Experience Albania: Travel, Pictures, History, Culture

Here is a look at the space below my apartment - it’s a Western Union that my rentors own. They are such a wonderful family and it’s always nice to know that there’s a bustling business downstairs where I can talk and have a coffee with Mira (she and her husband are the owners) [...]

Pretty soon you (my readers) will have Albania on your list of travel destinations … if you don’t already that is!
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/travel/10budget.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Quiz yourself - do you know everyone’s name by now?
 Ryan and Juliet (they live in Kucove, which is just a 30 minute busride from Berat), plus James (my sitemate) and I.  This was after Juliet had hosted 50+ people at her new apartment for a house warming party. 
 Matt (in blue), plus James, Dan, Brian, Andrew [...]

 
Brian (my fellow PCV friend) had good friend visiting him last week.  Tiffany fit right in and was along for the ride with the rest of the group in Berat last week.  One of the things we exposed her to was a traditional Albanian …
Haircut!
 
While Tiff didn’t get a cut herself, Juliet and Jeanine got the workds done at [...]

 
Italian espresso and french toast were the top menu items as we ”pushimed,” which means to take a break and rest, in light of Albania’s independence days (they can’t decide on just one day so we get two off - not a bad deal).
 

 Mirela is James’ counterpart - a sweet, smart woman who has become a good friend of mine.  She’s an environmental specialist at the Berat bashkia (city hall) and I’d like you all to meet her!
 Mirela and Katie (in new skirt).

A big group of fellow volunteers and I had the great privilege of both meeting the owners of a winery and recieving a full tour (and tasting) of their winery.  My friend Irene arranged the visit and it was an excellent visit.  They set an entire table for us, brimming with a spread of wine bottles and traditional [...]

Brand new and beautiful!

Big Sister Gracy and her new little brother:

Uncle Ben with his new nephew:

On the 20th of December, I have a 5:10 AM flight out of Tirane, Albania that is bound for Munich, Germany. I will hit a significant mark of time on that very day, because nine months earlier I headed to the airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota, bound for Philadelphia, [...]

More great quotes I pulled from draft #2 of my students’ short essays on the topic “Love is blind? Does love start from appearances or character?” The title of this post, “That’s how love is these days,” comes from one of the two boys in a class of twenty students. He said that [...]