Summer is Almost Gone....

Ok so it's been awhile since I've posted on here but I've been busy! Where to start. I had a Warden's Conference in Tirana (boring), several meetings for a volunteerism project for youth in northern Albania, my mid service conference in Korca (half-way done!!), beer fest in Korca (at the same time as the mid service conference....coincidence, I think not!), a tubing experience in northeast Albania and to top it all off, house hounting. For more details, continue reading....

So the two Peace Corps events were the Warden training and the Mid Service Conference. The Warden training was to go over what we do in case of an emergency. I had to go to it last year so it was a bore for me to go again this year. There's only 12 of us lucky enough to get to participate in the warden training and let me tell you, we love it! Ok so on to the more exciting of the two, the Mid Service conference (MSC). The best part about this conference was that it marked the beginning of our last year here in Albania. We had sessions on some serious stuff (admin, health, safety etc...) but also on some more fun topics such as "why do we work here?", "photo shop", "working overseas after PC", "sector success stories" and "plans for the 2nd year". It was a great chance to catch up with everyone and see what they are all up to.

My favorite part of the MSC was that Beer Fest happened to be at the same time. Conference during the day, beer fest at night. It was perfect! For those of you who have not had Korca e zeze, you should try it! I was impressed by how large the beer fest was. There were tons of people, tons of beer boths and tons of qofte booths. Yum :) If it hadn't been for beer fest I don't think half of my group would have showed up.

On to the tubing experience. Becca and Dylan, the volunteers in Peshkopi, decided one day that it should be possible to tube from Peshkopi to Kukes. Looking at the map it looks very possible. I was convinced and decided to join them on the adventure. The first day was awesome. We floated down the river all day, stopping once for lunch, and once after our bag with stuff went under. It was peaceful, relaxing and a ton of fun! We pulled over to the side at about 7 and made camp for the night. We found out we had not made it nearly as far as we thought. We kept a positive attitude until it was time to sleep. None of us had a good night. We couldn't get comfortable or warm. We tried to keep the fire going all night but it didn't work so well. At one point we got up and found a big stack of hay, grabbed some and brought it over to the fire to try to make a "bed". That still didn't work too well. By the time the sun was up, we had been up for hours, were tired, cranky and hungry. After sitting there talking about it we decided to try to hitch hike the rest of the way to Kukes. We walked and walked and walked. We stopped several times at people's houses to fill our water bottles but had no luck finding food. We just ate the berries on the side of the road. Finally about 4:30 pm (after walking since 8:30) we saw a car. It picked us up and started driving us to Kukes. 10 minutes later they blew a tire, but they stopped, fixed it right away and we were back on the road. After finally arriving in Kukes we ended up eating 2 dinners, crashing at Jennifer and James' and then heading out early the next morning to get back to site. That was my tubing experience.

The last thing to mention is that after my months of house hunting, I have finally found a new apartment!! I know, I'm totally excited! It's in a brand new building and has lots of great new furniture in it. I'm moving on September 1st. The location is so much better, it's behind the high school and not on top of the hill. So excited to only have to walk up 3 flights of stairs instead of the 127 that I have now!

Well that's it for now. Should have more to post soon and with pictures! Keep your eyes open for new posts and until then, enjoy the last few days of summer!

The Summer Camp Experience

I've made it back from camp and I'm alive!!! No that wasn't a main concern for me but I feel as though it is an accomplishment. The camp went really well and I'm really happy that we had the chance to do it. We left Monday morning about an hour late but only 5 kids got sick on the bus. The road was fine until we left Elbasan to head up the mountain to Gjinar. That's where the kids got sick. All in all we made it there safe and sound without any problems. The camp site was a lot better than I expected. There were 3 lodges. One was large with 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining hall, some bathrooms with showers, 2 meeting rooms a small chapel and a larger open space that we could all gather. Than the 2 other lodges were cabins that could sleep about 20 each with a bathroom. There was also a volleyball/basketball court and some open spaces for games.

Throughout the week we played all sorts of games. Most of them were group games but a few were individual. Some were games like capture the flag, darts, bowling and soccer but all with modifications for the group. Some of them were really funny to watch :) We went on a hike/picnic on Thursday which was great. We played a game on the hike up and then we found a nice place next to a mountain spring to have lunch. Luckily it didn't rain on us. On Wednesday, Hill, the Albania Peace Corps Director, came down to see how the camp was. He was impressed with the camp grounds, the diversity of the kids and the volunteers at the camp. This made me very happy. On Friday, we gave out a whole bunch of presents that the Red Cross had given us for the kids. It went well but I realized how greedy Albanian children can be ("I don't like this color.", "This is too big", "Can I get what she got?"). I wanted to be like, just take what I give you and be happy!!

On a sad note, this camp exposed me (again) to the bad manners of Albanians. For example, they don't say please and thank you. They talk over each other. They shout at the teacher when they raise their hand to be picked. They are terrible eaters (they don't eat the crust of bread). They don't respect their elders. The boys pick on the girls and this is acceptable.

