Lezhe and My New Site

Hello!

A lot has been happening since I first arrived at my new village and site on April 5th. When I first came to my village I was very nervous. I was nervous because I don't know anyone in my village and I'm also the only fluent English speaker/ American in the area.  However, all that seemed to fade away as soon as I met my counterpart and school director in the city of Lezhe. I first met my counterpart and school director on the weekend of swearing in as  a peace corps volunteer. They both took the time to formally introduce themselves to me and exchange pleasantries over a coffee. My counterpart is an amazing woman. She is very intelligent and has more than a firm understanding of the English language. Not to mention she also knows several other languages. My director is a very intelligent and kind man as well. He has led the local school to become one of the most progressive and inspiring public schools I have seen in Albania. As a volunteer, this is very exciting for me because it makes my job easier in terms of introducing new activities and teaching my culture and language. However, it is equally as important to me to learn the Albanian language and culture.

After the coffee, we went directly to my new host family. I didn't feel as nervous as I was before. The drive was pleasant and we talked the whole way there about the  history of the District of Lezhe. Lezhe is a beautiful, it has lush green fields of agriculture and towering steep mountains cradling the fields. In addition, its a very historic place. It has many ancient ruins and a castle on top of a local mountain. It is also home to the grave of the historical Albanian leader Skanderbeg. My village, just due north of Lezhe, used to be an old air base back during Albania's communist era. Across the fields there are two large runways where the plans use to land and take off. When these plans landed, they were escorted down a long road to the mountain next to my village and stored inside tunnels that went deep into the mountain. My family lives across from one of the two big runways. The family was waiting for me as I arrived with big smiles and warm hearts.

My new home is very large. It has a main house with two apartments (one on the top floor and one on the bottom) and a cottage that my host mom lives in next to the main house. My family here owns a lot of chickens, ducks, pigs, beehives, a garden, and other cool things around the house. As we entered my new home, we were immediately escorted upstairs to an unoccupied apartment above the main house. I can tell you that my apartment by American standards is amazing. It has couches, a big table, fully functional kitchen, fridge, bathroom (with a western style toilet, shower, bidet, sink, cabinets, and a washing machine), and a bedroom with a queen sized bed. I was absolutely shocked at how nice my new home was.

Upstairs we proceeded to get to know each other and I began the task of learning everyone's names. I wont share the names of everyone on this post but I can tell you my new host family is very large. I have a host mom and host dad. The host mom and dad have a daughter that also lives in our house. The daughter has two daughters who live with us as well and are my students at my local school. None of them really speak English at all so most of my communication with them is in Shqip. They seemed impressed with my grasp of their native language after three months of training in Belsh. That night we had a big dinner together and I can tell you I had a wonderful meal. My host mom is a cook at a local restaurant and It shows come dinner time.

My daily routine: (the example given applies to my first day) 

In my village school starts at 8:00am in the morning.  Everyday I wake up at 7:00am, brush my teeth, comb my hair, get dressed, pack my bag and head downstairs for coffee and breakfast. Oh wait, nope, I'm on my way back upstairs now because my host mom wont allow me to go to school with wrinkly clothing. She proceeds to iron my clothing. I get dressed again, eat food, drink a coffee and head to my family's car at 8:55am. The school is about a ten minute walk from my house but by car its about two minutes. When I first arrived at school I was most certainly a fly in the milk. It was pretty obvious that I was the new teacher on the block. Also the students were made aware that a new American is coming to town. I greeted everyone the way I normally do. I loudly said "goodmorning!", "hello!", and "miremengjes!". There's no point of acting shy when your in the situation I'm in as a foreigner in Albania. The students all responded well to my greetings and came up to say hello. I'd say most the kids here can only say a couple of phrases in English and "hello" but it doesn't matter because I can communicate with them in Shqip. After the greetings in the school yard, I head into the school and say hi to all the teachers. Some of them can speak English, but again, I usually communicate in Shqip. After that its show time.

I head straight into giving lessons with my counterpart. My counterpart is an amazing teacher. Her understanding of English grammar makes me wonder If I understand my own language at all! During the lesson she tends to take care of translating and grammar rules associated with English.  My role in the classroom leans more towards conversational skills such as listening and speaking. For example, I may read and explain some new vocabulary words the students have to learn in English, my counterpart will emphasize what I have said and then proceed to translate what I said in Shqip. In addition, I may read a passage in English and then have students read the passage. Along the way, I help the students with pronunciation and explaining concepts in English. After the students read, my counterpart takes charge of translating the passage with students. My counterpart and I teach English all day until the end of school at 1:15pm. After that I have free time until 4:00pm in which I host after school activities with the students. I'm still developing a formal itinerary for activities with the students after school.

The weekend:

On the weekend I will typically go out with my family or counterpart to different places near my village. Our typical destinations include: Lezhe, Shengjin (a town next to the Adriatic sea), Shkoder and more. We usually go in the afternoon to these places to drink wine, coffee and eat dinner. During the day I spend a lot of time relaxing in my apartment after the work week. I like to watch movies and television shows on my computer. I also love taking naps when I can. Sunday is usually very busy for me. Every Sunday morning I wake up at around 8:00am and get ready for church at 9:00am. My village has a Catholic Church and most of the people here are Catholic. This works out great for me in terms of integration because I'm catholic as well! After church, I will typically talk to some of the other people in the village and catch up on everything. In addition to talking outside the church sometimes I will go for a coffee with some of the people there as well. Going for a coffee is very common in Albania. People are always asking if you want to get a coffee and the cafes are always packed with people. Especially on Sundays. In the afternoon on the weekends I try to call family members and friends in America. I'm six hours ahead of EST so I call right before dinner typically. I have found that I communicate with friends and family more now that I have been living in Albania. It's one of the many cultural things I'm starting to pick up in my time over here. People here communicate much more with their families than a typical American family. When I return to America and eventually have a family this is definitely one of the values I will emphasize in the household.

That's all I want to write for now everyone. I'll try to keep everyone posted with updates. I must admit that it is hard to find time or even think about blogging. Albania has become my everyday life just as you have your life wherever you are living in the world. To my friends and family, don't ever hesitate to call or talk to me on the phone if you have any questions for me. I send my love to you all!

Naten e mire!