on a clear day you can see to the sea. It would be a really nice place, but like every other city here it is ruined by all the ugly, haphazard construction. It does have a couple of nice alleys where you can buy lots of old stuff.

Well, my computer is beeping, so I figure the battery is about to

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T14:08:00.000+01:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Hope you all have a great day, and make sure that you stop and take the time to really connect with your turkey.

Mr. Sheern

2006-11-19T20:31:00.000+01:00

It seems that I have begun teaching quite a bit lately. About two months ago I started teaching English to kids in Keneta again. This time it has gone much better than the previous two attempts. The kids that come are motivated to learn, so that makes all the difference.

Last Wednesday, I taught in Albanian for the first time. I led an activity for a middle-school class at the school in Keneta. We talked about what parts are important for a city and then they drew maps of what Keneta looked like. After they explained their maps to the class, we talked about how each person sees the city differently depending on age, gender, economics, etc. I think they understood most of it. Afterwards, one of the kids told me that it was the first time that they had ever worked together in groups. That is kind of sad because I could tell that they really enjoyed the groupwork. Maybe I will be able to go back and do another class.

Also on Wednesday, I led some English discussion groups at the new university in Durres. I was expecting to have about 10 students in each group, but there were over 40 in all three. We discussed an article that talks about perspectives on what it means to be an American. I was able to talk about America a bit, and they were able to talk about what it means to be an Albanian.

2006-11-12T19:25:00.000+01:00

I didn't really feel much like writing, so here are some pictures.

My House

Durres

Me and Bryan Adams

Finally, Happy Birthday in a bit to my niece!

(She is the monkey next to the skunk)

Random Notes From My Part of the World

2006-10-31T19:55:00.000+01:00

It has been a while since I have written anything. I guess I just haven't really been thinking much lately either. Need to jumpstart my brain. Here goes.........................oohhh that was nice.

Anyway, my brain will have to run on a generator because they have started the winter power cuts here. They started this weekend when I was in Pogradec and the past two days here in Durres we have been without power for about 4 hours each morning. The state electric company said that there would not be cuts and then they revised that statement to say, "Well, we were wrong." Evidently there is a shortage this year throughout Europe, so Albania found out last minute that they won't be able to buy as much juice as they thought.

There is a new controversy here in Durres. A new public university just opened here in Durres this fall and the director has decided not to allow two Muslim students to attend class because of their "religious attire". One is a man with a beard and the other is a woman in full covering. Now the first thing you may say is, "Isn't Albania majority Islamic? Didn't it used to be part of the Ottoman Empire?" And I would answer, "Yes, but live here long enough and you learn to distrust rational thought." Evidently the director is intent on banning any religious attire. For the life of me, though, I wouldn't be able tell a Muslim beard from a beard on a guy who has an aversion to showering and shaving. The kicker is that the constitution here explicitly says that no discrimination can be made due to a person's faith.

We got news a couple weeks ago that the Federal government is looking to invest in a project in our area of Keneta to install water pipes. This would be a great step for the area because, as you can see from the picture, the current water system is not holding up too well.

Randomness Keeps Things Interesting

2006-10-13T12:42:00.000+02:00

Here are some pictures I took yesterday of the Latter Day Saints church they are building in Keneta. What a surreal place! You walk through Keneta and everything looks the same and then all of sudden there is just this church with a nice parking lot, green grass, and a sprinkler system!? I don't really know why they have a parking lot. It would not be very easy to get to the church with a car.

And in association with the absolute randomness of this church, I thought I would provide another installment of actual random thoughts that went through my head yesterday.

1. Women in high-heeled shoes are really not as tall as they appear.
2. I think the number one rule in the produce selling business is "Do not eat your product."
3. I wonder why Albanians don't make bacon? There is certainly not a shortage of pigs.
4. I don't think I should be able to smell a person's perfume from 40 paces away.
5. For cutting hair, I think scissors work better than a knife.

Unfathomable

2006-10-09T18:32:00.000+02:00

I hadn’t done it in a while, so I thought I should take a walk through Keneta today. Usually, most of my time is spent in the small section where our project is focused, so it is not often that I see the rest of the area. So, today I took a walk.

I walked down the gravel roads, and over the small wooden bridges straddling the open sewers. I was sprayed a couple of times by mud from the tires of passing cars and by water shooting from punctured pipes. I petted a dog and a couple of sheep. And I was overwhelmed, all over again, by the size of the situation.

Keneta is an 850-acre area with over 5,000 homes. (More houses than my hometown of Abilene, Kansas.) No sewer system. No potable water system. No proper electrical system. Just homes and buildings. With more being added every day. The Latter Day Saints have just built a big new church, and there is a 10-storey shoe factory in the first stages of development. And all without legal title to any of the land!

Sometimes I almost understand it. I understand the push and pull of migration and the rapid urbanization happening throughout the developing world. I understand parents’ desires for their kids to have access to better schools, and I understand the desire to find work and a better salary.

However, as an urban planner, I simply cannot understand how people expect to build a city first and then worry about infrastructure later. It simply goes against every rational, logical understand of city planning. And then they have the gall complain about the smell, mosquitoes, and lack of electricity and water! My compassion for the area’s residents certainly ebbs and flows.

Granted, the local government has done little, if anything, to address any of the area’s problems, but even if they had the plans and the will to make changes, the cost to retrofit the area with proper infrastructure is infeasible. It has been estimated that to fit our project area of 150 acres with a closed sewer system is 1.5 million euros.

I supposed I am rambling, but like I said before, it is all a bit overwhelming. Perhaps I shouldn’t take any more walks.

We're Off to See the Pope

2006-10-09T18:29:00.000+02:00

I am not sure if it made the international news wires, but a Turkish Airlines flight from Tirana to Istanbul was hijacked last week. Long story made short, the flight was hijacked by one man who forced his way into the cockpit. He had no weapons, but claimed to have an accomplice in the cabin that had a bomb. Turns out that he was a Turkish army defector that had moved to Albania and been denied a visa to stay long term, so he was being deported. He was a converted Catholic, so he forced the pilots to fly to Italy in the hopes that he would be able to deliver a message asking the Pope to intervene so that he would not have to go back to Turkey and serve in a “Muslim” army. Here is a link, if you want a description of the whole story.

In retrospect, seeing as how now one was injured, the situation was actually quite amusing to watch on TV. After the plane had landed in Brindisi, one of the Albanian TV stations was able to get a connection to one of the captive passenger’s cell phones. Of course, the anchor, with a grave tone, asked the passenger if he was okay and to explain what had happened when the plane was hijacked. His response was that he didn’t even really know that the plane had been hijacked. For some unknown reason they were in Italy and he was more concerned about the fact that they had been sitting there a long time and the flight attendants hadn’t given them anything to eat or drink.

As is expected, the situation was branded as terrorism. This has unfortunately started the wonderful, two-party political fighting we experienced in America post 9/11. I had some deja vu hearing the Socialist Party demand to know what the ministry knew and when they did they know it. From what I have heard, however, the fault seems to be with the flight attendants. The man had no weapons or other objects, and he only was able to get into the cockpit because the flight attendants kept opening the door.

Yesterday, I found out that someone I know was actually on the flight, so I will be interested in hearing a firsthand account.

Land Legalization Revisited

2006-09-30T17:27:00.000+02:00

Last July I wrote about the new federal, land legalization initiative that was starting. The process has been running for over two and a half months now, and from what I read and hear, it is not going well.

To recap, all Albanians who have purchased land without a proper title are being given the opportunity to legalize their landholdings without any penalities. Starting from July 15, they are given four months to complete a preliminary declaration saying that they would like to have their land legalized. After this four-month period, the local municipalities will be given the responsibility of completing the necessary reviews, technical work, and collection of payments.

From what I hear, like happens many times in politics, the federal government created the process without much consideration for the capacity of local governments to handle all of the work involved. Durres alone has around 10,000 illegal households, and an urban planning staff of around 10 people. Also, there seems to be some clashes between local governments and the new federal office that was established to oversee legalization. Tack on to this disputes over how to compensate claims by rightful former owners, and it is obvious that this situation is a long way from being resolved.

Clean Cities and Cigarettes

2006-09-25T15:06:00.000+02:00

Last Friday was International Clean Cities Day, so we celebrated in Keneta. The youth had worked all week building a model of what they think should be included in the new kindergarten they are going to build in Keneta. It turned out well. On Friday, we went out near the abandoned hospital and planted three trees and some flowers in painted tires. I am really hoping that they survive the winter and all the coming rains. The ground in Keneta is not the best for plants, it is below sea level and fairly salty.

If there is one generalization about Albania that has justification, is that a lot of people here smoke. My annoyance toward all the smoking ebbs and flows. It is certainly worse in the Winter, simply because everyone is indoors more and thus the second-hand smoke is worse. Right now, there are people smoking here in the internet cafe. I don't really mind except for the fact that I am going to smell like cigarettes the rest of the day.

There are two things about smoking here in Albania that bug me. The first is the high use of cigarettes by youth. I think the youngest person I have seen smoking was around 8 years-old and the level of smoking among teenagers is really high. Much like America of old, there are even cigarette brands here that are marketed directly to youth.

It certainly is a wonderful world with Elixyr cigarettes "Cigare per te Rinj" or "Cigarettes for Youth".

The other aspect of smoking here that bothers me is the way that it has become adopted among girls and women as a sign of their increasing liberation. From what I have heard, smoking among girls and women was taboo until several years ago, and even today it is not really common in many villages. However, in cities I have a seen a growing number of girls and women smoking, and many have commented to me about how it is kind of a symbol of bucking cultural norms. This certainly isn't the case for all women who smoke, but I would think for a good number. Unfortunately, if they continue smoking, their liberation will come at the cost of their lives.

My funniest experience with smoking here happened my third week in-country up North in Rreshen. I was visiting another volunteer, Daniel, and he had organized an anti-smoking activity with some school officials at a local cafe. Part of the planned program was to have a local doctor come in and speak on the health risks associated with smoking. About a half hour into the activity, we noticed the doctor was running late, so someone was sent to fetch him. All of the students were sitting, somewhat patiently, for the doctor to come. Of course, in typical Albanian irony, the doctor walked in with a lit cigarette between his lips. Needless to say, his ensuing speech was not very influential.

Durres Water Equation

2006-09-17T15:15:00.000+02:00

(1 City below sea level) - (1 working storm drainage system) + (2 inches of rain in 30 minutes) =

Balkan Travels

2006-09-16T17:23:00.000+02:00

I am back in Albania, a couple kilos lighter and fairly well rested. Our “Around the Balkans in 10-days Tour” was a success.

Each of the six of us seemed to have different objectives for our travels. Some were looking for a “return to civilization”, some for adventure, and some simply for a meal at McDonalds. For me it was simply to see some new places and spend some time at the beach.

As should have been expected, getting out of Albania and into Montenegro proved to be the most complicated part of the trip. Luckily, through various connections we were able to secure a ride from Shkodra directly to Budva, Montenegro. Montenegro was absolutely beautiful and still relatively undiscovered by travelers. Montenegro just declared independence from Serbia several months ago, so it is nice to be able to say that I have been to the newest country in the world. Our time in Budva was spent cliff jumping at the beach and eating a giant fish dinner and delicious Serbian sandwiches.

From Budva, it was on to Dubrovnik, Croatia. Dubrovnik was a complete contrast to Budva, as it was packed full of tourists, mostly because of the giant cruise ships. The city itself was beautiful, but the entire atmosphere seemed a bit contrived. I don’t have many pictures of Dubrovnik because I had traveler’s sickness for one of the days. Luckily, the view from my bedroom window was nice.

