First Days in Peqin

I arrived at my pre-service training site, Peqin, on the 22nd.

Since then, I have been living and breathing Shqip (the Albanian language). It's hard to tell whether time is going quickly or slowly, but it feels very full.

There's so much to write about that I'll divide my thoughts about the city, my host family, life in an Albanian town, etc., etc., into a few posts. For now, I'll write down a few thoughts to "fix them in my memory," as the Albanians say.

Of course things in life never go as you plan. However, I was still more than surprised to listen to the Bee Gees, ABBA's "Dancing Queen," Diana Ross' "I'm Coming Up," and other 80's pop jams in the furgon on the way to Peqin. I hear that the drive to the host family can be a somber experience for many volunteers. In my case, those tunes numbed me to all negative emotion.

Other than that, I don't want to tackle anything too heavy. If I begin writing about anything important, I won't get back to studying Shqip tonight. Besides, it's been raining the last few days, so I haven't been taking pictures. Once it clears up, I'll take some photos to accompany my next posts. Anyhow, I'll finish by saying that I've never had so much fun learning a language nor learned so much in such a short time. My Albanian host family is very kind and are teaching me well. My host mother made me some amazing beef soup last night. Lastly, I am having a tremendously good time integrating into the community.