Gëzuar

Love it!

2012-01-20T22:44:00.006+02:00

This is a fantastic story - I think we could all use a cup of coffee

Meet Saimir Strati, an Albanian artist who recently entered the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the world's largest coffee bean mosaic.

"I wanted to give the message that sharing love over a cup of coffee brings us closer, a cup of coffee brings us more love than a G20 meeting," Saimiri stated.

He used 309 pounds of coffee beans to portray a Brazilian dancer, a Japanese drummer, a U.S. country music singer, a European accordionist and an African drummer. And he used one of my favorite brands of coffee Lori Kafe (I just love their commercials) to make the mosaic. The message he says: "One world, one family, over a cup of coffee."

**Credit for the photos to Reuters, Arben Celi**

Today...

2012-01-20T22:41:00.002+02:00

I have discovered three things:

1. I officially like blogger more than wordpress
2. If you spend more than 2.5 hours trying to figure out a blog on wordpress and then learn how to do something easier on blogger, you really feel like you just wasted a lot of time
3. I never should have tried to abandon my original blog, so here I am, back in action because some blogging about Albania is long overdue

Though I'm still in the U.S. right now, I'm working on my dissertation proposal (about post-communism in Albania) and feel that I should start blogging again. This will be a first time to blog while away from the 'bania but I think I'll be able to share things here and there. Besides I think this form of writing will be helpful when organizing my thoughts for my proposal and comprehensive exams. So here it goes.

so where is he?

2010-08-14T12:48:00.003+03:00

After Enver Hoxha, the former communist dictator of Albania, died in 1985, he was buried in a special cemetery "at the foot of mother Albania." The country was still under the communist regime and as a result, he received a very elaborate burial and memorial to his death. Well some years after the fall of communism, his body was exhumed and he was buried somewhere else. A couple of days ago, Teuta asked me if I knew where he was and after realizing that neither of us knew, we decided to go out on an adventure to find him. And so we did. And where is he? In Sharre, a small village right outside of Tirana with one of the biggest cemeteries I've seen in my life. And where was he inside the cemetery? Right with everyone else buried there, nothing elaborate at all. We found his grave and it had plastic flowers on top and around it. So there must be people that still mourn his death - this has added yet another shiny ball for me to probe.

So yep, I was kinda surprised but then again maybe people have decided that there's no need for a special burial for Enver Hoxha at all. Maybe some have thought that other things should have been done with his body. Teuta and I have both decided that we need to find out more.

**Of course this adventure of trying to find the former dictator's body included way more details than I'm writing here, including climbing hills through the cemetery, finding bunkers, and a crazy experience on a bus that concluded with a man sliding 5 meters on the sidewalk on his stomach. But due to the fact that some family members read this blog and would probably be REALLY concerned if I revealed the true details of this mission, I've decided to omit them. You can email me if you really wanna know!

Albanian expressions and sayings

2010-08-14T11:08:00.002+03:00

This summer I informed my teacher that I wanted to learn more about Albanian expressions and proverbs. A few days later she arrived to our lesson with a list of expressions and then after that, she just started teaching me all kinds of things, stuff people say to congratulate on honors, or old expressions from her grandmother, Albanian proverbs, you name it. I've really enjoyed learning these all summer and in fact, whenever I'm with a group of Albanians they all get a kick outta me saying these things. This however can be bad at times when I'm with a family and they want me to keep saying things over and over again, almost puppet-like (the following are literal translations by the way, I'll explain) :

Albanian family: Chelsi, Chelsi what have you learned in your lessons?
Me: Oh we've been studying grammar, I've been reading the newspaper, and oh, Albanian expressions
Albanian family (very excitedly): Oh oh, tell us what you've learned
Me: Ummm, okay, "Don't fly with leeks up your but"
Albanian family: (laughing hysterically) ahhh hahahahaha, another one another
Me: Don't put off today's work until tomorrow because you can do it even the day after tomorrow
Albanian family: wooo hoo, woww, another, another
Me: I don't eat soap for cheese.
Albanian family: ahhhhh hahha, where do you get these? Another, another
Me: Do you think you're special, you make red eggs or something?
Albanian family: hahahaha

And this game can go on for hours. Now the thing is, as I said I really do enjoy learning expressions, sayings, etc, so now I'm writing below some of my other favorites, with the Albanian and English together.