After Dubrovnik, it was on to Sarajevo. This was definitely my favorite part of the trip. Sarajevo is a beautiful city with a recent, tragic history. Evidence of the four-year siege is still starkly visible throughout the city, but it is also evident that the city has moved forward and begun to recover. I would recommend Sarajevo as a must-see for anyone traveling through the Balkans. Being in Sarajevo and driving through the Bosnian countryside reminded me how large and brutal the war there really was.

Another striking aspect of Sarajevo is the scale of religious diversity. Coming from Albania, where religion is a non-issue and was even outlawed for several decades, Sarajevo had an almost overwhelmingly religious exterior. Within the city proper, there are hundreds of mosques, catholic churches, orthodox churches and synagogues. In fact, two churches, a mosque, and a synagogue all reside within a two-block area.

As always, returning to Albania begets a period of readjustment, so it will probably take several days to get back into the Albanian lifestyle.

I have posted my pictures on my flickr site. Just click the newer pictures link on the right.

Travels

2006-09-09T15:47:00.000+02:00

I am currently on vacation and traveling through the Balkans. It has been a good trip so far and I will write a full summary when I get back to Durres.

Peace.

Naked Female Centaur Tattoos

2006-08-24T12:24:00.000+02:00

In my experiences traveling, I have discovered one hard and fast rule. The more difficult a place is to get to, the more beautiful. This is certainly true of the southern coast of Albania. This past week I made the effort to get down to Dhermi, a small beach town between Vlore and Sarande, and it was absolutely amazing, the best beaches I have seen in Albania yet.

Oh, but according to the rule, Dhermi's beauty is dependent on it's remoteness, and I can tell you that getting there and back was not an easy endeavor. Getting there, my friend and I were able to catch a public bus from Fier that would take us down. Once on the bus, I could quickly see that all of the seats were occupied, so a lady with her young son was kind enough to share her seat with me. So I was on my way to Dhermi with at least one butt cheek on the seat. After about 5 minutes of hearing Albanian music mixed with babies crying, I put on my headphones. Unfortunately, headphones do nothing for blocking out smells. The three young kids sitting around me had all promptly started puking, and I can only equate the smell to what Tim Robbins must have experienced in the sewers under Shawshank Prison.

Luckily, it turns out that topless female centaur tattoos are a good diversion for passing a long bus ride. The Greek man across the aisle was sporting what can be mildly referred to as a "bad tattoo", so I spent the remainder of the ride concocting adventures for half-woman, half-horse creature. I finally decided that she had been in love with Pan (the half-man, half-goat), but that her parents would not accept her relationship with another species, so she was riding off to take revenge. Before you put me in a straightjacket, you try riding a bus for 5 hours in Albania.

Eventually we made it, and Dhermi was amazing. The water was clear, clean and just the right temperature.

Finally, a special thanks to Etienne and Laura from Paris for giving a couple of poor Peace Corps Volunteers a ride back to Vlore.

I have put up my pictures from Dhermi and some others I have taken on my Flickr site.

Cigarettes and Seahorses: Revisited

2006-08-12T20:58:00.000+02:00

As you can see, my last post "Cigarettes and Seahorses" has generated a fair amount of debate and differing viewpoints. If I said I didn't expect this, I would be lying. However it has surprised me by making me think about the issue of criticism.

Let me start by saying that I regret having included a couple of points in the post. First, the comment about Albanians having nowhere to go was a poor generalization. Albania, like anywhere, has people who are extremely industrious and entrepreneurial and people who are just plain lazy and unmotivated. Fortunately, there seem to be more of the former rather than the latter, particularly in places like Tirana and Durres. Unfortunately, there also seem to be a large number of people who have the ability and motivation to do something big, but because of circumstances, they have few outlets or opportunities to put their talents to full use. This is particularly the case with kids who cannot afford (or are not allowed) to continue their education.

Secondly, my comments about arranged marriages and blood feuds were cheap shots. It is unfair to criticize a people about cultural artifacts that, while still practiced by a few, are not accepted by a large majority. (These regrets really became clear as I talked with some of my close Albanian friends. My friends are quite patient with me.)

Now thoughts on criticism

I think that how criticism is given and how it is received changes between cultures. Certainly Americans and the Japanese have different ways of criticizing and different ideas of what it means to "save face" or protect another person's honor. This being said, I also think there are some universal truths to criticism. If you will indulge me, I will try to explain some of those truths here.

Criticism is essential. Any person or culture that avoids criticism is doomed to self-destruct. Looking at our deficiencies is essential for us to improve and move forward. One commenter put it well when he/she said, "The only way we can progress is by identifying and acknowledging our weaknesses and trying to find practical solutions to them." Failing to criticize others when you see something wrong is a disservice to them and to yourself.

You have to see the whole picture. It is much easier to make quick judgments about people, but when you criticize without looking at the whole picture, you tend to miss a lot and sound like an idiot. There may be a surface problem that is easy to criticize, but perhaps there is an underlying reason for that problem. This leads to my next truth.

Criticizing a brother is easier than criticizing a stranger. This is true for two reasons. First, you know the people who are close to you. When you know the person or people, you are more likely to see the whole picture; the history, the culture, the underlying circumstances. Plus when criticism comes from a person who is known and trusted, it is more readily taken to heart than criticism from an outsider. When someone we don't know or who doesn't seem to "be like us" offers criticism, it is rather easy to dismiss it, whether the criticism is true or not. When the person has lived what you've lived and knows what you know, you are more easily convinced of both that person's authority to criticize and his/her trustworthiness.

Positive criticism is always more productive than negative criticism. People get tired of repeatedly hearing what is wrong with them. Unless the criticism comes with an attempt at providing a solution or with some point of encouragement, the chances of the criticism truly being heard greatly diminish. One commenter said, "It always amazes me that foreigners who come to another country tend to emphases the "dark " sides of a culture..... Why no generositybout genereosity, sense of community, respect, joy, positivity there is in the albanian cutlure...?" I would agree, unfortunately we tend to look at the negative in order to help us feel better about ourselves. I would also add that we should look at both the positive and the negative. Ignoring one or the other helps no one.

I hope this makes sense because I am still trying to process it all as I write this.

Finally, with the knowledge that Americans should worry about America and Albanians should worry about Albania, here is some criticism from an American for any Albanians who may read this.

I know that you probably hear about it a lot, but you really must do something about the littering problem plaguing your country. If you truly are concerned about how others perceive Albania, cleaning up your country is perhaps one of the best steps you can make. Whenever I meet foreigners who are here in Albania, either traveling or on business, the first thing they always mention is how much trash there is and how dirty everything seems. The consensus among foreigners seems to be that if Albanians don't respect their country enough to keep it clean, then why should we respect Albania?

So I beg you, Albanians, do something about it! Albania is a beautiful country with great people, but right now there are few people who are able to look past the trash and see that. Tell your family and friends not to litter. Heck, tell a stranger. When you see people litter on the street, stop them and tell them why they shouldn't. The problem is not too big to be solved.

Cigarettes and Seahorses

2006-08-08T12:18:00.000+02:00

To: Albania

cc: Sali Berisha, Edi Rama, Skanderbeg, Ismail Kadare, Jim Belushi

Subject: Bad Press

Hello Albania. I hope this letter finds you well. Sorry about all the bad press coverage you have been getting in the media lately. Those Brits have no right to criticize your citizens' "bombed-out" teeth. I don't really have any experience in public relations, but I thought that maybe I could help you avoid future embarrassing exposes. So, here a few ideas on how to become a better nation.

1. Stop Littering

I think I have written about this before, but it still happens and it still makes me mad so you are going to hear about it again whether you like it or not.

It was a beautiful day here last Tuesday, so I made my way out to the beach at Porto Romano just outside of Durres. The peoplewatching had been going smoothly for a while when I spotted a man heading into the water. He was smoking (no surprise there), but as he had walked out to where his hips were in the water, he casually flipped his half-smoked cigarette into the water beside him.

Shocking!! That's probably your reaction. I know this because that is how I felt the first 20 times I saw people throw trash into the sea. I suppose the people just assume that the fish like to eat cigarettes, napkins, and half-eaten corncobs.

I guess what I am saying is, please tell your citizens to stop complaining about how dirty and trashed their country is while they throw trash on the street.

2. Give Pedestrians the Right-of-Way

I enjoy the adrenaline rush that comes with fear as much as the next guy, but I really don't need a rush every time I leave my house. Where are all the people in such a hurry to go to that they need to put my life in danger? Surely they can wait an extra five minutes for their coffee. I think Albanians are some of the best in the world at going nowhere fast.

Also, if there happens to be a giant pot hole in the middle of the road (like the one in front of my house), please don't drive on the sidewalk. Again, I understand your need to hurry to nowhere, but what happens when you make pot holes in the sidewalk?

3. Turn Down the Music at Your Weddings

Marriage definitely deserves to be celebrated (especially when it has been pre-arranged), but is it really necessary to include the entire city in your celebration? Don't get me wrong, I really like the same 5, polyphonic songs you play repeatedly for 7 hours straight, but around about 3 a.m. it may be considerate to lower the volume level from ear drum shattering to simply window rattling.

I hope this is helpful.

Sincerely,
David Sheern

P.S. If you want to start a blood feud with that Gill guy in Anglia, I know some guys who know some guys.

Barrios Unidos

2006-07-31T16:30:00.000+02:00

The new Group of the Month for August is Barrios Unidos.

From their website: "The California Coalition of Barrios Unidos began as a community based peace movement in the violent streets of urban California in 1977. Incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1993, the national office of Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos established the mission to prevent and curtail violence amongst youth within Santa Cruz County by providing them with life enhancing alternatives. Over the past twenty-five years Barrios Unidos has developed a model that seeks to reclaim and restore the lives of struggling youth while promoting unity amongst families and neighbors through community building efforts."

The link to their webpage is on the right. Give it a look and see what this amazing group is doing for California.

Death Notices

2006-07-26T15:58:00.000+02:00

In America we have obituaries. Here they post notices on the street.

The death notices that are pasted around town have been something that have really stuck in my thoughts over the past year. How a culture deals with death says a lot.

As an American, I sometimes feel offended by the way death notices are just pasted on walls and signs around town. I guess, more than that, it bothers me that the notices are just left to be weather beaten and pasted over by more recent passings. I cannot help but think that this is a disrespect to the people these signs are meant to venerate, even though I know that is not how Albanians see it.

Death is public here. Albanians grieve openly and demonstratively. Families are expected to open their homes for three to seven days following the death of a family member so that the community may come and grieve with them.

The American response to death is much more subdued and individual. We tend to believe that each person should be left to grieve in his or her own way, and we really offer support only when it seems the person desires it. The community still offers support, but it is much more practical and less demonstrative.

I know that this is generalizing both Americans and Albanians, and we all respond to death differently, but these are the general things I have noticed and been thinking about.

I suppose I understand the public or communal nature of death here, and I understand the purpose of the public death notices, but coming from the culture I do it just does not quite feel right.

I think it also has to do with my personal nature. This may sound weird, but I really do not want people to grieve when I die. I want people to remember me, but to be happy for the life I have had. I don't know, I guess I am still trying to work it all out in my head.

Legalization

2006-07-22T13:36:00.000+02:00

As some people may know, I live and work in an "informal" area called Keneta. The term "informal", however, can be rather misleading. Keneta is not a place where people only wear sweat pants and greet each other with grunts. It's not that kind of "informal". Instead, it's "informal" in the sense that no one here owns an actual title for their land or buildings.

Long story short, the demise of communism here in 1991 sparked high levels of internal migration. For the previous 40+ years, Albanians had been told where they could and could not live, so with the new freedom of movement came many new residents in and around the nation's larger cities. Over the past 15 years, Keneta has been transformed from abandoned swamp land into a residential area home to approximately 75,000 people. None of whom own the land on which they have built.

Absence of land ownership is a problem plaguing the entire country. Millions of dollars have been invested in homes and businesses, but as long as they remain informal, owners are not able to realize the full potential of their investments. Primarily because they are not able to use their properties as collateral for loans and other investments.

