Among the Volunteers

Today was the second day in a row and the fourth time in the past five days I have been in Elbasan. Today was “Simulation Station” test with the program staff and “Meet and Greet” with current Peace Corps volunteers.

The “Simulation Station” exercise was actually fun. It was a warm, clear spring day and we walked around the center of town in small groups, each accompanied by one of the teaching staff. We visited a high school, open market, Orthodox Church, a local (coffee bar), then two stations at the Peace Corps office. We had to talk with people at each station and get answers to certain practical questions, all in Albanian, like a verbal scavenger hunt. Our staff escort rated our performance. The high school had a class of seniors who answered our questions about the school but asked as many questions of us. Who were we, where were we from, what were we doing in Albania? “The Peace Corps is a humanitarian, apolitical, American organization that assists foreign countries” is the approved response, in Shqip, of course. The church was the historic church in the center of the castle of Elbasan. It was built under the Byzantines about 15 centuries ago. One of the priests met us there in the beautiful, ancient sanctuary and in front of the incredible iconography, patiently answered our questions. In the market, we had to plan a dinner menu and see if we could buy the ingredients within a set budget of 2000 lek (the Albanian currency, about 20 US dollars). The market people were very obliging of us on a busy market day even though we didn’t actually buy anything. In the local we met an Elbansani man who works for the Peace Corps. We asked and were asked about ourselves and our families. I hadn’t known he was engaged and planned to marry in September. Then we walked to the office where we had to discuss the layout of Elbasan with a staff member, and then, discuss the Peace Corps in general with another (founded in 1961 by President Kennedy, about 8000 volunteers throughout the world, about 70 in Albania, working in community development, health education, English education, etc.). Again, all of this was in Shqip. I think we all did pretty well considering we have been at this for less than a month.

In the afternoon, we met a group of current volunteers from around the country. We had a picnic in the park and played Frisbee and Whiffle-ball. Many of us bought a suvlaq from a nearby stand. This is an Albanian taco, served on flat bread that is sort of between pita bread and a tortilla. There is yogurt sauce, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, some sort of roasted meat (lamb, I think) and, get this Idaho, french fries, in the sandwich! They talked with us casually about their experiences and where they served. One was in his 70’s and is a retired computer systems engineer from Massachusetts who is working in Elbasan, teaching at the university. He is on his second Peace Corps tour, having served previously in Central Asia. Most were in their 20’s or 30’s. Some are finishing this year; others have a year to go. One had a small pet poodle, so I got a bit of contact with a nice dog (most dogs in Albania are used as guards and are not to be casually approached). I didn’t get the bus back to Thane until almost 6.

I am probably an old fogey and I don’t smoke or drink (I admit I quit smoking years ago just so I could give sanctimonious lectures about the harmful effects of tobacco), but I am a bit concerned by how many of the volunteers smoke cigarettes, drink a lot of beer or are overweight. Since France banned smoking in most locations, Albania may be the most welcoming country for the tobacco addict. People light up anywhere they choose here, restaurants, buses, stores, wherever and whenever. Cigarettes are only about a dollar a pack. Alcohol is also a problem here, and, like in the US is a major factor in accidents and assaults, although raki (the local white lightning made from plum or grape brandy) is preferred, and, again, it is inexpensive. Physical fitness is not something of importance to girls or people over the age of 60. These topics are covered by health educators in the schools and communities, but Peace Corps volunteers are supposed to be 24/7 role models. I wonder if such outings, however good for the morale of new volunteers, effects the image of our program.

Maybe I am being overly concerned. The Peace Corps is supposed to represent the diversity of America. There are black, Asian, Hispanic, homosexual, short, tall, etc. Why should Americans who are obese, smokers or drinkers not be represented? Statistically, overweight Americans are a more accurate representation. Smokers and heavy drinkers also make up a significant slice of the population.

However, since I am about the age of the parents of most of the volunteers, I worry about the health styles adopted by some of my Corps-mates. I am supposed to be a health educator and I figure if I can’t educate my cohorts about health, how can I expect to do anything with Albanians. So after a month training in organizing community based health promotion, I decided to approach my Peace Corps “community” as a project. I have talked with some of the others and have started a “Self Help Forum”. Since we don’t have reliable internet access we are doing this by passing around files on flash drives that we all have. It is set up to pass around tips in four areas, “Comfort, Fitness, Health and Morale”. The discussion includes ways to keep poorly insulated homes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, exercise regimens used by some of the volunteers, health problems we have had and how we dealt with them, and ideas for staying in contact and supporting our peers. We have lots of expertise among us; engineers, educators, architects, psychologists, ecologists, social workers, physical therapists, nurses, and, even one doctor. I don’t know if it will do any good, but then, with the Peace Corps one never knows in advance the answer to that question. Service is the effort, not the outcome.

