Christmas Time is Coming

Korca is especially beautiful for Christmas and Easter, and I encourage the volunteers in my region, that have no other place to go, to gather together in Korca. We have had them strewn about the couches and floors of my apartment and have managed to produce amazing dinners on my little stove. It gives us a sense of community and brightens what can be a depressing time when we are far away from home and family. I confess an ulterior motive. I have heard that a room is raised 2 degrees for each occupant, so 12 or more volunteers for dinner raises the inside temperature to the low 60’s. It is a real treat to shed one’s long johns and coat inside the house, at least for a while.

It has not been above freezing for more than a week. This is not a particularly low temperature back home in Idaho, but I think the centigrade scale which translates it as “below zero” makes it seem colder. Whatever, my down sleeping bag has definitely become my most valued possession. Maybe if my apartment had central heating and insulated walls, and windows and door frames that didn’t whistle in the wind I would have a different perspective. I do have two layers of plastic sheeting on the windows, a blanket over the door and a stocking filled with sand blocking the draft that blows through the large crack underneath. That helps, but you definitely would not consider it cozy.

It has already snowed a few times in Korca, and there is a lovely, white Christmas patina covering the city. There is a 50ft tree in the center of the square by the main hotels and the theater. It was lit along with lights in front of the Cathedral and on the trees that line to road between the Cathedral square and that by the main hotels, the national bank and the main post office where the tree stands. The ceremony was at 6 pm on a dark and very cold night. There were speeches by dignitaries, the lights were switched on and fireworks were set off (this was part of the show, and not due to a short circuit). There was a brightly lit stage set up to the east of the Cathedral steps. A young woman in a Santa hat danced and lip synched Korcan songs. Typical in Albania, the amplifier was full blast, just below feedback, mostly. Around the stage were booths displaying regional products for sale. This included foods like fruit, wine, and sausage, and handicrafts like woven carpets, handbags, knitted scarves and shawls, needle point and lace. The quality was excellent and I think the prices were reasonable. I might have purchased a few things, but I couldn’t hear the vendors over the din from the stage. There was also hot wine for sale for about a dollar a cup. I don’t drink, but I considered buying a cup to hold and warm up my hands. There were braziers scattered around, but they were not very effective in the winter night.

I met one of the other Peace Corps volunteers. He works at the city hall and had a project at the market with student volunteers who were dressed in carnival costumes and passed out leaflets urging people to buy local products. This is a national program and he is heading to Tirana to attend a meeting on this and similar projects around the country. He said it was the mayor’s idea to combine the market with the opening ceremony of the end of year festivities. The costumed volunteers were enthusiastic and each one wanted to give everyone in the crowd a copy of the leaflet. This created a lot of trash, but trash is under the purview of health education volunteers like me, so was not a big concern for the community development volunteer that was part of this endeavor.

There is a lot happening in the city. I have heard the mayor wants Korca to be known as a “city of events”. I think that in principle this is a good idea, although it is not much of a slogan in English or Albanian. After the opening ceremonies and the market, movies will be shown in the Cultural Palace. For some reason they are Spanish language films. I am not sure why, but I would guess it is because they were a gift of the Spanish embassy or were free for some other reason. Saturday night is the Miss Korca competition at the Cajupi Theater. Sunday and Monday there are instrumental trios at noon in the Cultural Palace. On Monday, the Cajupi Theater hosts a “Festival Concert” that is touring around Albania and there will be an exhibition of a national artist contest for “figurative art”. There is a “doll theater” on the 26th and 27th and a children’s concert at the library on the 29th and 30th. There is a photographic exhibition on biodiversity at a loft in a downtown, restored, 19th century building. There is an original play called “Happy New Year” that premiers at the Cajupi Theater on the 29th. Santa (called “Babagjushi” or “father-grandfather”) parades through the town center on the 30th. At noon on New Year’s Eve there is another children’s presentation called “chirping on a wire”, presumably about singing birds, also at the Cultural Palace. All of these are free. The week after New Year’s will have more activities, leading up to the Orthodox tradition on January 6th when a priest from the Cathedral throws a cross in a fountain in front of the church and there is a race to retrieve it to win the monetary prize and the good luck it brings. I hope they can keep the water from freezing.

There will be the annual party for the disabled group at Dr. Isufi’s clinic. His new building is not quite ready to be occupied, so it will be held in the temporary space across the street, which is unheated. I think this is planned for lunch time on the 22nd. In the morning of the 23rd the high school is having its Christmas recital. That afternoon, the faculty will have a Christmas party at a local restaurant and I have been invited.

You might be interested to know that under the communists Albania was an atheist state, and there was an active anti-religion campaign. When communism fell the people really didn't know how to celebrate Christmas. It was dark and quiet. Now the city is lit and beautiful. Kids at school twitch and chatter in their seats, unable to contain the building excitement. My teacher friends at Preca (the Maltese Catholic run high school which is one of the places that I teach) smile as they try to keep the kids on track, remembering what it was like not so many years ago.