Experience Albania: Travel, Pictures, History, Culture

This is my new name here in Albania! They have the name “Katie” but it is pronounced more like “Kay-ti” and with a wonderfully elevated intonation at the end. I love it!
As I love everything that has happened since Sunday afternoon - my new town, my host family, and everything that has come with this change is absolutely amazing and comfortable and interesting and beautiful! I will have to hold myself back from putting exclamation marks after these sentences I write! …!…
Where to start?
First of all, I cannot find my USB cable for my camera … which means I cannot transfer any of my new photos onto my computer (hi mom I may need to ask you a favor …). But I will resolve this and soon you will have photos to go with my words.
My new home is everything I hoped it would be and MORE. I have been welcomed/adopted/ushered into my host family’s life and home. They are incredible people and I already have an idea of how hard it will be to leave them in three months.
There are actually 3 sisters (my “moders”) and one brother and then the mother and father. The youngest (16) and next oldest (25) live at home and I have such wonderful luck to be with them. Absolutely so sweet and fun and lively - my Albanian sisters while I’m away from Lauren and Becky! The mother and father are so, so sweet. I practice the little Albanian I know with them … but the language barrier will melt away as I learn more and more.
The town is beautiful! There is a lake in the center of town … mountains that resemble the Alps (still snow covered) in the distance … you can walk everywhere … yet it is a big enough town to explore a lot, which I have yet to do. A current volunteer has his site here and told us yesterday that there are 84 lakes within the immediate surroundings of my town. I’m excited to find them!

Ah … my “space,” where I live in my host family’s home, is the epitomy of my dream living space. I am literally surrounded by a vast array of indoor plants. My host mother loves plants and I am certainly enjoying her results! I live on their second level; this “green house” room is huge and then I have my own room, a sitting room, and a bathroom to myself. Absolutely lovely. So nice. This is also where my host sisters and I eat our meals.
The food is wonderful! Surrounding their house are almost every kind of fruit tree you can imagine. Come one month or so and I will be picking fruit off the trees, so my host sisters say! There are also chickens, bee hives, and grape vines. Loving all of this, as you can imagine. And may I repeat the fact that this family is so, so great.
My host sisters are helping me tremendously with my Albanian … which is definitely a challenge to learn, but every day I feel and see progress.
I had about 200 pairs of eyes on my this morning as I walked through the school courtyard with my host sisters (one is a pupil and the other a teacher at the school where my group and I have our language class each day … we will eventually teach lessons in this school, as well, in the upcoming weeks) - it is an interesting, yet humbling experience to say the least. Everyone is so curious, so friendly. I can only imagine what they are thinking and wondering.

What will next week be like? How much will my Albania improve by the end of training? How long will I stay healthy for - when will I get sick for the first time? How can I best portray the things I’m seeing and learning and discovering to people back home - to you reading this? What are my coping skills? Where will I be in three months?
These are a small fraction of the questions running through my head. More soon - hope all is well! Please excuse all and any typos - internet time is precious and infrequent.
Mirepofshime!