Over The Mountain, Across The Sea

Peshkopi continues to stay warmer than I expected. I bought two cubic meters of wood back in October, fearing that snow was on our doorstep. All in all, it's a bit chilly in the morning but I remember feeling much more miserable during my high school lacrosse practices at 6:00 AM, but that was in Los Angeles. Almost daily, the phrase comes to mind, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." Though it'll only hurt me in the end, I'm somehow looking forward to when the myth of "bad weather" becomes a reality.

I had never intended this blog for anyone other than friends and family. However, given the off chance that a future volunteer stumbles here, here's my abbreviated packing list. Other volunteers' lists were helpful when I was preparing to leave, so I feel indebted. However, I'd like to get back to reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, so I'll avoid mentioning everything. These are just a few of the things that I was particularly glad that I brought.

- Quality headphones (do yourself a favor and upgrade from those apple earbuds)
- Portable speaker for your laptop
- Lots of gifts (mine were peanut brittle)
- Kindle
- Chef's knife
- Ice-pack
- Warm boots for winter
- Ear plugs
- ... As I remember more, I'll add them. Now it's time to return to my book.

I figured that I'd actually attempt to find a song that's title had something vaguely to do with what I wrote about. Here's the first thing I came across: "Over the Mountain, Across the Sea." The Bobby Vinton version is what I'm familiar with but writing this encouraged me to listen to what I'm thinking is the original by Johnnie and Joe.

What's a post without a picture? Here's a picture of a fellow volunteer, a good friend of mine. 

Cyprus Avenue

It was only inevitable that my blog-posting would drop off. However, due to the encouragement of a friend (thanks Allyson!), I'm going to do my best to write a little more faithfully. Once a month at the least.

Life in Peshkopi continues to be more or less the same. School, volleyball, and cooking dinner compose the majority of my days. However, falling into this rhythm has also opened up my life in a way. Having this pattern of comfort, I feel that I can handle more work and go on more adventures, like today's day hike, with the assurance that I'm reasonably settled in Peshkopi.

Amidst so many new experiences, life moves tremendously quickly. As such, it's difficult to fully take in what is for me an entirely new phenomenon--seasons. Only two weeks ago, the leaves turned golden yellow and wild chestnuts were falling on the streets. Now, the persimmon trees are, for me, the perfect symbol of this winter before the frost, with their leafless branches and orange fruit. 

A few days ago, I listened to Astral Weeks for the first time. I was reading up on the album when I came across Van Morrison's description of Cyprus Avenue: "a street in Belfast, a place where there's a lot of wealth. It wasn't far from where I was brought up and it was a very different scene. To me it was a very mystical place. It was a whole avenue lined with trees and I found it a place where I could think." Something about this, "a place where I could think," resonated with me and reminds me of the places of I've been and where I am now.

A picture taken by sitemate during today's hike. Check out this neat 360' view of where we were.

The hostel during an engagement party

Our Thanksgiving table

The meal. For my contribution, I adapted an Italian sausage stuffing recipe to use the Albanian sausage, qofta. 

A small Orthodox chapel near Peshkopi

The watermill close to Peshkopi. The hostel is trying refurbish this building to get it up and working again.

A Picture from my recent trip to Pogradec

The boulevard of Pogradec

It's The Same Old Song

School started two weeks ago. After staying up late during the summer, it's hard adjusting my sleep schedule to these early (and loud) mornings. However, teaching is going better than expected. Today, a large group of dedicated students held a celebration for "The European Day of Languages." The event included songs, dances, dialogues, and power points in at least six different European languages. Though I expected to be exhausted after the event, it's amazing how ten hours of sleep can help you meet such a strenuous day.

At the end of summer, I took photos of the rooms at the Peshkopi Hostel for their website. It was a great learning process. My lens wasn't wide enough to capture the whole rooms. I ended up going there about three or four times. Each time, I did something a little different and felt that I learned something by the end. Or, at least, I feel more competent than before.

Today's track is "It's The Same Old Song" by the Four Tops. Another post-unrelated track, just part of the soul vibe that I've been in lately.

In front of the hostel with the new sign

The newly created "Ginger Bar"at the Peshkopi Hostel. I can't wait to start playing some Les Baxter and Martin Denny there. 

The hostel's new dog, Ginger. Truly a cosmic coincidence, since my dog back home is also named Ginger.

Pictures that I took of the hostel for the website

Again

Again

It Is What It Is

Two days ago, I went to a waterfall around an area called Pocest. I'm a little hazy on the specifics of the location. However, it seems that Albanians are too.