Vlora

Here is a picture of me and my Peace Corps-mates cutting a clearing in the jungle with machetes to build a clinic to care for refugees from the insurgent conflict. Well, maybe not. Not every soldier fights in the trenches.

Vlora is a city of between 200,000-300,000. Set on the south shore of Albania, where the Adriatic meets the Ionian Sea, it is a beautiful and historic location. It has been inhabited for more than 4000 years. A strategic location and an excellent harbor, it has changed hands many times, but it is also the place where Albanian independence was declared in 1912, by Ismail Qemali, although Italy then occupied it two years later.

Italy now appears to economically occupy much of Vlora, with a fair number of Italians having second homes there. People on the street would often talk to us in Italian, assuming that if we were foreign, that must be our language. The coast is chock-a-block with high rises of Albanian block and plaster style, most in mid-construction. All that building activity creates a fair amount of dust, but that doesn’t change the natural beauty of the location. Many Albanians have second homes there as well. I stayed with a volunteer who rents a flat in a high rise that is still under construction. It feels like he is squatting as most of the apartments around him that are habitable and perhaps sold are empty in the off season.

My pre-service training group was sent out around Albania the past few days to visit current volunteers at their service sites and get a feeling for what they do and how they live. It was a very useful exercise, although I have to confess that getting sent to Vlora was like winning a vacation by the sea. The weather was sunny, the sea tranquil, and the city was very pleasant without the crush of the summer people.

I went with a nice young couple from Philadelphia to visit the 4 volunteers assigned to the Vlora area. We took buses down and furgons back, changing at Qema, along the coast highway after driving along the Shimbrin River valley from Elbasan. It was about 4 ½ hours each way, on roads that varied from good two lane pavement to rutted dirt, much of it winding through mountainous terrain, kind of like Idaho. Round trip was about $13 dollars, each.

I am very grateful that the Peace Corps has a policy which prohibits volunteers from operating motorized vehicles. Furgon drivers, especially, but most Albanian drivers have a style similar to a prolonged game of chicken. Speed is as fast as possible. Remember, there are trucks, buses, horse carts, bicycles, mopeds, pedestrians, etc. along most roads. Passing can take place at any time with trust and hope that the oncoming driver will give way and pedestrians, carts and cycles get off to the side in time. I cannot imagine how people travel at night and live to tell the tale. We had an assignment to answer a series of questions about our trip. One was about outward signs of religion in the area. There are three mosques and two churches in Vlora, but, based on my experience, most praying occurs on the roads.

I got to follow my volunteer through a day where he went to his office at the Directorate of Health and also watch a class he taught at the university with another volunteer on American Studies. I got to talk with his Albanian counterpart at the Directorate. We talked about educational efforts in areas of drugs, alcohol, sexually transmitted diseases, dental care, breast cancer, diabetes, etc. The only unusual area of concern was thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder seen in some parts of the Mediterranean, apparently including Albania. They have very few resources. Some handouts are donated by various world charity organizations and some are produced locally and photocopied. This conversation occurred in Shqip, so I missed a lot of the nuances. The counterpart really likes Vlora. Apparently it is a plum assignment late in her career. I was also supposed to meet the director of the region, who speaks English very well, but she was away in Tirana, the capital, something I was told was fairly common. I had been looking forward to talking with her.

The class has 160 students registered for it. About half showed up, which I was told was normal. They were noisy, often talking during the class, and cell phones rang frequently. Smaller groups, afterwards, in seminars of about 25 students were more attentive. I was told they rarely read assignments or turn in home work. Classrooms are crowded with students tightly packed on broken benches with scratched-up blackboards in front without other visual aids. I don’t know how they could be accommodated, if everyone showed up. There is also a new building on the campus with new equipment, but our class was in the old building. The usual style of Albanian education is for the teacher to read from a text and the students to take notes. I was told that some teachers supplement their meager incomes by selling grades.

