Sorry, I also wanted to put out a real post. For those of you who have talked to me recently you might have realized that I'm having a pretty tough time here. Sometimes it feels like I just can't go one full day without something bad happening (4/7 days this week). I could lie and tell you all that it's easy to keep in high spirits and value every minute-- but yes, that would be a lie. So what does keep me going?
Recently I've had more luck integrating into my community. I am starting to make a few friends, and even though most of our interaction occurs over facebook I have high hopes that it will migrate to the real world. New store owners are starting to get to know me as I venture into new places, or meet other people who work at the same ones. Yesterday while buying cheese cloth I had a conversation (which I only 1/2 understood because I can't understand most males when they speak Shqip) about universities, studying and Eskimo culture. Just the other day an old friend and shop owner invited me behind the counter to have lunch with her and her 2 sons, yes one of her sons thought I was 19, but it was a quite enjoyable lunch.
And then there's the hope that I'm learning and gaining. Sometimes I do worry about the negatives that I will bring home (here I am sometimes less considerate to others in public places due to the lack of organization and need for pushiness), but there are many larger lessons that I hope will carry on. For instance, approaching organizations and communities at home should be easier, after all most of them will speak English. Surely now I am more able to roll with the punches (blender breaks, no problem! I'll hand grind, that doesn't work? Ok I'll try mashing, still no? I guess I'll just make an apple pie instead), I am forever learning that things will NEVER work out the way I plan (you think I would have learned this lesson a little better during my evacuation from Katrina but hey). I will take away patience which will be endlessly important in my future career (planning has lots of bureaucracy too).
Lastly there might just be a little bit of my personality involved. We all know how long I'll follow through on things (I was a phone survey person for 4 years, took piano lessons for 8 even though I wasn't ever really going anywhere with that), and I've always enjoyed a challenge. This challenge has yet to bring out the best in me as they usually do but I do believe in time.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Some of my faveorit sites which I have not yet shared
Just some things I've seen along the way
- The auto school car parallel parking with half of the car accidentily on the sidewalk.... with nobody but the driving instructor in it
- My neighbor putting a flower into a toy gun
-A car getting fed up with the traffic on a round about and deciding to just drive through the middle
-A woman begging for money while smoking a cigarette
-A woman in her 40s wearing a shirt that read in large sequins something along the lines of "too slut"
-Countless young boys trying to look really tough while riding around on hot pink scooters
-"Obama Pens"
- A man telling a poor unsuspecting tourist all about how he was once a drug dealer/trafficker, just because the man spoke English (ask the parents about this one)
-A "Cars to sell" dealership
- The auto school car parallel parking with half of the car accidentily on the sidewalk.... with nobody but the driving instructor in it
- My neighbor putting a flower into a toy gun
-A car getting fed up with the traffic on a round about and deciding to just drive through the middle
-A woman begging for money while smoking a cigarette
-A woman in her 40s wearing a shirt that read in large sequins something along the lines of "too slut"
-Countless young boys trying to look really tough while riding around on hot pink scooters
-"Obama Pens"
- A man telling a poor unsuspecting tourist all about how he was once a drug dealer/trafficker, just because the man spoke English (ask the parents about this one)
-A "Cars to sell" dealership
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Well, it appears as if I've improved
A few weeks back I wrote about my difficulties in communicating Jewish holidays to those around me (in my defense, they are slightly difficult and use lots of words that don't really come up in daily conversation here). Well today I think I at least 1/2 managed to communicate the story of Hannukah to my Bashkia members. Well at least they understood that it had something to do with oil and it lasting longer than it should have, and something to do with G/d. I suppose it was probobally close to my translation of the man in the castle in Berat to my Parents...
Him: "Shqip, Shqip, Shqip, Shqip, Shqip"
Me: "Um, earthquake was there and did... something... and then... flying monkeys?"
No but really, I think they actually understood. They also for the first time actually enjoyed my cooking, but of course it was latkas. I mean even I was thinking to myself as I was cooking them that latkas are more proof that Jews have at least a few things really figured out. Well except the health thing apparently, but pshah. While the latkas were a hit, the mixing them with apple sauce was not. Turns out I have something in common with Albanians; they like their salty food salty, their sweet food sweet, and the two are not to mix.Well we'll work on the trying of new things with them, after all I still have quite some time here.
Him: "Shqip, Shqip, Shqip, Shqip, Shqip"
Me: "Um, earthquake was there and did... something... and then... flying monkeys?"
No but really, I think they actually understood. They also for the first time actually enjoyed my cooking, but of course it was latkas. I mean even I was thinking to myself as I was cooking them that latkas are more proof that Jews have at least a few things really figured out. Well except the health thing apparently, but pshah. While the latkas were a hit, the mixing them with apple sauce was not. Turns out I have something in common with Albanians; they like their salty food salty, their sweet food sweet, and the two are not to mix.Well we'll work on the trying of new things with them, after all I still have quite some time here.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Even more uselessness
First I would like to start off by saying I really enjoy the word "throwables." Thank you once again teambuilding for making this world a better place.
I type this on a new computer which I bought for myself (yay!) which for those of you who know me well know how exciting this really is. Let's recap:
Toshiba was born in 2005, where it was bought for Architecture work at Tulane university. It would suffer a rough childhood, as it was accidentally neglected as it's mother fled to Cornell university to escape the floods. It would never recover from this neglect, and would punish it's mother (me for those who have not caught on) henceforth. It accomplished this by: 1. randomly deciding that when I would press a key it would type a letter it would instead complete a command, leading to the keyboard and hard drive needing to be replaced (multiple times). 2. Getting a virus which would be there for years and my friends spent totals of over 10 hours trying to remove "you know that email saying 'enable harder erections'? That's YOUR computer sending that out... 3. receiving 2 or 3 other viruses which would do things like make the internet not work, or type letters backwards in words 4. randomly deleting the Ethernet connection. Yes it was a very angry computer. It's still around, but I just wanted to share my immense happiness over this new one.
