It's definitely been a long time since I have last written. I had grand ideas of keeping a journal and constantly blogging, writing emails, etc... I need to be realistic, or adjust my routine. Since my last post, I have (in no particular order) visited and permanently arrived in Peshkopi, explored the capital, gone camping with fellow trainees, and seen more of Librazhd.
I'll begin with my site visit to Peshkopi. Overall, the visit went really well and I am excited to get up there and start my time as a volunteer. The site visits for all trainees began with a two-day conference in Durrës, in which each trainee met their counterpart, which is someone who works in the organization each trainee is assigned to at site. The objectives for counterparts are to help volunteers integrate into their sites and work together with trainees on various projects. At this time, I met my counterpart, Ejona, who is a recently-graduated civil engineer working in the economic development and urban planning departments of the municipality. She is all of eight or nine months older than me and we seem to have similar ambitions regarding making a positive change in the community. We spent the two days at the conference getting to know each other, while also attending several presentations. Several future sites, like Peshkopi, are fairly far away from Durrës and volunteers going to these sites were given an extra night to stay in order to leave early the following morning. This free time was well-spent. Many of us took part in hours of beach volleyball and an excursion into the city. It was nice to take a break from the constant scheduling of training.
The next day, trainees left for their respective sites. I was a little apprehensive about the journey to come due to all the stories I had heard regarding the road from Tirana to Peshkopi - this was further solidified when the counterpart of another trainee going to Bulqize, a town on the way to Peshkopi, did not eat breakfast before leaving, even though the trip to Bulqize was a good four hours. My counterpart also did not eat much, but I was hungry. I decided that I would be better off facing the possible consequences rather than my stomach eating itself. The drive to Peshkopi was very beautiful when we turned off the main North-South highway and headed East. There were plenty of rivers and lakes along with hills and mountains. For all the talk to the road being bad, I was fairly disappointed. I was expecting some sketchy road, full of potholes, in which it would be a squeeze to have two cars pass each other. In reality, it was paved almost all the way and in great condition. It was pretty windy, however, so I can see why some people have a difficult time on it. It was nothing out of the ordinary though.
We arrived in Peshkopi in the afternoon, met up with Becca - who is a 2nd year COD volunteer soon to leave Peshkopi - and dropped off our bags. John, the health volunteer and I were to stay at Becca's, which is to be my future home. We then grabbed a bite and explored the town. Peshkopi proper is set up a bit differently than Librazhd in that the main area isn't located on only one street. Peshkopi downtown is more of a grid with the boulevard being its most distinctive feature. Part of the main street is for foot traffic only, and is lined with cafes, restaurants, and other businesses. This area is also lined with large trees that keep it cool in the summer. The next day, each of us met up with our respective counterparts and went to work. I was in the municipality for the day with Ejona and was able to meet with many of the department heads as well as the mayor of the town. It was a very good experience and it seems like many of the people are looking forward to working with me. The mayor was talking about the option of me working in the finance department, but we will see how that goes as my counterpart is in two of the other departments. In a perfect world, I would be able to work within each department and improve communication and collaboration between them.
Jump forward two weeks. Pre service training (PST) finished. Etc. Etc. Hopefully the following will explain most of everything…
Today was day three of my second week of work at the municipality. Most people said that the first few months are slow – I thought it may be different for me, because I was immediately involved in an application for a European Union grant when I arrived – things slowed down a bit since arriving, however. Most people at the municipality seem like they have a lot of work. Since I am new, I don’t feel like my coworkers know what to do with me yet.
I am trying to make progress on this grant application, but it seems very difficult to get everyone in the same place at the same time. The grant itself is about cross-border communication and collaboration between Albania and Macedonia. In order to apply, eligible parties need a partner from the other country to work with. The deadline for application is July 19th and as of right now, the municipality does not have a partner yet. I was a bit negative on most aspects of the project until yesterday afternoon when some direction was finally established. The project is being driven by the mayor and deputy mayors – with my counterpart and me also involved – and most of them are so busy doing other things that they have little time to work and meet to answer questions. Yesterday, my counterpart and I met with a deputy mayor and established what we will be focusing on for the project – we hope to involve certain available natural resources as a means to drive tourism development in the area. Up until today really, if I wanted to be busy, I would need to create me own work.
I am also working on relationship building with my coworkers and my counterpart has been introducing me to many people around the municipality. I’ve been given an office too, which didn’t really matter last week because I had nothing to do in it. Today, however, I had work! All I needed to do was clear out the cobwebs (literally) and spider nests. The room is nice – I have a large desk right next to a window, that when opened lets in a nice breeze and plenty of light. The window also overlooks a backyard with a constantly gobbling turkey, so that’s nice…
Besides work – or the lack thereof – life after pre service training (PST) has been pretty amazing. The transition from a completely scheduled life with few freedoms to one in which I am in control of making has been very nice and liberating. My world here has been opened up and I am able to start writing the pages myself. With this new freedom I’ve been able to explore the country a bit more and meet many new people.