The volunteers’ style, of course, was quite different. They tried to engage the class, and it was clear they succeeded with some. At the seminar, they played a recording of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech which they had downloaded to one of their laptops. I was asked to say a few words about it since I was a teen at the time and remember it well. I was relieved that the students at the seminar have a good command of English and I did not have to make my comments in Shqip.

I talked about how prejudice is something that we all have that we regard as normal at the time. It is only later that most of us see it as wrong, as mores change. It often takes a leader, an orator, like Dr. King to facilitate that change. Albanians, like many economic migrants, face a lot of prejudice. I hope that the students could relate to the speech.

That night we went to the apartment of another counterpart. Being Albanian, after meeting us briefly the previous afternoon as we walked along the esplanade, they insisted the whole group come for a home cooked seafood dinner. They grilled fresh caught fish from the Adriatic on a hibatchi on their balcony and served it with salad, fruit and bread. We brought the wine. After dinner, over tea and cookies, we played a card game, called “Mafia”. This was taught to us by the volunteers, not by our hosts, by the way, if prejudicial stereotyping led you to another conclusion. The sunset lit up the mountains surrounding the Bay of Vlora.

Shqip

Besides being a great Scrabble word (if it were legal), Shqip is the name for the Albanian language in Albanian. It is pronounced, roughly, “ship”. The quote on the cover of the Peace Corps language manual says “it is not difficult to learn…after a few months of diligent study”. I am not sure I agree with this as Shqip giveth and Shqip taketh away.

In Elbasan, there is a statue of Kostandin Kristoforidhi and he is buried in the churchyard within the castle in the center of the city. He was a 19th century scholar whose work was preeminent in the standardization of the Albanian language. Much of this had to be done in secret since it was banned during the centuries of Ottoman rule. I sometimes think I should lay flowers at his tomb because he selected the Roman alphabet rather than the Greek or Russian (other candidates), so it at least looks familiar to an American. Even so, there are 36 letters in it, with 9 combination letters, an extra “c” with a squiggle underneath it and extra “e” with 2 dots over it (like a German umlaut) that make it especially confusing to look up words in Albanian in the dictionary. Many letters are pronounced pretty close to their English equivalent, which helps, but many are different, which confounds. Verbs are pretty straight forward, but nouns have 5 cases with different endings and with two kinds of adjectives which have to agree with case and gender of the nouns they follow.

No one in my host family speaks English, but I speak Spanish pretty well and a niece of my hosts speaks Spanish. I think she learned it mostly from watching a popular tele-novela (a Spanish language soap opera, heavy on the sex and violence) which is produced in Los Angeles and has sub-titles in Albanian. Some in the family also speak a little Italian from working there in the past. Since Italian has a lot of cognates with Spanish, I find my ability in Spanish is very helpful.

I also watch as much of this show as I can stomach and try to improve my Shqip from the sub-titles. Last episode, the main character had a fight with her husband over another woman, left in a fit, was car-jacked at gun point by a Mexican mafia moll in an incredibly skimpy halter top, drove off a cliff, resulting in a fire and explosion, was blown clear of the car, but suffered total body burns. Luckily, a plastic surgeon, who does controversial research in burn treatment using cloning techniques, happened to be driving in the other direction and saw the crash. He and his passenger, another doctor, put her in the back of their car and did emergency surgery at the clandestine OR he has at his home. Meanwhile the police have assumed that the car-jacker was the main character, burned beyond recognition and have declared her dead. The doctor has decided to keep her survival a secret while she recuperates, the girl friend is taking advantage of the situation to make the move on the guilt stricken husband and the wealthy father of the main character suffered a heart attack at the news of the accident. This synopsis has left out important details of various sub-plots, but gives one an idea of a typical day in LA. I am sure I am gaining lots of useful vocabulary from watching this show.

The language classes in the Peace Corps are really terrific and my growing ability has been a great supplement to my limited talent for charades. I do find I am using the phrases “nuk a di” and “nuk kuptoj” (I don’t know and I don’t understand) a bit less. The two language teachers working with my small group in Thane are young, Albanian natives, both born in Elbasan. One has a degree in English and worked for UNICEF taking care of Kosovo refugees before coming to work for the Peace Corps. The other has a degree in teaching Albanian and lives with her husband in Italy where they have a pizzeria. She likes working for the Peace Corps and has returned the past couple of years to help with the 3 month pre-service training program for incoming volunteers. They are both great and their teaching styles complementary. I find my only excuses are my age and my failing memory, eyesight and hearing. I probably need to be more diligent.

