Monday, August 25, 2008

Time Flies!!

I can't believe it has been over a month since I've been able to post a new entry. I have actually found a lot of little projects that have been keeping me busy and I've been traveling. Most of my work is with an Albanian who owns his own trasport service. He does transfers from the airport at Rinas to cities all over Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo and Greece. I'm learning how to do web design in order to help him upload new information and update old information. It is a big project but learning web design is keeping me busy! I also am doing a lot of translations for area guide books for Lezha because most of the translations are very VERY bad. Just one more thing to do when there is no power.
Traveling is an adventure here and I love every minute of it. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but there are no published schedules for buses or the more popular furgons (minivan) and there aren't really stations so to say. In order to travel with a bus or furgon you have to know where and when to catch it and its better to know how much otherwise the driver may try to charge you more. I've been to Tirana a lot, Durres, Cerrik, Shkoder, Puke, Rubik, Elbasan, and Milot. Just this last weekend I was in Puke for a camping trip with some other volunteers and I had a blast! There were about 20 of us who all hiked up one of the mountains and set up camp for a night. Oh it was so cool and wonderful there compared to the hot weather here in Lezhe!!
I was sick (again) and spent a week in Tirana at the Peace Corps office which sucked. I don't think Albania likes my body. We never figured out what it was that made me sick but I barely moved the 5 days I was there and didn't eat anything until the last day. It sucked because I missed Ola's wedding (she was one of my language teachers) and I missed beer fest in Korca. Yeah, I was not happy. But on a positive note, I have lost 20 pounds since I've been in Albania.
Another thing that is keeping me busy is being a couch surfer. I have a ton of people coming to Lezhe within the next few weeks just for a night or two on there way through Albania. I've had a few already and they were so much fun! I love meeting new people and talking about the differenes between life here and there and everything! Anyways, I'm excited to be able to leave the country soon and be a couch surfer myself instead of just a host!
I'm going back to the US in 4 weeks for my brothers wedding already! I can't believe how time flies! I think that's about it for now but I will hopefully post another blog sooner than later. Until then, I wish you all well and I miss you guys!!
Hugs,
Leslie :)