El Fin

The trip was an eye-opening experience that taught me a lot about myself and about a country I am ashamed to admit I had no prior knowledge. The funny thing is, I now know 3 Albanians that I see on a regular basis. The study-abroad program has made my life richer by leaps and bounds.

Thanks to all for their support during this trip and for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. Comments are forwarded to my email address, so if you have anything to add, please do.

UPDATE:May 2009
If you liked this blog, you'll LOVE my new one, now with more popcorn:
http://snippetsofclarity.blogspot.com/

-L

It's the little differences

When traveling you expect things to be different. If you don't, please stay home or keep your complaints to yourself!

Of course it seems that the bathroom facilities are the most notable. They had two buttons for flushing; big flush and little flush, makes perfect sense. Some even had a foot petal to flush, a germaphobe's dream come true.

In Albania, the bathrooms are completely open with a drain in the middle. The shower was a small square with no shower curtain. The toilet lid covered the seat and there was a cover over the toilet paper. The only thing missing was a squeegee to push all the water down the drain. I didn't have a problem with this set-up, however it seemed to be highly distressing to some of my fellow travelers.

Locks also operate differently. You put the key in with the flat part on the top and turn it two times. In the hotel rooms you had to leave the key in the door and lock yourself in if you wanted to have the door locked. If your room mate was out, you had to leave the door unlocked until they returned.

I have mentioned driving. One of the TIS administrators Ron mentioned that in Albania driving is new to everyone, which is an excellent point. This explains why traffic rules are merely a suggestion. What would be a four lane road is made into six or eight depending on how much traffic. But the funniest part was the honking. Yes, the honk in Italy like crazy, but it's more a move-it jerk, kinda honk. Not so in Albania. You honk because you're driving, you honk because the sun is shining, you honk because you are starting to move, you honk because you are stopping, you honk because you are driving past a pedestrian. We dubbed it the "Courtesy Toot". If it weren't for the fact that everyone has guns here in Texas, I would employ the courtesy toot. But alas, I would get involved in a road rage incident and possibly cease to exist. I do however love the phrase Courtesy Toot and will try to incorporate it into my speech at every possible opportunity. I get a giggle every time I try to say it. Say it with me...courtesy toot...bwahahaha!

A roundabout in the main drag in Tirane

Tirane road on the way to Mother Teresa International Airport

Wolves

Onufri Enthnographic Museum where there was a small upstairs room for the wimminz while the men had a nice big comfy room with cushy lambs wool rugs. Mind your place WOMAN!

This is one American woman's impression, YMMV (your mileage may vary).

In Albania there is a common behavior that the men hang out on the street corners and outdoor cafes. Rarely do you see women out, and if they are they are with other women and children going to the market or on an obvious mission. They are not chillin’ wif da homies. It took me about a week before I got used to “walking the gauntlet” and was able to feel comfortable. I dubbed these men wolves as it could be brutal getting past them.

Many of these shots of the men I got holding the camera behind my back and just clicking. I couldn't handle the attention asking permission to take their picture would have brought.

Wolves, Tirane

Wolves in Phone Alley, Tirane

More Phone Alley Wolves, Tirane

Our first weekend was spent in Berat (Berati, City of a Thousand Windows) which is just a lovely town, but not a big city. We were obvious tourists, of which there are very few in Albania. To make things worse, we were a group of seven American women walking the city, visiting the churches and mosques. We drew honks, stares and at one point we had a guy following us for several blocks. It was a rainy weekend and we got caught in a storm. A young girl came and found us amongst the cobble-stone streets up on the hill and offered us shelter in her parent’s home. We stood in the foyer and really tried to refuse going up into the rest of the house as we were dripping wet. They insisted we come inside. They fed us candies and cherry jam, watched Fashion TV, exchanged emails and took pictures. As usual, I didn’t have my camera.

View from Mountain in Berat

Blame it on the Rain (photo courtesy of Barbara Smith-Jones)

Oh yes, and I flipped off a young boy as I was walking away from him. He was trying to speak to me and I could almost understand him, but as I sat there trying to interpret what he said, he broke out with his stellar English and called me a stuck-up bitch. Guess I was a little slow on the draw. I never claimed to be a diplomat. He too took a few blocks to shake.