Separation and Loss

The gjyshe (grandmother) who lives with my host family went to Tirana last week for thyroid surgery. She has diabetes, hypertension, leg edema and a thyroid problem of some sort. Both parents went along and were gone for a few days. It was just the 3 guys in the house and we fared ok with some help from several female extended family members that live nearby.

I don’t think Albanians like to be alone, at least not this family.
Since so many work abroad, it must be especially difficult. My family has relatives working in Italy and Greece, the most common destinations. There is always a big party when they visit, which they can do freely as there are guest worker programs in most European countries. Most seem to be anxious to return home and use their savings to finance marriage and build a house near their families.

The father in my family is fortunate to have work in Albania, but lately he is working in a town that is commute and he cannot get back home until 10 pm. They feed me earlier, by myself, so I can get enough sleep for my delicate American constitution. The mother apologized profusely that I was eating alone, as the whole family, including the teens, wait for Dad to return for dinner.

Grandma is recuperating in the parent’s downstairs bedroom. They have moved the TV and two couches in there. I think the parents are sleeping on the couches. They bought a gas space heater which I think set them back a bit since the meals lately have been heavy on the starches and fruit and salad have disappeared. I plan to buy some fruit to contribute to the larder the next time I have a chance to visit the market in Elbasan. The mini-mart in Thane doesn’t have much of a selection. I hope the space heater is approved for indoor use.

Since her return, the visitors have been numerous. They are all dressed up and sit for hours. They are served Turkish coffee, cookies and candies as is the custom. One can hardly say hello to someone in Albania without being asked to sit down and offered coffee and something to eat. I assume this is a further strain on the family finances.

I visit as well and sit for a while. That seems to be appreciated. I am not sure if it is appropriate for me to read while I visit, so I just sit quietly. Grandma mostly sleeps and can’t talk very well because of her surgery. My Albanian doesn’t yet provide me much ability for small talk. Visitors don’t seem to talk much, anyway. Yesterday, while I sat, the TV was showing a program on Nelson Mandela. He was being interviewed by dissidents from around the world who asked him for advice from his experience. He told one man from Burma, that the hardest thing about his years in prison was being separated from his family. He missed most the celebrations and missed funerals where he should have been present. The Burmese dissident also said that he longed to return home for his father’s funeral, but would risk certain imprisonment and probable torture. The camera showed him looking longingly at the bridge that led into Burma from his exile in Thailand.

Last night at 4 AM, I had my first phone call from the US. It was not good news. My 15 year old golden retriever, Casey, had blood in his abdomen from a splenic tumor which, according to the vet, was very likely cancer. I knew he had an abdominal mass, but didn’t expect him to succumb so soon. He had to be put down. I know my good friends, Kathy and Doug who took care of him after I left gave him a loving home and the last month of his life was happily spent playing with their Australian shepherd and digging in the field where Doug is building their new home in Emmett, Idaho. Casey would have liked living there, because they keep horses and there is nothing Casey enjoyed more than eating or rolling in manure. A true golden retriever. We will spread his ashes on the pasture at my home in McCall.

Casey was my good buddy and enthusiastic companion on so many outings. He jumped eagerly into the Cessna and slept next to my sleeping bag in the tent, warming me in the cold Idaho nights. He would lie on the bank while I would wade in the trout streams, or swim between by casts when I fished in a mountain lake. He had slowed a lot the past year and could no longer follow my tracks in the snow when I did Nordic skiing and the distance he could walk without tiring had substantially decreased. Even so, his appetite was good and his disposition was always as golden as his coat. Not being there for his end was a big thing for me to give up for Peace Corps service.

I realize that a dog is not a father and that choosing volunteer service is nothing like imprisonment, yet being in the third world, in a country where I do not speak the language or understand the culture very well is isolating, no matter how hard I study or how nice my host family. It is good that during the pre-service training period we are in small groups and being with a “class”- Peace Corps, Albania, Group 12- helps a lot. I hope I get a lot more skillful with my language and culture before I get posted, by myself, to my 2 year service site.

Nevertheless, I do get homesick, even at my age and even though I am pretty independent by nature. As I said before, I am blessed by the fact that, back home, I have many great friends and live in Idaho- people and a place that I love. Being away makes me appreciate them all the more. I think that is a sentiment I share with most Albanians.

