PST finishes, life in Librazhd begins (for real, this time!) (May 17th)

It has been a very long while since I’ve posted an update, and for that I apologize.

I’ve been in a few photos other people have taken, and have also take a few myself, but I will upload those later. For now, updates!

Okay, so as many of you know, I am going to be living in Librazhd for two years. I am excited to work with my counterparts, as well as my site mate. I’ve taught most of this week, and have been truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to swear in as a volunteer. While we are still technically in training, it’s to be able to call myself a Peace Corps Volunteer, as opposed to a trainee.

The classes have been fun. Most of my time will probably be spent at the 9vjecare – the nine year school (basically grades 1-9). Classes are 45 minutes each, and the students stay in same room while the teachers rotate. Most of the students are very eager and enthusiastic, and large portions of every class want to participate. While there are some students who are shy or uninterested, that is part of school; if anything, most of the students seem more eager here than in any other place I’ve seen.

I do have my own place now, and I have indeed set up internet here. As we speak, I am sitting in my room righting this out. My landlords are going to be like a second family to me, I can see it already; they are warm, friendly, welcoming, and they have a sense of humor. They watch out for me, and are always concerned I am not eating enough. I miss my host family, but I feel this new family will become like another host family to me. The nice thing about living in Librazhd is I will be able to see my host family, and maybe even have the pleasure of inviting THEM over for dinner sometime.

I live near a lovely stream now, and at night, it is the sound of the river that puts me to sleep. It reminds me of the rain on the banana leaves outside my room window back home. It was such a comforting, natural sound. The river is very much like that.

I like it so much, in fact, that last night I wrote a 3-stanza-long poem about it.

So, in closing this little update to you all, I give you my poem about the river.

Sing to me river, sing me to sleep,
Sing all you want, while rain gently weeps.

Peacefully, river, cast all your spells,
Anger and anguish you always can quell.

Strong are your currents, working your magic,
Easing the pain of all that is tragic.

(My, how deep. Anyway, signing out for now, much love to all)

-Jefferson

Drawing near the end of PST (April 26th)

Hello everyone. Guess what? It’s time for another glorious update!

Aside from being sick over the past week, a lot has happened.

To begin, I had my first week of practicum this week. Basically, what this means is that I had my first (ever) week of teaching classes. I made lesson plans and tried to go by them, but I got a pretty good glimpse of just how unsteady the education system can be. Some days, you might jump from one book to another, other days you might start on a completely different lesson (based on what the counterpart feels needs to be done, perhaps).

But, all in all, I had a blast. It’s entirely possible I simply had a good training experience, and depending on where my site placement is, the reality might be much more different. That said, my experience was enjoyable. I got to try some new techniques that helped make things more engaging for students, and I got feedback (and acted upon it) throughout the week. Of course, there will be things to work on, but the fact it wasn’t an absolute disaster and was even a bit enjoyable was very comforting. I even might go so far as to feel I will enjoy my teaching experience.

On the note of site placement, I will find out on Friday where my site placement is. It’s probably the second biggest day for us during PST, behind the day where we swear in as volunteers. I expect we’re all probably pretty anxious about it, but it will get here faster than we realize (it already has).

This experience has been very odd in that time has flown by, and yet it feels like it’s been months.

For now, though, I’m signing off, I’ll keep you all posted with more updates as they come!

Mirupafshim.
-Jefferson

Early adjustments (March 31st)

Hello again everyone. Today’s update comes during lunch, where I have a bit to type out some more details about living in Albania (I am loving it so far, by the way).

The weather can turn very quickly here. The sunny afternoons probably get up between 70-80 degrees F, but the rainy days are dismal. Very cold, very wet, and they make showers impossible (well, close to impossible) because many showers here are solar-powered, so not only is the water lukewarm at best, but the frigid air from the rain clings to you, so it makes for a very miserable shower. On the flip side, when the sun is out, the temperature is nice and the water can be scalding hot (so far, I’ve had both my worst and best showers in recent memory here in Albania). When it rains, dressing in layers is about all you can do to keep yourself sheltered from both the damp and the cold. The last few days have been really nice, though.

Some of you may have been wondering about the currency here. They do not use Euros, but they use the Albanian Leke (simply pronounced “lek”). 1 US dollar is worth about 101 leke right now, so basically you can equate 1 leke to 1 cent. This makes figuring out “value” easy since 500 leke is basically 5 dollars.

