Cerrik, Albania was My PC Home for 2 years

My Peace Corps Service has officially ended and I will soon head back to Hawaii, USA to start a new chapter of my life. I wanted to share with you what the little village looks like that I have been living and working in the last two years.

This is my neighborhood. I have very kind neighbors. My apartment is the lite yellow one on the second floor in the middle of the photo. 

These buildings were built during the time of communism. They are cement block buildings with no insulation. I have a good breeze in the summer and nice sun in the winter. I really love my apartment here. 

This is the view from the other side. I have a front balcony and this back balcony which is off the bedroom. It is the light yellow one.

This is my front door and the bathroom is to your left when you walk in. 

I love my bathtub and the blue tile in my bathroom. I am on a water schedule, which means that we only have water during certain times of the day. So I keep buckets of water in the bathroom and kitchen for those times the water is off.

When you walk in the door, you have two doorways in front of you. The left is the kitchen/dining area and the right doorway is to the bedroom. 

This is the bedroom and the balcony is off to the side. This room stays cool in the summer. In winter, this is the only room I heat to about 55 degrees. The rest of the house can get as low as freezing temperature at times.

Another view of the bedroom. T.V and internet are important to have! 

The dining area has a set of bunk beds for guests... 

I have an oven and two working burners on the stove.  

It's a nice little kitchen. We use a water filter because the water is not safe to drink here.

This is just down the street from my house. These sheep cross the road every evening on their way home. DJ (my puppy) especially enjoys watching them on our evening walk. 

She wants to be friends with the sheep...

And the goats... 

And even with all the stray street dogs!

Every evening we walk past this bunker on this country road. 

And up this hill.

This is the top of the hill. Elbasan is to the right and Cerrik is to the left.

This little "oil" store is on the road near my house. It's where I catch a furgon to Elbasan.

I get most of my produce from the bigger city near me, Elbasan. Elbasan is a 25 minute van ride from Cerrik. 

The market has a great selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, olives, cheese, etc and the prices are so low! 

There are two kinds of cheese: Katcaval (hard yellow cheese) and white soft cheese. They are made with goat, cow or sheep milk; with or without salt. 

Elbasan has a McDonald's (ha ha). It sells a rotisserie chicken for 400L ($3.20) 

Elbasan is a beautiful city with it's own castle wall 

The famous Silk Road, Egnatia Road, passes through Elbasan 

The last few pictures are of people in my community loving on DJ....

I have been truly blessed to share my life with the wonderful people of Cerrik, Albania for these last two years.

Mirepafshim!