sometimes when you fall, you gotta get up and run your ass off...

so, I cant remember if I mentioned this in my last blog, and I’m not currently online so I cant check, but I am now at site in gramsh..i made it to site on Sunday, unpacked, cleaned a bit and worked on Monday..unpacked and cleaned some more..then needed to head for the capital city to help assist with the special Olympics. It was a great experience and I’m already looking forward to next year when my shqip is better and I can communicate with the people there that much more…the events they had were basketball, soccer, bowling and running…they had different groups from cities across the country…I assisted with the younger kids from a large city called durres..i had a lot of fun..and will be back to participate next year for sure..

funny story though, in order to make the games in time on the first day my site mate and I had to take the 5 am bus to Tirana…normally this wouldn’t be a problem…but with all the travel, and all the activities taking place over the last few weeks..including moving into my apartment that I had to clean..i was exhausted..my intention was to wake up at 3:50, plug in the hot water heater…go back to bed..wake up at 4:20 and shower…then bounce for the bus stop at about 4:40…my first alarm worked fine..i woke up, went into the bathroom, but then decided that I’d rather sleep than shower…so I went back to my room and thought I changed my alarm..and went back to bed…then at 4:50 I get a text from my sitemate kim (she’s awesome btw)..that she had to get on the bus since it was raining..realizing I was super late and would have to run across town I quickly jumped out of bed…

I live on the 4^th floor of a brand new apartment building (in fact I think I’m the only one in the entire 7 story building since the apartments aren’t quite done yet)…with marble floors..well, it had been drizzling that morning and when I got to the steps leading to the streeet (full sprint)..there was a lady entering the building, she turned right in front of where I was going..i tried to change direction on slippery stairs and went down  flat…she proceeded to yell at my in shqip..i finally got up and realized she was telling me to go to the hospital…I told her (Jam mire) I’m fine…got up and ran across town to the bus…made it to the bus a couple minutes after 5…I think I was running a six minute mile pace with a backpack packed for 3 days on..lol..needless to say..my lower back is still a bit sore…

I’ll try to post pics of my pad and my pain on facebook soon now that I have an internet café relatively close…which also means I’ll be on skype..so if any of you guys wanna hollar let me know when you’re on..it’s looking like during the week I’ll typically be on around 7 pm my time when I go to internet…I can make appts. For the weekend….

All for now…

been a long time...

i feel like it's been an eternity since my last post..these last few weeks of training have been pretty hectic and nearly all of our time had been accounted for until just last week..this week we've had a bit more free time on our hands, and as such, we've spent a lot of it together..there are 50 of us, and we know that once we all leave for our permanent sites we won't be seeing each other nearly as much..it's definitely bittersweet..we're all ready to get started working, but it'll be hard to just leave these 49 other people behind after spending so much time with them over the last 10 weeks...

so, we have our swear in this thursday...then i get to go to my future site...once i get there i'll have fairly regular internet access, so i'll be able to e-mail/skype more regularly....and will definitely be expecting some calls...

anyway, just wanted to give everyone a quick update since it had been a while...

talk to you all soon!


ps..almost forgot to mention, with all the time i spent on studying shqip, i actually somehow did a fairly decent job on the language test..i scored in the "intermediate medium" range...not sure how it happened, but i'll take it...

a little inspiration to travel...

quickie

finally got to put my newly bought basketball to use with some other volunteers and one albanian kids...good time..it was nice to just get out, run, and play a fun game...nice stresss free sunday...

as part of our training we have to do a project in our home town...my group put together something at the local school with the 8th and 9th graders...we're going to have them draw pictures of their favorite things about their town...we didn't have a lot of time to put the project together, but the idea is to get them thinking about their community as a home and place to stay and have a community...our town is so small it doesn't have it's own government offices, and many business are actually in the town next store...many of the people go to other cities to work, so hence the idea of getting them to think about their own town as a place to live and work...obviously it's a lot more complicated, and if there are no jobs in town they can't really stay...but i think peace corps wants us to get used to planning, mapping, and then executing projects...

many more projects to come...have met a few more of the current volunteers and they are all pretty cool....SOOOO FAR SOOOO GOOOD...

one last note, i might be getting a dog at my site from the current volunteer there that is leaving..we shall see, but that might be kinda cool...i was hesistant until i heard the phrase, he'll keep you warm in the winter...i'm nearly sold...

what's new...

