Where Will Be Tomorrow

Sorry for the long absence in posts. Wrapping up my service and the many goodbyes to fellow volunteer have kept me busy and traveling a lot. Overall, things are going as they normally do. School, after school courses, and lots of small projects and activities.

I've gotten a decent amount of fishing in too. In Kelcyre, we fished Tom & Huck style with sticks and fishing line, and I caught my first fish of 2016 (several small ones that we let go). Then, I fished with a friend several times at a still part in the river between Bajram Curri and Valbona. Though this area has some of the best preserved nature in Albania, it's disastrously over-fished and close to impossible to catch anything.

"Where Will Be Tomorrow" is from a tremendously unique record called False Ego by Eddie Callahan. I had a difficult time deciding between this track and "Santa Cruz Mountains" for the title. So try giving the second track a listen too. The whole album is golden.

P.S.
A fellow volunteer wrote a really insightful post about the challenges of Albania. Head over to her blog if you want an interesting read about this country.
https://syshqiponje.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/the-communist-hangover/

Valbona Hiking

My marigolds seeds from last year have begun to sprout. Instead of taking the time to cultivate them indoors, I spread the seeds wildly throughout the garden. Lazy but effective.

Growing tomatoes (this year in pots). It was too much trouble watering them last year and I figured that pots would allow the new volunteer to take care of them more easily.

Dinner at the hostel: potato salad and a green salad a la a German volunteer

Stuffed eggplants that a chef in Bajram Curri taught me and a couple friends how to make. Ingredients: zucchini, tomatoes, onions, garlic, eggplant, and lots of olive oil.

Fresh garlic and olive oil mixture that we used for the stuffed eggplants

Raki and accompaniments that we assembled. Fergese (in the top left) is a type of ricotta'ish cheese with tomatoes, finely chopped onions, ground beef and lots of garlic. The bottom left is a Japanese-style quick pickle. And, on the right is our typical mashed can of mackerel with a raw onion

Here are some communist-era photographs that are displayed at a nearby school. The school previously specialized in music and arts, hence the many instruments in the photographs

Priests playing soccer-volleyball in Rome

Albanian style cabbage and potato soup with beans a la Linda, our lunch chef

Long Season

The warm weather continues in Peshkopi. Last year, I don't think that I could sleep with my window open until April, but the reasonable February weather continues this year. 

Again, not much new to report. School has been really mellow, and I've found a lot more satisfaction with my classes this year--fifth grade and sixth grade. In these classes, the students are largely at the same level and students who are behind still have the opportunity to catch up with their peers. You'd be surprised. Starting in seventh grade, the differences in English levels become really pronounced and the bottom level students have extremely slim chances of catching up, even by eighth grade. As such, it becomes really fulfilling to teach the students past tense, present continuous tense, and other grammatical concepts that never interested me, since these skills are what will allow them to stay engaged the following years.

Today's title come from an album that I recently listened to, Long Season (1996) by the Fishmans. Recently, I met an Albanian DJ at neat cafe called Radio Bar in Tirana (check out their Facebook page!). It was probably the first time in two years that I had good music talk, chatting about pretty obscure new wave bands and house musicians. So, I got in the groove of listening to something that I takes a little more work than my usual furgon tunes. 

Wood chopping

It's a Peace Corps Albania tradition to paint a square canvas that represents our host sites at our close of service. Here are the paintings from my cohort.

Mine is in the top left

Sadly, the trees of the main boulevard have been liberally trimmed lately. 

View of Peshkopi (from a hike this past weekend)

Recent site mate dinner. Rice, eggs, salad, and sugar cookies from America.

Take Care of Me

It's been warm lately in Albania. Last year, the double-overcoat and long underwear weather seemed to last continuously from December to late February. Instead, this year has been warm for the past few weeks, and, outside of Peshkopi, I can get by with just a sweater. 

Now, my Peace Corps service is definitely winding down. Most of my project have been wrapped up and I plan to coast as much as possible these last few months, savouring the experience of Albania. Last week, I went fishing for the first time in 2016 and plan to go a whole lot more during the coming months!

Briana Marela's "Take Care of Me" is a song that one of my Peace Corps friends recently suggested to me. Definitely up the alley of the stuff I've been listening to here, and it felt great to have a friend notice such fitting tune for me.

The streets of Peshkopi from a furgon at the station

A view on the way from Peshkopi to Tirana

Peshkopi

Site mate dinner--queso and enchiladas

Pellumbas Village

A view en route to the Pellumbas Caves

Outside the Pellumbas Caves

The cave. We walked about 400 meters into the cave with headlamps and turned off our lights at the end to feel the dark quietness. A bear skeleton was found inside 30-40 years ago, so we felt happy to have the dogs around just in case.

The hike down from the caves

Still hiking back from the caves

About to return to Pellumbas village

The skeleton of a billiards table in Pellumbas village

Gjize (kind of similar to ricotta) with scrambled egg bits on top

Just Like Anything

Not much new to report, but I just wanted to share some photos of the heavy snow that arrived in Albania this past week. Tonight, it's -11 degrees celsius in Peshkopi. At school, the cold meant that lessons were cut from forty minutes to thirty minutes. My stacks of wood outside my apartment were looking abundant during the warm December weeks, but, at the rate my stove's been burning, they don't look like they'll last me too long.

Today's title come from a folk singer named Jackson C. Frank. Definitely check out his biography if you've never heard of him, since he had a one of a kind career. From being caught in a furnace explosion as child, to an album produced by Paul Simon, and eventual homelessness, he's got a terrific story.

Bajram Curri

Bajram Curri

Bajram Curri

Bajram Curri

Kukes

Kukes to Peshkopi road

A Sight for Sore Eyes

Still no snow in Peshkopi. On the day that I arrived back in town, the rain and dew had frozen into a decent amount of ice on the trees and throughout Peshkopi, making it feel as though winter was here to stay. However, it didn't last long, and, even as it rained this past week, real snow has yet to fall.

Work continues as usual. School and my bathroom renovation project take up most of my time. However, as things wind down, and I'm starting to feel more free. I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my service on more passion projects and other stuff that I'll hopefully remember after service. Definitely a few more murals too.

Last week, when I was in Tirana, I visited a unique "cafe-museum" in Tirana that featured lot of Albanian communist memorabilia, creatively decorating the place. A must-see for tourists in Tirana! Below are some pictures that I took while writing post cards.

Today's song is a favourite Tom Waits of mine off the album, Foreign Affairs. I also like his more grungy tunes, but the slower ballads on this album, Closing Time, and The Heart of Saturday Night are my favorites.