- "Mos bie nga Kina" which means, "don't come from China." The meaning is somehow tied to, don't go all the way around the world when trying to explain something - in other words, be direct.

- "Kali kuqe ka nje huqe" which means, "even the red horse has it's flaw." The meaning is that even the pretty girl, nice girl has at least one flaw. One of the women from my language school has instructed me to say this to my Albanian female friends that smoke

- "Mos shit pordhe" which means, "don't sale farts" - you can say this to someone who is being a know-it-all or someone who thinks that he or she is all that

- Albanians love it when I say, "Per mua, shqipja eshte buke e djath" which means, for me, "Albanian language is like bread and cheese." English speakers would say, "like bread and butter." This is a big lie, but people laugh when I say it.

- "Te bashkohet toke me qiellen, ti nuk do te paguash per kafe!" I often have to say this to my friends when I'm trying to pay for coffee and put my foot down, the meaning is, "Even if the earth and sky were to meet, you cannot pay for this coffee!" Yep, paying for coffee can get this dramatic.

- "Djali pa vellai eshte si zog pa krah" which means, "A boy without a brother is like a bird without a wing." This is just a saying that I find intriguing

- "Bej syte kater" which means, "Make four eyes." My teacher likes to tell this to me, it means, be careful! I think we in the States would talk about eyes in the back of our head but here, it's just better to make four eyes

back but soon heading out

2010-08-14T10:52:00.004+03:00

Hey y'all, took a break for a while. Did some traveling, some chilling out and been having those last few coffees before heading out on Monday, at which point I'm back in the States. The summer's gone by really fast and I can't say that I'm exactly ready to begin classes again in the fall, but I can say that I'm excited about getting back to Austin and eating queso.
Anyhow, I've decided to post a few things since I've been gone for a while - these are just some things that I've been thinking about, starting with hugs. In my experience Albanians do not really hug people as much as they kiss them. Kissing here is very important, and you must know who you're supposed to greet with a kiss (versus a handshake), when it's time to give a 2-cheek kiss, versus a 4-cheek kiss, or even a 3-cheek kiss if you're in Kosovë (warning, could be confusing if you're expected the 4th and the other person isn't!). There have even been times when I watched someone kiss another person 8 or so times on the side of the road as we waited for her to board the furgon. I thought that since they kissed 8 times she must be headed out for a long long journey but I learned that she was just going away for the week! One time a woman that I didn't know just came up to me in the rruge, greeted me with a good morning, and kissed me twice as though we had been old friends - that was just her way of saying hi.
Anyhow, I digress, the point is you must learn the rules of kissing once you arrive. Well I've always thought that Americans, well let me say Mississippians, are really big on hugs. Handshakes too, but hugs, I mean we give long, solid hugs but rarely outside of family members do people exchange kisses. Going back to Albanians, some people hug when they give kisses but for the most part, hugs are not as important - that is until you run across those few people who like to give the kind of embrace that puts you in a choke hold. I wrote all of that just to share this picture below - just trust me, this man had a grip!

the rruge

2010-07-30T18:59:00.002+03:00

nope that's not a pet dog...it's a bear - yep this was in the rruge, not too much more i can say

In the Rruge

2010-07-26T23:58:00.007+03:00

Rruge or Rruga is the Albanian word for road and lately I've been putting a lot of Albanian and English together (or shqiplish as we refer to it) and one of my favorite things to say is, "oh yeah it happened in the rruge." Well I've decided to dedicate this post to things that happen "in the rruge"

In the rruge I oftentimes get hungry and one of my favorite things to eat is a doner. The original doner is a Turkish sandwich made with lamb meat and comes with things like tomatoes, cucumbers and yogurt sauce. Albanians have kind of remixed the doner and even add french fries to it. I personally like the chicken doner. And the best chicken doner of course is at Mr. Chicken. One day though I went by another place that is right across the street from Mr. Chicken to order a doner and ever since the two places are in somewhat of a war over me, as to where I'm supposed to eat. Mr. Chicken does in fact have good chicken but the owner of Gjiro Kamara now lives in Boston and ever since he found out that I too was an American, he says I need to eat at his restaurant out of respect. Everyone there wants to speak English with me though, whereas at Mr. Chicken I can practice my Albanian - oh decisions, decisions...