Overall I was extremely happy with how everything went. When I got home I only needed about 3 days to recover. Thinking and speaking purely in Albanian for a week was exhausting!! Anyways, I have some great pictures and it was a great experience for myself and the kids. Now it's time for the summer to continue!!

Hope everyone is doing well. Miss you all!
Leslie

40 kids + 8 Albanians + me = a successful summer camp??

Well in 2 days I will be getting on a bus headed for Gjinar in Elbasan with 40 Albanian kids and 8 Albanians. I'm excited that this camp is happening and after all the work we have put into it I hope that it goes well for both my sake, Yllka's sake and of course, the kids. Yesterday we had a meeting with the adults who are going with us. There is Yllka, myself, Ardian (who works with these kids), Marnelda (a school psychologist) and three volunteers coming from Lushnja. Marnelda has never done such a thing as a camp and freaked out slightly when we told her not to bring heels. Ardian seems very excited to be able to go and Yllka is just excited that her project is becoming a reality. Yllka has been very stressed preparing for this camp. We have had many parents who have had issues with us taking their kids for a week. The idea of a summer camp is still somewhat new here. They think that we are taking them and not going to bring them back. This is also complicated in families where there is only one child, the parents are divorced, or one parent is dead. We are taking one of the kids mom's because that is the only way she would let her son go but he really deserves this opportunity so I guess its not too bad. AT our meeting we talked about what the schedule will be like, what the goals are, what we will be eating, the layout of the camp and a few other misc. details. All in all I think we're ready. We just need to finish buying the food.

I have mixed feelings for this camp. On one side I am incredibly excited that its happening and as many people have pointed out, it is probably the largest thing I have done so far for the community. On the other side I'm slightly concerned that the kids are going to form a gang on the bus ride down and be uncontrolable the entire week. I told Yllka about my fears of going on this trip because no one will speak English which means I have to spend an entire week thinking and speaking in Albanian. I told her not to worry if I dissapear for a few minutes at any given time. I just need some time for my mind to rest and I will come back. I'm also slightly sad that I'm missing the 4th of July party but oh well. It comes every year and next year I should be back in the states for it. I'm trying to come up with a way that we can celebrate with the kids at the camp (good way to work on Goal 2 of Peace Corps). I'm thinking the best we may be able to do is have a picnic that day that includes watermelon. Maybe I'll try to get some fireworks or something but I doubt that will actually happen.

The only other thing to mention is that the elections here in Albania for parlament are on the 28th and the town is in a frenzy over them. Posters, flyers and commercials are all over the place. It is safe to say that elections here get just as crazy as in the US. I've been told to stay inside my house on Sunday night as many people may feel the need to shoot guns up in the air in celebration of their candidates winning. Hopefully this is just a rumor. We'll see.

Oh and one more thing, I really need to move out of my house and get someplace new. No chance of me moving before August 1st though. So far no winners. Hopefully when I get back from this camp I will find something.

Well that's really all for now I think. July is going to be a busy month for me as well. I plan on traveling around Albania, I have warden training for a few days in Tirana and also a new project starting with World Vision on volunteerism in youth. Should be a great summer. Keep your fingers crossed that my camp goes well and I return in order to tell you all about it!

Stuck in the Middle

Well this past week has been a little emotional for me. Let me explain as its not a bad thing its just sorta weird when I think about all that has happened. So to start, this past Wednesday I spent most of the day with Winifred. We had coffee with Bethany and Peter and some Albanians. Then we went to Winifred's house to help her do a final clean, get her stuff to her work, divide up the things she was leaving behind between the three of us, and throw away all the non-important stuff. It was a little crazy. I couldn't believe how much stuff she had! I hope that when I leave in a year I don't have quite so much stuff to deal with. Anyway, it was a little more difficult since she had to gather stuff together to ship to America and then some to send to Iceland where she will be working for a few months. Then she had to pack her bag that she will be traveling around Europe with. So her situation also added to the difficulty of helping her get ready to finish her service. I left her house about 2am Thursday morning. It was sad to say good-bye to her and know that when I came back from Elbasan she wouldn't be in Lezha.

Thursday morning I woke up really early to catch the 6 am bus to Tirana to get to Elbasan for the 10 am swearing in ceremony of the Group 12'ers. I didn't have much sleep but I got up and I got there in time for the start of the ceremony. Watching their ceremony reminded me of our swearing in ceremony a year ago and how excited and anxious I was. Now a year later, I feel at home in Lezha. I have many friends and I feel like I make an impact on the community. After the ceremony I talked to the new volunteers and their excitement was just like my own had been. Sitting there, drinking beer with them, talking about their excitement and fears was just mind boggling for me. I was no longer the new kid and I only have a year to go until I will be leaving Albania. I am in the middle of my service and I can't believe how fast the time is going.

