Last Friday I visited a couple of hospitals in Elbasan. Albania is a poor country and these hospitals were a good example of that. Dim, dirty and weathered. Stains on the sheets. Six beds to a recovery room. The surgical equipment was donated from France. Airplanes give a better illusion of cleanliness. Hard to keep old buildings like that spic and span. As my host father would say, Albania nuk ka leke (Albania doesn’t have money). There are times when this fact isn’t in the forefront of my mind. However, that doesn't make it any less true at a given moment. Everything I saw was physical so I know almost nothing about the quality of doctors and nurses. According to my host father doctors in Albania are worse than the wild dogs that roam around. They get paid a lot for a little, he says. He’s big on Italy’s health system (he lived and worked there for seven years). He had knee surgery after a work accident which was covered by the state.

Apparently, there is another hospital being built in Elbasan and it should be done in a year or so. I would like to visit it when it is completed. I would also like to check out one of the private health clinics that are, according to some people, more popular (and expensive) than the state run clinics in order to compare and contrast.

In funny things that happened to me in a funny order, I had a beer with some guys yesterday and they invited me to the following activities in the following order:

Do drugs

Eat Frog Meat

Cruise Elbasan for ladies

Go Fishing in the local waterways(and I assumed we'd eat the catch)

Going fishing takes precedent as the most important thing to say no to, then eating the frogs, cruising for chicks, snorting cocaine and finally smoking weed. You do not want to eat anything out of the water in Thane so fishing and frogs are out. I’m too worried about a shotgun wedding to go to kafe with a local girl so that’s not an option. So the most legitimate offer is the drugs which I, of course, turned down.

Getting offered drugs is pretty common for me (for whatever reason). Maybe people want to be accommodating or maybe I just keep meeting drug dealers. Who knows?

They did say I spoke Shqip well and in a truly Albanian act of bluntness said my friend Steve didn’t. Steve was almost asleep in his chair at this point and generally sleeping people do not speak second languages well. In truth, both Steve and I are garbage at Shqip and we don’t need anyone telling us otherwise.

It was nice to hang out with some Albanians closer to my age. The subjects didn’t change much from my talks with the youth; women, sports, what America is like, but the subjects were discussed in greater depth and with at a slightly more mature level.

I completed my practicum for training. I worked with two other volunteers to teach two health classes at the local school and one class at the local health clinic. I thought I did well in two of three lessons. The third one was just a poor performance by yours truly, but the group carried me so I am forever indebted to Stivi and Kimbo. We did get some good pictures of me looking professional in front of a powerpoint (my sole contribution that day).

More talk story later.

pics as demanded by sir benjamin krupp

durres the major port

sunset from my roof

barry, my neighbor

sunset from roof (again)

Lori, eshte i vogel, por i forte (small but strong)

Albanian flag




me rubbing the head of our doll that protects against the evil eye

host sister (Franceska), cousin, cousin, brother (Renato)



host dad working




host bro

host parents (Rezarta and Sali)

staircase to the roof

Fishiopolis

I got my assignment for the next two years yesterday. I will be in Peshkopi (peshk is fish hence the fishiopolis). Its in northern Albania but I hear good things about it. Clean air. In the mountains. Good People. Funny Dialect. My host family was only a little bit bummed because I will be so far away from them. I told them I would visit though.

Also, some revisionism... In regard to young men having nothing to do there is not a lot of work here. A lot of people immigrate to find work and until someone is old enough 18,19, or 20 they don't have much going on. If guys don't want to immigrate and don't want to study then they are pretty stuck. My host brother is kept close to home so that he doesn't hang out with kids who just smoke and drink kafe all day and my host dad says he'll be going to Italy to work as soon as he is old enough. Thats it.

Peace,

This is a two part blog update. The first part I wrote a couple weeks ago and the second part I wrote on Monday night.

