What Our Day Might Be Like In Albania

Each day we see interesting sights.  There are a lot of signs in English in Korca, but of course 99% are in Albania as you would expect.  There are numerous "mini markets".  Across the street from of the mini-markets is a "small-market".  I do not know which one is really the smaller of the two.  We mostly shop at the "super market" that is near our flat.  There are two fruit and vegetable stands very near the super market that we shop at.  Then just up the street from the super market is what I would call a "medium market".  We refer to it as "Brothers" because two brothers own it.  They speak a bit of English there, so we can ask for necessities like ice cream, french fries, chicken, etc.  At the super market,  Elisabet, I asked for help finding eggs this morning so they called for someone, who I think is the accountant, and she immediately understood me, replied in English, and led me to the eggs.

There are other interesting signs other that the signs in English.  Take the one on the left for instance.  We see this sign often if we take the tarmac road down our usual mountain hike rather than the footpath through the open area and small forest area.

As a college student imagine how you would have felt innocently walking along the road when you came to this sign.  Would you have gone left or right?  Obviously the lady in the picture above shunned going to class and headed straight to Korce Biarra for an afternoon in the sun.  Perhaps she even met her lover there?  If she had gone on to class, she could have stopped at this Fast Food restaurant across the street from the university after class.   I am sure her sweet heart would have been waiting for her there!

Some of you may be wondering how we spend our free time.  We usually teach from 9:00 AM until about 2:00 PM.  Then we are left up to our devices.  There are three things we do to entertain ourselves.  First thing in the morning and often last thing at night we are at our communications center - well, really at our coffee table in the living room.  This is where we use our electronic toys: laptop, iPad, smart phone, Kindles, camera, etc.  In the morning we check email, facebook, Words with Friends, the news, the weather, DWTS results, etc.  The last thing at night, you would likely find us snuggled on the couch watching one of our favorite TV series.  We download episodes from itunes at a buck ninety-nine a pop.  This is really not too bad if you consider the cost of cable TV in the US.

Most days we take a short walk in the morning and a long walk in the afternoon. We generally go up the mountain on one of two routes - tarmac or footpath.  When we go up the footpath, we often are greeted by friendly four-footed creatures of three varieties - mostly sheep, but a few goats and dogs often lurk amongst the sheep.  We have routes of many lengths to follow: from the crueling trek to the cross on top (one time) to the stroll up a short distance and then across the hill to the other side of town.


This is a shot of the local football stadium.  It is supposed to be one of the best in Albania.  It looks rather small to me - more like the Zizkov Vitoria stadium in Prague and not at all like Old Trafford.  It is not close to Livestrong Sporting Park either, but a good venue for football at the Albanian level.


Returning to my signs in English theme, very near us is a shop selling material, drapes, etc. called "American Mode".  Down the street is a clothing shop called "American Trend".  There are other clothing stores called "Secret",  "London Fashion" and "Queen Fashion".  There are many smart shops that sell clothes and shoes.  Albanian young ladies are very stylish. They however tend not just to wear stylish clothes, but stylish shoes.  This would be fine, except that most of the streets and sidewalks are either: cobblestone, rock, in process of repair, rough tarmac, or worse.  But they walk on as elegantly as possible in their spikes.  

There are Taverna, Cafes and Baste all over town.  I have even seen a couple signs stating "Bar and Grill".  A taverna is a full service restaurant.  A cafe is a place where coffee and other drinks are sold - no food.  Restaurants specializing in pizza are ubiquitous in Korca.  A baste is a place to bet on sports.  Betting is very big here it seems.  We also have three beer gardens not far from us - much closer than the university.

One really nice thing about Albania is that, whereas the Police might hassle a citizen, they (and everyone else) here are very nice and respectful of foreigners.  This is just the opposite of Nigeria and other countries.  At a fruit/veg stand, I did not have enough small change and tried to pay with a large bill.  The guy implied (no real words exchanged) that he would take my small change and then said, "Tomorrow".  So I went back the next day and tried to give him some more small change.  Apparently I was totally confused, because when I held out my hand with various small coins, he just said,  "ok, no problem" and took none of them.  Hence I walked off wondering what really happened yesterday.  I was just happy that there was "no problem".

We feel quite safe here - similar to Czech.  I know we stick out here as Korca is a relatively small place without much tourism at all - a few bus tours from Greece bother to stop here.  The people in the supermarket have always been nice to me whenever I try and pantomime the article I am looking for.  It has seldom worked however, so they get the English speaking lady.  I thought I did a good job this morning of pretending to crack open an egg and frying it, but my acting failed to register with any sane person in the store!

Next blog will discuss more about the changes that have taken place in the last twenty years going from the Soviet camp to the Western camp.

John

Another Time, Another Place...

 We are seven hours ahead of our friends from our home area. We are in the same time zone as our Prague friends and one hour ahead of the English – and their really good football matches. We are two hours behind people in East and Southern Africa and five hours behind our friends in Taiwan and South Korea. We are several thousand miles geographically from most of you.

But time and distance tell only minor parts of the differences stories! Geographically we live in a land the beauty of which continually grows in my heart. We see mountains from our flat and from everywhere in Korca.

The hills are alive with the tinkling sound of bells on the sheep and goats that roam the foothills with their shepherds. The city is alive with the sound of traffic, the chatter of people walking along the streets, the conversations we here (often louder than in the USA) from the people socializing in the parks, and the calls from the minarets. On Sunday mornings, the songs burst forth from the Orthodox Churches around. Weekdays we hear the whirring of table saws cutting up firewood and the thud of axes splitting the logs. Firewood is a big thing here – more on that later.

