Old Woman Days

I remember hiking in the mountains a while ago with another volunteer, who remarked how dry the winter had been. I reminded him that a few months prior most of the country had been flooded to the extent that several of the volunteers had to be evacuated from coastal cities. He replied that yes, but since then it had been very dry. It was a day that was sunny, but cold. The snow underfoot had a dry, crunchy feel. He often comes out with proclamations of this sort and I know from experience there is no point getting into a discussion on the topic.

Anyway, I have thought about that more than a few times the past couple of weeks. It has been consistently cold and rainy. Each morning when I look up at the mountains to the east with the thought of a walk towards the cross, I am put off by the fog, clouds and virga swirling along the route to the top. I crawl back into my down sleeping bag for a few minutes extra sleep before I force myself to get up and do my exercise routine. I carry my umbrella as I walk around the city and may actually get to use it if the wind isn’t blowing too hard. Otherwise I pull the hood up on my Gortex shell over my Polartec jacket. Since the inside of an Albanian building may not be any warmer than outside, I am grateful for modern textiles.

I mentioned that the weather was not very spring-like and Isufi explained that these cold, wet days were called “dita e plaka” (old woman days) that come at the vernal equinox as a harbinger of the good weather to follow. He suggested drinking raki as an antidote to the cold. This was not a big surprise since raki is widely prescribed by Albanians as a panacea for all things internal and external. Since I don’t drink, I guess I’ll just have to rely on layered clothing.

Catherine, in Tucson, has complained about the heat and aridity. I try to be sympathetic, but I’d bet it sounds feigned. She is finally undergoing evaluation at Barrows. She sat around without much direction for almost a month and it is progressing so slowly that even if everything comes out perfect she is unlikely to be able to complete it before I finish in Albania. I have delayed my planned close of service date by about a week and I will have to figure out what I will do with the plane tickets that I already purchased. I have some friends from the high school where I teach who are planning a trip to Montenegro and Croatia and I will likely go with them, continuing on by myself to Slovenia, Hungary, Austria and Germany. The flight from Berlin to New York leaves mid June.

There are several things that need to be done before I leave Albania. All volunteers have to write a Description of Service report. The hardest thing for me in writing this will be selecting among all the various activities I have engaged with in Korca. This is supposed to be an important document for returned Peace Corps volunteers to be used for future employment or grad school. I am not looking to go back to grad school yet again (I have had plenty, thank you) and I doubt that my Peace Corps service will be much of a factor in my prospects for future employment. I am thinking of going back to at least part time work, since I think I would be bored just sitting around and there are some things I talked about with some folks when I was home visiting that sounded interesting. I also know there are plenty of volunteer service needs back home in Idaho.

I am fortunate in that. Some of the young volunteers are pretty scared about the job market back home. Friends of mine, who left Albania early because she needed “emergency” knee surgery, have been in limbo, still waiting after months for authorization for the surgery and not able to leave their family to widen the employment options for him and she can’t start a new job and then be out for extended physical therapy. It seems like sending people home after illness or injury without any direction or support is a Peace Corps pattern. That was one of the complaints voiced by the former volunteers in the television piece about dangers of Peace Corps service, and another volunteer I know, who went home after emergency abdominal surgery in Albania, also has complaints about the medical follow up provided for her. I don’t understand what the Peace Corps’ problem is with this. It really isn’t that hard to do a good job and it saves money in the long run, not to mention avoids embarrassing publicity. Maybe it is just another sign of inherent bureaucratic incompetence.

As is apparently a typical experience for volunteers, some of my counterparts have reacted to the sudden realization that I am leaving soon by thinking up lots of new projects they would like to do before I leave. I have politely declined most of the suggestions and have made clear for those that I have accepted that I am leaving in less than two months, no matter where we might be in these activities. I also have things I will need to do in preparation for leaving, and those will get priority. I would bet that they will have to be reminded of this when I pack up and pull out. They have already asked me who is coming to replace me. I don’t know. That is, as we say, above my pay grade. I am just a volunteer after all.

