I have been a' traveling!

My passport now has 8 stamps. This is from me coming to Albania initially, going home to the US, coming back and then going to Montenegro. My trip home was amazing but I wish I had had more time. I barely had any time to just sit down and relax. It was like I needed a vacation from my vacation. Don’t get me wrong I had a blast getting to see everyone and eating American food! Ok, not to bore everyone but the hi-lites…

-My brother got married on September 20th. It was a very nice ceremony but the unity candle did not light. Bad omen – I think so J I got to meet my two new little cousins, Carlie and Faith. They are adorable! Justin was my date and he was a great sport since the reception died pretty early and we hung out till midnight.

-I got to hang out with almost everyone I wanted to on Friday. We had drinks and went dancing. So much fun!!

-Sunday was Becca day. We had lunch at Noodles and had a photo shoot.

-Monday I spent at Tosa East giving presentations about life in Albania. Not exactly my idea of fun but I got to count the day as business leave so it was worth it. On Monday I also went to the YMCA to say hi and as I was talking with my former boss she says “You know I never took you off payroll.” Then I say “Wouldn’t it be funny if I taught?” and she replies “I have a suit you could wear.” Needless to say I ended up teaching for 2 hours so now I can look forward to a $10 paycheck! Hahaha

-Tuesday was a family day. My mom and I had breakfast and went to see Mama Mia! The sing-a-long edition. It was amazing! We had dinner with my dad at Cheesecake Factory and then my dad and I went to see Wanted, which I remember watching being filmed in Chicago. It was pretty awesome too.

Wednesday I had a tearful good-bye with my mother at O’Hare as I headed through security to head back to Albania. The flight wasn’t too bad. There were good movies playing so the time went pretty fast. Ardi was supposed to pick me up in Tirane but he had work and couldn’t so I ended up taking buses back to Lezhe. Because he didn’t pick me up it also meant I didn’t get to Montenegro for the Madonna concert. It was super sad L However, he made up for it by taking me on Saturday night and then we spent Sunday walking around seeing the sights of Budva. It was gorgeous!

Other than these last two trips I can’t think of anything too important to catch you all up on. It looks like I might be going to Italy for the weekend of the 18th of October just for fun with Kendra, and I might be going to Macedonia for the weekend the weekend of the 31st with the Lezhe Women’s Club. We’ll see how things go I guess :)

Air hugs for you all!

Leslie