I had a good weekend to escape some issues (see below) that I have been dealing with. I went into Tirana to spend some time with friends, and was able to see Harry Potter in theaters (yes I know it came out a while ago for most of you, but some of us have to wait for the subtitles to be available). The movie was very enjoyable, but a different cultural experience going to an Albanian movie theater. We got kicked out of the seats we were sitting in, learning that the seats were numbered, only to go to ours to find people sitting in them. There are no "remember to turn off your cellphone" reminders, and that showed throughout the movie, and many people felt it great to talk through the movie. Reminded me more of what you will see in older movies about cinema in Italy, which is maybe why it did not annoy me quite as much as it usually would, or maybe just because it was HARRY POTTER.. Ahem sorry about that. It was amazing how excited we all got over processed cheese and nachos (both things we never really ate at home, but exciting in their novelty and Americanness). Later we went out for Chinese food (again super exciting, y'all don't understand how amazing it really is and most likely won't until you don't have access to it). Later we drank some imported beers (the first good beer I've had since being in country, which has in fact been a little difficult for me). Really it's the small things that rock my world right now, and I can't even imagine how grateful I will be when I return home.
I write this useless information to take my mind off of the more unhappy things that are going on around me. I had a WONDERFUL visit and travel with the rents, but upon arriving I began to wonder if I will ever catch a break. Friday, as my parents flew out, I awoke to find water dripping from my ceiling, oozing down my walls, and streaming in from the floors. Although the flooding was minimal, it was annoying to say the least, and in combination with the other problems that I have been having with my house has prompted me to look for another place. This unfortunately does not look like it will happen (I asked around today and people generally thought there was no other place for me to move into). So I payed for 2 months more internet and settled into the idea that I will continue to live in this house which has caused so many problems.
I am also deeply saddened by the passing of my neighbor, tutor, and friend Rovena. She was a wonderful woman, and although I had not seen her in months due to her sickness, I still considered her my closest friend in this community. Rovena was an intelligent woman who was doing great things for her community (teaching about recycling, working hard to ensure the highest quality of education for her students, just to name a few things), and her loss is a blow not only to all who knew her but the entire community.
I type this on a new computer which I bought for myself (yay!) which for those of you who know me well know how exciting this really is. Let's recap:
Toshiba was born in 2005, where it was bought for Architecture work at Tulane university. It would suffer a rough childhood, as it was accidentally neglected as it's mother fled to Cornell university to escape the floods. It would never recover from this neglect, and would punish it's mother (me for those who have not caught on) henceforth. It accomplished this by: 1. randomly deciding that when I would press a key it would type a letter it would instead complete a command, leading to the keyboard and hard drive needing to be replaced (multiple times). 2. Getting a virus which would be there for years and my friends spent totals of over 10 hours trying to remove "you know that email saying 'enable harder erections'? That's YOUR computer sending that out... 3. receiving 2 or 3 other viruses which would do things like make the internet not work, or type letters backwards in words 4. randomly deleting the Ethernet connection. Yes it was a very angry computer. It's still around, but I just wanted to share my immense happiness over this new one.
I had a good weekend to escape some issues (see below) that I have been dealing with. I went into Tirana to spend some time with friends, and was able to see Harry Potter in theaters (yes I know it came out a while ago for most of you, but some of us have to wait for the subtitles to be available). The movie was very enjoyable, but a different cultural experience going to an Albanian movie theater. We got kicked out of the seats we were sitting in, learning that the seats were numbered, only to go to ours to find people sitting in them. There are no "remember to turn off your cellphone" reminders, and that showed throughout the movie, and many people felt it great to talk through the movie. Reminded me more of what you will see in older movies about cinema in Italy, which is maybe why it did not annoy me quite as much as it usually would, or maybe just because it was HARRY POTTER.. Ahem sorry about that. It was amazing how excited we all got over processed cheese and nachos (both things we never really ate at home, but exciting in their novelty and Americanness). Later we went out for Chinese food (again super exciting, y'all don't understand how amazing it really is and most likely won't until you don't have access to it). Later we drank some imported beers (the first good beer I've had since being in country, which has in fact been a little difficult for me). Really it's the small things that rock my world right now, and I can't even imagine how grateful I will be when I return home.
I write this useless information to take my mind off of the more unhappy things that are going on around me. I had a WONDERFUL visit and travel with the rents, but upon arriving I began to wonder if I will ever catch a break. Friday, as my parents flew out, I awoke to find water dripping from my ceiling, oozing down my walls, and streaming in from the floors. Although the flooding was minimal, it was annoying to say the least, and in combination with the other problems that I have been having with my house has prompted me to look for another place. This unfortunately does not look like it will happen (I asked around today and people generally thought there was no other place for me to move into). So I payed for 2 months more internet and settled into the idea that I will continue to live in this house which has caused so many problems.
I am also deeply saddened by the passing of my neighbor, tutor, and friend Rovena. She was a wonderful woman, and although I had not seen her in months due to her sickness, I still considered her my closest friend in this community. Rovena was an intelligent woman who was doing great things for her community (teaching about recycling, working hard to ensure the highest quality of education for her students, just to name a few things), and her loss is a blow not only to all who knew her but the entire community.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)