The Albanian Government is hoping to solve this problem with a nationwide land-legalization effort that began on July 15th. All informal land owners have been given amnesty and the opportunity to register their land and receive formal titles.

I really hope that the process proceeds smoothly and efficiently. This could be a big step forward for society and the economy here. However, much of the work burden involved in the process has been put on the shoulders of the local governments, and few seem to be fully prepared to meet the responsibilities and level of work that will be required to meet the deadlines set by the new law.

2006-07-15T19:35:00.000+02:00

There were some volunteers and others in Durres this week for a project development workshop. We had a good time enjoying Summer in Durres together.

Please pray for Peace between Israel and Lebanon, and call on our administration to take a stand. Bombs do not discriminate between the guilty and the innocent.

NightLight

2006-07-08T19:49:00.000+02:00

I have added a new link on the right side. It is called "Group of the Month". Each month I will put a new aid group that is doing good things for people. This month it is NightLight Ministries. They have started a jewelry business that hires women and girls they bring out of Bangkok brothels. Give their site a look.

Went to the beach today and got properly sunburned. The weather has been really pleasant here the past week, compared to the week before. I think it should stay in the mid to upper 80s (30s) for next week.

I have planned a trip for the youth in Keneta to go downtown and get a tour of the archeological work being done at the amphitheater. Durres has the largest Roman amphitheater in the Balkans, and right now a team of Italians is working on digging out a new portion. The director of the archeological museum has agreed to give us a tour of the dig and tell us more about the amphitheater and the old castle walls. Durres has a rich history. Each time crews excavate at building sites, they seem to uncover new archeological finds. At one site they just found the first Hellensistic period pottery to be found in Durres.

Happy 4th of July

2006-07-05T14:15:00.000+02:00

Happy 4th of July to Everyone. I hope you all enjoy the new look I've designed for my page. I was getting a bit tired of what blogger templates had to offer. Making a new design really wasn't as hard as I thought it might be.

Weird story from the weekend. Walking home one night I decided to pop into a small store to buy some pasta. Looking around quickly I noticed that they had a shelf with some sauces on it. One of the sauces they had was a curry sauce that is imported from Serbia. Even though "Serbian Curry Sauce" doesn't sound too tasty, I really like it. Only, I haven't been able to find it since the Winter because stores have stopped importing it. Just my luck, I had found some in this small store. I grab two bottles and go up to pay. When I get to the front of the store, the owner just gives me one of those "Are you stupid?" looks, takes the bottles from me, says "No" and offers me a bottle of mustard instead. Mustard is about the same as curry, right? Well, I ask "Pse?" (Why?), and he turns the curry bottles over and shows me that they expired in February.

Now here is the weird part. After I say I don't want the mustard, he says okay and just puts the curry bottles back on the shelf where they were before. Now, he obviously knew that the sauce was expired, and even if he didn't know before, he knows now. So why is he putting them back on the shelf? How many people have come in since February and tried to buy curry sauce only to be rebuffed at the counter? Is he not tired to telling people the curry has expired? How many of the other products in his store are actually good and for sale? Besides the guy being just nuts, the only other explanation I have come up with is that he didn't want an empty space on his shelf. But couldn't that be solved by just moving some other bottles around a bit? I am really tempted to go back and just ask the guy.

2006-06-29T14:45:00.000+02:00

Sweaty

2006-06-29T14:38:00.000+02:00

I think Al Gore is right. The world is melting. There are certainly no glaciers left here in Albania because if there were, that is where I would be right now. Just laying on the ice and snow.

Gum

2006-06-20T15:21:00.000+02:00

I don't particularly like gum. If it is offered to me, I will take a piece, but very rarely do I actually buy gum at the store. Somehow, however, here in Durres it seems to be impossible to leave the grocery store without buying a piece of gum.

First, you have to understand that Albania is a cash society. Check writing does not exist and places that accept credit cards are few and far between. Every purchase, every transaction here is purely cash. The odd thing is, though, that every store seems to be continually short on small change.

The lowest value coin here is the 5 leke coin, which equals about an American nickel. However, most stores never seem to have any 5 leke coins in their tills. Most solve this problem by keeping prices in multiples of 10, but not at my grocery store.

Each time I go to the store, I always seem to need some item that has a cost ending in 5. At that point, I have two choices. I can either look for another item that I might need ending in five, or I can take the chance that maybe that day they will have a 5 leke coin. Every time I take the risk, I get "gummed". After the girl rings up my purchases, she gives me the "Sorry no 5 leke coins today" smile and offers me a piece of gum instead. So, I end up buying gum.

I am not complaining though, cause if I am lucky, the gum has a temporary, stick-on tattoo inside. Now that is something worth 5 leke.

P.S. Somebody from N.Y. mentioned Jack Handy in the comments. My favorite Jack Handy quote goes something like "I really wish my name was Jared. Then when I walk down the street people would say, 'Hey there goes Jared Hammersmith.' Oh yeah, I also wish my last name was Hammersmith."

5 Random Thoughts

2006-06-16T22:10:00.000+02:00

First, I hope everyone realizes my last post was an exercise in sarcasm.

The thoughts I have during a normal day are rather strange sometimes. I don't think it is because of me being strange, but I think it is just the random stuff that I encounter throughout a day. For example, here are 5 random thoughts I had today. They are all real thoughts. I promise.

1. Wow, that kid should be careful with that big, rusted piece of metal.
2. I bet that insurance would cover a breast reduction surgery if the woman was having back problems.
3. Soccer is really boring to watch.
4. This fish soup doesn't taste too bad.
5. My shower is pretty gross. I should probably clean it. Ah, I'll do it tomorrow.

Life is weird.

Imaginary Suffering

2006-06-10T18:43:00.000+02:00

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.

"Furgon Flip Flop" Revisited

2006-06-01T18:40:00.000+02:00

When I posted the story about the furgon, I never really expected all the comments. I guess, in response to the comments, I would say two things. First, I did understand what the driver and passengers were saying. I have been living here for over a year, and I understand the language well enough. Secondly, some comments took the line of reasoning that if it had not happened to them in Albania, then it probably could not happen to me. I do not think I need to clarify the flaw in this train of thought.

I traveled downt to Vlore this weekend for Memorial Day. There were quite a few volunteers there and even some from Macedonia. We had a great time, and the beaches in Vlore definitely outdo the ones here in Durres. This week I have been back here in Durres working on preparations for an Environmental Day activity we are having in Keneta on Monday.

Here are two interesting photos from this weekend.

The first is a Vancouver Grizzlies Bryant 'Big Country' Reeves jersey. For all of you OSU fans. The second is some beach towels the sell here. The first lady has an interesting anatomy.

Co-PLAN Keneta Staff Photo

2006-05-26T20:30:00.000+02:00

Thoughts on War by Wendell Berry

2006-05-22T21:10:00.000+02:00

Selected passages from Wendell Berry's essay "Peaceableness Towards Enemies" from the book "Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community"

ü [If] we want to be at peace, we will have to waste less, spend less, use less, want less, need less. The most alarming sign of the state of our society now is that our leaders have the courage to sacrifice the lives of young people in war but have not the courage to tell us that we must be less greedy and wasteful.

ü But peace is not the result of war, any more than love is the result of hate or generosity the result of greed.

ü In times of war, our leaders always speak of their prayers. They wish us to know that they say prayers because they wish us to believe that they are deeply worried and that they take their responsibilities seriously. Perhaps they believe or hope that prayer will help. But within the circumstances of war, prayer becomes a word as befuddled in meaning as liberate or order or victory or peace. These prayers are usually understood to be Christian prayers. But Christian prayers are made to or in the name of Jesus, who loved, prayed for, and forgave his enemies and who instructed his followers to do likewise. A Christian supplicant, therefore, who has resolved to kill those whom he is enjoined to love, to bless, to do good to, to pray for, and to forgive as he hopes to be forgiven is not conceivably in a situation in which he can be at peace with himself. Anyone who has tried to apply this doctrine to a merely personal enmity will be aware of the enormous anguish that it could cause a national leader in wartime. No wonder that national leaders have ignored it for nearly 2000 years.

ü But why God might particularly favor a nation whose economy is founded foursquare on the seven deadly sins is a mystery that has not been explained.

ü Those who would like to believe in progress must be startled to realize that in the half century between Hitler and Hussein our method of dealing with madmen has not changed; all the progress has been in the manufacturing of more and more terrible weapons.

BEACH SEASON HAS BEGUN!!

2006-05-20T20:30:00.000+02:00

Furgon Flip Flop

2006-05-20T20:15:00.000+02:00

Durres is the second largest city in Albania. Living in such a large city here makes me wonder sometimes if I am missing the "real Albania". Life in the villages and smaller towns is much more provencial and much more conservative. There are certain liberties that people in Durres and Tirana enjoy and certain restrictions on behavior that they no longer acknowledge. I tend to forget how different this country can be from the cities to the villages.

This became clearer Thursday as I was traveling by furgon (mini-bus) to Elbasan from Durres. I hadn't experienced a "furgon flip flop" since my days in Belsh during training. The furgon filled with 8 passengers in Durres and I was seated next to the window in the middle seat. Beside me were a young man and a young woman, husband and wife. Two older women and a young man were in the back.

Halfway to Elbasan, the furgon stopped to pick up a middle-aged couple. A problem arose. Four passengers would have to ride in the middle and the back to accomodate the couple. The older woman naturally moved to the back seat to sit next to the others. However, the older man would then have to have a place on the middle seat, and having him sit next to the young wife was not an option, lest her honor be put into jeopardy. But wait, if the young couple simply switched seats the situation would worsen considerably. The young wife would be sitting next to me! A young, virile, (dare I say) attractive, 25-year-old man, and who knows what unmentionable advances I might attempt on her during the rest of the trip. So, the solution was easy. I would crawl over the couple from the window and then be wedged between the two men on the middle seat. A seat designed for three, which always seems to accomodate more. It's situations like the furgon flip flop that remind me where I am.

I'm Back

2006-05-13T13:12:00.000+02:00

Made it back. The trip was great. London and Paris are both amazing cities and it was good to share them with my parents.

Sorry this is short. Don't feel like writing much. I'm currently going through the readjustment of being back in Albania.

I've posted the pictures from my trip. The link is on the right.

Trip highlights: Seeing my parents and eating all the great food!

Trip lowlights: Flight delays and having a cold for part the time.

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

2006-04-28T14:34:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow I am taking off for the West, albeit not very far West. Just to London. I am meeting my parents in London and spending some time there and also in Paris. Should be a nice trip and I am looking forward to finding some things that can't be found here, mostly different kinds of food.

I have only left Albania for 10 days over the last year, and that was to travel in Eastern Europe, so it will be nice to spend a little time in some big cities out West.

I am hoping that this trip will also help me come back with a fresh perspective on Albania and my final year here. Living here, I feel like I continue to lose perspective of where I really am and the history of this place. Daily life kind of just numbs me a bit. I am reading a book on Albania right now and it is really making me re-reflect on this place. I guess I will write more about that when I get back and have my fresh perspective :)

Sheern out.

American Influence Part Deux

2006-04-22T13:09:00.000+02:00

After I wrote my last entry, I realized that I left out a new development in the area of American influence in Albania. Starting about two weeks ago, "Pimp Juice" has started being advertised on TV and sold in stores. I guess it is a new kind of energy drink developed by the rapper Nelly. I don't really know if this is a drink anyone buys in the States, but they sure are pushing it here. It has two kinda funny taglines. The first is "Energy nga Nelly" which translates as "Energy by Nelly", and the second is "100% American". I guess if Pimp Juice is 100% American, then I better start staffing a roster for the streets.