Three Lessons from Thane

Look beyond the garbage is the first lesson from Albania and for much of the third world. The detritus of the first world has landed like a tsunami on the third word. When there is no system to adequately handle solid waste, litter piles up everywhere, on river banks and along the road sides. Plastic bags are blown upon fences, trees and hedges. The locals know it and they don’t like it either. Many remember before and people here prefer clean, let me assure you. The home of my host family is spotless and everything is put away after use. It is a matter of pride and about the worst thing one can do in Albania is to reflect poorly on your family. Peace Corps volunteers have to watch their dress and deportment and we have been advised that we are in the Peace Corps 24/7. I suppose I should be concerned about how my actions and appearance represent America, but, in reality my principle concern is for my host family in Thane where I will live for the 10 weeks of pre-service training.

After four days in Elbasan, we boarded a furgon (an Albanian mini-bus, a main means of cheap transport around the country) and the 33 members of PC Albania, group 12, split up into the small groups we will work in for the majority of our training. Thane is a village of about 1200 people, just outside of Cerrik which is a reasonably sized town for the area (Cerrik is about the size of Emmett, Idaho, for those of you familiar with that place). It is 16 km (ten miles) from Elbasan, but that is at least a 45 minute furgon ride.

Classes are 5 1/2 days a week, about 8 hours a day. They are mostly held in the local K-9 school in Thane, about a 10 minute walk from where I live with my host family. 4 days are for language and the rest for training in Peace Corps policy and procedures and techniques for our service area. Mine is Health Education. Others in Albania are Teaching English and Community Development. I also work about 2-3 hours a day on homework. There is a great deal to read in the Peace Corps library and, of course, there is always language to work on. I have a game I made up with the family called Tjeter (pronounced “teyeter”- means “other”), where we try to name as many things in a category that we can. For example, we named animals around Thane in one session. Elephant was not accepted, but scorpion was ok. The youngsters seem to especially enjoy it, but everyone around plays. I have given the regulars some of my Idaho Potato Commission pins that I brought along, so now there are a group of kids running around Thane sporting plastic spud pins that say “IDAHO”.

My host family consists of a father, a builder, his wife who is a housewife, his mother, who is a pensioner and has diabetes, thyroid problems and high blood pressure, and two teenage boys, ages 13 and 17. They all could not be nicer. I think they may be even nicer to me than my real family, although that is not meant as a criticism, of either family, just a cultural observation. In fact, everyone I have met here is just incredibly friendly, tolerant of my ignorance and mistakes and generous to a degree that is downright embarrassing. People here almost come to blows over who gets to treat for coffee or meals, and this is in a place where coffee costs maybe the equivalent of 50 cents and a good meal, maybe 2 dollars. Another thing is that in Albania there is great respect given to both age and being male, a very good deal for me. Some of the other volunteers seem resentful. Tough luck, children.

Towns here are compact, since travel tends to be by foot, bus or furgon. There are lots of cars, but not everybody has one. My host family does not. The residents walk to the bar, café, school, clinic and to the fields which surround the village. The fields are well tended, although I am not clear on the ownership. Most homes in Thane have large gardens with apricot, peach, apple, pear, and orange trees and grape vines, and chickens and turkeys wandering around, and a cow in a shed. Many have a horse or a donkey. Horse carts are still a common means of transportation, even in cities, and donkeys are used to carry fodder down from the meadows in the hills around town. My host family also has rabbits. The elder son tends the cow and the younger the rabbits. Much of the food is home grown. Surplus is picked up by vans that come around each morning and presumably taken to Elbasan. We have fresh milk, butter and yogurt every day. Bread is baked fresh at home almost daily. It is spread thick with homemade grape preserves (one has to watch out for the seeds which are often left in). Chicken or turkey is the common meat (one also has to watch out for bone shards since the animals are almost always butchered with an axe). I had to make a point that I was too old to eat so much when they put huge portions in front of me and kept trying to feed me more. They also sit me closest to the wood stove which heats the kitchen, the only heated room in the house, and feed me first, although I have been able to get the father of the house back in his usual seat of respect, a gesture which he seems to appreciate.

Elbasan, Cerrik, Thane and other towns are set in the wide valley of the Shkumbin River. There are snow capped mountains on either side. It is really quite beautiful especially when one applies lesson one. The spring weather has been variable, between sleet and warm, often on the same day, much like McCall. If they had central heating it would be downright pleasant.