The sound we perhaps miss the most is hearing the English language spoken. We of course speak English while we teach and while we are with the Lorings. We also speak English when we go out to eat with Dutch or Americans who live here. We have had good conversations in English with only one Albanian so far – the lovely young lady who translates for us in church.

The best way to know what a marvelous invention central heating is to move to a cold place where there is no such thing. We have a nice, large flat with plenty of room, two bathrooms, reasonably nice kitchen, etc. But, there is no central heat! Now, those of you who do not live in North America and by now realizing one more of my wimpish qualities – aversion to cold rooms inside – but please indulge me. When the temperature goes near freezing with no central heat, life becomes more interesting. We have a wood burning stove in the living room/kitchen area. In other places we have lived, the odor of people who cook and live with wood was somewhat of a novelty to us. Now we have become that novelty. It seems that most of my clothes now have the distinctly fire wood odor. We do have electric heaters and do not look forward to our electricity bill because I am going to run them reagardless of cost. But our situation does remind us of how blessed we are in the US and how nice we had it in Prague, Mazatlan and East Africa regarding heating of houses.

It also seems that each weekend I am subject to “Tringing”. This is a word I am using to describe the disappointment one experiences when he is eager to watch a sporting event on television only to find that the satellite carrier (Tring, that is) has advertised that they will carry a certain match, but when you naively sit down to watch it, only the words, “signal scrambled” appear on the set. We think Tring is guilty of not paying the Premiership for the game, and therefore losing its signal at the last moment. In our flat, we get CNN International and a few Dutch channels and along with some channels we don't care to watch – about ten in all. We go over to the Lorings to watch (or not watch if we are Tringed) sporting events.

Did someone mention coffee? We naturally make coffee every morning and it is quite acceptable the way we make it. However, should I want a really good cappuccino or latte, I may need to leave this country. Of course the coffee here is perfect for Albanians, but to us it is strange to me and we have not become accustomed to it. I have had two cappuccinos and they were both tolerable. Phyllis has not yet ordered one here. They are very strong and taste distinctly different from those in the US or other parts of Europe where we have lived. I may get the nerve up to order a latte here, but am very pessimistic about what the results will be. We were told by one friend that she describes how it should be made to the waiter. Since I know about two words of Albanian, that will be difficult for me!

Speaking of food, we are getting quite good at shopping here. Yesterday we bought cashews, walnut and dried cranberries. This would indicate that we are now able to find many items that we did not hope to find after our first week here. We have a nice (small) supermarket very close to us and lots of little shops and vegetable/fruit stands. We buy bread that is baked fresh daily – no preservatives. My staples are eggs, bread, chicken (frozen), peanut butter, cookies and nutella, jam, bananas, pears, sausages, coffee and coke zero. Liz is buys peppers (which cost a dime), tomatoes, cucumbers, and all sorts of other stuff. We are really lucky to have a good variety of food stuffs available. Did I mention ice cream and pop corn? Now you know we live in a land of plenty.

Living in a land of plenty is not a big deal to most of you. But, in Albania, it is a relatively new occurrence. Go back twenty years and there was one kind of bread, one kind of cheese, one kind of most things and ration cards limiting how much you could buy. Most of the old Soviet countries lived with these restrictions.

I think next blog will continue with the changes to Albania in the last twenty years. For now, thanks for reading this blog and see you next time.

John

The Evangelical Church in Korçë and Sheep

When John and I take walks on the hillsides surrounding the city of Korce, we often see a shepherd with his flock of sheep (and a few goats.)  We also see some of the work being done by the Evangelical Church of Korce and its Kennedi Foundation. The roots of the Evangelical Church in Albania go back to 1892. Today's  work includes ministry to the the elderly for which a large building to house the elderly is now under construction on a hillside.  We often walk by this building which a Dutch volunteer mission team is currently working on.

This work is possible today because of foresighted early missionaries named  Phinneas Kennedy and Edwin Jaques.   Kennedy is still well known and remembered by the elderly in Korca.   Property for the Church had been purchased in and around Korca between the two World Wars. Missionaries had to flee Albania when the Communists came to power, but wisely took the deeds to the Church's properties. 

After the opening of Albania and the demise of Communism here,  the deeds were taken to the new government and the property was restored to the Evangelical Church.  The picture on the right shows that the Kennedy Foundation and the Misioni Baptist Konservativ are together responsible for this new facility.

Go to this link to see more information about the Kennedy Foundation in Albania


Learning about the various ministries of the Evangelical Church in Korca and the Kennedy foundation amaze us.  The ministry programs of the church include a Ministry to the Elderly, a Feeding Program for Children, a Medical Clinic with Nurse on Staff, a Home for Abused Women and addition to a vibrant preaching and teaching misistry. Language programs and Music Lessons are also offered by the Church Staff.  We see the Church and Foundation Staff as the Shepards to a large, hungry flock.  The following Scriptures illustrate the work of the Church here:

Ezekiel 34:31

You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Ezekiel 34:15-16

¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

Isaiah 40:11

¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd: 

   He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
   he gently leads those that have young.

John 21:15-17

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”   “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
   Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
 ¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
   He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
   Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
 ¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
   Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
   Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

This little Church building is about half the distance from our flat to the top of the mountain where the Orthodox Christians planted a cross after the 1997 troubles.

The Cross overlooks the sheep and the City of Korca

To get more information about Albania, see the following site