Also, just saw this article, kind of funny. Gilbert Godfried has been named the world's unsexiest man. That's not really a title anyone aspires to.

2006-04-20T14:49:00.000+02:00

Professional wrestling has become pretty popular here within the last year. One of the sports stations started showing wrestling each week about a month after I got here. Now you see t-shirts with wrestlers on them. Just yesterday I was walking down the street and I passed two little kids. The only part of their conversation I caught was the name "Big Show", one of the more popular wrestlers.

All of this just made me stop and think last night about how Albanians are influenced by America, so I've made a list, cause everyone likes lists. Especially Americans.

1) Media - This is of course at the top of the list. Albania gets the mainstream stuff like Eminem and Star Wars, but I've also seen some really random stuff. I think that the TV stations here get a really good price for undistributed b-movies. Two nights ago I watched some movie with Sean Astin and Stacey Keach. It was so bad, I can't believe people paid to have it made.

2) Politics - Like everywhere else, the U.S. government's opinion makes a difference in decisions here. Albania has around 100 soldiers stationed in Iraq (part of the far-reaching coalition).

3) Food - Coke, Pepsi, Nestle, General Mills...All of the major American multinational food companies are here.

4) Clothes - As with food, all of the major clothing companies are here too...Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Levi's, Polo, etc.

5) Missionaries - It's not difficult to find an American missionary in about every city you visit here. Tirana is full of them, and the LDS church has about 70 missionaries in Albania. In fact, the Mormons are building a big new church in Keneta.

6) English - It's kind of an indirect influence, but the domination of English as the emerging global language is certainly felt here.

7) Me - I suppose I am an American influence as well.

Life

2006-04-11T14:33:00.000+02:00

For a variety of reasons, this has not been a very good week so far. This is one of those times that I kind of just wish that I was somewhere else. I guess life here just gets to be a little much sometimes. Needless to say, I have not been feeling particularly motivated to do much. I plan on changing that tomorrow however. Maybe actually get some work done.

I am really looking forward to the trip I am taking at the end of the month. I am meeting my parents in London and then heading to Paris. Should be a great trip. I have never been to either city, and it will be nice to be back in the Western world for a couple of weeks. It was kind of nice getting back to Albania after my last trip in Eastern Europe. How I will feel coming back this time is a complete mystery.

Anyway, this post has been semi-depressing, so here is a funny picture to cheer us all up.

No More Mud

2006-03-30T14:41:00.000+02:00

During the past month and a half or so they have been paving the road next to my house. It's a pretty decent road now. Before it was just a giant mudhole, and I usually walked a different way when I was heading downtown. Now that it's paved, I can use this road and is a bit faster.

The other thing I have noticed since the road has been paved is how much the kids are enjoying it. In the evening the traffic isn't very heavy on the road and the kids are able to skate and bike on the new pavement. A smooth, paved road with no potholes is a rare find in Durres, and I'm not sure these kids have ever had the chance to play in the street like they are now. Growing up in small-town America, that's all we did as kids. I think we were playing in the street about every chance we had.

Speaking of kids, I have been rather bothered lately by all the kids selling things on the street. I guess it just bothers me that they aren't in school. To think that parents would rather have their kids selling cigarettes than getting an education seems very near-sighted and abusive. I'm not sure why this is just bothering me now, perhaps because I have been spending more time in Tirana and child labor is definitely more predominant here.

Anyway, things are good. The weather is great today.

Long Time No Write

2006-03-19T18:25:00.000+01:00

Wow, it's been awhile since I've put anything on here.

Anyway, Friday marks my one-year anniversary for being here in Albania. Honestly, the time has really gone quickly. The new group of volunteers is coming on Thursday, and I will be traveling to Elbasan on Saturday to meet them and answer their burning questions. There are supposedly about 42 new people coming, which will more than double our number of volunteers here. Should add a little spice to life around here, or most likely just more gossip.

Work has been going better than ususal lately. March 8th was International Women's Day and we at Co-PLAN Keneta were able to plan and participate in two different activities. One was a crafts fair in downtown Durres. Women for the peripherial neighborhoods of the city came into the center to display foods and crafts, but more importantly to make their presence known to the city. Often here, the people in the informal areas on the outskirts of town are overlooked and don't receive proper services.

On the 9th, our youth project group organized a performance for the women of Keneta. The kids performed dances, poetry, and skits. It was actually alot of fun, and we were also able to use the occasion as an opportunity to inform the women about the new law on legalization of property and what they have to do to complete their self-declarations for legalization.

I've posted some pictures from both events on my yahoo photos page. The link is on the right.

Funny Stuff

2006-02-27T10:41:00.000+01:00

Betty Friedan's Passing Honored With a Second-Class Postage Stamp

With all due respect to Betty, I had to post this because it is one of the funniest things I've seen on the internet in a while. I don't know why it struck me so hard, but I was laughing out loud for a while.

Books I've Read

2006-02-23T12:05:00.000+01:00

Here's a list of the books I've read while in Albania. If there is one thing that Peace Corps service provides, it is opportunity for leisure reading.

I've put asterisks next to the titles to indicate how much I liked the book and whether I would recommend it. I would probably say that The Brothers K was my favorite of all of them.

The Kite Runner***
Things Fall Apart*
The English Assassin
Nectar in a Sieve
Crossing Cultures
Cider House Rules**
Life of Pi**
Prozac Nation
Black Boy
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich*
The Blue Afternoon
White Noise**
A River Out of Eden
White Teeth**
Drop City
Slaughterhouse 5
The Pact
The Reasons I Won’t Be Coming Home for Dinner
Drowning Ruth
Me Talk Pretty One Day*
Biographi
The Heart of the Matter
The Brothers K***
Fury
The File on H.
Cloudsplitter*
Stranger in a Strange Land
Everything is Illuminated
The Devil in the White City**
The World According to Garp***
Café Europa
Jennifer Government*
Honey Don’t
Cloud Atlas*
Kings of Infinite Space**

Provimi

2006-02-17T20:23:00.000+01:00

Life is good here. I've been able to sustain my good mood, and hopefully it will stick around a while longer. Friday nights are rather boring here in Durres, so I've just decided to come to the internet cafe. The electricity is out right now, however, so we are running on a generator. I hope that the computer doesn't turn off before I can post this. Anyhow...

One of the purposes of being a Peace Corps volunteer is to learn about another country and to share that information with people back home. So, in that spirit, I’ve written up a short Albanian Trivia Quiz. The answers are at the end.

Albania’s population is approximately:

7 million
3.5 million
15 million

Albania does not share a border with which country?

Macedonia
Serbia-Montenegro
Greece
Bulgaria

The current prime minister of Albania is:

Fatos Nano
Sali Berisha
Edi Rama
Nexhip Kaja

The currency of Albania is called the:

Lek
Kroner
Drachma
Dinar

During its years under Communist rule, what man led Albania?

Tito
Ceacescu
Hoxha
Mussolini

The national liquor of Albania is called:

Raki
Groppa
Moonshine
Saki
Grosni

Phonetically, the English word “car” (as in automobile) has what meaning in Albanian?

Breast
Dick
Butt

In Albanian, Albania is called Shqiperia, which means?

Land of the Eagles
Land of Resistance
Land of New Birth
Land of the Mountain Sun

The most famous Albanian-American is:

Jim Belushi
Tom Brokaw
Andre Agassi

Before its period under Communism, Albania was:

A Collection of Feudal States
A Democracy
A Monarchy
Not officially a nation-state
Still under Ottoman rule

1(b) 2(d) 3(b) 4(a) 5(c) 6(a) 7(b) 8(a) 9(a) 10(c)

Bono Speech

2006-02-06T15:42:00.000+01:00

Things are normal here. I feel much better having gotten rid of the parasites. Most of my energy has returned, which is quite nice. I did not realize how lethargic I was feeling until I got better.

There is not much to mention from here, so I thought I would post this speech by Bono instead. At the latest National Prayer Breakfast, Bono delivered one of the most challenging speeches I have read in a long time. Challenging personally, but also challenging to people of faith and especially to the people of America and our government. Please take the 5 minutes to read this speech. Trust me, it is worth it.

If you're wondering what I'm doing here, at a prayer breakfast, well, so am I. I'm certainly not here as a man of the cloth, unless that cloth is leather. It's certainly not because I'm a rock star. Which leaves one possible explanation: I'm here because I've got a messianic complex.

Yes, it's true. And for anyone who knows me, it's hardly a revelation.

Well, I'm the first to admit that there's something unnatural...something unseemly...about rock stars mounting the pulpit and preaching at presidents, and then disappearing to their villas in the south of France. Talk about a fish out of water. It was weird enough when Jesse Helms showed up at a U2 concert...but this is really weird, isn't it?

You know, one of the things I love about this country is its separation of church and state. Although I have to say: in inviting me here, both church and state have been separated from something else completely: their mind.

Mr. President, are you sure about this?

It's very humbling and I will try to keep my homily brief. But be warned - I'm Irish.

I'd like to talk about the laws of man, here in this city where those laws are written. And I'd like to talk about higher laws. It would be great to assume that the one serves the other; that the laws of man serve these higher laws...but of course, they don't always. And I presume that, in a sense, is why you're here.

I presume the reason for this gathering is that all of us here - Muslims, Jews, Christians - all are searching our souls for how to better serve our family, our community, our nation, our God.

I know I am. Searching, I mean. And that, I suppose, is what led me here, too.

Yes, it's odd, having a rock star here - but maybe it's odder for me than for you. You see, I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state was...well, a little blurry, and hard to see.

I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays... and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God.

For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land...and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash...in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment...

I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV.

Even though I was a believer.

Perhaps because I was a believer.

I was cynical...not about God, but about God's politics. (There you are, Jim.)

Then, in 1997, a couple of eccentric, septuagenarian British Christians went and ruined my shtick - my reproachfulness. They did it by describing the millennium, the year 2000, as a Jubilee year, as an opportunity to cancel the chronic debts of the world's poorest people. They had the audacity to renew the Lord's call - and were joined by Pope John Paul II, who, from an Irish half-Catholic's point of view, may have had a more direct line to the Almighty.

'Jubilee' - why 'Jubilee'?

What was this year of Jubilee, this year of our Lord's favor?

I'd always read the scriptures, even the obscure stuff. There it was in Leviticus (25:35)...

'If your brother becomes poor,' the scriptures say, 'and cannot maintain himself...you shall maintain him.... You shall not lend him your money at interest, not give him your food for profit.'

It is such an important idea, Jubilee, that Jesus begins his ministry with this. Jesus is a young man, he's met with the rabbis, impressed everyone, people are talking. The elders say, he's a clever guy, this Jesus, but he hasn't done much...yet. He hasn't spoken in public before...

When he does, is first words are from Isaiah: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' he says, 'because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.' And Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favour, the year of Jubilee (Luke 4:18).

What he was really talking about was an era of grace - and we're still in it.

So fast-forward 2,000 years. That same thought, grace, was made incarnate - in a movement of all kinds of people. It wasn't a bless-me club... it wasn't a holy huddle. These religious guys were willing to get out in the streets, get their boots dirty, wave the placards, follow their convictions with actions...making it really hard for people like me to keep their distance. It was amazing. I almost started to like these church people.

But then my cynicism got another helping hand.

It was what Colin Powell, a five-star general, called the greatest W.M.D. of them all: a tiny little virus called AIDS. And the religious community, in large part, missed it. The ones that didn't miss it could only see it as divine retribution for bad behaviour. Even on children...even [though the] fastest growing group of HIV infections were married, faithful women.

Aha, there they go again! I thought to myself judgmentalism is back!

But in truth, I was wrong again. The church was slow but the church got busy on this the leprosy of our age.

Love was on the move.

Mercy was on the move.

God was on the move.

