Back in Korca

Thursday morning I watched Catherine and her sister get into a London cab and drive off to Heathrow. The Peace Corps was flying them first class to Dallas, with a connection to Tucson. She has done remarkably well and the rate of early recovery is the best prognostic sign for brain injury. We have good reason to be hopeful. The latest plan was for her to see a doctor in Tucson early the following week and then request a referral to Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix for a comprehensive assessment.

I walked around Kensington Park for the rest of the day and then took the Underground to Heathrow for my flight. I had scheduled to fly through Rome and then on to Tirana. Flights in that direction had some problems, perhaps related to the evacuations from Libya. I had to rearrange my flights but, after spending the night on a bench in Terminal 4, was able to leave early the next morning on a flight to Rome with a close connecting flight. The flight was slightly delayed and then parked on the ramp, so we had to be bused to the terminal. I raced through security and then to the departure gate where we boarded another bus. We were taken to a plane almost next to the one on which I had arrived. I had hoped my inbound flight would park near my connecting flight. I have to be more specific on what I wish for.

I caught the bus from Mother Teresa International to the city center and then walked to the Peace Corps office. I walked past the dentist’s office and tried to figure out where Catherine had been hit. There were so many potential places. As one rides on buses or furgons through Albania one see many marble shrines to mark places where people have been killed in accidents. They usually have a name, dates, a photograph and some artificial flowers. One can see similar, but makeshift, markers along roads in Idaho.

I spoke with the country director and other staff that had been so helpful following Catherine’s accident. I thanked them for their support and understanding. It almost made up for the bad experience I had with the nurse that came out to London from the Peace Corps office in DC. I tried to take care of some of the administrative items from the Close of Service conference that had been held in Korca while I was away. Maybe it was jet lag, but when I tried to open the files I downloaded at the office in Tirana, my computer wouldn’t cooperate. Maybe I’ll figure it out when I catch up on my sleep.

I had phone calls and texts from friends, both volunteer and Albanian. Now that I was back in Albania and knew they wouldn’t be exorbitantly charged, I took the calls and thanked them for their concern. I promised to visit Catherine’s host family as soon as I could. When I walked into my apartment, I found a banner above the kitchen door from all the volunteers who were at Close of Service conference. It was covered with notes welcoming me home and wishing Catherine a quick recovery. There was even a cut out of a jet. How appropriate.

Saturday morning, I sorted through the large bag that the Peace Corps staff had left in my apartment with all the pieces of the medical machine I had brought back for Dr. Isufi. He arranged for his son to drive to my apartment and bring it to his office. In the afternoon, after assembling the pieces with glue and tape, we plugged it in. Much to my amazement it worked and successfully went through the set up test program. The French baggage handlers that had dropped kicked the box marked “fragile” across the tarmac in Paris had been thwarted by tough, US made construction. We went out for coffee to celebrate, but I begged off a celebratory dinner. I needed sleep more than food. Also, we still have to make sure it functions correctly, so a celebration is a bit premature.

On Sunday morning, I met the volunteer from Bilisht who is leaving early. She has been a good friend of Catherine and me, and it was sad to see her off on the furgon to Tirane. After that, I walked to the church where I met my friends from Preka School and the group of nuns who have also been such good friends. I thanked them for all their support and prayers. We have a lot to be thankful for.

The afternoon was sunny and bright and not too cold. Another volunteer from Korca and I hiked up the road to Mborja, a village east of Korca, and along a gravel road by a creek in a canyon leading into the mountains. We doubled back along a side canyon, through a shallow covering of snow under a grove of pine trees, and clambered up to the ridge where the cross overlooks Korca. We walked back along the paved road in the late afternoon. Benny, the caretaker at St. Theodor’s, a small orthodox church I frequently visit on my morning walks up the mountain, was working on the grounds. When he saw me he ran out to the road to enthusiastically welcome me back. I showed the interior to the other volunteer. It has some of my favorite icons in Albania and, thanks to Benny, it is well maintained.

Later in the evening, I met my friend Lawrence for coffee. Even though he is from Malta, he appears to have picked up some Albanian customs from his long tenure in Korca, so, of course, it involved a meal as well. I may be wrong. Malta is part of the Levant and may have its own, similar, tradition of hospitality. They are certainly taking in thousands of refugees from Libya, including hundreds of Americans that were recently brought there by ferry from Tripoli.

Monday, I went to the health education office at the Directorate of Public Health. The nurses and lab technicians I work with all asked about Catherine and wished her the traditional wish for a speedy recovery, which, in Albanian is “te shkuare”, that is, “to be as you were in the past”. That seems both an apt and difficult wish.

I also learned that my nurse counterpart was enthusiastic about going to a meeting in Tirana on Tuesday at the Ministry of Health. This was planned to honor the work of Peace Corps health education volunteers throughout Albania and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. All the volunteers, staff and principal counterparts had been invited. I was hoping she would beg off because she has so much work to do in her home, taking care of her young son, her husband and his parents, as is the responsibility of young Albanian wives. She felt this meeting was a special one, and worth the trip. Although I would rather remain in Korca and work on my projects with Dr. Isufi, Dr. Jani and at the Preka School, it would be awkward for her to be without “her volunteer”. I don’t look forward to another nine hours in furgons to and from Tirana and, yet another night at Fredi’s. Maybe I can also stand in for Catherine with her counterpart nurse from Permet. I know that would please Catherine.