As it is, it is freezing in the morning and warm in the afternoon, tuning cold again as the sun goes down. Central heating is a great rarity in Albania and so is insulation. The house is very cold at night. I am glad I brought my old down sleeping bag, and, although I have years of experience from Idaho with layering, I find that I am really a rank amateur at the technique. I am sure I will be a pro by the time I return home. Either that or I may lose a toe or finger to frostbite. It does make me wonder what winter will be like.

Lesson two come about here: everything has consequences. That maybe a corollary of lesson one, since the trash situation makes one very mindful about using every Kleenex and paper towel. I never take a plastic bag when it is offered at a store or fast food place because I can look anywhere and see where it is likely to wind up. I drink water from my water filter or from the tap (see lesson three) since there are lots of plastic bottles scattered about. I carefully return the bags of sugar which they give me for my coffee, since I don’t use it, it is expensive and I don’t want to just pass it into the waste stream. I also have to be careful about accepting the constant generosity of people I have supposedly come to help. It will only be acceptable if I can return all the favors. Being a “mooch” would not only bother my own conscience, it would reflect poorly on my host family.

I don’t really want to dispel any myths about the Peace Corps, but I have to admit that my host family’s home is a long way from a mud hut. It is a substantial house of about 2000 square feet, and not unusual for Thane. It is masonry with a red tile roof (every building here seems to be made of blocks and concrete covered with plaster- and many buildings are under ongoing construction since about a quarter of the work force works out of the country, remitting funds. Construction here is on a pay as you go basis). There is a solar hot water heater as electricity is very expensive. Warm showers are just when the sun shines. The rooms are large. There are 4 bedrooms and two baths, complete with bidets. I share the upstairs bathroom with the boys. The parents and grandma are on the ground floor. There is a balcony around 3/4ths of the upstairs. I have my own room with a door that opens to a wonderful vista. When it warms up in the afternoon, I pull a kitchen chair onto the balcony and sit on the leeward side of the house. It is a great place to read and do homework. The floors are covered in beautiful marble tile, which I think is native from the Albanian mountains. There are not many pictures or photos on the walls. Bare light bulbs hang from wires from the ceilings. Obviously, there is electricity, but power outages are frequent and I am glad I brought a good flashlight. Even my cell phone has a built in flashlight (everyone seems to have a cell phone, although land lines are relatively rare- and, I am learning to text message since that is much less expensive than voice calls here).

People here are very stylish and not at all casual in their dress (whenever I am outside of class I am wearing a tie a lot more than I ever did in Idaho). About 70% of the population is Moslem with its tradition of modest dress, especially for women, but it tends to be quite secular and not at all segregated among the minority Christians (Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox), Roma (gypsies), Jews and others. For example, my host family is nominally Moslem and reads the Koran at home, but has a Christmas tree in the hall.

My host family has a large extended family in town and lots of friends, although I am not clear on who’s who as yet. We often spend the evening sitting on couches in the kitchen where we take meals and coffee and watch TV.

This brings us to lesson three: be aware of how you are seen by others. Again, this may be a corollary of lesson two with my concern about reflecting poorly on my hosts, but my point here is a bit different. Albanian television seems really foreign. The morning news consists of a reporter reading the news, but instead of standing in front of video illustrations of the news, there is an ongoing MTV video in the background. These are, of course, mostly from the US and in English. The violence, sexual content, crime, gangs, materialism and foul language are startling, especially since it often out of context with the program. Movies on TV seem to always cover the same themes. The most popular TV program in Albania is “Big Brother-Albania”. I have never seen this program in the US (my host family was taken aback by the fact that I don’t have a TV in my home in Idaho). There is lots of sexual innuendo, the women are scantily clad and there are lots of tattoos and weird hairdos that one hardly ever sees among the general population. Everyone watches this stuff, kids to grandma. I have not figured out my family’s take on this. I hope they realize this is just “entertainment” and does not represent real American lives and values. They all seem to have a very positive attitude towards America and Americans. Bill and Hillary Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama are almost universally popular among Albanians. Maybe they are able to see beyond our garbage, as well.