One day in the rruge I noticed a building that looked as if it had recently caught on fire. Further inquiry confirmed that there had indeed been a fire but my question is (and has been for quite some time), where is the fire station here in Tirana??? I've been looking now for a while

The city is now doing construction in the city center at Skanderbeg Square. Those of you who followed my blog last year know that this was my favorite place to write, I could spend 3 or 4 hours just writing on the steps near the opera house. Well now when I walk by I just get upset about this particular rruge because I haven't found a new place to write that gives me the same feeling. I hope they hurry up with this "rruge improvement"

About a month ago in the rruge I noticed that Tirana has gotten new city buses, whoop whoop. They have air conditioning and digital writing on the front. Someone told me that they are from China but I have yet to confirm this. Check 'em out:

Albanians are always very concerned if someone is upset or tired, in fact I could write all day about how people are worried that I might be worried, sad or take part in an activity that would tire me out. One way of greeting people is to ask, "you tired?" Anyhow, one thing that does concern people is if you carry items in your hand without a bag, in particular without a plastic bag. So one night some friends and I were headed to a party and I was wearing flip flops while carrying my heals in my hand. And would you know a man from one of the cafes in the rruge stopped me, took my shoes, put them in a plastic bag and then gave them back to me.

One night while walking in the rruge we came across former communist statues that were hidden behind the art gallery, and would you know it but there was a statue of Stalin just kind of hanging out in the rruge. Of course I got a picture.

Cows also like to chill in the rruge

Whenever it's nighttime and I'm in the rruge alone, I never look for cafes, familiar people, or even for an open store. In fact there's only one place I look for and that's the funeral home. I know, sounds weird right? Well in fact in Albania, and in particular in Tirana, there are many funeral offices and they are always, repeat always, open 24 hrs a day. There is always someone inside and on the Lana Road, one of the main roads in Tirana, I have already memorized where each funeral shop is located, because if I ever have a problem in the rruge and there aren't many people around, I can always count on the fact that I can find someone here

Stay tuned for more from the rruge...this might become the new name of my blog, "in the rruge" because now that I think about it, this is where a lot of my research takes place

and it was good too!

2010-07-21T20:39:00.004+03:00

Walking

2010-07-16T16:21:00.001+03:00

You can always tell who is a foreigner and who is not by the way that people walk down the street. Well many times if I'm with a group of foreigners people say that I walk too slow - this is usually because I'm just taking the road, I try to do it each and every time I walk anywhere. Today I thought about this poem, it kind of reminds me of how I process the road as I take it in.

Walking Down Park

by Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni
walking down park
amsterdam
or columbus do you ever stop
to think what it looked like
before it was an avenue
did you ever stop to think
what you walked
before you rode
subways to the stock
exchange (we can’t be on
the stock exchange
we are the stock
exchanged)

did you ever maybe wonder
what grass was like before
they rolled it
into a ball and called
it central park
where syphilitic dogs
and their two-legged tubercular
masters fertilize
the corners and side-walks
ever want to know what would happen
if your life could be fertilized
by a love thought
from a loved one
who loves you

ever look south
on a clear day and not see
time’s squares but see
tall Birch trees with sycamores
touching hands
and see gazelles running playfully
after the lions
ever hear the antelope bark
from the third floor apartment

ever, did you ever, sit down
and wonder about what freedom’s freedom
would bring
it’s so easy to be free
you start by loving yourself
then those who look like you
all else will come
naturally