4/14/10

just went to my first albanian wedding...took a few pictures and a few videos..hopefully you can see the circle dancing in one of my videos..here, or on facebook....about the 4th circle dance into the wedding (turns out there were about 30..no really, 30)...my host mom got me up and she had the band play a song, and she made me lead the circle dance...oh dear was it tough trying to learn the foot movements on the spot...but, whatever is clever..i wouldn’t even have done that in america...but now maybe i will...haas and brit..watch out for my circle moves at your wedding....anyway.after the circle dance we had food...about 5 courses..and for some reason, i got two of every course...maybe cuz i’m american....or maybe everyone did and i didn’t notice...either way, everyone was very nice..and we cheers’ed (gezuar’ed - yes mikey you were right) a bunch of times...the wedding was lots of fun...very similar and different from an american wedding...the groom (and i presume his family) were there for about 3 hours of the 5 or so hour event...i think there are actually two or three separate ceremonies..i believe this was the first one...the first is for the bride’s family.  my host mom was the sister of the father of the bride...anyway...it was a lot of fun, and i’m glad i made it there..check here or my facebook for videos/pictures of the wedding, and picture me leading a circle dance....

4/19/10

short and sweet..my blogs have been sparse and short because i spend every waking moment i have trying to do something productive..mainly learn the language..a couple of my trainee friends have blogs as well..i will try to post the links before you guys lose interest, i just haven’t had the time...

noticed the dodgers aren’t looking too good..haven’t heard anything about the nba playoffs other than garnet getting ejected or something...

speaking of sports...been watching a lot of great soccer over here...very talented players...i just cannot handle all the dives....it’s almost embarassing to see a premier player, on a premier team, in a premier league fall down and grab his ankle when the reply shows he wasn’t even touched...such is soccer, still some exciting moments i guess

the little things

travelled to elbasan today to check the internet/mail/etc. and saw that a few people had commented on my blogs to keep me updated on what's happening in the states! thanks...

also purchased a basketball...which is a little out of my price range as a volunteer, but i can manage to be frugal in other areas over the next 3 weeks..and i figure the purchase will be well worth it...once i get back to my small town and go to the school i'm guessing after about 5 minutes of shooting around there will be enough kids there to play a full court game...it'll be good for a little cross cultural exchange..community integration...and i'll be able to practice my albanian...

as usual, things are going good...training is filled with events...lessons..and presentations...so i'm staying busy..add in studying and i'm pretty much working from morning until night...

we learn our site placements next week..which will be cool...my counterpart (my main contact at work) will most likely not speak much english...so learning albanian is even more important...some people are nervous, some are excited...i'd say i'm more excited than anything...i'll keep you guys posted on where i'm posted...

on a sad note..one of the volunteers broke her ankle while on a site visit, and since we're in the first stage of training she actually has to go home...it was a freak accident and it will be sad to see here leave...but i've already told her she has to come visit..and since there are 49 volunteers in our group, she'll have plenty of places to stay...

wireless internet?

3/31/10

i’m having a tough time posting blogs since internet is sooo hard to come by...reliable internet at least..the internet cafe in town isn’t trusty enough to use my flash drive to upload blogs anymore..and as you can see from the format of my previous blogs, navigating the albanian keyboard and the albanian internet results in blogs posted with whatever title they’d let me use...

in any case..the only thing that may be harder to come by than reliable internet to post my blogs, is the time to actually write my blogs..my days are fairly simple, but full...basically it works like this...language class from 8-1...then either more training in other sectors after lunch, or more studying language after lunch...there simply isn’t enough time in the day...

i’ve tried to maintain some sort of physical activity so as not to drive myself crazy..i probably eat more calories during dinner here than i did all meals throughout the day in the US...i’m very lucky to have the fresh food that i’ve had from my host family...every dinner includes a salad with all the vegetables i could ask for...i usually get two separate plates with different meet and a carb to go with each meat...pilaf, potatoes, or spaghetti...some volunteers aren’t so lucky to have all the options i do...so i figure for the next ten weeks i’ll probably gain about 10-15 pounds..but once i get to site i’ll get back to my normal weight and hopefully a semi-normal workout routine...

communication with my host family and albanians has come a long way in the last few weeks and all of the studying and language classes are paying off, so that’s a plus...hopefully by the end of the 10 weeks i’ll be able to take my host dad out for “kafe” and hold a semi-decent conversation....that’s my goal..to know enough albanian to really thank my host family...

anyway..just wanted to give you guys a quick update..missing everyone, haven’t been to espn.com in weeks, lol, so i’m out of the loop on all my sports...

this weekend we’re having site visits with currently serving volunteers and apparently i lucked out and am going to a pretty cool city...sooo, we’ll see how it goes...that’s all for now...

4/3 i think/10

just got to an internet cafe that has wireless...movie on in the background...1 st movie...see no evil, here no evil...a classic with richard pryor and gene wilder that not many people know about, i brought it to albania...next movie, freddy got fingered, staring, tom green..gotta love it