Thash i themi.......

Thash i themi is "blah blah blah" in Albanian. There's no one clear subject of this post and I enjoy saying "thash i themi" so there you go. Anyway, a few things to catch everyone up on.

This last Friday, the American Ambassador and German Ambassador came to Lezha to discuss the "Klodi fenominom". For those of you who have no idea what this is, a little background... On the show "Big Brother" this season there is a guy from Lezha who announced a few weeks back that he is gay. There were several protests in Lezha about the fact that he's from Lezha - not that he's gay but from Lezha. Anyway, the protests were followed by threats to him and his family. The American Ambassador has supported him and his family through this whole thing and on Friday came to show his support for Klodi (Klodi by the way is still on the show and has no idea that any of this is going on). So, after the deputy mayor of Lezha gave a welcoming speech and a brief history of the tolerance usually found in Lezha, Klodi's mom spoke, as well as the mayor of the region of Lezha, then the American Ambassador, the German Ambassador then a representative from the ministry in Tirana, and finally the police chief of Lezha.

Overall their messages were very well said and I think it may impact several community members. Community members were given an opportunity to speak their minds as well and most of them had positive things to say. Only one old man was really negative about the whole situation. I was incredibly proud of one of the members of our Youth Parliment, Xhulio. He is a big glimpse of hope in this country and I'm glad he was able to show that to the ambassador.

This weekend I had two trainees come and visit me in Lezha to see what volunteer life is like and to get a little break from training. I met them in Tirana and after an American breakfast we headed into Lezha. The weather was wonderful and we decided to hike up to the castle. Peter and the trainees (Matthew, Terry and Tiffany) all climbed the walls into the castle while I chilled on the outside. It was very amusing for me to get to watch :) That night I made everyone tacos and the trainees got to experience their first Albanian disco! Good times as always. On Sunday, after a delicious french toast breakfast, we went to Shengjin to have a relaxing Easter on the beach. I twisted my ankle so I just watched as they played frisbee. We had an amazing seafood lunch before heading back into Lezha to have a lazy afternoon. Yesterday, we showed them the ropes. We went to Peter's office at the Department of Agriculture and then to the bashkia. After spending time in the social work office, development office, urban planning, foreign affairs, and meeting the mayor we headed off to have a coffee. We are after all introducing them to what life is like for volunteers. For lunch, we went to Ylli and enjoyed some traditional Albanian dishes. Then we enjoyed another lazy afternoon. I taught them all the fun Albanian words to impress their host families and language teachers with :) Last night they had the honor of experiencing Albanian blackouts. My power was flicking on and off every few seconds and then stayed off for an hour or so. We ate mac & cheese by candlelight and then when the power came back on, we decided to watch a movie with the candles on.

Today the trainees left after getting to see the day center for children with handicaps, experiencing the bank after its been closed for a long weekend, and had a coffee with my Lezha dad. Overall, I think they got a good glimpse of what volunteer life really is like here in Albania. I know they enjoyed being able to speak English all the time after being with Albanians most of the time for the past 2 weeks. This weekend I will head down to Elbasan to meet the rest of group 13. I have to figure out who's going to come to Lezha to replace me. So I think that catches you up on this past week. Oh, one last thing....... my hands are pink from Easter eggs! Thash i themi :)

They say you can't live without water.......

I have not had water in my apartment for 2 days now. Usually it will go out for a few hours and then come back. The longest it was out before was 1 day. Now we're going on 3 so I'm losing my patience. The dishes are piling up in my sink, my laundry is waiting to be rinsed out and hung up to dry, and I need to shower. All I want is like an hour of water and then it can go out again... is that too much to ask?!!

On another utility note, I went to pay for my electricity today and found out that the contract that I have been paying for is for someone else. After about an hour, it was all figured out. I've been paying too much! I knew something was wrong when I got a December bill of 7,ooo leke! Well, after figuring out all that, I paid up for all the months that I lived at this apartment (since September) and still got money back! Whoot whoot! I went to pay for electricity and instead got money back. That's a pretty sweet deal. Hopefully there are no more screw-ups while I'm living there.

This weekend I have two trainees coming to visit me in Lezha. My sitemate, Peter, has another one coming to stay with him. So with all of us together there is bound to be a party one night, Sunday is Easter so something fun for that too, and I think I'll even share my American goodies with them :)

So with all that said, I wanna wish everyone a happy Easter and oh, today is April Fool's so get out there and fool someone!

I Remember that Rainy Day I Came ketu.....

