Kam bere ski!

Being from Colorado, naturally I grew up on skis. Not to say that I am particularly good, but I do love a good ski. When a PCV down in Korca posted on his blog about going skiing in Albania, I decided that I just had to do it. I recruited my new friend Garrett (here in Albania on a study grant from Harvard) to come. He was super excited too- he's a long time East Coast skier and happens to also be one quarter Korcar (his grandfather was born in Korca and emigrated to the US). I knew I would have to wait until after the MUN as all my weekends were full until then, but I also knew I couldn't wait too long as spring has started to creep even into cold Peshkopi . . .

It turns out that we made a perfect plan. It was probably the last weekend that skiing could happen (and even by the end of the day it was starting to get a bit mushy) and it was an absolutely beautiful day. We rode up Mike's doctor friend Izufi, who along with 4 other semi-retired and retired men and their families run the little ski hill. There was the doctor, the professor, the coach and the commissar and they were all great. Based on Mike's referral they treated us like one of the gang. We arrived up at the ski hill at about 10AM and got started right away. It seems that they have pulled together a rather impressive collection of ski clothes, ski boots and skis, you just might have to search a bit to find something that fits. In all honesty, the skis and boots that I got were not really in any worse shape than I would expect to find at most rental places in the states (ok, a little be worse shape, but serviceable for sure). The ski hill is just that, a hill. They have rigged up two rope tows- one for the beginers on the little bunny slope and one that goes to the top of a pretty steep hill. The hardest part for sure is staying on the rope tow. Gloves or no gloves, your grip slips a lot and your arms start to burn about half-way up . . .

I was able to get up to the top only twice- once holding the rope, the second time using a canvas strap wrapped around my waist to grip the rope (much easier, but more dangerous). The view from the top of the hill was gorgeous, with the whole valley and the Prespa/Ohrid Lakes in the distance. The skiing itself was as to be expected- not exactly fresh powder like I'm used to in Colorado. I did a nice faceplant on my first run down, but I'll go ahead and blame that on the skis . . .

In the afternoon (after way too much food, of course!) we convinced the doctor's son to drive us into the village of Dardhe about 5km away. The village is exactly what you would expect a perfect Albanian mountain village to be. There have been recent efforts to get tourists to come to the village, including a new hotel and plans for another ski hill (there are signs for this ski hill, but it does not actually exist yet). We were invited in to the home of some of the villagers for a coffee (that turned out to be a raki) before we headed back up the hill. By this time (and a few shots of raki later) both Garrett and I were pretty exhausted, so we found a ride back to town. The rest of the family stayed for dinner and maybe some night skiing . . .

It was maybe one of the more perfect days I've had in Albania (except maybe the wipeout). Good food, good people, good fun and skiing- what else could you ask for?

For more pictures and a video of me crashing, check out www.flickr.com/photos/garrettnelson

MUN all over again

I love MUN. It was one of my favorite activities in high school, it was one of my favorite things to help with after high school, and it has been one of my favorite things that I've worked on in Albania. When I found out that Albania had an MUN program that PC was a partner on, I was the first to sign up. After the MUN last year, I was asked to help organize some things for this year's conference. When Dylan arrived, he showed interest in working with the Peshkopi team, since he had experience doing Model Arab League in college. This worked out great for the both of us- he would be the main person on the team and I would spend most of my time working with the steering committee actually planning the conference and all of the things that led up to it like teacher training.

I knew that organizing a big event like this would be a challenge, but I'm not sure that I really anticipated how much of a challenge it would be. First, since I live 5 hours away in Peshkopi, I was not actually present for the steering committee meetings and mostly only communicated by e-mail and phone with the program director. In a face-to-face, sit-down-and-talk-about-it over-coffee culture like Albania this made things difficult. Second, I think I under estimated the bureaucratic hoop jumping that takes place to get a conference like this organized, especially working with an organization like the UNDP. The project was funded jointly by the UN and the American Embassy, but the UN can't disperse funds so a local partner NGO was needed to help with the actual management of the conference. Unfortunately, the process for finding and accepting a partner NGO took a long time (way too long) and so everything was delayed. We started the process in October with the planning of the training of teachers (TOT) but we didn't have a partner until February and therefore we didn't get money out to teams until that point. This delayed everything and meant that teachers and volunteers were paying out of pocket for things like copies and internet time for no reason (the money was there, we just couldn't get to it). When they finally did get the partner on board, everything had to be rushed and when you start with a mad dash and scramble and everything being late, there is good indications that things will continue in that way. To be honest, Mjaft! (the Albanian NGO that became the partner- means Enough!) did a mostly good job once they were in place and I don't envy the amount of scrambling at the end that they had to do to get everything done, but I can see that the whole process would have been about 700% times smoother if they had been able to start working with us in October or November instead of February. As it was we had to postpone one of the mini-conferences (regional meetings with 3-5 schools to practice before the big event) because the money hadn't been transferred yet and the teams couldn't afford to travel. My major stress over the past few months has been my sort of helplessness about the whole thing- as I was the one that the PCVs were most regularly talking to about issues they would talk to me (or complain to me) a lot about things like money or lack of information but unfortunately I had no control over these things and usually unable to help except to hassle other people higher up.