Future Wolves, Tirane

Shout outs : this is dedicated to the ones I love / Laura G. Ross

While abroad I had a terrible case of the home sickness. The days I sat on my butt cataloging the 150th kid book were the worst because I had time to let my mind wander. Note to those considering entirely web-based library systems--if you have a slow connection U GONNA GO CRAZAY!

So I frequently found myself thinking of home. As I wandered the cities and worked in the school I would come across things that made me think about YOU, or maybe not.

King-no explanation necessary

Pants!
Lepanto is the stop on the Metro A line before Ottaviano which is the stop for St. Peter's Basilica.

Miss Margarets (ButtGrrl) who adores the Gorillaz

Pigs for Slevin/Fisher

Matt who loves the Engrish.
This is the water bottle that reads Suffled how it gush--they meant it was fresh spring water somehow.

JP whose first Q when I got home was about the bunkers (cute kid)

5 cents' love of Brian Eno

Aris--there was also the Ari bar in Saranda. In Sqhipe Ari= Bear

To Ghost: I never did get a shot of The Cubanito restaurant in Tirane, sorry!

To those I left out, well heck I'm sorry. Lot's of you popped in to say Hi and that meant the world to me, I am so serious. Fanks a million you all give great hugs!

PS. Like my title format? Yes, I did real cataloging on the trip, well more real than the crap temp. records I usually create. Dorky librarian humor, YAY!

Forum/Coliseum

A few pix of our tourist experience in Rome. The other three were referred to as "the triplets" by the class because they always hung out together. They were also my beach buddies and Beth was my napping partner at the TIS liebarry. We are sweaty and hot in this photo.

Ryan, Zeb, Beth and Laura

Doing the tourist thing was difficult because none of us cared to travel in large groups or be in giant masses of humans. When you go to the Coliseum you have no choice. It was about 100 F the 3 days we were there, in the blasting sun it felt just like home. Oh boy, oh boy )))!

I really dislike being in pictures, but since I need proof and people have actually asked, I'm putting them in. What's wrong with you people?!

...and we're famous! (inside joke)

I pretend not to sweat

I present more proof

I present more proof that I am a goof

Augustus Palace walls

Augustus Palace Mosiac

Are you ready for some football?!

No, not that kind of football.

The group has been enjoying watching the Euro 2008. In Tirane they have giant outdoor screens set up at the cafes and the places are packed. Every place has the TV set to the game. When I popped into an pub to catch the score I even understood it when the guy told me in Sqhipe (Albanian). Sometimes we were too tired to watch the game and stayed in the room. You could hear the entire city cheering and booing through the hotel window. I loved the solidarity. Our final night in Rome was Italy vs. Spain (click to see video of final winning penalty kick).

Most of the group wasn't that interested, but Mari and I were because we knew the whole place would go nuts and it would be a terrific experience.

View from Julius Cesar bar, what kind of drink requires a 3 foot straw???

She got the last table at the Julius Cesar Bar which was attached to our hotel. The place was rampant with youth hostelers; a very young crowd. We met up with them later a few blocks over at the Yellow's bar.

Mari, TJ and hilarious Irish kid who's name I forgot and me. Not to worry we are all perfectly sober.

TJ (who has a name like that?) was hot and bothered by the fact that we were librarians. As Pink says: "It's Just You and Your Hand Tonight".

We shared a table with some Venezuelan psychologists who were in town for a convention. They were great fun, and mentioned how much they missed A/C and ice cubes. I felt their pain.

Mari and Laura with great Venezuelan ladies.

As expected it was a great time.

Note to self and helpful hint: never go into a 9 hr. flight with a hangover ever again.

Home

Wow, I made it. I will try to assemble some coherent posts soon. Many fun times and pix. For now I'm happy with my coffee and shower. Here's the view from our hotel room in Rome. If you wanted A/C you had to pay 7 EU ($10.89 US)/night for the remote. We tried other's remotes and climbing up to manually turn it on with no luck. Rome is hot and they don't believe in A/C. So, they can invent concrete/mortar and fabulous arches and domes but can't utilize A/C...go figure. PS. Sorry for the poor quality, seems I didn't inherit my dad's videography skills.