42 days and Counting

Wow, its almost over. I will probably only have one more blog after this. The new volunteers have arrived. There are 50 of them. My group started at 37. April started with a visit of four of them in Berat. Two stayed with me. Since they had only been in the country for 2 weeks, Kate and I felt like spoiling them. We made Mexican food, pancakes, omlettes and many desserts. One volunteer said she felt like she was back in the US. After 4 days and 3 nights of cooking, dishes and giving tours of the city and introductions, I was wiped. I slept for 2 days and was off to Elbasan the next weekend. I went to see my host family from training and there was a picnic to meet the rest of the new volunteers. Then I was in Tirana to start my medical clearance on Tuesday and Thursday. I met a friend in Tirana and we headed to Peshkopi on Friday. It is a mountain town in the north east and borders Macedonia. It’s a beautiful town and it was a lot bigger than I thought, 12,000 people. It’s also a strange city because it is full of men. Well, it is mostly all men that you see in the streets. When I got back to Berat a lady at the store said she goes every year for a few weeks. When I asked about all the men, she said the women stay indoors. The trip back was long. Its 4.5 hours from Peshkopi to Tirana and another 3 to Berat. I was able to stay up until 8:30 before I crashed. I also found out that there are 2 new volunteers coming to Berat at the end of May. Kate and Kay will be joining Kate. The Albanians are going to love that. Also both Kates are blonde and about the same age. So after having been in Berat for 2 whole days, I am back to Tirana. A good friend is leaving early so I will be going for our last night out. When I am back in Berat I have a stretch of 8 days in town, yay. The longest I have been in my house in one stretch after the new volunteers left is 2 days. Oh, some very upsetting news. In the center of Tirana is Skenderbeu Square. The square is being turned into a green zone. The statue of Skenderbeu (Albania’s hero) is going to be removed. Are they going to change the name of the square? Are they going to put the statue somewhere else? Nobody knows the answers. Pictures. While I was in Peshkopi, it rained most of the time so I didn’t get pictures of the mountains. One pic is of their statue of Skenderbeu and a pic of the modern mosque in town. Another pic is of Becca demonstrating how to stay warm in the house. The other 2 pics are from the castle in Berat. One is of the volunteers that came to visit and the other is of Kate on the wall.