Moving people of all kinds to work with others they had never met, never would have cared to meet...conservative church groups hanging out with spokesmen for the gay community, all singing off the same hymn sheet on AIDS...soccer moms and quarterbacks...hip-hop stars and country stars. This is what happens when God gets on the move: crazy stuff happens!

Popes were seen wearing sunglasses!

Jesse Helms was seen with a ghetto blaster!

Crazy stuff. Evidence of the spirit.

It was breathtaking. Literally. It stopped the world in its tracks.

When churches started demonstrating on debt, governments listened - and acted. When churches starting organising, petitioning, and even - that most unholy of acts today, God forbid, lobbying...on AIDS and global health, governments listened - and acted.

I'm here today in all humility to say: you changed minds; you changed policy; you changed the world.

Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives.

Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone.

I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill. I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff. Maybe, maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. "If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places."

It's not a coincidence that in the scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It's not an accident. That's a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. (You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.) 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me' (Matthew 25:40). As I say, good news to the poor.

Here's some good news for the president. After 9/11 we were told America would have no time for the world's poor. America would be taken up with its own problems of safety. And it's true these are dangerous times, but America has not drawn the blinds and double-locked the doors.

In fact, you have doubled aid to Africa. You have tripled funding for global health. Mr. President, your emergency plan for AIDS relief and support for the Global Fund - you and Congress - have put 700,000 people onto life-saving anti-retroviral drugs and provided 8 million bed nets to protect children from malaria.

Outstanding human achievements. Counterintuitive. Historic. Be very, very proud.

But here's the bad news. From charity to justice, the good news is yet to come. There is much more to do. There's a gigantic chasm between the scale of the emergency and the scale of the response.

And finally, it's not about charity after all, is it? It's about justice.

Let me repeat that: It's not about charity, it's about justice.

And that's too bad.

Because you're good at charity. Americans, like the Irish, are good at it. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can't afford it.

But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment.

Sixty-five hundred Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about justice and equality.

Because there's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn't accept it. Look at what happened in South East Asia with the tsunami. 150,000 lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, "mother nature." In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month. And it's a completely avoidable catastrophe.

It's annoying but justice and equality are mates. Aren't they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain.

You know, think of those Jewish sheep-herders going to meet the Pharaoh, mud on their shoes, and the Pharaoh says, "Equal?" A preposterous idea: rich and poor are equal? And they say, "Yeah, 'equal,' that's what it says here in this book. We're all made in the image of God."

And eventually the Pharaoh says, "OK, I can accept that. I can accept the Jews - but not the blacks."

"Not the women. Not the gays. Not the Irish. No way, man."

So on we go with our journey of equality.

On we go in the pursuit of justice.

We hear that call in the ONE Campaign, a growing movement of more than 2 million Americans...Left and Right together... united in the belief that where you live should no longer determine whether you live.

We hear that call even more powerfully today, as we mourn the loss of Coretta Scott King - mother of a movement for equality, one that changed the world but is only just getting started. These issues are as alive as they ever were; they just change shape and cross the seas.

Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market...that's a justice issue. Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents...that's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents...that's a justice issue.

And while the law is what we say it is, God is not silent on the subject.

That's why I say there's the law of the land¿. And then there is a higher standard. There's the law of the land, and we can hire experts to write them so they benefit us, so the laws say it's OK to protect our agriculture but it's not OK for African farmers to do the same, to earn a living?

As the laws of man are written, that's what they say.

God will not accept that.

Mine won't, at least. Will yours?

[ pause]

I close this morning on...very...thin...ice.

This is a dangerous idea I've put on the table: my God vs. your God, their God vs. our God...vs. no God. It is very easy, in these times, to see religion as a force for division rather than unity.

And this is a town - Washington - that knows something of division.

But the reason I am here, and the reason I keep coming back to Washington, is because this is a town that is proving it can come together on behalf of what the scriptures call the least of these.

This is not a Republican idea. It is not a Democratic idea. It is not even, with all due respect, an American idea. Nor it is unique to any one faith.

'Do to others as you would have them do to you' (Luke 6:30). Jesus says that.

'Righteousness is this: that one should...give away wealth out of love for him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.' The Koran says that (2.177).

Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.' The Jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.

That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.' Sounds like a good deal to me, right now.

A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it¿. I have a family, please look after them¿. I have this crazy idea...

And this wise man said: stop.

He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing.

Get involved in what God is doing - because it's already blessed.

Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing.

And that is what he's calling us to do.

I was amazed when I first got to this country and I learned how much some churchgoers tithe. Up to 10% of the family budget. Well, how does that compare with the federal budget, the budget for the entire American family? How much of that goes to the poorest people in the world? Less than 1%.

Mr. President, Congress, people of faith, people of America:

I want to suggest to you today that you see the flow of effective foreign assistance as tithing.... Which, to be truly meaningful, will mean an additional 1% of the federal budget tithed to the poor.

What is 1%?

1% is not merely a number on a balance sheet.

1% is the girl in Africa who gets to go to school, thanks to you. 1% is the AIDS patient who gets her medicine, thanks to you. 1% is the African entrepreneur who can start a small family business thanks to you. 1% is not redecorating presidential palaces or money flowing down a rat hole. This 1% is digging waterholes to provide clean water.

1% is a new partnership with Africa, not paternalism toward Africa, where increased assistance flows toward improved governance and initiatives with proven track records and away from boondoggles and white elephants of every description.

America gives less than 1% now. We're asking for an extra 1% to change the world. to transform millions of lives - but not just that and I say this to the military men now - to transform the way that they see us.

1% is national security, enlightened economic self-interest, and a better, safer world rolled into one. Sounds to me that in this town of deals and compromises, 1% is the best bargain around.

These goals - clean water for all; school for every child; medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless poverty - these are not just any goals; they are the Millennium Development goals, which this country supports. And they are more than that. They are the Beatitudes for a globalised world.

Now, I'm very lucky. I don't have to sit on any budget committees. And I certainly don't have to sit where you do, Mr. President. I don't have to make the tough choices.

But I can tell you this:

To give 1% more is right. It's smart. And it's blessed.

There is a continent - Africa - being consumed by flames.

I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did - or did not to - to put the fire out in Africa.

History, like God, is watching what we do.

Thank you. Thank you, America, and God bless you all.

Surprise Guests

2006-01-25T15:22:00.000+01:00

January has been a pretty crappy month (figuratively and literally). I really haven't felt 100% healthy since before Christmas. It's been a smorgasbord of various things I won't detail here, but after waiting...and waiting...and waiting for it to pass, I finally gave in and went to see the doctor. Drum roll please................................Diagnosis: PARASITES. Giardia to be more specific. The little critters have been taking a toll on me for a while now I guess. It's good to know that they are there cause now I can get rid of them.

I most likely got them from not being careful enough about the water, especially in Keneta where there isn't too much distinction made between pure water and grey water. Definitely going to be more discerning in the future because I really have no desire to repeat this month, at least healthwise. I am going to take the meds with dinner tonight. It's just a one-shot treatment, so I hope it does the trick. I am really ready to start feeling normal again. Plus, impossible as it may seem, I've managed to lose weight from it.

I have been thinking, however, that there is Montezuma's Revenge and Dehli Belly, so there must be something good for Durres or Keneta or Albania. Maybe, Keneta Kritters, Albania Toilet Mania, but I like "The Durres Down-Low" cause it really just socks you in the gut. If there are better ideas out there, let me know.

2006-01-18T14:16:00.000+01:00

If these two can get along, so can everyone else.

Co-PLAN

2006-01-12T10:24:00.000+01:00

This past week and half I have been at a retreat conference with Co-PLAN. We have been discussing the vision and staff organization of Co-PLAN. It has been an interesting experience because I think that they are really addressing some major issues that will really determine how well the organization works in the future.

The most interesting part, however, is that the retreat has been run by a man from the Netherlands. He doesn't speak Albanian, so the entire retreat has been in English. Which is kind of weird for me because I am the only native English speaker in the room. English really is the international language, and this has only reinforced the my understanding of how much professional success and english proficiency are connected here. It really would be extremely difficult to have a successful career here without knowing English. Makes me appreciate that I learned it growing up.

The big news this weeked is that all of the Group 8 volunteers are coming to Durres for our In-Service Training. It will be fun to have all my friends in my city, but it could be a bit much. I'll have to put some things together to keep everyone entertained.

Other news. It has frozen here the past couple of nights. It hasn't really felt like winter here until this past week. Don't think we'll see any snow though.

They started showing "Lost" on TV here. That's a pretty good series.

My mom sent me some Reese's Pieces, and they were a hit with Albanians.

Happy Holidays

2005-12-29T17:18:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. It's hard to believe that we are about to begin another new year. That means that I have been here for over 9 months. That's hard to wrap my mind around. I'm hoping the new year will bring some new changes to life here. Mainly in the work department. Everything else is good. The weather here has been unusually warm over the past week, which has been a really nice break.

I had a great time for my birthday. About 15 of my closest Peace Corps pals made their way to Durres and we had a good time in spite of the torrential rain that caused some problems. Katharine and I have found a restaurant that uses a wood-burning oven, it is always nice and warm inside, so we went there for dinner. I don't think the restaurant was quite prepared to have all 15 of us. Somehow whenever a large group of PC volunteers go anywhere together something always ends up getting broken. Don't ask me why. We've been back since, though, and seem to still be welcome.

Christmas was very low-key for me. I ended up staying in Durres instead of going to celebrate with friends in Fier. It didn't really feel too much like Christmas here. The big holiday for Albanians this time of year is New Years. So I plan on celebrating with friends down in Vlore. People have been shooting off fireworks every night here for the past 3 weeks, and supposedly everyone just goes insane with fireworks after midnight. Somehow, having fireworks around here just doesn't feel quite as safe as in the States. Maybe it's the guys that chain smoke while selling fireworks. Or the kids that shoot Roman candles directly at cars and people. I don't know.

Normality

2005-12-13T09:09:00.000+01:00

Like I said before, it's nice to travel, but sometimes it is just as nice to have a normal week at home. That's what my week was, just normal.

I spent the weekend in Tirana with friends, so that was a good time. However, I left my umbrella in my friend's car and had to walk to the bus station in the rain on Sunday morning. It is starting to rain fairly frequently here. Winter hasn't been as cold here as I had imagined it might be, but I guess that is one of the perks of living on the coast. My friends up in the mountains I know aren't thinking the same thing.

Friday, I had a meeting with the director of the organization I work for. He called me in because he had heard that I was having problems with work, ie not having any. So we talked and it was good. I'm waiting to see if the talking is backed up with action. Today I am meeting with my coworker and hopefully we can organize a work and project plan. Right now, I'm thinking if things don't change soon I am going to take some of the other offers I have received to work in Durres.

The big news of this week, of course, is my birthday on Sunday (25). I am throwing a bit of party at my place Saturday night. Just the old Peace Corps crowd having a good time, so I may be posting some embarrassing pictures next week. We'll see what happens.

Trip

2005-12-05T20:36:00.000+01:00

On the train to Krakow

Oh, it’s good to be back in Albania. My trip was great, but as happens with all traveling, I was much more exhausted when I got back than before I left.

I left on Thanksgiving and flew to Prague. Spent 3 days in Prague, 2 days in Krakow, and 3 days in Budapest. The rest of my time was spent on trains and buses going from one place to the other. Finding the right transportation steadily got harder as I moved further south (I still don’t read Cyrillic), but somehow I managed to make it back not too much worse for wear.

My time in Prague was definitely the highlight of the trip. The city is gorgeous and people are quite friendly as well. Plus I was able to meet some fun people at the hostel, and that always makes the days and nights a little more interesting. Other good times from the trip were spending time in cafes watching people, learning history, seeing snow, visiting Auschwitz, good conversation with people from all over the world, eating Chinese and Greek food, and having enough cash left at the end to buy a bus ticket from Macedonia to Albania.