ever wonder why
so much asphalt was laid
in so little space
probably so we would forget
the Iroquois, Algonquin
and Mohicans who could caress
the earth

ever think what Harlem would be
like if our herbs and roots and elephant ears
grew sending
a cacophony of sound to us
the parrot parroting black is beautiful black is beautiful
owls sending out whooooo’s making love ...
and me and you just sitting in the sun trying
to find a way to get a banana tree from one of the monkeys
koala bears in the trees laughing at our listlessness

ever think its possible
for us to be
happy

Shiny Ball Syndrome

2010-07-16T15:17:00.004+03:00

Teuta says that I have shiny ball syndrome because every single day I change my mind about the things that I want to study in Albania. I started off working on an archaeological project in 2006 and then in 2007, I worked on that same project while conducting independent research on Albanian hip-hop. In 2008 when I came to live in Tirana for a year, I was still interested in ideas surrounding hip-hop but more as they related to questions dealing with identity, nationalism and what it means to be Albanian (primarily influenced by this song "Proud To Be An Albanian"). While living in Albania for a year and learning Albanian I became more and more fascinated with how Albanians construct their identity and in particular about the ways in which Albanians in Albania relate to Albanians in Kosovo and even in Macedonia. So with these thoughts I came here this summer to work on my Albanian language but also to hammer out I'm going to be writing about. Yet as Teuta says, I'm suffering from shiny ball syndrome because my thoughts have been ranging from:

- The story of Skanderbeg and how that relates to nationalism
- Reading everything about Enver Hoxha
- What it means to be a democracy now but how this relates to socialist ideas, how people feel "free" to do so much but yet feel still trapped (so for example, trapped and not being able to travel)
- Migration (both legal and illegally, especially waiters who have gone to other countries for work and come back here and speak English and want to tell their stories)
- Storytelling
- Albanian feminine identity (huge topic)
- Greetings and expressions (Albanian language has a whole category of grammar for wishing things, such as wishing someone a good day)
- Representation of Albanian identity in literature and poetry
- Men who sit at cafes all day and watch the road
- Trauma experienced in the 90s with the end of communism in Albania, the eruption of crisis from the pyramid schemes, but also in comparison with trauma in Kosovo as a result of the 1999 war
- Refugee status in both Albania and Kosovo
- The "city" vs. "the village"
- The ways in which people remember - and for this I would have to choose something specific to target

Okay so these are just some of the ideas I'm having and everyday I move around from one to the other, constantly journaling about these ideas - there just seem to be so many!

Donika from Shkodra

2010-07-10T19:20:00.003+03:00

So Donika, my alter ego, is from Shkodra and she's happy to be in Shkodra for the weekend. Initially this weekend was going to include a trip to Kosovo but at the last minute I arrived in Shkodra instead with a colleague who needed to come for interviews - since Shkodra is my "home" of course I was down. A quick recap of what's happened thus far:

- Arrived by furgon and this furgon actually had air conditioning
- A kid who had spent some time in Malta knew some English and knew how to get to the house we were staying at so he showed us the way
- We went to this house (which belongs to two Peace Corp volunteers and put our stuff down
- Walked around the city and then headed to the lake for dinner where we ate the best carp fish ever (as always at the Shkodra Lake). This time I also had cornbread and by far the best cornbread I've ever eaten in Albania (and I eat a lotta cornbread)
- Decided to pick a hotel to stay at by the lake b/c it was so beautiful. So the same cab driver took us to get our stuff and then back to the lake - Gjovalin, he's so nice
- This morning Gjovalin came to pick us up and invited us to his daughter's wedding which is on the 4th of August
- We got so excited that we went and bought dresses on the spot!
- Met up with the directors of a museum (one of which is a good friend) and I ended up being a translator for a German couple that only spoke English and no Albanian
- Had an interview and coffee; at some point I had the best iced cappucino that I've tasted
- Walked around the city some more and now on our way to Velipoje, the beach!!

