After the two day counterpart (the person I am assigned to work with, at least initially) conference in Tirana, I got on a furgon for the 5 hour trip to Korca. My counterpart’s husband had accompanied her. He drives a taxi and they had driven in that. They had to leave early because their 18 month old was sick at home, but they were nice enough to take my huge duffle bag. This looks and feels like a body bag (I mention that only so that a certain friend of mine from McCall with sinister suspicions about the Peace Corps might find this blog if he does a web search) and contains about 80% of my stuff. This will make my move to my permanent site in 2 weeks much easier.
We stopped twice for smoke, coffee or food breaks and once for a water break at a natural spring that poured water from a hundred taps along both sides of the mountain road that switch-backed between the Shkumbin River (Elbasan’s valley) and Lake Ohrid. We were also stopped three times by the police to check papers as the furgon had Shkrodra plates and there is a traditional distrust of northerners by southerners in Albania and vice versa. They are separated by roughly the same distance as McCall and Mountain Home (about 140 miles, which in Albania is a 7 hour drive and longer in traffic or other worse than usual road conditions, hard as that is to imagine), so this is probably not completely unreasonable.
Lake Ohrid is at the eastern edge of the valley. It is a huge, rift lake surrounded by high, snow covered mountains, on the border between Albania and Macedonia. It is more than 1000 feet deep and undoubtedly has a Balkan relative of Sharlie (McCall’s lake monster) in residence. The road between Pogradec, a small city at the southern end of the lake and Korca is surprisingly good. We sped past small towns, well tended fields and orchards in a wide valley with high mountains on either side. Soon we were in Korca (pronounced “korcha”), the main city of southern Albania, where I will live and work for the next 2 years.
Many Albanians I have met have identified Korca as their favorite city. It has a very European feel with many cobblestoned and tree lined streets, restored 19th century buildings, large parks, museums and an impressive Orthodox cathedral in the city center. There is even an American library here with a large English language collection, a big plus for someone who likes to read.
I stayed at the apartment of another volunteer, from Alaska, who has been here for 3 years and is leaving in a couple of months. She is also in health education, working mainly in grammar and high schools, with a more traditional Peace Corps repertoire in the areas of life skills, sex education, and hygiene. I have watched her teach a few classes. She is very energetic and relates well with the children. I hope I can be half as effective.
There are three other volunteers here. A Texan about my age who works at the city hall in community development and hangs out at the “Dallas” local in the center of town. He is a fan of the Confederate Air Force and has a large picture collection on his computer. He is also leaving in a couple of months. The other two are a young, married couple from Chicago and Florida. He works in community development, mainly with an NGO, and she teaches English at the university. They will be here another year, and there are also volunteers from my group in smaller cities within an hour or so, including Pogradec, Bilisht and Erseka. Most enjoy the outdoors, so I should have some company for my initial exploration of trails and archeological sites in the area.
During my three day visit, I had the opportunity to meet with several people I may work with and live among in Korca. I visited the pazar (the market) in the center of town and was introduced to the favored fruit and vegetable vendors. Korca is a potato growing region. I have sampled them and they are good. Of course, I gave the vendor an Idaho spud pin. Korca is also known for its apples, but it is too early for this year’s crop. We visited a small grocery store and the owner, who is very interested in geography, wanted to know all about Idaho. I showed him some pictures and gave him another pin. I forgot myself as one should never get in a giving competition with an Albanian. I received a huge container of local plum preserves, very tasty. Welcome to Korca.
I visited my counterpart at the Public Health District Office and met her coworkers, including the director. We had coffee. One is a doctor doing a project on iodine in salt. This is a great idea as goiter is a common problem here. She is also responsible for water testing and other environmental issues (Korca appears to be in the forefront on this in Albania). Another has collected data on traffic accidents and is also interested in work injuries. This is all processed by hand, but they anticipate getting computers soon.
