Tonite, Tonite

Despite snowing only lightly, a bone-chilling cold remains in Peshkopi. Last week, I saw several houses buying piles of wood--probably twice the amount that I originally bought in October. Looking at my own dwindling pile that, conservatively spent, will last me two more weeks,  I'm growing a bit nervous. Even worse, the logs available look like the dregs of the wood supply and are wet enough to steam until they're turned into ash. However, it's been sunny lately, so I still have some "winter's ending" optimism from my last post.

Since then my creative writing project has continued to occupy a lot of my time. Still, I'm enjoying the hectic bouncing between schools and, as Friday (Feb 20) is the day of the exam, the light at the end of tunnel is in sight.  

I've been listening to a good deal of doo-wop lately, and, as almost all doo-wop songs relate to Valentines, today's title is "Tonite, Tonite" (1957) by The Mello-Kings. 

Nearby Peshkopi in a village called Kastriot

The boulevard in Peshkopi

At least three times a week, my lunch is this fasule soup with bread. Reaching into a jar of pickled peppers, my friend in the picture has his "usual" as well--spaghetti and plain yogurt

The most famous dog in Peshkopi--Obama

On the road between Peshkopi and Kukes

One Summer Night

The snow melted completely last week but a fresh blanket has covered Peshkopi again. However, it seems like the coldest part of this year's winter lasted from December 25th to January 10th. Though it remains brisk outside, I'm no longer shivering in my apartment and have begun to kick off my blankets at night. Last night, I had the new experience of watching the rain gradually slow its fall and float down as snow. Although I'll probably have had enough of cold weather by the end of these two years, I hope to accumulate a few more winter memories like last night before then.

Last week, I visited four different schools to teach creative writing in preparation for a writing exam on February 20th. It's a pace that I couldn't keep up forever, but I certainly find myself much more energetic teaching lessons from Chekhov instead of verb tenses. During the first lesson, we did an exercise of my own creation that mixes haikus and a surrealist game that I played with my mother and brother as a child--the exquisite corpse. In order to introduce a little more conflict in my students' stories this week, I taught them a lesson on good and ill fortune from Kurt Vonnegut.

Today's title comes from Ariel Pink's 2014 album, Pom Pom. While winter has its charms, it can't beat summer.

The back patio of the Tirana Backpacker's Hostel

Tirana at night