More to come, I love this place

O Moj Shqipni

2010-07-04T14:01:00.007+03:00

This is the title of a very famous and well known Albanian poem by Pashko Vasa and as I'm trying to increase my knowledge of Albanian literature and history, I'm trying to memorize it for my language class. Well on Friday I caught the furgon to Peshkopi and on the way up, I decided to read and memorize the poem. The poem is absolutely beautiful and is a great example of older Albanian literature; I thought it would be wonderful to read while traveling through the gorgeous mountains and rivers of this part of the country, but apparently Albanians weren't used to seeing a foreigner read Albanian poetry. When one woman got on the bus and sat next to me, she looked down to see what was in my hand and after a few minutes asked, "I'm sorry but do you speak Albanian?" "Yes," I answered to which she replied, "I can't believe you're reading literature, what are you doing?" Turns out she was a third-year university student in Albanian literature and had tons of questions for me, all about my life, what I was doing in Tirana, what I thought of Albanians, etc. She also ended up being my tour guide through the Mot and Dibar regions, explaining all kinds of things, giving me details about cities, rivers, mountains. And I told her about my favorite lines of the poem, how I really want to memorize it and say it for my teacher - other people around us on the furgon, younger boys for the most part, just laughed because they had either already memorized it or were also trying to learn it for school!
I'm still in Peshkopi right now and I must say, it's beautiful. We spent time around the river yesterday and are supposed to go to the hot springs later. There's a Skanderbeg statue here in Peshkopi and he has his hat off and he's not on a horse. Of course I took a picture of it (and with him, after all my Albanian name is Donika, which was the name of Skanderbeg's wife).
I probably won't have all of the poem memorized when I go to class tomorrow, but I've memorized a good amount of it, we'll see how it goes. I'm posting a link to the poem (click here)in Albanian and then one person's translation into English - though the translation is not perfect and after all, poetry is best in the original form, you'll get the gist of what it's all about.

Whoa!

2010-06-28T20:05:00.002+03:00

So on Saturday night at a local pub I walked up to Ndricim Xhepa, a very famous Albanian actor, and asked him to borrow a chair from his table because we were one short at ours. I had no idea who he was. My Albanian friends freaked out, apparently I need to watch some more films!

Accepting Difference

2010-06-28T00:45:00.004+03:00

Albanians often times ask me whether or not I like it in Albania. Sometimes I find that a silly question but people really are curious and so I reply, "Yes, I like here a lot" or "Albania has become a second home to me." Many times people follow up with, "What is your favorite place in Albania and I always say, "Anywhere outside of Tirana." When I'm in Tirana, people always make sad or even surprised faces and respond, "Oh really, why is that?" And I say, "Well in small cities people are usually surprised when they see a Black woman and are really curious to learn who I am or where I'm from. People point, stare, even make fun of me by calling out names but after a few days or weeks, it stops because soon everyone is just used to me and people know who I am. But in Tirana with 1 - 1.3 million people, every single day I have to battle being singled out as different and meet new faces who don't know how to receive me. I never know who will yell out an offensive comment or make inappropriate faces. It gets frustrating."

Now let me explain - I'm not simply whining or complaining about Tirana, never once do I begin a conversation about not liking it in Tirana, I only reply to people when they inquire and this is the truth; it's harder living in this city. Residents in Tirana however, always say that people in smaller places are close-minded and aren't as welcoming, but in fact, I argue the exact opposite. For me I prefer to be in smaller places.

As I said, this comes as a surprise to many Albanians and tonight I had a conversation with a young Albanian woman, she said, "Well I mean, I just thought that our people (referencing Albanians) were accepting of everyone. We have a Roma community and they are different but we all live together." Now not only did I inform her that I'm not Roma and different from the Roma community but I wanted to ask her if she really thought the Albanians and Roma in this country are living on equal footing - however I didn't go there. I did however tell her that it's different for me, that when I walk the streets people not only stare and point, but they make rude comments, they come and touch my hair, they may follow me, and I wasn't necessarily complaining but just explaining that in Tirana, it can get difficult to have to keep doing this every day. She said that once I made some friends it would change but when I told her that I've been here in Tirana for as long as I have, and things are pretty much the same, she just looked as if she did not understand.

