Experience Albania: Travel, Pictures, History, Culture

(Below: Waterside bar with Korfu in the background)
 I took the six and half hour busride plunge last weekend and headed south to Sarande, said to be Albania’s top tourist destination.  Also very popular with Albanians on their summer holiday.  With the most beautiful beaches and water, the Ionian Sea definitely looks and feels great in [...]

What happens when four PCV’s (plus a visiting girlfriend) hang out together on a “too hot to go out” kind of an afternoon?
 You guessed it: a brand new international addition of our own American game comes to life.  A combination of Dan and Sheila’s incredibly accurate recolections of Monopoly’s rules and ways, plus the drawing [...]

  (American Flag and Devil’s Tower Ahead)
It’s about that time again - for my dad and I to take our annual father/daughter motorcycle trip.  A freshly tuned up Harley (forgive me, dad, but I have no idea or guess as to the make, model or year of your bike … ‘98? Maybe?) plus jeans, leather jackets, [...]

We were lucky enough to have a little bit of a cool spell here in Berat last week.  It was actually chilly, amazingly enough.  A very welcomed break from the heat.  Yes, I put on a pull over.  Some fog rolled in, the rains came, and it was ska vap (without heat) for a few [...]

  Miresevini (Welcome!) and Gezuar Ditelindjen (Happy Brithday!) signs plus balloons gave guests a taste for what was inside … good people, good food and drinks, dancing and visiting.
 
Such a great celebration - my host mom turned 35 last weekend and an excellent party at the Kaceli household came along with it.
 
Anila (in white) and [...]

This title makes sense, trust me - because this beautiful creation was a combination of a typical apple pie recipe and the dough Albanians use to make their byrek.  It was also a join effort between my friend/co worker/colleague/tutor and her sister, who are Albanian and me, an American.  It tasted so, so good - [...]

 
It’s called Sister’s Bakery - a home away from home for any American looking for American coffee, American baked goods, and American decor.  We gathered here quite often during training, as it is in Elbasan.  While I was in Elbasan the other week, I had to chance to stop and revisit, along with a good [...]

My students and I read and discussed this story in English Club the other night.  It’s Albanian in origin and unfortunately, I don’t know who wrote it - but it prompted good discussion and it was interesting for me to hear the students’ thoughts on its message and the lesson within.  Here it is for [...]

Every Saturday morning … starting at 6 am, I’ve heard … you can head toward the Goritza neighborhood and over the Old Bridge to find “the treg,” which consists of a lot of people, a lot of things, a lot of traffic, a lot of smells, and a lot of deals …
 Old Bridge and the [...]

 A reading list that only makes sense now … short stories about traveling, a couple of Albanian-English dictionaries, Stuart Little, more short stories, The Alchemist, If You Want to Write, Techniques in Writing, and even more short stories … welcome to my world of learning and speaking Albanian, cultivating creativity by reading creative writing, and prepping [...]