That is not to say that I will not miss my many Albanian friends. Every day a dozen or so walk up to me and ask about Catherine and ask me to give her their good wishes. The other volunteers in Permet have told me that they cannot walk down the street without being stopped repeatedly for the same reason. The documents from the close of service conference talk about readjustment problems for return Peace Corps volunteers. One that I read mentions volunteers feeling special and loved by a service community and that young volunteers miss that feeling when they return home. However run down or trashy your neighborhood might be, it is home with a daily routine that one has grown accustomed to. At this point, it is no longer stressful and it is the prospect of the high speed, high stress pace of American life that is daunting. It will probably be easier for an oldster like me who does not face prospects of a difficult economy or grad school that the youngsters do.

Also, among the conference documents is also a close of service check list. It is pretty long and I need to get started if I am to get through it in the seven weeks I have left. That seems like hardly any time at all. First though, I am looking forward to the promised good weather to resume my daily morning walks up the mountain. It really helps me keep things in perspective and focus on the tasks at hand.

Fshati

It seems that most of my friends in Korca have some attachment to a village (fshat) somewhere in the region. They may still have relatives living there or even own an old house and a garden. They prize the apples or figs from their trees and opine that the wine or raki, made from their grapes or berries, is the best in the country. The air and water are better there. Palo and Moza, my landlords, go to Dardhe. Fehmi has a place in Kapshtica, outside of the small city of Bilisht. Isufi has Bigell. I go to see my host family in Thane.

I had promised Catherine’s host family and my family that I would visit as soon as I could after I got back from London. It was the only way to stop them from phoning constantly. Last weekend there was snow and ice on the road over the Qafe e Thane, the pass over the mountain between Lake Ohrid and the Skumbin River that flows from huge springs under the Qafe e Thane through the center of the country, including Elbasan. This weekend warmed up a bit and the road was dry. I took the bus on Saturday morning.

Monday was also the Muslim Dita e Veres, summers day and a national holiday. Elbasan is predominantly Muslim and has a festival that draws a crowd from all over the country. There was a stage set up on the boulevard in front of the castle in central Elbasan. Music- traditional Albanian, rock, rap, Brazilian and more blared over the loud speakers. There were so many people pushing and shoving in the throng that surged around the stage that it felt like what passes for a line at the post office. Ballakume, the traditional cookie for Dita e Veres, were on sale everywhere. Over the weekend the price dropped from 110 lek to 80 lek.

On Saturday night, a large group of volunteers, mostly from Group 13, but a couple from my group 12, met at an Elbasan volunteer’s home for green curry rice and vegetables. Albanian food is wholesome and fresh but tends to be pretty bland. One of the volunteers had received the curry spice in a care package from home. It was a welcome change.

Sunday morning I took the old Udhetari (travelers) bus that I rode so often during PST out to Thane. My host mother was working in the carrot patch in her garden as I walked up to the house. Her older son was sleeping up stairs, the younger son was playing with friends, her husband was working in Greece and her mother-in-law was visiting her son who works in Italy and lives there with his family (the recent easing of the visa requirements for Albanians to visit eurozone countries has let her go there twice since November).

She called her older boy down. He has been studying English at the Turkish college he attends in Cerrik, a small city just beyond Thane. He is actually getting pretty good. The younger boy has filled out a lot and is still very athletic. He had been playing soccer with his buddies and had been called home to see me. She served coffee and fruit and then went to work making homemade ballakume with fresh eggs from her hens, hand churned butter from cream she milked from her cows that morning, and corn meal from her harvest last summer. The sugar was from beets grown elsewhere in Albania, although I suppose she could have used honey from her hives as a sweetener instead. In less than 20 minutes they were served hot from the oven and were much better than any I have eaten previously.