Somehow though, it did seem to mostly come together in the end, even if things were a bit crazed. The thing is really that that is usually how it works here (and sometimes in America too), things are rushed, thrown together and put to the last minute, but it works out. Mostly, I am really proud of the students. This year I got to know a lot more of the students as I had met them all at the mini-conferences and had a more direct relationship with many of them (read: they came to me for help with things because I looked like I might be somewhat in charge). This is great because these kids are truly the future of Albania and now since I'm friends with all of them on facebook, I'll know when one of them gets elected to Parliament or becomes the Ambassador to Egypt.

My work with this project isn't completely done yet. With a firm belief that we don't need to reinvent the wheel every year, I am going to work in the next few months to put together a resource kit and handbook for running the MUN. I hope that the MUN will continue for many years to come and I am sure that with such devoted and motivated teachers, students and PCVs it will just keep getting better.
Me and Dylan with the Peshkopi team and the Egyptian Ambassador to Albania

Group Hug!

Last week Group 11 and 11.5 (plus Chuck) gathered together for the last time at our COS conference. Over the next few months, we will all start the process of finishing our service and starting in May, we will, a few at a time, leave Albania. The COS (Close of Service) conference seemed to fulfill two main purposes- give us lots of information about the next few months and the COS process and give us a time to get together one last time and be a group. From the start, our conference seemed to be a bit cursed, but only for the staff. On the first day we found out that our PCMO (medical officer) had broken his leg, our AO (administrative officer) had a death in her family and our SSO (saftey and security) got food poisoning! Luckily nothing else went wrong and after some schedule shuffling, we carried on with the conference.

In so many ways it is kind of incredible to me that I have only known the people in my group for about two years. Even though I have tried to stay in touch with people back home, in truth it is these people, people that were total strangers to me a few years ago, that I turn to the most right now. On the one hand it seems like I have been here forever, but on the other, looking back at pictures from staging and training, it seems like such a short time ago. And it is so strange to think that in a few months we will all be headed our seperate ways. Many group members will be returning to the states to go to grad school. A few have jobs lined up. A couple are planning on staying on in Albania for a while longer, either with Peace Corps or with other organizations. There are one or two others like me that will travel for a period of time before going home. A few have no real plans yet (except maybe to crash on Patricia's couch). It was great to find out what everyone else is doing and nice to know that I am not the only one without a real plan for the future.

Peace Corps Cribs

This is the life . . .

Heading into the home strech, but not heading home

Welcome to 2010!

2009 was my only full year in Albania, and it sure was a full year. Even though day to day it sometimes seemed like I wasn't getting much done, when I look back on the year, I can see that I have done a lot here. With World Vision, I helped the team do community meetings with over 900 community members in order to design two projects that are getting underway now- one about water, sanitation and hygiene and one about violence in the home and school. I've been working with several different groups of students- a successful Model United Nations team, a Girls Empowerment group (done in Albanian, a real challenge for me) and an Outdoor Ambassadors group (environmental education). I helped another volunteer put on a musical with 45 kids, I helped run a summer camp for 50 kids from all over the country, and I traveled to 6 new countries. I also spent a lot of time traveling around Albania and even more time in my beautiful town of Peshkopi . . .

Anyway, as I get ready to head into the final few months of my service here, I am starting to look forward to when I will leave Albania. I have decided to "take the long way home" and travel for about 6 months before I return to the states. Taking another example from my parent's life, I think that this is the best time for me to see the world. I have a very tentative itinerary below and I'm hoping that you, my friends and family, can help me out with a few things:

1. Take a look at this list. Do you know anyone in any of these places that just might open up their homes for a few nights to a backpacking RPCV (returned Peace Corps Volunteer). I'm traveling on a just got out of the Peace Corps budget, which is basically the same as a still in the Peace Corps budget, which is basically no money! I am hoping to stay with friends and couchsurf when I can. Please help me get connected to people!

2. Have you ever traveled to any of these places? What was the best thing? What should I avoid? These are all new places for me so I am open to all suggestions!

