Hi, it’s me-Fuji- I am taking over writing as Jim is going to stretch and then we will go out to breakfast, shop a little and then we are going to a party! Yahoo! We found some dirtbags in Tirana and have been invited to a “dart tournament” that starts at 1:00. There will be a keg of beer and BBQ and the hosts said that last year the “finals” were happening at 2 am! SO, we are in for a treat we think/hope.

We came yesterday and are staying at the SNV guest house. It’s a nice flat but no air conditioning ;-(… but we will be here for 2 full weeks of language training and the hotel-thing would have been too much for the budget, I suppose.  Plus, living in our own flat and being able to cook, etc. will be nicer. We start training/classes on Monday. Looking forward to it on one hand but on the other hand, we are not the best in languages and there are lots of high expectations about us learning the language and so we feel a bit of pressure. Especially, me!? ;-(  Back in Peshkopi, my teammates speaking some English (some better than others) but everything—all meetings, including staff meetings—are done in Albanian.  It has been not the easiest entry into a job. It has been a long time for me to not be able to contribute to a level that I am used too. But, when communication is limited, there’s not much one can do? So, I plug along and do my best. The biggest contribution so far has been in the form of 1:1 conversations and consultations with teammates. They have begun to seek me out for advice and ideas—so I guess that’s a good indicator that I might have something to offer ;-)

On the brighter side of life, the town and our house are working out great so far!  The town is a little bigger than La Grande and surrounded by mountains. Everything is very green because it’s kind of a Mediterranean climate. However, since we are in the mountains, it cools down at night and many days are really pleasant weather. The agriculture is fruit trees, grapes (plenty to make Raki with! (ask Kubs about Raki) ); and the rest is maize, beans, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and hay/fodder, whatever to graze their livestock. The meat we eat is mainly cow, goat and sheep. We have not seen a pig but we hear they exist in some Catholic towns near the coast. So much for “vitamin G” (aka bacon) for breakfast!  We have done a few hikes but not scaled any of the bigger stuff yet.  Things are quite steep and being “crack of noon-ers” that we are, we tend to not get a real early start in the mornings. Plus, with so many basic things to deal with each day-food shopping, buying things for the house (even toilet paper) has consumed much of our time on weekends. Back to the hiking… there are trails everywhere because there are so many hidden away little villages where there are no roads to. Also, people graze their livestock in the mountains and so there is a path to every piece of water and any flat spot. So, get the picture? Wherever you hike you happen upon someone or some kid with their willow branch wacking their animals’ butts to keep them in line.  Some want to try and talk and some look at you with such a stare that you think we were green space people. Sometimes, I think we scare the kids and other times the kids are the most curious and follow us for long periods. With all of this said, I will mention, that we have been able to get “off trail” and go up a river/waterfall drainage that was very beautiful and get naked in the stream… so, the mountains are quite vast (AND beautiful!).

Our house is very nice although it is amazing the lack of quality construction anywhere. We looked at old and new places.  We settled on a very new place that is about 10-15 minute walk (this time of year) to my office and the center of town. It is at the end of the road and behind us is a corn field and then a really cool looking canyon (nice colors). We have not had time yet to explore the canyon but we will soon. The house is quite large (3 bedrooms) and we have plenty of room for visitors! It will be interesting to see how it turns out for winters though, as none of the houses (anywhere!) are insulated! We plan on getting a wood stove—the house was so new that they have not spent a winter there yet, so no stove. Just as well, this way we can buy our own. All the wood stoves are cook stove types and we aren’t sure about their heating potential. We plan to go over to Macedonia (14 km) to buy a regular pot-belly type. We think it will heat better; but who knows?  Most Albanians all move into one room in the winter and keep it warm. I don’t know how the bathrooms keep from freezing; but again, we’ll see ;-).  The rest of the house will stay cold, so it will be like winter camping in the house. For now, in the summer, the bedrooms are nice and cool and once our furniture comes from the states (and the other furniture getting made here arrives) we will be able to fill it up a bit. It is very hollow and echo-ie right now. The floors are all tile (except upstairs is wood) and the stairs are marble. On the furniture-front, we wish we brought more. In hindsight, we should have packed-up literally everything from home. Things here are poorly made and Not cheap!  For being the poorest country in Europe we are very surprised at the cost of living. So, one of my co-workers knows this guy who makes furniture. We are having a bunch of stuff made and the quality looks like it will be greatly improved from the stuff in the stores—and it’s cheaper! ;-)

The town and the people are really a step back in time! While there are cars and min-van buses (that locals take between villages, communes & municipalities), for the most part, the main mode of travel is on donkeys and foot. Oh yeah, horse carriage-type things too. All the agriculture is done by hand. The idea of forming a coop and going in together on let’s say a tractor or some equipment, is not yet acceptable. The main thing that internationals have discovered, is to not use the word cooperatives because of the negative connotation. It reminds people of the old communist times and cooperative farms. (Granted, they never had tractors then either ;-\.)  So, we are working to help them organize “associations.” So far, there has been some progress in terms of jointly bringing products to market and buying seed or fruit trees together; and in water use. However, no one has any money yet and so the idea of pooling resources for mechanization (e.g.: a tractor) has not happened yet.

The main religion is muslim, but the people aren’t real religious types. Mainly, they are extremely traditional and although it is changing, they have a long way to go! It is a male dominated society and the women do everything from raising the children, cooking/cleaning, shopping and/or selling vegetables, handling the domestic money, and working in the fields. The men talk politics and set the norms for the community. There are coffee bars everywhere and a few restaurants. These are almost exclusively male run and operated. If there is food, there might be a woman in the back kitchen, but she never comes out. There are also shops (retail and groceries) which are mostly family run (from little kids on up to grandma.) But it seems that the male is the main “business” owner. There is so much to learn as we have only scratched the surface. The “Canun Laws” (an old traditional code in Albania from some early century) are still very much in practice in the north (which Peshkopi is considered part of.) (In cities like Tirana, it’s much more progressive and the “rule of law” is accepted. Rule of law, is what they are trying to implement in order to join the European Union.)  Canun Laws, dictate everything in society from marriages to punishment of crimes to blood feuds or community reconciliations, and more!  We are sure that we will have more to tell folks about Canun Laws and much more as time goes on.  It is also likely that we what we learn in the future will rebut everything I just wrote in this email!  More to come….

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