Enroute to Elbasan

After 5 going away parties and not having to buy dinner or lunch (and many breakfasts, too), for more than a month, I left Idaho for two weeks of travel to visit friends and relatives around the country. On March 16 I reported for Peace Corps Albania staging at the Holiday Inn in Philadelphia. I consider it another benefit of my Peace Corps service that it made me take time to visit some important people that I may not have seen in years, but because of age or health I wanted to see before I was physically unable to visit on short notice for the next 27 months. Talking at length with my 93 year old uncle in Annapolis or my 89 year old aunt in Florida made me appreciate the first person contact with my parents and those who have known me since I was born. There was also the chance to see other good friends and family one more time before I left. It was a good trip even though a good part of it was spent at bedside in a hospital.

Staging was part orientation and part group bonding. 2 days of travel by bus to JFK, plane to Munich and then to Tirana and then bus again for the 40 mile, but 2 hour drive to Elbasan brought the group to Pre Service Training. This is 10 weeks of orientation, program, language ad culture training.

There are 34 volunteers in my group. These are divided into health education, teaching english as a second language and community development programs. I am, obviously, in health education. Being a government program, first order of business is paper work. Then there were immunizations (I only needed typhus thanks to the travel medicine program back at St. Lukes in Boise). Now there are safety, culture and, most important, language programs. The first 4 days are at a hotel in Elbasan (a town of about 125,000 in central Albania). In case you think I am living high on the hog, I share a room with 2 other volunteers, one of whom is a world class snorer. It reminds me of my experience in the Air Force more than 40 years ago. The techniques I learned then to fall asleep next to a buzz saw, have come in handy. On Saturday, I will be assigned to a host family in Thane, a suburb of about 1200 about 10 miles outside of the city. My host family is a builder, his wife, their two teenage sons and a grandmother.

The program, so far, has been very well organized and the teaching techniques interesting. It is both fast paced and interactive. The language program is the most intense I have ever experienced. They use team teaching with two instuctors trading off in rapid fire -vocabulary, pronunciation, application and exercises. We get coffee breaks every couple of hours. They drink a lot of coffee in Albania. I feel right at home.

The group is mostly young, recently graduated people. They are extremely impressive. Most are from top notch schools and have a variety of degrees in subjects like engineering, architecture, environmental science, anthropology, political science, etc. They are a talented and literate group. I can't remember the last time I have had such interesting discussions on Russian literature or environmental design with young adults. They are also great help with dealing with computer or cell phone issues. One has been accepted to medical school at Tulane but has delayed attending for Peace Corps Service. Another is planning to apply. Both have interests in international health. In case you think they are all bleeding heart liberals, at least two are planning to apply to the FBI when they return to the US. There are two married couples. Several have had former Peace Corps or other international volunteer experience and a few are of the Peace Corps group that was evacuated from Georgia amid the violence there last year. It is a lot more impressive that these people have put their lives on hold to volunteer while their peers get a leg up in what is likely to be a very competitive work environment when they return home. It is enough to give me great confidence in the next generation of Americans.

I have heard that the idea of the Peace Corps gelled when JFK was met by 10,000 students at 2 AM at the University of Michigan during the 1960 campaign long after the media and local politicos had gone home. He asked them if they were willing to give their country two years of volunteer service and the positive response was overwhelming. That spirit appears to be alive and well.

In case you are wondering, there are 4 or 5 older volunteers in our group, depending on how you define "older". I think I am the 3rd or 4th oldest. We, as a group, are not nearly as impressive as the youngsters, but I trust they will help us along.

It is also interesting to reflect on the financial aspect of the Peace Corps. I have done other volunteer work where I had to raise my own money for the project and even had to give 20% to the sponsoring organization. Peace Corps is volunteer, but does support those in the program at a level consistent with the community in which they serve. This runs about $20,000 a year per volunteer. This is about 1/40th the cost of deploying a military service person overseas. When one adds in the veteran's benefits, more than a hundred Peace Corps volunteers can be deployed for the cost of a single soldier. Clearly they have different missions and their is no equitable comparison of their service, but it did occur to me.

Mirupafshim, for now.

Disclaimer

Any friend of mine who might be reading this blog is surely intelligent enough to have already figured this out, but the Peace Corps does request that I inform you that the contents of this web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the US Government or the Peace Corps.

This request was included in the information that was sent to me in a "Welcome CD- Peace Corps/Albania" I received in the mail a few days ago. It was very multimedia with a ton of useful information about Albania, the Peace Corps in-country staff, the Albanian language, the city of Elbasan where the 3 month pre-service training will take place, and about life for Peace Corps volunteers in Albania. It was a technical marvel to a computer troglodite like me. It also is very useful to show to friends and family and may encourage some tourism to Albania.