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

new blog 1

3/22/2010

the son never shines on closed doors

-flogging molly

first day of class...4 hours of language didn’t get me quite as far as i’d expected, and only reinforced the fact that i’m going to have to work even harder outside of class to get this language down...i can’t imagine having to learn an entirely new alphabet like volunteers in other countries...only 1 different letter, and 9 other combinations of english letters make up the 36 letter albanian alphabet...

so after language class today and brief walk around our town...bisquem.i was back home studying more language..for about 3 and a half hours...fortunately my host mom sat with me the entire time to help me pronounce the words correctly...the second part of memorizing the language is actually pronouncing it right...i was so thankful to have her next time me correcting me and helping me along the way...turns out she is very very smart and used to work as a doctor or a nurse....she pulled out the stethoscope to help me understand..one day i’ll be able to get that information from a conversation...

regardless, originally i thought joining the peace corps would give me some time to reflect and spend on myself...that time has yet to come..i’ll be diligently studying language with all my extra time in hopes of understanding the conversations that occur when i go out with my host father for kafe...

as for kafe...this is a major part of albanian culture..and this is one thing that i’ve merged into my life as a calbanian...in america i never drank coffee...here, i’ve had at least two small cups a day...i think they’re called expresso shots, maybe?  i add a whole packet or sugar (sometimes two)..before i even think to drink it...btw, the packets are about twice the size of the american equal/splenda packs...pure sugar...haha...so far so good though...plus, i’m trying to socialize...

another alteration to my life as a calbanian has been the removal of working out...peace corps has encouraged us to continue some sort of a workout routine if we had one in the states...so as soon as i can settle in i’ll get back on it..possibly when i have been waking up (at 5 am, i’ve been going to bed at about 9 pm)....

that’ll be all for now...

actually, scratch that..while looking for a title song i decided i wanted to comment on something americans can learn from albanians...not once in my host family’s house have i seen a light on in a room they weren’t in....albanian tip for americans number 1...if you’re not in the room, turn off the lights...tv...etc..don’t be lazy

adpate

3/21/2010

i’m just people watching other people watching me - jack johnson

so it’s 7:35 am on sunday morning...i’ve been up since about 5 am...got into my host family’s house yesterday afternoon and so far so good...my host father, Nazmi, is retired, he’s 62, and my host mother, Hava is a housewife, she’s 58...they call me jeffrey since that is how i filled out my peace corps app. and that’s how my name is written everywhere...

everything i had read about in blogs so far has been true...to recap:

*albanians are super hospitable...from the looks of things, my host family gave me their room and they’re sleeping in the guest room...pictures of my room to come...

*albania is cold..we’re not even in winter, and one of the PC staff was commenting on how great the weather is, and i, along with a few other volunteers, am cold...

*albanians love to feed you...so far i’ve had two meals with my host family, and i’ve walked away full both times..no need to worry about lack of food here...

*no central heating or insulation? no problem...i’m sitting in my room and it feels as if my window is open

*update: i was just in my room studying..and it’s sorta cold..so my host mom and dad set me up in the living room and they have the stove going to heat me up...they are tooo nice and i feel bad because i know in a normal circumstance they’d be saving that wood...once i learn how to speak better i will tell them that hosting me is nice enough and they don’t have to do all these extra things

other interesting things:

*my host family doesn’t speak a word of english..they have two boys who are between 24-28 (both married) who immigrated to italy to work...its been said that i will stand a better chance at learning the language since my host family doesn’t speak any english...so i’m excited for that...i’m also excited that i came to albania knowing about 500 words...these have proven to be extremely useful so far...

*there are 3 other voluteers within walking distance of me..no more than 10 minutes away..two within about 3 minutes...so i’m not too isolated...i’m sure we’ll get together at various points during training..

what's up gangster's? what's up guys?

superbad...

anyway, we just finished our staging in philidelphia...and are now sitting at the JFK airport waiting a few more hours for our flight to Albania...staging went great...i had heard different stories about it possibly being boring or long and tiresome...fortunately i sat at some pretty fun tables and met some pretty cool people..and i'm sure many other volunteers would agree that the MC kept it interesting...all in all it was a good time and has me pumped to go to albania..

a bit about my blog..i'm going to try and keep it short and sweet...i'm not big on reading, so i'm going to try not to be big on writing...expect a lot of bullet points..incomplete sentences, and bad grammar...hope you all enjoy..i also hope to put up more pictures to give a better idea and hope to make myself a cribs video at some point..we'll see when i have the time...