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.