Knowing this, you can tell that 50 leke for lemon tea is a bargain, and since we go to “coffee” quite often, it’s nice that I can afford to do so. We are given roughly 500 leke a day that we can spend on food and incidentals (toilet paper, laundry soap, shampoo, etc). We are provided breakfast and dinner by our host families, and lunch on the weekend days, but we buy lunch for ourselves on the weekdays. A full pizza (pica in Shqip) is about the size of an average “medium” pizza back in the states, and depending on where you buy it, costs between 250 leke and 350 leke (more with toppings).

In terms of transportation, the furgons I’ve mentioned before take about half an hour to go from Librazhd, where I live, to Elbasan, where we have our “hub” days (basically the days they teach us lessons that must be taught to all volunteers, worldwide; they call these “core” lessons). We have to go to hub two or three times a week. Furgons cost 100 leke each way, which is basically 1 dollar. Taxis are usually 100-150 leke.

Roads here are…interesting. There are lines down the middle just like in the US, but here I think they are probably considered more as “guidelines” than actual rules. While traveling, it is not uncommon to see strange sights. Albania is a land of contradictions, and to give an example, we once saw a man in a business suit, tie, and nice-looking fedora standing on a cart being pulled by a donkey.

Lastly, religion here exists, but it’s not really practiced. In Librazhd, there is a call to prayer several times a day from the town’s mosque, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a migration toward the mosque. I’m sure someone shows up there, but I haven’t seen it yet (then again, I’m usually not close enough to the mosque itself to see who goes). From talking with a few people I’ve met, there are many Sunni Muslims here in Librazhd, but again they do not really practice; it’s very, very casual here.

I promise I will upload pictures, there are many to upload, and even a video of the train coming into town one morning (it’s the cheapest form of transportation, but also the slowest).

-Jefferson

The journey continues…(March 26th)

Hey again everyone. Given how frequently we go out for “Coffee” here, and given most of the cafes have wi-fi, it seems I will be able to get online a bit more frequently, at least often enough to post an update every day or two.

So, for today, I’ll tell you all a bit about the weather. When I arrived in Tirana, as can be seen of the few photos I took of the airport, there were palm trees and it was about 70 degrees (F) out. Today it is somewhere above freezing. It’s rained for the past three days, and while washing machines seem to be a common commodity, dryers are not (in fact, I don’t believe I’ve seen a single dryer). As such, we have to dry clothing the old-fashioned way – on a clothes line. And because it has been raining for three days now, my clothing has yet to dry completely.

Dressing in layers helps with the cold, but I’ve found one of the best ways to A) keep warm, B) socialize, and C) practice language is to simply go out for coffee. Again, coffee isn’t always coffee, but sometimes coffee is coffee. As we speak, I am sitting here having coffee and pizza (spelled pica here but pronounced the same) has just arrived. More to come later!

-Jefferson

The journey begins…(March 25)

Hey everyone. I’ve made it to my training site in the town of Librazhd. The first two days were relatively nice, weather-wise, but yesterday and today have been rainy and rather cold (made for some great pictures of the mountains, though).

My host family is wonderful, and my host mother, Elida, is an excellent cook. I am trying new foods daily, and I’ve come to learn that I really like çaj limon, or lemon tea. I really like it. It makes me wonder why people bother with green tea back home. In any case, there is are two sayings I’d like to pass on to you all.

The first is…Coffee is not always coffee, but sometimes coffee is coffee. Coffee is everything here. Coffee is an invitation to talk, it is drinking coffee, drinking tea, passing the time, people-watching, sometimes (but rarely) a date, something to discuss business over, but really, “coffee” is simply about socializing. It is the way to “hang out” here.

The second phrase is something all of you back home can identify with, and it is “Avash, avash” which means something along the lines of “Slowly, slowly.” It’s basically the Albanian version of “I stay on Hawaiian time”. Here, it is a way of life. Things happen slowly, but it’s not a big deal. Avash, avash, all things in time.

When I get home later today I’ll upload the latest batch of photos, and perhaps this weekend I’ll try to get a picture of me with all of my host family gathered (right now my host brother is in school during the week, based in Elbasan, about 30 mins away).

Avash, avash, and mirupafshim (which means “Goodbye/see you later”).

-Jefferson