3. Do you want to get a postcard or two? I like sending them, so send me your address and you'll get something from my travels . . .

4. I am doing this trip, for the most part, alone. And so now I'm inviting you to join me! I know that not many people have the freedom to travel for 6 months, but maybe for two weeks? Look over my plan and think about it . . .

June 10- Close of Service in Albania

June- July

North Albania/Kosovo

Balkans (Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Serbia)

Bulgaria, Romania,

August-

Ukraine, Russia

September-

Russia (train), Mongolia, China

October-

S. Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia

November-

Indonesia, Philippines

December-

Solomon Islands, Fiji, California, Home!

Serious Hibernation Mode

So far it has been a more mild winter than last year, meaning that we have only had a few light snows and my apartment is hovering around 40 degrees most of the time . . . until this weekend. I have now gone into serious hibernation mode. It is really hard to get out of bed in the cold and just as hard to leave the house once it is warmed up . . . I think I've been sleeping 10-12 hours a night just because it is warmer in bed.

It was bitterly cold on Saturday and so I did the sensible thing and stayed inside with my warm fire. I was all ready to get out and do something on Sunday, but it was still freezing and so I stayed in my pajamas one more day. When I decided that it might be good to do dishes or take a shower I turned on my water and found that this would not be possible . . . looks like my pipes are frozen. I didn't have water for nearly a month last year. I am hoping that this year it will be a much shorter period. I have some theories about my water problem- I live on the second floor of a house, below me is not another living space, but a garage and some storage rooms. My water pump (that normally keeps me in wonderful, hot water 24 hours) also lives below me. Now, because there is a general ignorance or misunderstanding of the concept of insulation here (basically every house is bare concrete/brick, with a plaster layer) I am not surprised that both my water pump and the pipes leading up into my house are frozen. I am expecting to be carrying up buckets of water from the unfrozen pipes in my landlords house for all my water needs for the next few days. All I can hope for is that the deep freeze won't last too long . . .

A very Wet New Year

I've always wanted to go to Venice. I've been dreaming about it for as long as I could remember. I knew that I was already too late to see the "real" Venice and that it was just a touristy amusement park, but I wanted to go anyway. Venice is unlike any place in the world. And it was basically just a touristy amusement park, but it was great anyway.

We arrived in town on the evening of the 30th and found our hostel- a big, real, hostel with dorm rooms and shared bathrooms and a cafeteria full of backpackers- set aside on an island just a few minutes by boat from St. Marks Square.

On New Years Eve, we decided that we were a bit museum-ed out and that we wanted to do something a little different so we planned a trip to Murano- the Venitian island famous for it's glass. I fell in love with Murano glass. If I was filthy rich, I would decorate my house with it and buy a full set of dishes. As it is that I'm not rich at all (filthy or otherwise) I had to make due with a few necklaces. We went to the glass museum and saw the progression of glass making in Italy from before the Roman period to modern day. Glass really is an amazing substance. Especially impressive were perfectly preserved blown glass bottles and jars over 2000 years old. We then wandered around the island a bit before having a rushed dinner and heading back to the main part of town to get ready for the evening.

New Years in Venice is WET. Winter in Venice is wet and the tide is highest in the middle of the night. When we got to the square it was full of people in gum boots and plastic bags splashing around in the high water. While my hiking boots are waterproof (the most waterproof boots I've ever had in fact) they only cover my feet and as soon as water goes over the top, it's all over. We found a place out of the water on some steps to watch the craziness. As midnight neared, the water rose, the excitement rose and we got ready to give the world a New Years kiss. At midnight I shared a few sips of champagne with an Italian (who was of course horrified that I lived in Albania) and then made a dash for the dock to get a glimpse of the fireworks. One thing that Venice doesn't have to worry about is the fire danger of the fireworks. With wet feet we made it back to the hostel (after a bone crushing crowd to get to the boats) and slept contently into the new year.

On New Years day I had planned on trying to go and see my friend Marcos who is stationed nearby in the Air Force, but the plan fell through and Connie and I decided to just wander around Venice instead. Walking around Venice was fantastic. We walked on raised walkways trying to avoid the now receding high water. We shopped for letter openers and necklaces. We walked over bridges and along canals and just wandered. We stopped for coffee and tiramisu. We got lost and then found ourselves. We saw a sign advertising a Vivaldi concert and found the church. We had a wonderful salad people watching in a small square. We went to the concert and sat with a couple from Oregon and enjoyed as beautiful violin music washed over us. We walked back to the hostel barely able to believe that it was our last night in Italy . . .