The Less Recent Happenings,

I do no feel qualified to make a report about Albania so soon. After all, I’ve been in country for only nine days during which time I’ve observed many things. However, my language skills are such that I cannot ask Albanians about much of what I have seen. I also have not had much time to think on how my culture is influencing my perspective of everything here, which they say, is the most important aspect of cross cultural learning. That is my disclaimer.

I have made some good friends rather quickly with a few other volunteers since leaving the states. I’m reminded of my union training and subsequent campaign in Boston and how fast camaraderie was established during those weeks. I am still getting to know many of my colleagues as my initial flight to our staging was cancelled by the Denny’s of the skies, the New Jersey of the stratosphere, the Warren G Harding of the airline business…US Airways.

I am living in a village named Thane. It’s beautiful here by any standards although every American is shocked by the amount of trash disposed of in streams and burned on the side of the road each morning. I am living with the family of Sali Salufi. The Salufi’s have a small neighborhood of their own on the east side of the village. The mother’s name is Rezarta, the son is Renato and the daughter is Franceska. They have given me their children’s’ bedroom which is the largest bedroom I have ever had in my life. I have two beds. My feet definitely hang off the end. Sali and I watch soccer and talk politics using minimal Shqip and miming. I feel that our political ideologies are fairly similar. War is undesirable. Politicians are corrupt. Moneyed interests exploit the poor. Democracy is better than totalitarianism. Sali supports Milan for soccer and he flips off the TV when they are scored against. He has even begun to flip off the TV when Liverpool (my team) is scored on. I haven’t shown him my “rolled up newspaper smashing to bits” technique for dealing with sports frustration, but I think he’d like it. He does know “the slide of the couch when something bad happens” technique. Together our styles are deadly.

My host family is incredibly generous. Albanians really stick their finger in the eye of southern hospitality. I am always served the most (and best) food and waited upon. I have to move quickly and without warning if I want to get anything for myself. In this village gender roles are divided. My father is working to build a house for a family member and my mother and sister do all of the cleaning and food preparation. I am working on establishing myself as more of a member of the family so that I can participate in cleaning the bathroom after I take a shower or clearing the table, but so far I have met formidable resistance.

The food is 90% home made and home grown. During my first few days we worked on finishing half a sheep (dele, which is my favorite word). I have eaten all edible parts of the sheep and all parts of the chicken. I hope to move next to duck and turkey to get all the poultry notches on my belt by the end of training.

I am somewhat of a celebrity because I am from America, apparently look like James Blunt and am tall. Every day going to school I feel like I’m walking in slow motion during a rap video because everyone turns to look at me and I nod my head and give lots of daps. The day I trip and fall will bring new meaning to EPIC FAIL, I hope it happens at the height of my stardom. Gotta stay grounded.

The language is a challenge to learn, but I am progressing. I understand a lot more than I did 9 days ago, but I can still say almost nothing. That’s all for now.

More Recent Happenings:

I have started to work out every other morning to stay fit. I eat tomatoes and olives now. On occasion, I drink coffee and Raki (homemade booze) in the morning with my host father. I watch a lot of soccer and Djalle (a telenovella from Argentina set in New York in Spanish with Shqip subtitles).

I traveled to a new region two weekends ago. I went to Kavaje and Duress which are west my place. Kavaje is a conservative town, but I did see women in the main bar. This bar was interesting because no one stood up or moved around. You just sat with your people and hung out. Occasionally people would say hello to people at different tables, but generally speaking groups kept to themselves. Duress is the second largest city in Albania. It’s the major port and I walked the beach. You aren’t supposed to swim in Duress because sewage is pumped into the harbor. The area of the beach that you can see at low tide is dark brown, I guess from a combination of shit, oil, and other chemicals. It was easy to feel anonymous in Duress because of its size which was nice. I went on a hike with another volunteer (Adam) who is from WA too. We hiked up to a ridge where we could see the coast north of the city, orchards, farms and to the south the city itself. Adam found a ram’s horn which I am going to clean and cork so I can use it to carry Raki. The trip was fun, met some current volunteers and heard about their experiences.