The Public Health Director, who is technically my boss, took me to meet the head of the hospital. He expressed an interest in setting up a therapy clinic at the hospital with the one therapist, two orthopedic surgeons and the nursing school to work with me to build a sustainable program. He was so anxious to get started that he wanted us to go downstairs and see the room. We had other visits to make, but I am very encouraged by his attitude. There is an NGO clinic in town that works with disabled children. There is a home health program that works with what sounds like hospice and burn patients. I can understand Korca’s reputation as a progressive city.
There are English language programs at the American library, and that may be a good place for my aviation interest club. I may need to get some books donated as their holdings in that area are almost nonexistent. The building has a large central hall which appears to be perfect for paper airplanes. Unfortunately, the person needed to approve any plans was away. I will be back in two weeks and I have two years, though even now, it seems it may hardly be enough.
The only down side was the housing. The Peace Corps has placed me in a communist era, first floor apartment a long way from the center of town. The balcony can be easily scaled from the street level so security is a concern. The other windows in the apartment have bars on them, but if they also bar the balcony I would have more safety concerns than I already do. It is a four story brick building in an active earthquake area. There is a large, horizontal crack visible in the central stairs which are in front of the door. The outside, un-reinforced walls appear to be intact. I would not want to be caged in my apartment in the event that a building collapse might leave me capable of crawling out the open balcony (and maybe add that to my “why am I still here” list).
Previous volunteers have been assigned there, however, of the last three, one “ET’d” (left the Peace Corps early, for personal reasons) and the other two rejected the apartment for security concerns. Yet, I do like to walk and I can turn down some of the offered teaching assignments that are unreasonable to access on foot. Also, it is clean and relatively well furnished, and, it has a French, as opposed to a Turkish, toilet, which is a big plus. Although it may be very cold in the winter and hot in the summer, it is far from a mud hut in Botswana and not atypical of the homes of many Albanians. I have insurance (there is a company that specializes in insurance for Foreign Service personnel which is offered as an option for volunteers) if there is a break in. I have done lots riskier things than live in an old, brick building in an earthquake zone, and I can let my heirs and the Peace Corps deal with the legal matters if there are any seismic consequences. So, if alternatives arise, I will explore them. For the time being, this is home.
We stopped twice for smoke, coffee or food breaks and once for a water break at a natural spring that poured water from a hundred taps along both sides of the mountain road that switch-backed between the Shkumbin River (Elbasan’s valley) and Lake Ohrid. We were also stopped three times by the police to check papers as the furgon had Shkrodra plates and there is a traditional distrust of northerners by southerners in Albania and vice versa. They are separated by roughly the same distance as McCall and Mountain Home (about 140 miles, which in Albania is a 7 hour drive and longer in traffic or other worse than usual road conditions, hard as that is to imagine), so this is probably not completely unreasonable.
Lake Ohrid is at the eastern edge of the valley. It is a huge, rift lake surrounded by high, snow covered mountains, on the border between Albania and Macedonia. It is more than 1000 feet deep and undoubtedly has a Balkan relative of Sharlie (McCall’s lake monster) in residence. The road between Pogradec, a small city at the southern end of the lake and Korca is surprisingly good. We sped past small towns, well tended fields and orchards in a wide valley with high mountains on either side. Soon we were in Korca (pronounced “korcha”), the main city of southern Albania, where I will live and work for the next 2 years.
Many Albanians I have met have identified Korca as their favorite city. It has a very European feel with many cobblestoned and tree lined streets, restored 19th century buildings, large parks, museums and an impressive Orthodox cathedral in the city center. There is even an American library here with a large English language collection, a big plus for someone who likes to read.
I stayed at the apartment of another volunteer, from Alaska, who has been here for 3 years and is leaving in a couple of months. She is also in health education, working mainly in grammar and high schools, with a more traditional Peace Corps repertoire in the areas of life skills, sex education, and hygiene. I have watched her teach a few classes. She is very energetic and relates well with the children. I hope I can be half as effective.
