Happy fourth!

I just took one of the amazing showers of my life. Really, my whole entire life. I came in and dropped my bags down on the bathroom floor (it's big enough to do that), and hopped right into the shower. I didn't have to turn on the water heater (I have to if I want hot water, but recently I have been loving the cold showers), but I turned on the water pump (this I have to do if I want good water pressure). I stood in the shower not even washing, just letting the water hit me until it no longer felt like my body was the water filter. The amount of grime on me was absolutely incredible, too much for even me (which if you know me you know is really saying something). So I guess in order for you to understand why I was so grimy and hot I will have to backtrack to tell you a little bit about what was my fourth of July weekend...

On Friday I left to go to Durres to meet up with another volunteer and a women in an organization he worked with (he is leaving soon) that would be a possible contact for me. For this trip you might say that I came UBER prepared, equipped with only a sleeping bag (rated for 5 degree weather), 3 tee-shirts, jeans, quick dry pants, quick dry towel, chacos, sneakers, sunscrean, bug spray, toothpaste, toothbrush, and a bathing suit. Ok you might have figured out that this was not my final destination of the day (or weekend). After having a nice coffee (when I say having a coffee I mean it in the most Albanian of ways, meaning any type of drink, I had iced tea), I met up with some other volunteers and ate at a nice pasta place for lunch before grabbing a furgon (small bus/van) with all of us to head down to Divjak. We were lucky that we had so many people because we were not only able to get a furgon but we managed to convince him to drive all the way to Divjak (they don't normally go from where we were coming from).

After a stop at the dyqan (small market, there are many of them in every city) which we convinced our furgon driver to make for food we ended up at the beach in Divjak. Here we met up with a few other volunteers (a word which I have problems spelling now because it is vullnetar in Shqip) on the beach and had a drink.

So recap on grime on my body: sweaty body from sitting in a furgon [check], sand all over me from walking on the beach [check]. Don't worry, I'll keep a running tally for you.

So the beach was kind of an interesting one, and by interesting I mean strange. I loved the forest part we drove through, but the beach was a large expanse of wet sand, which cars and motorcycles drove on, and people left their trash on (or it washed up). But it was pretty all the same.

So then the journey continued, as we walked along the beach (add more sand to the grime count) then passed through a dug out river like thing to get to a different more isolated part of the beach (add salt water and whatever else was in there). A little bit further we pitched some tents and relaxed.

For dinner we cut some veggies (add random veggie juices to count) and beans and corn with "Mexico" sauce (add Mexico sauce to my body). Cooking was an adventure, complete with falling apart tinfoil, hot fire and hot grill which one of the other volunteers brought, and cooking using cans from other foods we had bought (add sand I was sitting on to the count).

Next morning we woke up and adventured into the sun (add slathered sunscreen), and the sand (add more sand), and the sea (add all the sea stuff and crab pieces floating in it) for a swim. We ate some vodka infused watermelon (add both of those to grime count).It was all quite nice. We then went on a journey to find the lagoon, ended up going on a nice walk through the woods (add pine and dirt), and maybe a trash heap (add trash). A few of us split off to make a large American flag in the sand, complete with 50 collected sea shells for the stars, and differently textured stripes, very impressive if I do say so myself.

After a decent walk we returned and rested while playing a few games. A few of the other volunteers had the idea to do a slip and slide so 5 of us decided to give it a go, and by slip and slide I mean a tarp folded and directed into the ocean then with shampooy water put onto it. So the shampoo might have managed to deplete the grime count a little, but the sand at the end of the tunnel.. err tarp brought it all back with a vengeance (add more sand, and a few bruises).

The night was celebrated by sparklers, and sparkler pictures, as well as some light fireworks. Our meal was cooked again, but this time better. The next morning we set out to find a restaurant where the guy serves you from a horse and arm wrestles people. It took us a little while to find it (with a few wrong directions) but eventually we did. There was some confusion about the pricing, it was a set rate which was far above that of our Peace Corps budget, but somehow we got it to work out. An interesting dining experience, with the waiters running everywhere (well I guess it's one way to stay in shape) and bringing out the food on grills. We then all split to go to our respective sites. Those of us heading up north managed to hitch.

A long weekend but all together a successful one. Sorry for the rambling towards the end of this, I am quite hungry and tired currently. I am also sorry for my not stellar mood recently. Things here have been a little rough for me, we all know the things I am not very good at (being alone, and not being busy) which pretty much explains my life right now. My counterpart and other friend were suspended from the Bashkia due to lack of funds, so I'm currently regrouping. Done a few tasks here and there today though. Generally I am entirely confused at how I ended up at a desk job. I swore to myself that I would not have one of these, and my body doesn't want me to either! My shoulder acts up when I have been sitting too long, and guess what this job does to me... Oh well, I assume this is a rough spot and I will work my way out of it by doing small projects and getting to know more people. I will go for a walk tonight.