There were also some lowlights, of course. Food poisoning in Budapest, almost running out of cash with no ATMs in sight, having to turn down three prostitutes per block in downtown Prague (they were very nice though), visiting Auschwitz, forgetting that just because someone doesn’t speak English doesn’t mean that they speak Albanian, realizing ten minutes after the fact that I had accidentally booked a ticket Warsaw instead of Krakow, and the sleep deprivation of traveling on trains at night.

It really is good to be back in Durres though. Understanding some of the language and culture always makes it easier to be in a place. Plus, until I left and came back, I didn’t realize how much this place is starting to feel like home.

I’ve posted the pictures from my trip, but like always, they do very little to portray what the trip was really like. Oh well, memories are better anyhow.

Mosquitoes, Travel and ASS

2005-11-20T18:30:00.000+01:00

This is a picture I tried to take of the mosquitoes outside my house. They have been there ever since I moved in in June and don't seem to want to go away. They are really annoying. We just had a major cold front come through this weekend, though, so maybe that will finish them off. Good ridance.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I am leaving early Thursday morning to fly to Prague, so I will be spending my holiday there. Right now my plan is to spend a couple days in Prague and then go to Krakow and Auschwitz and then down to Budapest. I hope to eventually make it back to Albania within about ten days, so I probably won't be able to spend much time in Bulgaria and Macedonia. I'm trying to keep my plans open, so that I can just do whatever I feel like doing. I am very interested to see how the rest of Eastern Europe compares to Albania. I'm afraid it might be a little depressing coming back here afterwards. I think I picked a good time to travel because the dollar exchange rate is doing pretty well right now.

I don't really want to get to political on this site, but please stay informed about what is going on in the current congressional session. There are several important issues being dealt with as I am sure that you are aware. The first is major budget cuts to important social programs like food stamps and medicare. This is being down to help finance the tax cuts Bush made. The second is the proposed resolution by McCain to firmly state that torture is not something that the U.S. should engage in or tolerate. Bush/Cheney have threatened to veto the defense budget if this resolution is attached. Please stay informed and keep your representatives accountable.

Finally, on a lighter note, I took this picture in Tirana and thought it was funny. It is for ASS wedding dresses. I think there spokeswoman should be J.Lo and that their slogan should be "Make sure your bride gets ASS on her special day." Ok have a good one.

Happy Birthday

2005-11-13T18:30:00.000+01:00

Happy 1st Birthday to my niece Sidney on the 15th and Happy Birthday to my brother on the 18th. (She was dressed as a pig for Halloween.)

Not really too much happening here. The electricity situation is about the same, but it has really cut down on how much I can cook for myself because my refigerator doesn't keep food cold very long without power.

Went to Tirana this weekend because lots of people were in town to celebrate with the group of volunteers that is leaving in the next month. They were the first group of volunteers to come back after the PC program was restarted here in 2003. In alot of ways they were guinea pigs to get the program running right, but they also managed to do alot of great things for Albania. After they leave, it will be just Katharine and I for volunteers in Durres until the new group comes in March.

OK, that's about it.

Electricity and Roads

2005-11-06T18:55:00.000+01:00

So, yeah, we don't really have much electricity here right now. Luckily I live in a larger city, so we only go without electricity from about 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. Some of the villages go without for 13 hours a day. Here is a news story that kind of explains the problem, but I don't know if the drought is really the issue or if it is the line that the government is feeding the press.

Albania's Electrical Problems

Of course there are rumors flying around here about other possible causes, and each political party is blaming the other.

Another great development here is happening at Zogu i Zi. Zogu i Zi is a big intersection where the highway from Durres enters Tirana. It is the main road enterance into the city and so it sees alot of traffic volume. To deal with the high volume, the city is in the midst of constructing a new overpass and roundabout system. I just found out yesterday though that the project has been suspended indefinitely because some of the funds used for the project were allegedly from corrupt sources. So the halfway constructed projected is just stopped, and at possibly the worst time. The intersection right now is basically one big pot hole and all of the incoming and outgoing traffic is forced into a two-lane bottleneck. Needlessly to say this has caused problems. Wednesday night I was taking the bus home from Tirana to Durres and it took us one hour to go five blocks because traffic was so backed up. Who knows when all of this is going to be resolved if ever. It is rather frustrating but not surprising. Just Albania.

Luckily, I'm going to be getting out of this country for a little while. I bought a one-way ticket to Prague, and am going to trek back down to Albania by train and bus over the course of a week and half. Don't really have a fixed plan yet, but I'm hoping for a good break.

Oh, I've posted some new pictures from Berat, and some new Photoshop work. My boss asked me to take photos of Keneta and make them look like what we envision after our project. I did my best, but didn't have many photo files to work from. Oh well.

Berat and Vomit

2005-10-30T17:50:00.000+01:00

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.

2005-10-19T20:32:00.000+02:00

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

2005-10-10T18:09:00.000+02:00

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

2005-10-05T12:26:00.000+02:00

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

Oppression

2005-10-03T18:50:00.000+02:00

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.

2005-09-27T18:41:00.000+02:00

Just got an email from my friend David who is a volunteer with his wife Lois in Samoa. It was really good to hear from him, and it is funny how alot of what he is experiencing there is similar to what I've gone through here. I guess alot of what you experience in Peace Corps is similar no matter where you are. Except for the fact that he lives in a cement house with a tin roof, and I live in a cement house with a tiled roof.

Had a meeting today with my PC program manager and my boss at Co-PLAN. It was a good opportunity to talk about what is going on and to think about my role in the future. The project in Keneta is really hitting an interesting phase. Co-Plan and the city government have developed an urban plan for the region and have overlayed it on the existing structures and roads. So seeing the new plan into existence is going to require working with individuals in the community to open space for road and canal systems. Could potentially generate alot of anger from the community, but if done right, could create alot of cooperation. We'll see what happens.

Quasi-funny story. There is a place here that I go to get rotiscery chicken. Last time I was there, I saw on the menu that they also offer rotiscery sheep's head. That doesn't bother me really because I understand that people here like sheep's head, but I looked at the oven and all of the sheep's heads were being cooked above the chickens and all the brain, and eye and whatever else juices were dripping onto the chickens. Kind of gross. But I ate the chicken any way because it is so darn tasty.

2005-09-25T20:38:00.000+02:00

3 things I like about being in Albania

1. Life is "avash avash". Slow and take it as it comes.
2. The fruits and vegetables. Shume te fresket
3. When I find people here who have hope for the future.

Fatigue Cont'd...

2005-09-17T18:45:00.000+02:00

I forgot to mention. I found out that the hospital is under the supervision of the city's Dept. of Health. According to discussions with them, they currently have the building earmarked to be divided in half. One half will be a psychiatric hospital with in-patient services and the other half will be converted for use by the Keneta community.

I can't possibly see how this is a good idea. I can just imagine having a community meeting or something and just hearing gutteral screams and wailing through the wall. We'll see. Might make for some good stories.

Fatigue

2005-09-17T18:25:00.000+02:00

I've pretty much slept and laid around the house all day. I've finally dragged myself down to the internet cafe to make a much needed check of my email. I guess my body had just forgotten what a full week of work feels like. When I got home last night, I just crashed.

Last week was pretty busy with work, and it was really nice to be doing something. We had a group-organization training for teenagers in Keneta at our office Mon - Wed from 9 to 4. The training went really well, and the end result was the formation of a teen project group that we will be overseen by Co-Plan. The group was able to elect officers, write up some guidelines and regulations for the group and plan their first official activity. For that activity we went to Mt. Dajti yesterday. It is the highest mountain of the ridge line that surrounds Tirana. It was alot of fun. We chartered a bus to get up there and about 20 teens went. We played volleyball and soccer, rode horses and cooked out lunch. It was a good time for the kids to really get to know each other, and for me to continue to try to learn all their names. (Albanian names are not the Christian names I'm used to like James, Ann, or Michael, they are more like Kushtrim, Flamur, or Marilena.)

Plus this week I've been working with Katharine on creating our English discussion and professional development group for NGO professionals in Durres. We announced the group at a collaborative meeting of the NGOs here and we had alot of interest in it. We will be having that class on Tuesdays, and then on Wednesdays we are doing another English/Discussion group for some high schoolers. I am also going to continue my English classes in Keneta on Mondays and Thursdays and I'll be taking over Joe's classes there since his service is done in November. So my schedule will be pretty full.

This week I am going to be working on translating the urban plan we just finished for Keneta, and we have some more meetings with the community groups to discuss the plan and the next steps in the process.

One kind of funny story. The volunteer from my group that was with me in Belsh and left in week three had resigned and gone home because he wanted to be with his girlfriend whom he had met about 5 months prior. Well I just found out that after he went home, he and his girlfriend broke up and now he is in Solvenia teaching english with another organization. I wish him the best, but I still think it is kind of funny.

Rainbows

2005-09-10T21:21:00.000+02:00

I know that everything that can be said about Katrina probably already has, but I just want to iterate here my hopes that all of the images and stories will wake America up to the reality of the level of poverty that exists in America. Though often unseen, hidden, and (truthfully) ignored, poverty does exist in its most usual forms of powerlessness, hopelessness, and injustice; not only in New Orleans, but in cities, towns, and neighborhoods throughtout the United States. In a stark coincidence, the Census Bureau report on poverty in America was released shortly before the hurricane, and it reveals that nearly a third of Americans are currently living below the poverty line, and the majority are children.

Hopefully the rainbow that emerges from this terrible storm will be a new concern for the impoverished, a movement of turning away from ourselves and looking to the needs of others, and that, like with Noah after the flood, the rainbow will again be a covenant between God and his people. A new covenant with the poor and rich alike, that God will no longer tolerate apathy and self-interest among the people of his church. But that he will see that the first will become last and the last will become first. It is my real hope that the Church will lead in this effort, and embrace a re-examining of what it truly means to love our neighbors as ourselves.

For those that would like to, Sojourners has put up a pledge on-line that is a committment to build a new America, one where no one will be left behind. I know that pledges like these are often kind of cheesy, but I thought I would make it available.

2005-09-01T20:50:00.000+02:00

Happy 2nd anniversary to my Brother and Sister-in-Law. I'd get you a present and everything, but I am in Albania. (I think I am going to use that excuse a lot. It is very convinient)

Abandoned Hospital

2005-08-30T11:22:00.000+02:00

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.

Back in Durres

2005-08-22T20:12:00.000+02:00

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.

Weekend

2005-08-13T21:46:00.000+02:00

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

2005-08-13T11:56:00.000+02:00

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.

Cynicism

2005-08-03T19:53:00.000+02:00

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.

Grenades

2005-07-28T21:40:00.000+02:00

I read an interesting article in the newspaper that kind of gives a little insight to Albanian mentality.

Two guys who live in the same apartment building were fighting over the rights to use a plot of land next to the building. One man had already built a garage there and the other wanted to use the land for some other purpose. The next day, the man that wanted the land decided to wait for the other man to come out of his apartment. When the man came out, the first man lobbed a grenade into the apartment stairwell and blew the guy up. Needless to say, the neighbors were all freaked out and the man was arrested.

I think this story illustrates well how the famous 'Balkan temper' can sometimes cloud judgment around here, and about the proliferation of military grade weapons in private hands.

In the same paper the police in a northern town found a stockpile of weapons in a cave. In it were over 200 automatic rifles, grenades, anti-tank mines, and explosives. Kinda makes you want to stay on the good side of everyone you meet around here.