Today, back at work I am super busy. My summer camp is actually going to happen and there is lots of paper work to do. I also am finishing a ton of brochures for USAID to print out for us. I was sitting in the office talking to several co-workers and they were like, "We are so happy that you are finally getting products produced." I decided to not bring up the fact that these things were not really new (except the summer camp). But the talk made me feel good. I have a year under my belt and I know that this next year is gonna fly by. The only problem is now, how am I going to be able to leave this place in a year??

False Alarm! The Project is a GO!

Ok so after prematurely being disappointed about my project no longer being on the Peace Corps website I learned that it is actually because it is fully funded! I got to tell my counterpart today and other people I work with and it is definitely a good thing. There have been celebratory coffees today and now I am excited for all the work that lays ahead. Hopefully within 2 weeks the money will be in the new bank account I'm opening and then its time to buy stuff. In just under a month I will be on the road with 45 kids on the way to Gjinar! How exciting!

On another exciting note, the trainees swear in tomorrow and begin their 2 years of service. This is just plain crazy to me because that means I have been here over a year already! Only a year left and I will be trying to get rid of stuff, pack stuff up and be heading on to some new destination (which who knows where that will be...). This is just mind boggling for me.

On a sad note, my site mate Winifred is leaving tomorrow to travel around a bit and then off to Iceland for a few months on a project. It will be sad to not have her anymore in Lezha but she will always be here in spirit... Rruge te mbare Winifred!

Well so much for that Idea

For the past month or so I have been working with my counterpart, Yllka to create a summer camp for children who are from families who live below the poverty line. Up till about 2 weeks ago I thought it would happen. To fund it, we had written a Peace Corps Partnership grant. This basically means that people who I knew back home and reached out to, who felt like donating to this camp, would be the main financers of the project. Today as I went online to check to see how much money we were still waiting for, I was disappointed to find it no longer listed. As we had planned on having this camp at the end of this month I knew that the funding needed to come by early June. Today is Memorial Day so no one is in the office to ask if this means that the project is being stopped because we didn't get the funding we needed or what exactly are our options. If the project is being stopped I am in for one bad conversation with Yllka later. If there are some other options well then maybe there's still hope.

I'm sad that this is just one more project that most likely won't happen but at least I tried. I hope that this will be an eye opener for Yllka. She hasn't been very active in helping me look for funding. Hopefully this will be a learning expereince for her as well. Yes I am American but no I am not rich nor am I conneted to people who have access to hundreds of dollars.

The summer is about to start so with that I have hope for sunny days and more small successes. The new group is swearing in on Thursday. I'm no longer the new kid! Best of luck to them. Just remember that patience is key to being a successful PCV here in Albania. Oh and go for every coffee you can :) Time to go find Yllka and have a chat. I may need a hug later...

I Needed That

Last week I got back from a vacation that I really needed. Everything was stressing me out a bit here so it felt good to get away. Now I'm back and I'm ready for more!

My vacation started by traveling up to Herceg Novi with an Albanian who I help out here in Lezha. His name is Ardi and he has a transportation company. He had a group of Albanians he was taking to Herceg Novi and he had an extra seat which he offered to me. It worked out great because it was the same day I was leaving for Dubrovnik, Croatia. He dropped me off at the bus station and then I had to wait a while for the bus to arrive but it was smooth sailing from there. I had barely stepped off the bus in Dubrovnik when I was pulled aside by a woman asking if I needed a room for the night. I talked her down from 20€ to 16€. The room was nice enough and there were two Americans traveling around staying there as well. We wandered around that night and again the next day. Dubrovnik is amazing! Expensive but gorgeous. My flight left at 8:30 pm so I headed off to the airport around 6 and waited for the plane to start boarding.

The flight was fine and when we landed in London I hurried through everything so I could finally meet David. I was so excited! He was great. I spent a full week in England with him and we traveled to Thetford, Bury St. Edmonds, Stonehedge, Windsor Castle, London and Lakenheath. All in all it was a great time and I got to see some great stuff. I was sad though because I only charged one of my camera batteries instead of both so I missed out on some great pictures while we were in London doing a double decker bus tour. I really enjoyed meeting David and finally getting to spend time with him. I was sad to leave that Monday but my journey wasn't over yet. I still had to get to Albania from Dubrovnik.

After landing again in Dubrovnik I waited around a bit to try to figure out whether I should stay in Dubrovnik or go straight for Montenegro. Well I found a minivan going to Budva which was perfect because I got an email from Ardi saying he would be there with a group of university students. After meeting up with Ardi, we had some beers and then I got some sleep. The next day the group and I went to Kotor which is by far one of the prettiest cities I have seen in the Balkans. I wish my camera had not been dead! We came back to Budva and relaxed the rest of the day. On Wednesday we left for Albania but made stops at Stephen Island, Tivar and at the Shkoder Castle. I was fed up with the university kids by the time we got to Lezha and I was so happy to be home! Overall it was a great trip and it really was what I needed. I feel refreshed and ready to go. Now only if the internet was working at the bashki......