Thanksgiving, I tried to leave out the graphic pictures!

Albanian neighbor helping me take out the insides, the part I wasn't so sure about?

Turkey: No head.

Seth holding the turkey before he spazed out!

Turkey: with head, 8.5 kilos

Weather, Makedonja (how they spell it in shqip), and Halloween.

Desert Rat, not anymore! I have never seen so much rain, wait…let me rephrase, water in my entire 23 years. Not to say that 23 years is a long time or that I have had much experience (more precisely, zero experience) living in climates other than the Sonoran Desert, but it rains a $h!t ton in Albania! I know most people who read this realize my situation but for those of you are just perusing the interwebs, I am from Tucson, Arizona where rainfall is a seasonal “phenomenon” we call monsoons and only lasts, if we are lucky, up to three months. I have never owned an umbrella before I came to Albania and I am almost positive no one in my immediate family even knows where to buy such a contraption. Anyways, it rains a lot here and I just love it. I am tired of the sun, blasphemy I know, and couldn’t be happier about the Mediterranean weather in winter. There are a few drawbacks to such fantastic weather. First, I wash my clothes by hand so I can only bring myself to expend enough effort for about one load per day (which translates to about half of a one gallon bucket). In the rainy season (which I am told lasts from about mid-October until the end of February) it takes my clothes about 5 days to dry completely. This means that I haven’t been washing my clothes frequently. Not a huge problem (and understand I live in a less-developed country) because I wear most of what I own until the garment can move on its own, excluding socks and skibies of course. I am mostly kidding here by the way, mostly kidding! Second, I have had basically a consistent cold. I enjoy the weather so much that at first I naively refused to wear adequate clothing. I hate being hot, so when the weather first started getting cold in Albania I was still in shorts and T-shirts. This has since changed because I got a wicked fever and missed a week of work. The third and final drawback to the cold and wet weather is travel. I first assumed that since the weather was getting cooler, that furgon (mini-bus or basically a big van) and bus travel would get more tolerable. I figured people would smell better, the heat and subsequent sweaty ass syndrome would cease to exist, and the roads would be safer due to less traffic. Boy did I hypothesis that incorrectly. Instead, people are too cold to shower and in turn smell worse. Compound this with the fact that the vehicle is now void of fresh air because it is cold and wet and they refuse to roll down a window, the result being an incubator for transmission of sickness and smells worse than a football locker room after an Arizona summer practice. I exaggerate a bit but you get the basic idea. I no longer generate symptoms of sweaty ass syndrome but the roads are definitely not safer. They may actually be safer statistically, but I don’t feel safer. Driving methods do not change in the wet weather. There is less tourist traffic but no regard to the possibility of ice on the road or reservations when it comes to puddles or flooded streets. Other than these minor factors of inconvenience, travel is better. Walking long distances across towns or cities in order to find the next mode of transportation is easier now due to better (colder) weather, although other PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) may protest this statement. Enough about the glorious weather, now let’s hear about the work situation.

Last month I started to get really excited about the prospects for work in the coming months. This has faded recently. The Bashkia, with my help, is working on creating a Foreign Language Computer Lab at the local 9-year school (this is years 1-9). I came into the project during the initial stage and before really knowing what was going on I assisted in writing a budget with Chuck (the previous Rubik COD PCV, maybe I will write an acronym guide because a bureaucratic entity like Peace Corps uses a lot) that was sent to the French Embassy in hopes of funding. Now that the project has been partially funded by the French, I cannot for the life of me find computer programs for teaching Albanian speakers foreign languages. The original plan was this; we went to a language computer lab in Tirana who teaches students English with computer programs and an instructor with knowledge in the English language, they agreed to provide us with the program names and supplier that they use, we were then going to purchase the programs and computers, and then I was going to set up the lab, network the computers to a server, and teach the two foreign language teachers at the 9-year school how to operate and administer the lab. The problem has materialized this week. The two contacts in Tirana who said they would help us acquire the language programs, French and English, have not been helpful. The French institute now claims that they only teach with books and knowledgeable teachers, and the English institute gave me inadequate information and now fails to return my emails. I went to Tirana last week to drop in on the English teaching facility and the two contacts I have there were, reportedly, unavailable. There are plenty of English and French teaching computer programs out in the world but I can’t seem to find any that cater to native Albanian speakers. Not a big deal, I will find something and everything will work out, I just thought the purchasing part of this project would be over by now…oh Albania. Other work related news is not too good. Today I was informed that the only English speaker and the Bashkia’s only translator got a job in Tirana with an American law firm and is quitting. The best part is that she is tight with the Mayor so he agreed not to replace her until her probationary period with her new job is over. That means that the Bashkia will not even begin looking for a replacement until January. Great!!!! Guess I will have to kick my Shqip into high gear or I will have nothing to do at work, or at least I won’t understand anything they give me to do, for a while. Also, the ideas I have to present to the Mayor about improving the transparency and efficiency of the Municipality will have to wait until I can accurately articulate them in Shqip. That could be quite a while, considering how I can barely speak my own native language, hahahaha. Other than that I have a few things in the works right now but I’d rather not jinks myself quite yet so I am just going to keep those things close. I am also teaching an information technology class at the community center, which is actually going well considering that my students range from ages 17-52 and none of them speak English. Outside of work, I had the pleasure and relief of leaving the country.

Macedonia is also a Peace Corps country but things are much different there. They have a good road network, intellectual property rights enforcement (which meant I got to eat a Big Mac), and…get this…a bus system with schedules and actual bus stations! Although it was really nice to get out of the country and see a little of the Balkans, I really missed the culture of Albania. The first night we were in Macedonia, we couldn’t find our hostel. We kept on asking people, taxi drivers, and various hotels for directions or even to point us in the right direction. Either the taxi drivers would quote us some ridiculous amount of money or people would just say they didn’t know and continue on their way. If this were to happen in Albania you would get a hand on the back of your arm or a forceful “hajde” and the Albanian would either guide you to the door of the place you were looking for or would find someone who would. The people in this country really know how to treat other people , especially foreign people.

When we finally arrived at our hostel in Shkopje, the capital of Macedonia, we were greeted by an excellent proprietor. He first made sure that we weren’t over charged for the taxi we eventually had to take and then asked us about ourselves. We told him about what we did in Albania and instead of charging us per person like in all hostels; he reduced the price and just charged us per room. He then set us up with a similar deal in Ohrid, which is where we were headed next. Macedonia is an extremely pretty country and we had a great time. We spent most of our time just enjoying the break from Albania and the nice atmosphere, so we didn’t really see too many of the sites, there is always next time. I will keep the rest short.

After Macedonia we went straight to the Language Refresher, which is a Peace Corps conference that takes place for all volunteers during the first 6 months of service. I honestly think it is a bit of a waste of time and money. It may be a great conference for some, but in my particular situation, learning how they speak in the central and southern portions of the country is not a real big help. Dialect and accent are such a big deal where I am from that I didn’t get much from the conference. It is also a huge bureaucratically organized event. After the conference I headed to Elbasan where we did our Pre-Service training for the Halloween party at a group 11 volunteers house. I was surprised, dude has an awesome place, I say surprised but I mean jealous. The party was pretty fun; people have to make all of their costumes so it was interesting. I went as my Turkish toilet, printed out a picture of the thing and attached it to my shirt, also made a shower head that I wore from my hat. Well I am way behind on posting to this thing so I will leave it at that. Hopefully I will be able to write something about Thanksgiving and the turkey slaughter soon!