Photoshop Gallery

2005-07-26T15:15:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone,

I've been kinda bored lately, so I've been trying to improve my Photoshop skills. The combination of photoshop and boredom has resulted in many new artistic works. Most of which have involved pasting people's heads on other pictures and writing stupid captions. You can check it all out on my Yahoo photo's page. Go to Yahoo photos and the login is arbor602 and the password is baylor.

have fun

Another Lazy Sunday

2005-07-24T13:49:00.000+02:00

Just another lazy Sunday here is Albania. Didn't really do much this weekend. Had plans to go to the beach but they never really materialized. Yesterday I had a coffee and sat outside the cafe for about an hour and a half basically just people watching. I am easily entertained just by watching people interact here, so much of it just doesn't make sense to me yet.

My friend Peter who is down South in Permet was here staying with me on Monday and Tuesday. It was good to hang out with him, we have a similar sense of humor. Humor is one of the things I miss here when I am here by myself. It is kind of hard to joke with Albanians because sarcasm doesn't really translate. And I don't really understand their sense of humor either, or think they even have one sometimes.

My other friend Peter from an earlier group of volunteers stayed with me last night, and we talked for about 2 1/2 hours just about living in this country. He has been here almost 2 years, so he had some good advice and a more experienced perspective. He has been working in the local goverment of Lezhe up north and has had a rough go of it.

August is looking to be much of the same as now. I have my English classes on Wednesday and Thursday but not much else. I'm going to try to travel around a little bit and hit the beaches down South where the water is actually blue and the beaches aren't littered with trash and construction waste.

2005-07-24T13:47:00.000+02:00

Postage Address

2005-07-20T20:17:00.000+02:00

Seeing as how I live in an illegal settlement, I don't actually have a postal address in Durres. So, you can send all mail and packages to:

David Sheern
c/o Peace Corps Albania
Rr. "Ali Visha"
Tirana, Albania

I welcome anything anyone would want to send me, letters, packages, whatever. My friend David sent me a CD with a bunch of mp3s on it and that was really cool of him. I have a computer here, so if you want to send me music, just put mp3s on a CD and send it.

Things are good here. Just found out that next week there is going to be a US Naval ship docking here in Durres for 3 days, and there are going to approximately 1,000 sailors descending on our small city. Should be very entertaining. My friend told me that the last time the sailors came, one of them got shot for hitting on a guy's fiance.

Oh, that reminds me. A prominent business man was killed on the beach here last week. He got shot with a silenced pistol and no one knew he was dead until the waiter came up and saw he'd been shot. There was one witness to the incident, she is a teenage girl. The best part is that the newspaper published her photo with a caption of something to the effect of "lone witness." Quality journalism.

Another Hot Day in Albania

2005-07-17T16:34:00.001+02:00

Things are normal here for the most part. Work is slow. Spent yesterday at the beach. I am in the capital today picking up a package sent by my mom. It will be nice to have some hot sauce to cook with. I have been missing spices in my food.

There is really nothing interesting going on here. Everything is pretty quiet and normal. Still teaching on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and helping out whereever else I can. I think it is going to take a while to find my role in the office. Yeah that's about it. Okay. Til another time.

Another Hot Day in Albania

2005-07-17T16:34:00.000+02:00

Picture of Durres

2005-07-17T16:25:00.000+02:00

This is the Durres Port

2005-07-09T12:14:00.000+02:00

6/28/05

I never wake up in the morning expecting to talk about President Bush’s genitals. However, each new day in Albania never fails to bring new surprises, and the things I enjoy most about living in Albania are the surprises.

Everyday I seem to discover a new difference between the culture here and American culture. One of the biggest differences I have encountered here is that no question is too personal or impolite. Any question is fair game. In America there are many questions that are simply considered taboo because we would feel that they are too personal or rude. Not so here. Within five minutes of meeting a person, it is guaranteed that they will ask you how much money you have, how much money you make, how much money various family members make, whether you have a girlfriend, whether you would like an Albanian girlfriend, which is better America or Albania, which are more beautiful American or Albanian women, how big is your house, etc. etc. While living in Belsh I was even put in the unenviable situation where two moms with young babies asked me which baby was cuter. Of course I just laughed uncomfortably and refused to comment. Come to find out, rating babies is a national past time here. In fact, about a month ago there was a show on TV where they simply showed photographs of random babies and viewers could call in to vote on which they thought was the cutest.

I had thought that after being here for three months I had encountered the full range of personal questions. All in all, I had become fairly comfortable with discussing issues that had initially struck me as a little personal. This whole personal question business came to a head (pun intended) one morning while I was having a drink with several local men in a lokale. I had just met these men that morning, so after getting through the formalities of my age, where I am from in America, and why am I crazy enough to leave America to come to Albania, one of the men proceeded to ask a question that I didn’t fully understand while making a cutting motion on his index finger. This was one of the few hand gestures I hadn’t seen here before, and the only word that I understood was gërshërë (scissors). (Please keep in mind that I had known this man a full three minutes at this point.) Luckily (or unluckily) there was a man there that spoke decent English and he was able to translate that the man was asking whether or not I was circumcised!

After initially wondering why in the world he would want to know and blushing slightly, I conceded that yes I am circumcised and that most of the boys in America now undergo the procedure, mostly for hygienic purposes. After assuring his friends that he had assumed correctly that I was in fact sans-foreskin, he proceeded to go around the table and inform me of the condition of each man’s manhood. How or why he knew each man’s “private” affairs was little weird to me, but he then informed me that the deciding factor for boys in Albania was a religious one, with Muslims circumcised and non-Muslims uncircumcised. As with any lokale conversation, George W. Bush entered the conversation and I was asked if I knew what his condition was below the belt. I told them that my guess would be yes, but I didn’t really have a definitive answer. However, I assured them that while W.’s condition was just a guess, Monica Lewinsky would have a definite answer as to the state of their favorite American Ex-President’s “willy.” Happily, this reply was greeted with a few pats on the back and a free beer.

Quickly tiring of this topic they decided to move on to a different subject -- the importance of my finding an Albanian girl who doesn’t have any brothers or cousins. Finding this kind of girl, they assured me, would cut down on any unexpected and unpleasant surprises. “But”, I replied, “it’s the surprises that make my time here enjoyable.”

2005-07-09T12:13:00.000+02:00

7/08/05

Before moving here, I expected that I would encounter cultural differences and that I would probably become frustrated at times until I was able understand the culture better. I have certainly encountered many differences, but when I ask my Albanian friends why they do these things the way they do, too often their reason has to do with a rebellious mentality towards the way things were done during the Communist period here.

For example, Albanians do not stand in line. When you go to the bank or to a food stand or wherever, there are no lines. The first time I experienced this, I was waiting to get some food at a little food stand, and there were two people waiting in front of me. Being the last person to arrive, I figured I would be helped after the two people in front of me. While I was waiting two separate ladies came up to the stand and after the two people in front of me were helped, these two ladies just stepped in front of me and asked for food. Of course I thought that they were just rude people, but when it happened again, I figured I was going to have to start to fend for myself. So now, it seems every trip I take to get something from a stand or somewhere where there would naturally be a line in the States, I have to elbow my way to the front.

With all of this being said, I have accepted this to be reality here, and I don’t really mind that there aren’t lines. What I do mind is the reason my friends gave when I asked them why there weren’t lines here. There answer was that people in Albania had to stand in line for everything during Communism, so they don’t want to stand in line anymore and no one (ie the State) is going to make them stand in line.

I understand that the Communist period in this country had unbelievable hardships and that it really did some damage to the country’s psyche, but with it now being 15 years after the fall of Communism here this country needs to move forward. People here need to realize that just because the State used to force them to do something that it is not beneficial to avoid that behavior today. This mentality of “I had to do under it communism and I hated it, so I don’t want to do it now” has had some serious repercussions on the quality of life here the last 15 years. The majority of Albanians have no respect for public space and simply throw their trash where they want and use the space however they wish, because to them public space is nobody’s space, not community space. Private homes and apartments here are immaculate, but everywhere outside to private space is usually unkempt and miserable.

I guess what I am trying to say is that, yes Communism was horrible, but it is time to move forward. Some behaviors, no matter what regime is in power, are practiced for the good of the individual and the good of society. Albania needs to identify those positive behaviors they have abandoned as a rebellion against Communism and begin behaving for the good of the whole society.

And unfortunately, even the youngest generation here, that never experienced Communism, is learning its behavior from its parents and grandparents. If the kids perpetuate the behavior of their parents and grandparents, unfortunately it may take a big effort by someone to make real change here.

Wow, sorry I am rambling, I just needed to put my thoughts into words. I guess its all just stream of consciousness.

Happy 4th

2005-07-05T20:18:00.000+02:00

Happy 4th of July to everyone. I have certainly celebrated in style here. On Saturday alot of volunteers made the trip to Tirana for a 4th picnic at the Ambassadors house. It was very interesting because the Ambassador of course lives in the American compound with many of the Embassy employees and USAID workers. It is like a little bit of America in there. Large lawns, large houses, and really nice playgrounds for the kids. Just outside the big security gate and the road deterents for suicide bomb cars is the real Albania. Lots of cement and trash and Albanian people.

Anyway the picnic was fun. They had hamburgers and beer and I was able to meet alot of other Americans that I hadn't met before. One of whom was a girl from Ft. Scott Kansas. She is a missionary and is in Albania for three weeks working with Sisters of Mercy, the Mother Teresa group. She was very nice and it was wierd to meet another person from Kansas, there aren't too many of us.

I spent Sunday cleaning my apartment. It is really dry here in the summer and so with the wind in Durres there is always dust and sand blowing everywhere. The past two weekends I have cleaned about an inch of dust of my floor and furniture. I am looking forward to the Fall with a little more rain and cooler temps. But in the fall I'll probably be wishing it was the Summer again.

Monday, my counterpart at co-plan texted me and told me take the day off for the holiday. It's not like I was doing anything anyway, so I went to the beach. The beaches here are okay to layout, but I don't swim. I'm afraid of the rashes and other various bacteria I would contract if I did. Beaches here certainly have their share of Speedos and everyone who shouldn't be wearing one usually is.

Today I spent several hours in lokale playing cards, talking, and watching a cow being butchered across the street. Albania had there national elections on Sunday, and they seem to have gone off without too many problems. It has certainly been the topic of conversation around here the past couple of months. Tomorrow I am going to start teaching an advanced english class with teenagers in Co-plan's target neighborhood with the hopes of starting a group of youth that can organize various projects for the neighborhood. It will be something to do so I am excited about it.

I think that's it for now.

pics

2005-06-27T12:00:00.000+02:00

I've posted some new pictures.

2005-06-27T11:48:00.000+02:00

Life in Keneta is going well. I have been able to settle into my apartment and my job a little bit. Things are still pretty slow. I am in Tirana today because we have a meeting at the embassy. I will be coming back here on Saturday because the Embassy is having a 4th of July party, and alot of the volunteers are coming up here. It will be nice to be so close to the capital because I will be able to see people when they come up here for business or pleasure.

I've had two major insights in the last week, so bear with me as I try to explain. If you don't want to read it, I understand.

The first insight is that my apartment is stinking NICE. It is completely not what I expected when I signed up for PC. It is actually nicer than anything I lived in during college or grad school. Definitely better than Alumni Village. This is good because the place is nice, but it is also kind of disappointing because part of what I wanted out of PC was to be able to have an experience of living in simplicity. There are certainly other things I have to do without, but I guess God is wanting to teach me something different. Maybe hospitality or humility. Now with such a nice place it is hard to play the suffering martyr role. So, in short, don't feel sorry for me, I'm not suffering.

The second insight came Saturday night about 2 am. Some volunteers had come up to Durres for a birthday party and we were walking back to my apartment. We had to stop along the way so some of them could use the bathroom, and we were sitting on the curb in the middle of nowhere Durres, and there was a man who came by with a broom and a wheelbarrow cleaning the street. When I saw him it struck me that this was the kind of person who is the hope for Albania's future. Everywhere throughout this country there are men who sit in the bars and cafes all day complaining about how there is no work and no money in the Albania. But this guy wasn't complaining, he was out working a crappy job for I'm sure a crappy wage. I understand there is a problem with unemployment and corruption and all that here, but more men just need to get up and do something instead of complaining all day. At least that is how I feel today. Ask me again next week.