Her sister and her two young daughters came over from next door. Jesika, who is now 9, was the one with whom I played “Tjeter” (other) to find words for various categories of nouns when I was first learning Albanian. Her younger sister, Vanesa, has also grown a lot. I was pleased that she remembered me, although I had been told that she frequently asked where I was when I left for Korca after PST. We all chatted easily (my Albanian is not as good as some of the younger volunteers who by now speak fluently and are hard to distinguish from native speakers, but I can carry on a conversation). They asked about Catherine, of course, and talked about the volunteers they had from group 13 and the new ones they expect next weekend as Group 14 is due to arrive to begin Pre-service Training on Wednesday.

Liri, Catherine’s host mother stopped in as she had heard that I was in the village. I assured her I was coming there next. My host mother insisted that this would be after dreken (lunch). She served meat and vegetable soup, salad, yoghurt and homemade bread to us all. A short time afterwards I headed a few blocks away to visit Comeri and Liri and their family.

Of course, coffee and homemade ballakume were served. I had to argue forcefully that no, I did not want to eat lunch again, and was having a hard time getting down yet another ballakume, no matter how good they were. That seemed to satisfy Liri, although she did give me a few to take with me. I apologized to Comeri that he had not been shown the respect he deserved when he had come to the hospital in Tirana to see Catherine. He seemed to accept that and appreciate the apology, which, in itself, was a sign of respect. This family was not having another volunteer stay with them, although this was attributed to an upcoming wedding for the next daughter who had recently been engaged and not to any hard feelings towards the Peace Corps.

We talked a lot about Catherine as they are very close to her. Aldi, the older of my host family’s boys, offered to help them Skype with Catherine from a village lokal that has internet. I thought the coffee shop in Thane had really progressed when they stopped butchering cows in the middle of the room while you were drinking your coffee, but now they have a computer with a web cam. Things are changing quickly in Albania, even in Thane.

I walked back over to my host family’s house. Several people from the village came outside to say hello, including Beni, my host family’s nephew who looks like the Fonz. I enjoyed talking with him, although he is not working and spends his days hanging out at the lokal. I think my family is not happy with him. He tried to sneak into Greece to get work, but was caught and sent back. Apparently, he has not done much since.

I did extract a promise from my host mother that she would send the two boys to Korca for a couple of days next week. There is a school holiday for Sultan Nevruz. I have off from Preka as well and would love to show them Korca. They have never visited there before, even though it is less than 100 miles from Elbasan. I had given them money for the furgon ride before and next week would be a great opportunity as there is also not a lot of farm work right now. They were excited at the prospect, although their mother complained that she would be lonely without them. One of their neighbors is a furgon driver between Elbasan and Korca and she plans to send them with him. I think they may actually come.

Besides Dita e Veres, Monday was my two year anniversary in the Peace Corps. Although the term of service is technically 27 months and my official close of service date is May 27th, volunteers in my group can leave early with the permission of the country director. This is usually related to school or job opportunities. Some in my group are starting graduate programs. A few are going to teaching or training programs in Europe or Asia. Sometimes health issues are involved. One couple is leaving for graduate school and she is pregnant. Even if she has a speedy and full recovery, as we continue to hope, Catherine would not likely be allowed to return to Albania as a volunteer. What is not clear at this point is whether she will have a medical discharge or just close her service in the US. She is scheduled for an evaluation at a well respected treatment program in Phoenix and we are hoping, at least, for answers to our many questions regarding recommended therapy and prognosis.

I have not yet set a close of service date. I have enough unused leave that I can close anytime in May, or even a bit before if I want, but I am committed to working with Isufi and Jani and teaching my Life Skills class while the main teacher is off on maternity leave. I will probably shorten my travel through Europe to just a few cities I would like to see before I head home. I already have our tickets from Berlin in mid-June and I am not sure how easy they are to change. I was supposed to set a date at the Close of Service conference that I missed while I was in London. The staff has been very understanding and has not pressed me for a decision as we all anxiously wait for information from Arizona.