2 years ago today, 35 crazy kids and myself landed in Albania for the first time. We had had a long journey, we didn't know what to expect, I myself was super excited yet scared at the same time. Then after I had found BOTH my bags on the carousel, I knew that my time in Albania was going to be great. I was the first one through the security doors and onto the bus that would take me to Elbasan to get this whole crazy adventure going.

As I look back at how the past two years have gone, I can't believe how much I have been able to accomplish, how much I have learned and how much there still is to be done. Some of my favorite things so far in Albania have been:
-the summer camp in Gjinar
-the Lezha Women's Club
-working with the Roma community
-helping out at the Red Cross
-volunteering at the Special Olympics in Tirana
-going up to the Lezha castle
-going to the beach everyday in the summer
-being able to debate in Albanian
-drinking coffees daily about two to three times

It will be weird to not be in Albania. Speaking of not being in Albania, I now have my official COS date. It will be August 6th. I will then fly back to America for a little more than a month. Staging for Morocco will be September 15th. 6 months and I'll be a trainee again! We have a group of 51 trainees that just arrived here this past Thursday - welcome group 13!! I will be going through everything all over again, staging, PST, language learning (by which I mean charades), living with a host family (where I will use charades to communicate for the first month or so), learning a new culture (where I will probably offend someone using my charades), and dealing with the stress that comes with doing all that (so many charades! so little time!).

Spring has come to Albania and with that a new energy. The days are getting longer which means, more time for coffee, less time at home! I have lots to do in my final 5 months here. I have two summer camps for the Roma kids in June, and I will have a summer camp in July in Thethi (Hill is getting special permission from the Embassy for me to go to it). My high school English class is putting together their second edition of their newspaper and we will still get out a third one before summer comes. My counterpart is trying to learn as much English as possible from me before the new volunteer comes. I'm doing some Spring cleaning and getting rid of lots of clothes, shoes, books, and misc other items I have in my house that I do not need/want. I am so much more productive in warm weather than in cold!

That's about it for now. Again, welcome to Albania group 13!! Enjoy all the time you have with each other during training, learn as much as you can, take in the culture, and mos u merzit!!

March Madness!!!

This March has been crazy and it is going to be crazy until April comes!! I don't know what it is about March, but it seems like everyone has their birthday in March. I have already celebrated 4 this month, and there's another 10 or so to go!! Also in a few days the new group of volunteers is going to arrive in Albania and I've been preparing stuff for them to help out with their training. It also means my 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY in Albania is coming up. My project with Yllka is going to be in full swing next week too. See what I mean... CRAZINESS!!!

So let me break it down for you a bit more.... Group 13 volunteers are arriving on the 17th or 18th..... I forget which exactly but they're coming!! It's the biggest group of volunteers to arrive in Albania. I am preparing the tourism sessions for the COD volunteers and helping to do site development in both Lezha and Shengjin. I have also been asked by the language teachers to do some dialect training for the volunteers who will be in or around the Lezha area. We have so many different dialects here it will be nice for them to at least here what kinds of things they will hear. It's definitely different from the standard Albanian that they learn during training.

My 2 year anniversary in Albania is on March 19th. I can't believe that I've been here so long. It doesn't feel like it at all. I will be staying in Albania until Mid-August. Then I will go home for a month leave before heading to Philadelphia to go to staging (again) before taking off for Peace Corps Part II: Morocco!!! I decided just last Friday that I will do the full 2 years again. Now I just have to do some medical stuff and it will be official. YAY!!

My project with Yllka is going to be in full swing next week. We will be doing the first delivery of food packages to families. It will be interesting to see how it all goes. I have my doubts about this project and its sustainability but Yllka and the Light Force director, George, is pretty confident. The summer camps will be fun this summer. I cannot wait to do the summer camps! I also just found out that I might have the opportunity to go to Thethi (a restricted area for volunteers) to do a summer camp that is sponsored by the UN. Our country director is looking to get special permission for me to do it. Hopefully he will let me know more details soon but we'll see.

Yesterday was Women's Day. Youth Parliament sponsored an event for the Roma women to celebrate their history and culture. It was fun to learn more about their traditions and customs. They all had a good time dancing! You put on music and all of them are on their feet dancing! So much fun! I was sad to see that their wasn't as good of a turn out as last years Women's Day event but still happy to see some support from the community.

So as you see, it really is March madness around Lezha right now. I hope that you all are well and if you're about to come to Albania, getting excited!! You are about to start the adventure of your lifetime. Until next time!!
Leslie

COS Conference........ has it seriously been 2 years?