Property Taxes

2005-06-27T11:47:00.000+02:00

6/20/05
I had an interesting conversation today that I thought might be worth mentioning. Since a lot of what Co-Plan is doing in Keneta centers around legalizing ownership of property in the neighborhood, the topic of property taxes came up in conversation. Come to find out that Albania currently does not assess property taxes. When I found this out it kind of put a lot of things in perspective. Albania, I feel, can currently best be described as a country “under construction”, very much literally, and figuratively as well. Particularly in Keneta but everywhere in Albania the construction business is booming.

There are many reasons for this that I won’t take the time to go into here, but I think one of the many factors is the absence of property taxes. Without the taxes, people are able to acquire land and build without putting a whole lot of forethought into the need for the structure they are building (be it apartments, a retail store, bar, etc.) If the building sits empty for a couple of years they are not out any money because they only have to pay the up front costs to build and not taxes over the coming years. (For example, Belsh, with a population of 2,000, has at least 20 coffee bars.) The institution of property taxes here would not only significantly increase government revenue, but I think it may also curb some of the seemingly unnecessary construction that is going on everywhere around this country.

The interesting part of the conversation came when my Albanian colleague explained what he thinks is the reason for the absence of property taxes. With the privatization of state-owned land over the last 15 years, he suggests that there are many central government figures who have amassed large amounts of land wealth illegally, and that if property taxes were put into place, the true owners of many pieces of land would be revealed. Whether this is the case or not, I don’t really know, but it seems quite possible.

2005-06-27T11:45:00.000+02:00

Volunteer Dave!

2005-06-17T20:33:00.000+02:00

Well we made it! We officially swore in as volunteers on Wednesday. It was a long, hot ceremony. About an hour and a half of sitting in the sun with a shirt and tie on. Politics in Albania dictate that all of the officials at the ceremony have a chance to speak. So after all the peace corps speakers, the mayor Elbasan, and head of the Elbasan, and the Deputy American Ambassador all spoke. My host dad was able to come which was really good. I think now he finally believes that Peace Corps is a real organization and not a front for the CIA.

Wednesday night we had a final night out as Group 8 before we left for our permanent sites. The night involved too much raki, circle dancing, and sombreros. I'll post the pictures when I get a chance.

I left Belsh this morning and arrived in Keneta about noon. I was alot more sad saying goodbye to my host family in Belsh than I thought I was going to be. There were so good to me in every aspect. I really couldn't have asked for a better experience. Three months is a wierd time to stay with someone because right when you are getting to know them and be really comfortable you end up leaving. That's part of the reason I am glad to be here in Keneta. I know that I will be here for two years and that I will really be able to invest in some good relationships.

I am starting work at Co-Plan on Monday, but really the next three months or so is going to be about more language learning and making connections in the community. Plus the entire country takes the month of August off for holiday, so there won't be too much to do then.

We got tested for our language last week and I tested as one of the top in the group. I am really glad that I have been able to learn so quickly. Alot of it is because the guy that tested first place in our group lived with me in Belsh, so he really challenged me to learn more and we kept our classes at a good pace. I'm kind of at a wierd level with the language. I'm starting to think more in Shqip and it has turned into a wierd kind of Albanglish.

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my entries or sent me emails. It feels good to be able to stay quasi-connected with home. Have a great weekend.

same old same old

2005-06-13T12:28:00.000+02:00

Training is slowly continuing. We are having our final meetings this week and will swear in as volunteers on Wednesday. Things have been good, but it is a little overwhelming thinking about moving to a new city and starting over. I have gotten pretty close to my host family here and all of the community of Belsh, so it will be a little hard to leave. But at the same time I am ready to start working with Co-Plan and becoming a part of the community I will live in for two years. I still haven't heard if they have found a place for me to live in Keneta. Hopefully I will find out by Thursday when I move. Otherwise I might be in a hotel again for a while.

This weekend our training group made a trip to Tirana. It was a good time. There is an American restaurant there and I had a hamburger, fries, and an american style coffee. It was a little wierd because the were alot of ex-pats there (missionaries, development workers, etc.) so it kind of felt like I wasn't in Albania. I was going to go see the new Star Wars at the movie theater but didn't have time. I 'll have to try to catch it later.

Happy belated birthdays to my mom, Jamie K., Darcy B., and Melissa H, and happy 32nd anniversary to my parents. Sorry this wish is so late for some of you, but know that I was thinking of you.

I'm posting some more pictures today. Some of the pictures are of Keneta, so you can see my future home. If you don't know how to see the pictures, I put the login in a previous post.

Miserable

2005-06-06T14:56:00.000+02:00

Oh man. The last week was Miserable! I got back to Belsh on Sunday night and woke up about 3:30 am with a terrible fever and chills. It felt like the flu and a pretty big scale. I didn't even get out of bed on Monday or Tuesday. Each day I kept thinking it was going to pass, but it never did. Finally after consulting with the PC doctor I got some anti-biotics on Thursday and was completely better by Saturday. It took about a whole week to get well, but the actual sickness wasn't the worst part of the ordeal. The worst part was being sick while living with a host family.

My host family is great and I really don't have too many complaints about my time with them, but they aren't particularly medically knowledgeable. Having the stomach problems that I was, I wasn't eating anything, just drinking water. They couldn't understand this because their solution for every sickness is to eat, and eat alot. So they kept insisting on feeding me fried eggs, fried salami, yoghurt, and other things the whole week. Not my foods of choice for a stomach sickness.

Anyway, I shouldn't be complaining. I'm better now.

This week we are in Elbasan everyday for a final training conference and then next Wednesday we swear in as volunteers. I still haven't heard anything about my living situation in Keneta, so it will be interesting to see what they find.

Other than that, it is starting to get pretty hot here. Once I get to Keneta, I'll be able to get to the beach, so that will be nice.

**To David & Lois, Allyson, and Sue: I'm not sure when you guys are leaving to go overseas, I know some are this month, so drop me a line before you take off. I want to know how to keep in touch while you are serving in your respective countries.

First Taste of 2 Years

2005-05-24T18:30:00.000+02:00

Sorry that it has been so long since I have written anything here. Time has been rather full lately as I am nearing the end of training. Right now I am in Durres. I will be here for this whole week as all of the trainees are having a one-week site visit with their future organizations or schools in the cities where they are going to serve for two-years.

Last weekend we had a conference in Pogredec (in the east next to lake Ohrid) where all of the trainees meet with their counterparts from the places where they are going to work. I met my counterpart Oriana. She is the project director for Co-Plan in Keneta, Durres. She is quite intelligent and we seem to get along rather well. I have been meeting with her in Keneta the last few days and the rest of the week and I am starting to get a little bit of a taste of what I will be doing for the project and what living in Keneta will be like. Keneta definitely has alot of problems. I found out that Keneta is the Albanian word for swamp. All of the area that has been built-up with houses used to be wetlands and agricultural space. So all of the drainage canals built to drain the area back in the 70s have turned into open sewer lines. Smells great. I am trying to take pictures this week and I will post them sometime later.

I am really excited about working here. I think Oriana was glad to hear that I had studied urban planning because she said I look very young, and age is a big indicator of ability here. She didn't know what kind of volunteer she would be getting, and she was worried at first when she saw how young I was. It is going to take some time to build trust with her and the community, but it will come soon enough.

They are still looking for a host family for me in Keneta. Most of the residents there are migrants from villages in the north and the south, so they still have alot of traditional values and are concerned about having a single man living in there house if there are unmarried girls in there family, immediate or extended. Hopefully they will be able to find something in the next three weeks. I move to Keneta for good on June 16 after our swearing-in ceremony.

Wow, I wrote alot. Anyway. Later on.

Host Family

2005-05-09T16:46:00.000+02:00

Living with the host family is great, but it continually makes me feel like I am six-years-old again. The other night I had taught my neighbor cousins how to play four-square. We were playing in front of a neighborhood house and my host mom came out a called me to dinner. I just said "yes, mom" and ran home to eat. Things are the same here. Not much to report. Happy Mother's Day to my mom and happy birthday to Aaron on the 4th. Une duhet te shkoj te los billardo dhe pi kafe. Mirupafshim.

Photos

2005-05-02T15:39:00.000+02:00

I forgot to tell you where the photos are. Go to yahoo and go to the photos page.

The login is : arbor602
password: baylor

Enjoy

PERMANENT SITE ANNOUNCEMENT NEWS!!

2005-05-02T15:11:00.000+02:00

I got some big news on Friday. They announced where everyone would be working for the two years here. Drum roll please...

I found out that I am going to be working in the city of Keneta. It is an quasi-legal, mostly illegal migrant settlement between the capital city of Tirana and the port city of Durres. I am going to be working with an organization called Co-PLAN. Supposedly I will be working with them in the formulation of women's and children's community groups as well as the development of an urban strategic plan for the city, but I am sure that is subject to change. The site placement sounds like it will be a great fit for my abilities and also for what I wanted to do while I was here. Co-PLAN has a website at http://www.co-plan.org/ and my specific project is at http://www.co-plan.org/eng/projects/project_steps.asp .

Right now we are in training week 6 of 12. For the next two weeks I will have a practicum with the local government here in Elbasan and will continue the language training of course.

One funny story to share. We had Saturday off, so some friends and I decided to go to Durres which is about two hours away. To come home that night we had to come back through Tirana and it was really dificult to find a furgon (mini-bus) back to Elbasan, so we cramed 12 total people into the furgon, but it is only legally allowed 10 passengers. The driver was really afraid to getting a ticket, but he knew where the police checkpoints were. So, he would stop around the curve from the checkpoint, and me and another lady had to get out and walk through the checkpoint and get back in around the next curve. We had to do this twice and each time the police were looking at me trying to figure who this random American walking down the road in the middle of nowhere was. Then I got home to Belsh and was tired and wanted to talk a nap, but my family had just killed lamb and it was on the table in my room draining the blood. I have a good picture of it and I will try to post it today.

Thanks to everyone that has emailed, sorry if I haven't written you back personally.

2005-04-19T17:15:00.000+02:00

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

2005-04-12T17:17:00.000+02:00

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

2005-04-01T17:08:00.000+02:00

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.

Made It

2005-03-26T17:01:00.000+01:00

Well, I made it. It's good to finally be here. The flights were reasonably stress free and we got to Albania about 5 pm on Thurday (Albania time). The past two days we have been going through more orientation and tomorrow we will be moving in with our host families. I found out I am going to be living in the town of Belsh, about an hour southwest of Elbasan. I'm anxious to meet the family and find out where I will be spending the next three months of training. Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers while we were traveling. Everything went smoothly and a large percentage of the luggage arrived.

I think that's it. Gotta go back for more training.

Staging

2005-03-22T18:33:00.000+01:00

Well I made it to Philadelphia without incident. All of yesterday afternoon and all of today we are having our staging before we leave the country. We've covered topics like safety, crossing cultures, anxieties, aspirations and goals, etc. Some of it has been a little stale, but most of the topics are good review to keep the issues in the front of my mind for when I go. There are twenty-seven people leaving in our group. Surpisingly it is about 70/30 guys to girls. The Peace Corps average is 40/60, but girls are subject to increased levels of harassment in Albania, so it is understandable. We have all age ranges from 22 to 66, so it will be a nice diverse crowd to get to know and work with. Tomorrow we will be driving to JFK and flying out about 9 pm (est) so keep us in your prayers as we travel. Hopefully my next post will be from Albania. Gotta go to lunch.

2005-03-16T06:53:00.000+01:00

Here is a map of Albania. My training will take place in Elbasan, just south of the capital.