Hitchhiking is much easier here than in the US or Canada, and as of now, it is my favored means of transportation. Hitchhiking (autostop in Albanian) is a seemingly new concept here, and as a foreigner I have a distinct advantage. I have been told that Albanians are much more likely to pick up foreigners than other Albanians – which isn’t the best situation, but I have not seen an Albanian trying to flag down a car yet. I always hitch with at least one other person for the sake of safety, and also so one of us can make conversation if the other wants to sleep, tune out, etc. Hitching has helped with my conversational skills greatly I think, but it is very difficult to chat with people who have very different accents or speak a different dialect. The biggest benefit I believe is being able to meet so may different people. Besides being wealthy enough to own a vehicle, I have not noticed many similarities or patterns across people I have ridden with. The only hypothesis I can extrapolate from all this is that the people who have picked us up have had more exposure to foreigners and understand the concept of autostop more.
While I’m sure at one point I will not want to talk at all during a ride, I really enjoy shooting the breeze with Albanians, most of who are surprised I can speak the language (albeit limitedly). Three months ago I never would have believed I would have the comprehension I have now.
In most cases, hitching has been fine, but we still need to be careful. I believe that language is the key to remaining safe and out of trouble. Most people have been incredibly friendly and willing to travel with us, but a small few have sough to exploit us for stereotypical rich foreigners. For example, a ride was set up in which the original one-way price is 150 Lekë (about $1.50 USD). Once the driver realized he would be driving Americans, he raised the price to 1,000 Lekë per person. Another case: we were picked up by a guy who said he was traveling to visit his cousin in a nearby town. We asked if we could travel there with him and he said sure. We chatted with him the entire way and when we got out to say goodbye, he said that he was a driver and that we each had to pay him 10 Euro. While this situation was a hassle, it also helped because we had to explain to him that we weren’t going to pay him 20 Euro and why we weren’t – all in Albanian. We probably had a good 10-minute argument and ended up giving him 200 Lekë each for gas. We probably shouldn’t have paid anything, but he also probably wouldn’t have left in that case. The best part was that his battery died when he tried to drive away all disgruntled and we pushed his car so he could get a jump. Every situation has been an excellent learning experience.
Hitchhiking also helps to stretch our volunteer budget, but it usually takes longer and requires a more open schedule, not to mention patience. I also am at a disadvantage in that I am very far away from main corridor routes and must bank on someone visiting a larger city in order to get West. However, with proper time management, this hasn’t been much of an issue.
I have heard from some Albanians that the country gets a bad image in terms of tourism marketing. They say surrounding countries claim that Albania isn’t nice and that people should visit the other Balkan countries instead. Regardless of the truth of this statement, I believe this country is extremely underrated and has some of the most beautiful and varied landscape in such a small area that I have ever seen. Granted you need to be more patient and probably more adventurous here – as you will probably be creating your own itinerary – but the payoff is definitely worth it. For example, a few new and current volunteers visited a beach town called Dhermi after swearing in. That place has some of the most picturesque coastline I have ever seen. Heading from the North, we traveled up into a possibly national park with tall pine trees! It was the first forest more similar to some in the States that I had seen. We drove from sea level up a couple thousand feet to a pass, then crossed over to the coastal side of the mountains with a clear view of the sea as we descended all the way back to sea level. The drive reminded me a bit of the drive along Highway 1 through Big Sur in California. The sea, however, was much more blue, clear, and war. We camped right on the beach. We were also lucky enough to have clear skies and a full moon, which led to swimming at all hours. The water is so clear there that you can easily see your feet while swimming at night. I feel that I have already seen one of the most beautiful beaches and definitely plan on returning this summer for a more extended stay.
After a little more than a week in Peshkopi, little exploring outside of town has been done. As I mentioned before, Peshkopi is surrounded by beautiful mountains (some of which still have snow on them). John, one of my sitemates and fellow Washingtonian, and I plan on doing some hiking around ASAP. There are an almost infinite number of routes here and overnights are definitely being planned. I have yet to find out how to get to the national park from here, but it is a three-hour trek over some pretty rough road – nonetheless I plan on getting there this summer as well.
Other than scheming about new adventures, I am very excited about having control over my diet again and am eating well. Fresh local produce is readily available and delicious – I’m taking advantage of that for sure. A kilo of cherries here costs less than $1 USD. I didn’t gain as much weight during PST as I thought (only a kilo or two), so eating right again and exercising regularly should put me back where I want to be. There is a gym here, and though it is sketchily located behind a gas station and some sort of distribution warehouse, it is reasonably equipped. John and I have been going and will probably make it a regular thing – hopefully Dylan, our other sitemate, will get in on it and the Peshkopi crew will be fully represented there.
Regardless of how much work I have or what issues I am dealing with, each day I am growing more and more thankful that I made the decision to come here, not to mention how thankful I am for all of the support I received in making this decision. This is an incredible opportunity and I hope I can make the most out of it while I am here.
No comments:
Post a Comment