Experience Albania: Travel, Pictures, History, Culture

We were talking about pizza at the dinner table last night, which lead to the eldest daughter putting together a sausage pizza at 7 AM this morning. It was wonderful - I ate it, along with a hard boiled egg (veze) and an orange (portokall) on my 5 minute walk to school (skholle … for those of you studying Albanian with me) because I was running a little late.

Speaking of food - it’s an amazing feeling to consume nearly 100% local products. All of the dairy products (milk and cheese), meat (chicken and some beef), vegetables (tomatoes, olives, onions), grains (white bread, corn bread, and other Albanian specialties) and fruit (apples, oranges, apricots, figs) come from either their own trees, grounds, and animals or the neighbor’s. Perhaps some of the canned products are imported, but these are few and far between. I love, love the food here.
And I love the fact that I drink between 3-5 cups of coffee per day. Granted they are not Starbuck’s proportions, but small espresso cup proportions. But still - their coffee is so tasty. My gracious host mother includes me in on her coffee routine (Turkish coffee) and my group and I stop for coffee during class breaks (peshimi). Add it up and I’m becoming part of Albanian culture by consuming frequent coffees!

I love waking up to a room full of plants. This morning in particular was very, very foggy - the hills and other houses and the mountains (mal) in the background were totally invisible. But by midday it had burned off and so my group and I walked around the entire lake (leqen) that lies in the center of our town. We estimated it to be about a 2.5 mile walk - so beautiful (bukur) and quaint. The “Geneva” of Albanian, most certainly.

“Go in search of your people. Love them, learn from them. Plan with them. Begin with what they have. Build on what they know. But the best of the best leaders when their task is accomplished, their work is done, the people are remark, ”We have done it ourselves.“ -Lao Tzu

I ate a Luna energy bar today (hi Adam and Lori :). There are several good candy bars that my friends and I have found, but none that compare to our energy bars in America. There is the ”Metro“ candy bar, which is a cross between Rolos and a Mars bar. There is the ”Stila“ candy bar, which has a chocolate wafer and KitKat crunch to it. But I can’t find a Powerbar or a Luna bar or a Kashi bar anywhere. Which is fine - I consume enough carbohydrates in a day, to say the least, but the healthy goodness and sweetness of our energy bars are so nice. Eat (ha) one (nje) for me the next chance you get.

It’s too early for me to make any sort of reference to things I miss. Besides people, of course, there isn’t anything that I am doing ”without“ because there are wonderfully new and different things here to be learned, experienced, discovered etc.
I love walking everywhere. I love coming home to my host family (familje) in the early evenings, knowing that the rest of the night (naten) will be spent in such ”real“ ways. People enjoy each other here. Time is consistently taken to talk, sit, and eat. Visits are made an received among neighbors. Everyone is close.

And so I go on studying and learning and speaking. I practice my counting by throwing a ball (top) back and forth with one of the little girls in the street. My host sister (26) gives me her time and undivided attention every single day - she is the tutor of all tutors, as we laugh half the time and I am entertained to a T by her good humored antics. So, so great. It is so hard to put into words how fun it is to sit with her and struggle through reviewing my Albanian lessons.

I am a lucky, lucky girl (vjaze) to be here.

Good night! Naten a mire!