Time is going by quickly. I’ve only been here 3 weeks, but I can see that training will be over soon. I find out where I will be placed this Friday. I don’t have a say in that and so I don’t think about it at all. I’m guessing it will be rural, isolated, cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Just the way I like it.

Before I forget: I have used a Turkish toilet a few times. It’s pretty rad. It might be better than a normal toilet. I am working out the pros and cons in my journal. I won’t go into too much detail, but I might have a whole blog entry on the Turk.

This language is difficult, but I have resolved to study more than I have been and I hope that will make a difference. The language is really the key to having a good time once you are at site, especially if you are the only volunteer in your town. Essentially the summer is a slow time here because it’s so damn hot so we have a few months to practice in the real world until things pick up.

On Saturday the US ambassador to Albania came and talked with us. His name is John Withers. He’s an interesting fellow and a good speaker. I sat in the middle of the aisle so I could get a handshake in. He will be swearing us in as volunteers after training is over.

The topic of interest recently among volunteers is the many Cuns (pronounced choons). Cun just means boy, but volunteers use it as a derogatory word for boys who don’t act right. There appear to be a lot young men who act stupid in Albania (young men seem to act stupid in general). However, in Albania there isn’t any infrastructure in place to stop kids from throwing a beer bottle from the roof of a bar into the school yard (also no restrictions of putting a bar next to a school). I remember getting the cops called when I lit a bag of poop on someone's doorstep, but that kind of option doesn't exist for victims of Cun Crime in Albania. Today I saw a student throw a full water bottle at a teacher and the teacher just looked at him in a peeved manner. I was definitely a cun when I was younger. I was probably a cun even when I graduated from college. I tend to dislike them when they act like assholes because I am reminded of the worst parts of myself. That being said, not all boys are cuns, but all cuns are boys. Their behavior has to be learned from older cuns because all the young boys I know from my neighborhood are awesome. Oh, and puberty. That’s a big one.

Conversely, it seems like all the girls in this country are friendly, responsible, hardworking and well behaved. There has to be some terrible ones out there somewhere, but I haven’t met one. My host sister is awesome. I defended her honor while playing chess with her. A boy started moving pieces for her to try to be cute or something. I told him no and moved her pieces back each time until he quit. He sat there dumbfounded while I destroyed her at chess and then I destroyed him at chess just to show him. Now he knows not to mess with Franceska Salufi.

The street kids are a different story. One boy tried to pinch my arm in order to get money from me. He was probably 8 so I laughed at him. Then he stole a cigarette right out of the mouth of a volunteer and smoked it in front of him. I saw a kid wielding a bent rebar beg (is it begging if you are pushing people? or is that threatening?) from girls who just got out of school, every once in a while a older guy would come hit him and then he’d threaten them with the rebar. He was probably 6 or 7. These are hard working kids who are living on the street and who are trying to survive I don’t blame them. It’s the kids who are taken care of and still act dumb that are the problem.

Another topic that is amazing is: what people say to get my attention. I saw some guys on a corner today and said “howsit” (c’kemi) and they said “good” (mire) and then when I passed them they yelled “Sex Sex Sex” for a long time (I’m must be starting to fit in). Another time I was walking with a friend and two kids yelled “Fuck you” and then when they passed us they were exceptionally polite and were glad to meet us. Essentially, people will yell whatever English word they know and what is the one English word everyone knows? Fuck. Obviously. It’s the most versatile word in the English language. I hope this trend continues indefinitely.

Things in Albania that I will never get tired of:

Donkey carts holding up beemers and benzes.

Animals being slaughtered on the side of the road.

My host father falling asleep on the couch in fantastically ridiculous positions.

Jeans that are more zippers than jeans.

How excited my host sister gets when Djalli (that telenovella) starts.

Mish Dele

Informal Poll: Is this blog boring? What do you like? What do you dislike? Do you feel like you are learning about Albania and Albanian Culture? Do you think my white male American perspective is too biased?