A friend told us that the waterfall was thirty minutes from the city of Machellare. Once we got there and had walked forty minutes, a local told us that it was another hour and a half. All in all, the trip up the mountain took close to four hours. Then, the trip back down was a little under three.

Towards the top, I became a bit light headed and felt ready to throw in the towel. Of course, I'm glad I didn't. On a blistering hot summer day, the waterfall was cool and fresh. After showering off under the waterfall, the trip down the hill felt like a breeze.

For no particular reason but I've been listening to it often, today's track is "It Is What It Is" by Blood Orange.

One the way to Pocest

Picking up trash! 

Overlooking Dibra

On the way. It's hard to explain, but this is about two and a half, almost three hours into the hike. We traveled through the forest below, cut past the rock face in front, and hiked up to where the waterfall was. The tip of the waterfall is a thin stream that's barely visible in the photograph.

Waterfall

My best friends in the Peace Corps

Bonfire

Blue Sky Avenue

The GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Camp in Peshkopi took place this week. Starting Tuesday (8/19), it ended Friday (8/22). Another volunteer and I organized the event. However, in terms of interaction with the girls, the camp was primarily run by the female volunteers.

On Wednesday, I "helped" out the Peshkopi hostel by taking pictures of a rafting trip. We floated down the river for close to five hours. Of course, the views were gorgeous but the company was even more outstanding. Later that night, we cooked spaghetti bolognese and bruschetta at the hostel. It was definitely one of the better days of my life.

School officially starts September 15th. Until then, I'm gonna try to recharge my batteries completely before the start of the new year.

Today's title comes one of original crooners, Gene Austin.

GLOW Camp

My buddy Ernesti (Nasty) and I. 

Rafting

Peshkopi Backpackers Hostel staff. The owner surrounded by his managers.

The interior of Illir's car

Diamond Day

Today is Bayram in Albania. If I understand it correctly, today is the first day after Ramadan. Therefore, it's the first day in a month that the people who fasted can eat, drink, and smoke between the hours of sunrise and sunset--not an easy task during these longer summer days. 

Presently, I'm cooking fasule. Since I wrote my last post while making the same dish, it does feel a bit redundant. However, soup-making lends itself well to writing. For three, four hours, I'm bound to the stove, stirring the pot every ten minutes and checking that my pressure cooker doesn't explode. At the very least, I'll try to make a different soup during my next post.

The weather is marvelous today. It just stopped raining and a cool breeze is drying my freshly mopped floors. The gas on my stove is on the lowest setting and the wind keeps threatening to blow out the flame. If it doesn't start raining again, I hope to make it out to the hot springs just outside of Peshkopi, an hour'ish walk from my apartment.

Yesterday, I went for a stroll, wanting to buy a flannel jacket, and stumbled into a productive day. All by coincidence, I met a carpenter (the father of one my students) who offered to help me make garden beds and two separate gardeners who each claimed to be the most knowledgeable botanist in town. Then, about four nights ago, the owner of the hostel officially gave me the green light to garden at the hostel. All in all, it seems as if my garden is theoretically coming together.

----Five'ish Hours Late----

I did visit the hot spring, and it was a spectacular experience. The water could have been a little hotter. However, we met a wonderful family there and I was glad to take my first bath in four months. The people of Peshkopi believe in the healing power of the waters there and go there once a year for 10 to 20 straight days to heal their various ailments. I hope to start such a pilgrimage sometime soon.

Since it's been such a pleasant day, today's title comes from one of my favorite songs: "Diamond Day" by Vashti Bunyan.

The fasule from last week

A view of Peshkopi from a nearby village

Me at the hostel

Strange Powers

I've been back in Peshkopi for a few days now. While the weather is hot and sweaty in the south of Albania, Peshkopi continues to look as if it's going to rain.

It's 3 o'clock, and I'm cooking some food that will hopefully last me until tomorrow evening. I just took the pilaf out of the oven and a pot of fasule soup has simmered for its second hour of four on the stove.

As someone passionate about cooking, I find fasule to be a useful exercise for an often overlooked culinary quality: self-restraint. Without delving too deeply into the cooking process, today's pot contains 1/4 kilogram of white (perhaps navy) beans, one small onion, one very small carrot, one tbsp of tomato paste, water, and a little salt, pepper, and butter. It's tempting to get fancy with this dish and feels awkward cooking with such small quantities of vegetables. I've cooked the dish twice before and consider my previous attempts "works in progress" at best. This time, I held back on green peppers, chicken stock, and most all my creative impulses. However, so far, it looks as if I'll be proving the old adage: "third time's a charm."

