A couple things have gone down in the last couple of weeks that are definitely worth sharing. First of all, I did laundry by hand for the first time last week - I don't think it would've been so bad if I didn't do almost all my clothes at once and hadn't done a full upper-body workout at the gym that day. My arms were so beat that for the next day and three after that, I couldn't extend my arms completely they were so sore! I was very excited to wake up last Friday to find that I could lock my elbows. I did another load of laundry yesterday and am happy to report that I could move fine today. We'll see how this goes when it's cold enough in the house that the water freezes before I can finish washing all the clothes...
Last weekend we did our first expedition to the nearby Drini river - that seems to flow in every direction at some point in its course - and experienced a new way of fishing that I only imagined hillbillies doing. Fishing Peshkopi style is not really much different from other types of fishing, except that it does not involve a fishing pole or a net, and instead uses rocks... and dynamite. We first witnessed this up-river when we heard a large explosion and looked up just in time to see water shooting up well over our heads. What followed was a crowd of men and boys combing the water downstream from the blast for anything floating belly-up. As we were discussing this new event, we heard a second and third explosion, both from the other side of the river.
The strategy for fishing with dynamite has relatively few steps:
Step 1: Gather rocks and throw them in the water in order to scare possible fish upstream.
Step 2: Light dynamite and throw it in the water.
Step 3: Search for floating fish after detonation.
Step 4: Repeat and work your way down the river past where other people are relaxing.
Steps 1-4 continued all afternoon and I guess were successful as we saw one group with at least one fish.
Back in Librazhd, I was told by a volunteer that while the summer heat isn't extraordinary, it is overwhelming because there is not way to get out of it. This information is starting to become apparent, even here up in the mountains. Apparently the summers in Peshkopy are warm to hot, with temperatures typically in the 80s. This week, however, it is supposed to stay in the mid-90s and possibly reach the 100-degree mark. There are certain place to take refuge from the heat, like the municipality and houses that don't receive much direct sunlight, but I feel that I should be preparing to live in an oven for the next few months. My apartment is not helping much because it deals poorly with temperatures - in the summer it is incredibly hot and doesn't cool down much at night, and in the winter the refrigerator keeps food from freezing.
There has been a recent discovery, however, that should make the summer more bearable at my place. On Sunday, I awoke to find that a visiting volunteer had chosen to sleep on the floor instead of the futon 6 inches away from them. They kept repeating how amazing and comfortable the floor was - we kind of laughed at the time, but now I think they were right. The other day, I got home from work feeling a little under the weather from something I ate only to discover that there was little temperature change between outdoors and the inside of my apartment. I tried to take a nap on my bed but just couldn't do it, and decided to give the tile floor a shot - what a great decision that was! The floor was cool enough to relax and not feel overheated. The only downside is that you get whatever is on the floor all over you when lying down - this can be fixed though regular cleaning so I'm not too worried. So when it gets ridiculously ot here soon, I feel that I will be taking refuge quite often on the tiled floor of my oven-like apartment.
nice
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