Other than that, summer vacation has been treating me mighty fine this year. Last month, I learned how to pull espresso, and that's definitely enhanced my productivity while working at the hostel. I've already gone fishing a handful of times at the river in Peshkopi and along the coast of Southern Albania. The largest fish that I caught was a 9-inch red snapper looking fish that I grilled that evening at a beach called Jal. We celebrated July 4th in Peshkopi with a barbecue, a trip to the river, and fireworks. Firing roman candles into the night with my Peace Corps friends, it reminded me of Kerouac: "The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."
Today's title comes from a 50's/60's cabaret singer/pianist named Blossom Dearie. It's a sweet song that I shared with some fellow volunteers a while back. It turns out that they passed the song along to their family, and it ended up being played as my friend's sister walked down aisle at her wedding!
A hostel where I volunteered in village called Vuno in Southern Albania. The building is an old school that's a 30-40 minute walk from the beach. The place had no internet and rarely had electricity during the day.
The dirt path in front of the hostel
The hostel's kitchen
The village of Vuno
Benja, a natural hot spring outside of Permet. The bridge on the left is an Ottoman era bridge, perhaps 15th century.
A cafe en route to Benja
The canyons beyond Benja
The village of Kelcyre
Albanian side dishes to accompany drinking raki. On the left is a can of sardines that has been mashed with a fork. In the center, boiled meat and young garlic. On the right, a tomato, cucumber, and olive oil salad.