Continuing the trend of my last post, today's title comes from a song that I've been listening to a lot lately: "Strange Powers" by The Magnetic Fields.

My new carpet!

New body soap that I bought, an impulse purchase that I'm quite proud of. 

Here Comes Summer

Tuesday was my last day of class. The teachers are organizing their registers and calculating grades while I've been packing my bags for a trip to the south of Albania. Today was the first day that I haven't cooked since arriving here. I cleaned my apartment for five hours yesterday and didn't dare to make a mess again till I've come back. 

I don't have anything particularly exciting to talk about but took a few pictures today that show a little of what I'm doing in Peshkopi. 

One of my biggest accomplishments of today was that I bought a new rug. If you look at my last post, you can see the beige rug that I have in my living room. In Albania, it's customary to take immaculate care of your home, and I've found that the rug is a primary symbol of this virtue. 

Since clearing the furniture and cleaning a giant beige rug is something that I'm unwilling to do every week, I bought a used rug today. The rug charmingly reminds me of Mexico and, vis-a-vis, Los Angeles. Also, since it was purchased from a used goods store, its smell reminds me of Los Angeles thrift stores (as I imagine all thrift stores everywhere have the same odor of age and dust). I'll take a picture of it once I wash it. 

Besides the photo of the volleyball court, the pictures below are of a soon-to-open backpacker's hostel in Peshkopi. A new friend of mine will be one of the managers there, and I'm terribly excited to help out there over the summer. Who knows what I'll do. Clean, weed, man the desk, wait the cafe. All of it sounds wonderful. I'm hoping to play music at the cafe and plant some flowers.

None of my photos come anywhere close to conveying how cool this building is and how wide the landscape. It's a mansion perched above Peshkopi with a beautiful view of the rolling green hills of Northern Albania. During the communist era, the building was reserved for politicians and other influential guests. So, within the bullet proof doors of this building, there's a lot of history and enormously high ceilings in each room.

Today's title comes from a song that I came across last week ("Here Comes Summer" Jerry Keller). I'm not sure if this titling system will be a persistent feature of this blog but I felt like pointing out a song that's been stuck in my head lately. 

The court where I play volleyball

The entrance to the hostel

If you move inside the gate towards the right (from the last picture), this is the veranda. This is where they plan to build a cafe.

The rear end of the hostel. The door on the bottom right leads into the kitchen.

This is a view a little to the left of the picture above. Again, that's the veranda where the cafe will be.

 A view of the second floor hallway. The veranda ahead faces the front gate. It's where famous politicians (e.g. Enver Hoxha) would deliver speeches to Peshkopi.

The living room and future common room. In the bottom left, those are vinyl on the shelf. The first solid collection that I've found in Albania. Maybe 40 or 50 records, mostly traditional Albanian music and Italian instrumentals. Sadly, no Italo-Disco.

My Aparment

I didn't put much thought into these pictures, but hopefully they give you a little understanding of what my apartment looks like. The main window of my apartment (featured in the previous post) faces east. The layout reminds me a bit of Gregor Samsa's apartment. There are three rooms, stacked in a row like the head, thorax, and abdomen of an insect. Up until recently, the family who is renting me the apartment had been living here. So, the space has a distinct "lived in" quality, which is both good and bad. It's homey but I want to make it more my own. 

Since I arrived here, I've been teaching at a grade school. My work typically starts at 8:30 and ends a little after one. Of course, as a teacher and a Peace Corps volunteer, the work doesn't just end there. However, I think that I'm pretty good at productively spending my time. The physical education teacher organizes an after school volleyball team, so I've been playing volleyball for one to two hours almost every week day. After that, I cook dinner, eat, and then go to a cafe to read and drink a before-bed coffee. Pretty nice rhythm, huh?

Yesterday, a remarkable development occurred. I spotted one of the volleyball coaches getting out of a furgon with a fishing pole. He's invited me to come with him whenever I want, so I think that I've found a fishing partner for the summer! 

If I play my cards right, this is where I'll be fishing this summer.

Wedding party in Peshkopi

From my hall, looking south. 

From my hall, looking north. My bedroom is straight ahead. The bathroom is on the right. The front door is on the left. The little cabinet'ish thing in the lower left is what I use to turn the water on and off.

My Bed

My gas and electric stove

My wood stove. Apparently, this model is the cadillac of wood stoves.

My "dinner table." From this angle, it reminds me of my college dinner table.

Sink