There are three other volunteers here. A Texan about my age who works at the city hall in community development and hangs out at the “Dallas” local in the center of town. He is a fan of the Confederate Air Force and has a large picture collection on his computer. He is also leaving in a couple of months. The other two are a young, married couple from Chicago and Florida. He works in community development, mainly with an NGO, and she teaches English at the university. They will be here another year, and there are also volunteers from my group in smaller cities within an hour or so, including Pogradec, Bilisht and Erseka. Most enjoy the outdoors, so I should have some company for my initial exploration of trails and archeological sites in the area.
During my three day visit, I had the opportunity to meet with several people I may work with and live among in Korca. I visited the pazar (the market) in the center of town and was introduced to the favored fruit and vegetable vendors. Korca is a potato growing region. I have sampled them and they are good. Of course, I gave the vendor an Idaho spud pin. Korca is also known for its apples, but it is too early for this year’s crop. We visited a small grocery store and the owner, who is very interested in geography, wanted to know all about Idaho. I showed him some pictures and gave him another pin. I forgot myself as one should never get in a giving competition with an Albanian. I received a huge container of local plum preserves, very tasty. Welcome to Korca.
I visited my counterpart at the Public Health District Office and met her coworkers, including the director. We had coffee. One is a doctor doing a project on iodine in salt. This is a great idea as goiter is a common problem here. She is also responsible for water testing and other environmental issues (Korca appears to be in the forefront on this in Albania). Another has collected data on traffic accidents and is also interested in work injuries. This is all processed by hand, but they anticipate getting computers soon.
The Public Health Director, who is technically my boss, took me to meet the head of the hospital. He expressed an interest in setting up a therapy clinic at the hospital with the one therapist, two orthopedic surgeons and the nursing school to work with me to build a sustainable program. He was so anxious to get started that he wanted us to go downstairs and see the room. We had other visits to make, but I am very encouraged by his attitude. There is an NGO clinic in town that works with disabled children. There is a home health program that works with what sounds like hospice and burn patients. I can understand Korca’s reputation as a progressive city.
There are English language programs at the American library, and that may be a good place for my aviation interest club. I may need to get some books donated as their holdings in that area are almost nonexistent. The building has a large central hall which appears to be perfect for paper airplanes. Unfortunately, the person needed to approve any plans was away. I will be back in two weeks and I have two years, though even now, it seems it may hardly be enough.
The only down side was the housing. The Peace Corps has placed me in a communist era, first floor apartment a long way from the center of town. The balcony can be easily scaled from the street level so security is a concern. The other windows in the apartment have bars on them, but if they also bar the balcony I would have more safety concerns than I already do. It is a four story brick building in an active earthquake area. There is a large, horizontal crack visible in the central stairs which are in front of the door. The outside, un-reinforced walls appear to be intact. I would not want to be caged in my apartment in the event that a building collapse might leave me capable of crawling out the open balcony (and maybe add that to my “why am I still here” list).
Previous volunteers have been assigned there, however, of the last three, one “ET’d” (left the Peace Corps early, for personal reasons) and the other two rejected the apartment for security concerns. Yet, I do like to walk and I can turn down some of the offered teaching assignments that are unreasonable to access on foot. Also, it is clean and relatively well furnished, and, it has a French, as opposed to a Turkish, toilet, which is a big plus. Although it may be very cold in the winter and hot in the summer, it is far from a mud hut in Botswana and not atypical of the homes of many Albanians. I have insurance (there is a company that specializes in insurance for Foreign Service personnel which is offered as an option for volunteers) if there is a break in. I have done lots riskier things than live in an old, brick building in an earthquake zone, and I can let my heirs and the Peace Corps deal with the legal matters if there are any seismic consequences. So, if alternatives arise, I will explore them. For the time being, this is home.
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