Indefinite and definite? what's that?

So, if you're not quite to sure of what indefinite and definite mean in terms of grammar and language, you're like me. I'm not sure how I was taught grammar in school, or how I was supposed to learn it. But it's actually pretty simple, I think.  In definite you include "the" before the item, in the indefinite, the "the" is not there.  Like: Can you give me "the" socks vs. Can you buy me socks.  My friend Matthew wrote a great blog about the language very early on, here.

I digress, my point was, when I came here I didn't know much about grammar rules in terms of "terms" or knowledge, but I did know how to speak English, which can be helpful, except for the fact that many of the grammar rules are different in English and Albanian.  Aside from Matthew's eloquent example, another instance is the word for "the municipality", bashkia.  Depending on where it is in the sentence, and whether you are talking about "the" municipality, or "a" municipality, the municipalities, or some municipalities there are many different ways to use the word "bashkia."  *Off the top of my head I can think of bashkia, bashki, bashkise, bashkiake.  I may not have spelled them all correctly, and I'm sure I missed some, but you get the idea.  Needless to say when I began studying the language, and we got to this point in the lesson I nearly broke down in tears.  I decided to continue on though, but ignoring these slight changes in the word, and instead just studying my flash cards to no end.  I figured as long as I knew the base version of the words I needed to use, I could be understood.  While that wasn't always the case, it was good enough.


*I'm pretty sure I'm missing something here, but that's ok.

I'll never forget the day I was riding in a furgon (van taxi) with my buddy John and he repeated at least three times "Thane Shkolle" finally, one person in the furgon understood.  I don't know exactly what he was supposed to say, maybe "Shkolla Thane" (using the definite, and putting the noun before the adjective (?)), but we both just sat there in awe when one guy understood, and we thought repeated exactly what John said, at which time the driver immediately.


It was moments like that which also kept me from being complacent about the language.  One day I'd be on top of the world, thinking I knew so much, then a person wouldn't understand me when I said the simplest thing.  The graph below captures my perceived ability, and my actual ability taken over time.

Anyway, I was thinking of all of this because we just had our COS conference which included our language test.  Which, when we began, I never imagined I'd be able to take without studying.

In general my experience went like this.  Usually my confidence fell after I spoke to an Albanian who couldn't understand me, or one who said that I should've learned more up to that point.  But, over time I became more aware of my level.  Also, you'll notice larger jumps in actual knowledge at the beginning, then as concepts got more advanced, more casual jumps.  Toward the end my improvement mostly came from conversation and recognition.  Finally, you'll notice, there is no "scale" for actual ability, haha.  End of longest caption ever.

What do you do?

So, the trip to Kenya got postponed due to safety reasons and Peace Corps policy, but Kristen and I decided to take a short trip to Rome.  It was on this trip while staying in a hostel where we met numerous people that I began to really think about the question that many Peace Corps volunteers probably get, "what do you do?"

While we can all answer that question, in many different ways, it finally dawned on me today, that Peace Corps is so much more about what I learn than what I do.  I wish I could say I've gotten a lot more done.  Not because I don't think I've done anything, I'm happy with what I've done, but simply wish i could have done more.  So, if you've read my blog, you might have an idea of some of the things I've done, but I don't know if I've ever talked about what I've learned.  The reason I think this question is much more poignant is because learning is what floats my boat, even more so than what I do.  The idea that I now know what it's like to live in Albania, that I now KNOW that I'd rather live in an uncomfortably hot rather than an uncomfortably cold location makes me happy.  Especially when I consider that prior to coming to Albania I didn't think that...

So what have I learned? I've learned...

...to communicate better.  Working in a professional setting with the language ability of a 5 year old really makes you think about what you're trying to say, and figure out a way to say it that makes sense to those around you.  I've really grown to enjoy this challenge, although I must say at the beginning it was quite painful and often felt limiting and defeating.  As someone who loves to joke around, finding the comfort in a foreign language to make those jokes is difficult, but you can get huge laughs with jokes that aren't quite as funny simply because sometimes getting to the joke is the funny part.

...to make use of the tools available to me as efficiently as I can.  This is something that I will continually need to work on, but being here, as with the language has helped me think outside the box.  Finding ways to get things done when the tools I'd like to have aren't available. It kinda reminds me of the scene from Apollo 13 where they throw the mismatched box of tools on the table and tell the guys to figure it out.

...to put myself out there.  Whether it was meeting new volunteers, Albanian friends, or anyone for that matter, I've gotten much better than this.  Early on in Peace Corps a volunteer said something like "Peace Corps is about putting yourself in uncomfortable situations and learning from them," and that couldn't have been more right on for me in this instance.  Social situations have always been a bit "uncomforting" to me, and it's something I joined Peace Corps to improve upon, and it's working.

This is me putting myself out there...i led this circle dance at one point....SOBER!

...that although I can live 1,000s of miles away from family and friends, I don't want to.  I've learned this not only through being away, but also through watching the dynamic present in Albanian relationships.  Seeing their dedication to family has led to me questioning how I could possibly have lived in the same city as my sister and mother, and 30 minutes from my father, and not made it a point to see them MORE.  It's something that I plan to do when I get back, and not something I plan to take for granted again.
...

I wrote this blog entry about a month ago with the intentions of adding more to this list...but, i'm not in that writing mode, plus, i think it's long enough at the moment....if i don't like reading more than i page of a blog, why would i put you through it?

so, lookout for part 2..although it might never come...we also had a close of service conference, so i'll have a few notes from that too..hopefully soon! only about 2 months left.....