This past week I have been in Durres for my group's COS conference. The first thing that we were told is that it doesn't just mean close of service but continuation of service as well. This week has been the first time that everyone is our group has been together, along with the Georgia transfers. It was really interesting to look around the room and see the people who are still all here. We only lost a few people over the past two years. Our group is still going strong.


Anyway, the conference itself was a bunch of paperwork, how COS will work and also talks about the future. We all were able to discuss our service here in Albania, the impact we've had and what we will miss most about Albania. Another fun aspect of the conference was to talk about where we are all going after COS and what we will be doing. A lot of people are going back to the US and starting grad school. There are some people who will be traveling around after they finish here. A select few people are even staying in Albania. Other fun parts of the conference were Volunteer Olympics (raki tasting and blind texting were two events), the talent show, getting new movies and tv shows, seeing all the volunteers who I rarely ever see, and singing show tunes while drinking wine :) The group I came here with is amazing and I'm glad I got to spend some time with them again before we all start going our separate ways. I know I will see quite a few of them again but it's always the question of when??

On the last night of the conference I was given very exciting news - Peace Corps Morocco is interested in taking me as a 3rd year extension volunteer!!! I do not know all the details yet about PC Morocco but I think that hearing about on the last day of the COS conference was perfect. I now have to talk to my country director, do more medical stuff and figure out the time line for me leaving Albania, spending a month in America and then leaving for Morocco. It is crazy to think that I only have a few months left!! I really don't feel like I've been here for two years. I still remember the day I arrived in Albania. Oh those were the good ol' days :)

In 2 weeks, group 13 will be arriving in Albania. This group will be the biggest group we have ever gotten in Albania, 52 volunteers! I will be busy during their training helping to find housing and doing presentations to the trainees. Also in a week, my big project with the Roma/Gypsy community will be in full swing. We are giving out the first packages of food and holding meetings with the families to discuss community service projects. There will be lots to do and I will update everyone soon on how everything is going.

I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!! Spring is almost here!

Back to Normal

Well, all is well again in Lezha. After 5 days in Tirana, it was decided that it was safe for us to return to Lezha. The dams that were all at critical levels when they pulled us out had been tested. They worked and the water levels went down over the weekend. How happy I was when I saw Lezha from the road!

Even though Lezha is ok, parts of Shkoder and Lezha are flooded. Valipoje, Ishull Lezha and a few other villages remain under water still. The evacuation and now clean up of these areas is underway and I'm impressed at how well the situation went. It could have been a disaster. Luckily, no one died and everyone has a place to stay until its safe for them to go back to their homes. These people however wil have a hard time when they return to their homes. This year, their crops will be much smaller and most of them have lost all their livestock. It will take a long time for most to recover from this months flooding.

On the bright side, it has been sunny all week and not nearly as cold as last year. Hopefully this is a good sign that Spring will come quickly. My life is back to normal as I'm translating materials for a project, teaching English, and planning a vacation in 2 weeks. Peter, my sitemate and I, will go to Istanbul and then return through Bulgaria and Macedonia. I'm super excited for a little break. Plus, I need to get away from certain people in my city who are driving me crazy!! Nothing serious but the normal little things that just get to you over time. I can't believe my COS conference is in a month and COS is only 5 1/2 months away! Seems like just yesterday I was packing to come here.....

Hope you all are staying warm and can't wait to see everyone again!

Relocation

Hello all,

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable holiday season and that 2010 is off to a great start. I spent Christmas in Lezha with another volunteer and for New Year's I was in Durres. On the 2nd, I went to the wedding of the sister of one of my friends from Lezha. Also on the 2nd, we had heavy rain and flooding in Lezha. Well the rain continued and now I am in Tirana.

On the 3rd, I received a call from the country director asking me what the conditions were like in Lezha. I told him there was some flooding but nothing to severe. On the 6th, I received a call from our safety and security director asking again how the situation was. At this point, Lezha was not really affected by the continuous rains. I told her we were all safe and sound - no worries. Well, yesterday I received another call from her again saying that PC decided to relocate us to Tirana. She told me to pack up a weeks worth of stuff and be ready to come into to Tirana.

My sitemates and I were picked up about 2pm by one of the PC drivers and we came into Tirana. We are all staying with different American families. Today we had a meeting about the situation in Shkoder and Lezha and they have decided to keep us in Tirana until at least Tuesday when the reasses the situation. Again, let me tell you all I am fine and wasn't in any immediate danger in Lezha.

I'll post again when I learn more but hopefully my next post will be when I'm back in Lezha!
Leslie