Sweet Home Albania

It is serious Spring here in Thane. I am sitting on the balcony of the “shtepia”, the home of my host family. There is a “shume e bukur” (very beautiful) view across the valley. The snow is mostly gone from the surrounding mountains. The fruit trees, apples, cherries, pears, peaches, and more, are in bloom. People walk their cows on rope leads to graze along the roadside (mowers here give milk). Chickens and turkeys peck through the yards and gardens. Sheep graze in the far meadows under the eye of older people in black suits and caps or black dresses and white kerchiefs. Donkey carts haul loads back from the fields. There is not too much traffic on the national road that runs through town. Very bucolic.

On Saturday morning the Peace Corps organized a local cultural day at a local (bar) in Thane. Even though I walk by it every day, I was not aware it was a local, because it has no sign and I have never seen any group of people there. I guess if you cater to a small enough clientele, there is no need to waste money on signage. The 6 volunteer trainees living in Thane made a large batch of brownies (it took us a week to scrounge the ingredients in Elbasan) and Thane families brought some traditional food to sample. They also brought some of their crafts, mainly intricate lace work and knitting. Albanian music was played at full volume on an intermittently functioning stereo. Most of the attendees danced the traditional circle dance (something Albanians like to do almost as much as feed people and have coffee). The Peace Corps representative made a speech and passed out certificates of appreciation. Hands were shaken, pictures taken. It was nice.

I am making flash cards to work on my vocabulary. I am frustrated by my lack of memory and I hope this exercise will help. Also, the older teenager in my home wants me to help him with his English, so I thought we could both use the cards, working together on vocabulary and pronunciation.

I found out on Friday that I am assigned to work in the Public Health Directorate of Korca for my two year Peace Corps service. Korca is a city of about 80,000 in a high mountain valley in southern Albania, near the Greek border. It is reputed to be among the most beautiful in Albania and most of the volunteers who serve there like it quite a bit. Since I am not paid, I get quite a bit of flexibility in what I actually do for my service (those of you familiar with my past, paid work may comment that is not much of a change). I am hoping to get to do some work among some of the mining towns which surround Korca and maybe teach a class on statistical analysis or physiology for health students at the local university. I also expect to be asked to teach some English at the secondary or college level (almost all volunteers are asked to do this in Albania). I think I might try to do this through an aviation interest club. It will be interesting to see how this develops since there is no general aviation in Albania and the only airport I know of is the main one near the capital. Maybe, if I can get the materials, we can try building a model glider.

On Sunday, I attended Easter service at the Orthodox church in Elbasan. Easter is the big holiday in the Orthodox church, as compared to Christmas for other sects. I asked the priest I had met a week ago if it was ok to attend and he welcomed me warmly. He gave me a red dyed Easter egg, a tradition, and wished me a “gazuar pashke”. While recorded liturgical music played softly in the background, I sat in a church established almost a thousand years before Christopher Columbus set foot in America (for accuracy, buildings have been destroyed by earthquake and fire. This "new' sanctuary has not yet had its sesquicentennial). People came and went. They lit candles and venerated the icons. Some coins were put in baskets next to the icons. They would sit for awhile. Some would knock on the door in the iconostasis (the panel of icons in front of the chancel) and the priest would come out and administer the Eucharist. One young man came over and gave me another egg.

I thought about the three parts of religion: the message, the example and the promise. For Christianity, it is the message of the messiah (common stems there), the example of an ethical life of charity, service and forgiveness, and the promise of life and eternal reward after death. Other religions may be different, but have the same components. I have often thought that health care was science and apart from religion. Religion is based on the miracle of faith whereas science is based on doubt and methodical inquiry. I have to admit, however, that in my experience, healthcare has much more of the three components of religion than it should as a science and that doubt and inquiry are often dismissed as heresy. Maybe that is why hospitals often are built in the grand style of a cathedral. I wonder how they will be regarded and function in a millennium or two.