"I See God in Every Human Being..."

Village of Thane group: T, Megan, Heather, Me, Eric, and Luke.

This is Group 16 of 34 members at the Hotel in Elbasan.

The Albanian flag flies proudly over many homes here.



Mother Teresa said, "I see God in every human being." Mother Teresa is from Albania, and Albania is where I am serving with the US Peace Corps.  This is my first blog from Albania, so let me start with a few facts about the Peace Corps.

This beautiful Mother Teresa coin was given to me by my first Albanian friend on the plane.  She was SO impressed with the sacrifices we make as PCVs and the work we are doing in her country.





The Peace Corps was started in 1961 by President Kennedy.  It is currently in 75 countries with about 8.073 current volunteers.  There are about current 74 PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) serving in Albania as of this writing. We have 3 sectors in Albania; HE (Health Education), TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), and COD (Community and Organizational Development).  The first Peace Corps Director, Sargent Shriver said, "Peace requires the simple but powerful recognition that what we have in common as human beings is more important and crucial than what divides us."

 

Both pictures were taken from the PC training site in Elbasan. 



You can google for facts about Albania's size and population, so let me tell you other interesting things I've learned.  Albania was listed as the #1 tourist destination for 2013 by Lonely Planet. It's 70% Muslim (although I've also seen the figure 51%); it has no McDonald's; Johnny Depp is a descendant of Albania; Voldemort is from Albania; George Bush is the first US President to visit Albania and they have a street named after him in Tirane; there are over 750,000 bunkers here.  One is in my front yard.

This is the house that I am living in.  The green frames will hold grape vines in season. 

Heather, Me, and Eric in front of my house.



I have been here for about 10 days.  Yes, it is very cold to me, but that is relative, because I am from warm Hawaii!  I have so many blankets on top of me that I can hardly turn over due to their weight.  I still need my long underwear, thick socks on both my feet and my hands and I have to put my head under the blankets. It's probably around 40F at night and 45-55F during the day.  But this is MY story, and I am cold!



Both pictures are Cala Castle in Elbasan. 

I am in a group of 34 volunteers.  We flew to Tirane, then rode a bus to Elbasan.  We have PST (Pre- Service Training) until the end of  May, or about 10 weeks.  It is very intense training in language, culture, and safety, as well as our sector training (COD).  Yes, I am in school again. All day.  Most of our time is spent on learning the language.  The Albanian language belongs to the family of Indo-European languages.  It is one of the oldest languages. Today, it is spoken in Albania and within the former Yugoslavia areas, such as Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and South Serbia. It has 36 letters.

Both pictures are taken near my home in Thane. 

I LOVE IT HERE!  The food is great; a Mediterranean diet of fresh olives, fresh cheese, home made yogurt, tons of great vegetables, fruits, meat, and fresh bread. I am living with a local family during my training to help speed my language skills along. I am near Elbasan (15 minutes) in the small village of Thane of the Cerrick Municipality. Did I mention that Thane is very small?

Mayor of Elbasan with plaque from US Ambassador, "Elbasan, Continue to Lead and show theWay."

 

My family is a woman, Leta, with 3 teen agers.  She has two daughters, Dhurata (20) and Tila (19), and one son (17).  Her husband is an immigrant in Italy building houses.  They grow olive trees and most of their own food. I couldn't have asked for a better family.  They are so kind.  Their house is beautiful, and I live upstairs in separate quarters, so I even have my privacy.

My favorite fast food, Sofllaqe 

It's just so much more than I expected.  Everything is really good.  Even my language skills are coming along so much better than I thought.  I had to acquire two new things; gloves and mud boots.  Mud boots for the long walks in the valleys of mud, and gloves to even hold a book at night!

Genti and I.  He is Albania's Peace Corp Training Manager.  THAT IS A COAT I AM WEARING for those that are not familiar with all these layers upon my body! 

 



The group in Thane is 6 people.  We study together here in our small group 4 days a week.  The other 2 days we take a furgon to Elbasan and study with the big group of 34.  The Albania Peace Corp staff here is great.  The whole experience is very intense and structured.  I sometimes have to pull back a little, take a deep breath, and remember why I am here; Finding Peace Through Service.

It won't always be like this.  At the end of May we are placed individually throughout Albania in both government and non-government (NGO) organizations.  Albania is one of the few places that Peace Corps volunteers are placed in government offices.  So in June, I will have another new beginning in my own house, in a new city, with a new job.  It's a time of new beginnings for me in many ways.

So enjoy the pictures and my stories and let me bring to you my Albanian experiences with the US Peace Corps.