Lingering Questions

It has come to my attention that there are many questions that I have let go unanswered. I realized this after looking at a letter written by a dear camp friend which of course I have not responded to even after two months. Well first of all I decided to respond to her, 2nd of all I decided to answer some questions. My failure to write about these topics in the past most likely stems from the fact that during training it would have felt like beating a dead horse, as these topics were covered over and over again to the point I could not even think about them, much so much as write about them... but here goes I suppose.

Please post questions you have about Albania/my life here in the comments section so that I can respond to them!

Natural Landscape
It is hard for me to even begin to talk about the natural landscape and tell you how beautiful it is. There are multiple different landscapes in Albania, ranging from mountainous, to coastal, and combinations. My site is not so naturally beautiful, with its flat landscape, dirty river (made worse by the trash that is thrown into it), and lack of public green spaces. But other places have picturesque landscapes (such as Tepelne where I visited this weekend) with blue rivers cutting through towering mountains, birds flying around, and endless amounts of blooming wildflowers. There are many beaches in this country, the nearest one to me is Durres, which again is a little bit dirty. Many other beaches remain beautiful (so I've heard) and I cannot wait to visit them.

Trash
This country has a huge trash problem, well I suppose the whole world has a huge trash problem, we in the States might just be a little bit better at hiding it from the public eye. Trash will really just be dumped anywhere (usually near a river, because then it floats downstream away from you?), despite there being trash collection systems. To be fair Albania does not really have methods of dealing with trash, and has very little recycling. I have started to ask for used beer bottles to make a mosaic with. I'm hoping I can expand this endeavor into a project, but for now I will just make a small mark while making some art.

Development
I can't talk about development on a whole in this country, but maybe I can make some quick notes and observations about it. Another volunteer pointed out that much of it is a facade (nothing new to me but a good way of putting it). When you look at it this country appears to be developed, but when you look beyond that you see the undone interiors, the lack of following rules (or upholding them), the existence of internet but its only use being facebook, and then the young child driving a car... Things are certainly happening here it's just occasionally very slowly.

Gender
Sometimes I get a little frustrated, angry, annoyed, or uncomfortable. I dislike walking to work along the center of town, only to have hoards of men sitting at the tables outside of the local cafes looking at me. Maybe I'm imagining it, but it can be difficult when there are no women sitting with them, or around them, or often even walking around me. I have only had one actual thing happen to me, as a boy followed me around Elbason asking me to come for coffee, refusing to leave despite me yelling at him to, or telling him I was married (to which I received a reply of "it's not a problem"). Not really that much of an issue, but just annoying that this can happen leaving someone a little bit helpless. I also enjoyed my boss telling me that that housework is not for men (my boss is female). I've just never really been one for housework, but I guess that's what the Peace Corps is for (growing).

Transportation
Getting around this country is somewhat easy, and somewhat affordable. There are a few methods of transport 1) The buses. I tend to like taking the buses because they are easy, generally they leave at the same time every day (although this is unreliable and also there is no posted schedule). They tend to be slow but do not cost huge amounts. 2) Furgons, also known as mini buses. Furgons have set starting points and ending points (usually) but do not have specific stops and leave whenever they are full. They are certainly faster than the bus method but sometimes a little costlier, and our good old city of Shijak does not really have them. 3) cars, well I don't have one and am not allowed to drive one, and even if I could I would not. There are not really traffic laws here, people just drive, and often very fast. As a pedestrian I am terrified, in the center of my city I often jump away from cars, I have started to ask around at work why we don't do anything to control the traffic, I have generally gotten answers that it is somebody else's job, or that it is illegal to make certain types of changes. 5) Hitching, doing this is easier and more excepted in the states. Not something which I would choose to do alone, but if I am with somebody else it it a good way of getting somewhere while having conversations and working on my Shqip skills.