This is just it, she did not understand. It's not that Albanians don't accept people that are different. For the most part people are really really curious about me when they meet me and I am frequently accepted into peoples' homes and invited for coffee just because they want to know more about me. Albanians are ridiculously hospitable, seriously. In terms of experiences of outright racism, they have been few, though yes, ignorance is everywhere. The thing is, to be a Black woman and to be a Black American woman from Mississippi, I inhabit a different position here that many people (most people in fact) just cannot understand. When situations occur here that some people interpret simply as "oh they were just making fun of you it's a part of the culture," or "oh that's not a big deal" what they don't realize is that those instances are layered with more meanings, layered with gendered and racial meanings that most people just don't see. Oftentimes other people just don't realize their privilege so when people talk about blending in and looking Albanian, I joke about it because I know I never blend it, but truth is, some days I wish people didn't stare as much because there are just those times where I just want to blend in.

I do not write these things because I desire to bash Albania nor in any way am I writing negative things about people here - in fact though I experience difficulties, I always learn from them. I write because it gives me time to clear my mind but also express these thoughts. When I decided to be an ethnographer here I knew that "the field" would present challenges, but I just don't think I was ready for those that have come my way.

From Mississippi to Texas

2010-06-22T08:05:00.004+03:00

This summer I've decided to tell people that I'm from Texas and not Mississippi. Since I'm living in Texas now and going to school there, and since many people always thought I was living in a river before ("Ah Mississippi yes, the river, that's where you're from??"), I'm running a new experiment to see what reactions I receive when people learn I'm "from" Texas. So far people have said:

- Texas, yes, land of cowboys
- Oh, George Bush is from Texas!
- Texas, wow, is very big!
- Texas, ah yes I have a cousin in Dallas
- Texas, oh with John Wayne
- Do you know how to play Texas Hold 'Em?

Stayed tuned for more on Texas...

Oh There's Always a Towel

2010-06-22T07:53:00.015+03:00

My friend Teuta has arrived in Tirana and will be one of my housemates for the summer. When she came last week, she had a huge piece of luggage with her and when I inquired about it, I learned that the suitcase was for her brother's new wife and needed to be delivered to Kosovo. You see, Teuta was born and raised in the States and now lives in Michigan, but her family is from Peja, Kosovo and her brother recently made a trip there and fell in love, which resulted in a marriage. The wife, or "nusja" (Albanian word for new bride) is still waiting on the final processing of her paperwork but Teuta needed to deliver this suitcase which was basically the bride dowry. In addition, Teuta needed to meet her new sister-in-law for the first time. When she asked if I was up for a trip to Kosovo of course I was!

We sat out for our journey on Friday afternoon and just before pulling off from the square (because Tirana has no bus station, you just gotta figure out where all the buses leave from in the city) I realized that I had forgotten a critical item: my passport. So we hurriedly got up and got off the bus, explaining to the driver the situation. He informed us that the bus needed to make a trip to Durres first before hitting the road and so we could take a taxi, go back home, get the passport and then meet the same bus in F. Kruje. We really needed to take that bus because it was direct to Teuta's hometown so we found a taxi.

Our driver, turns out, was not only a taxi driver but also a former police officer and and currently performs songs at weddings. He asked me all kinds of questions about the US and said that Texas had the best police force in the world - someone should check on this. Anyhow, this guy was very talkative and once he learned Teuta was from Kosovo, he basically started talking noise about her people. He also was offensive when speaking about people who live in villages and mountains, but then when Teuta called him out on it, he pretended as though it was all jokes and lighthearted. By the time we reached F. Kruje we were both thankful to be getting out of the car.

Did I mention that we had to meet the bus at a random cafe on the side of the road?

Yep that was what the driver had decided and Teuta had given her number to some man that we were hoping was on the bus. Well after being at the cafe for about 8 minutes and catching a glimpse of the world cup match between the U.S. and Slovenia, Teuta's phone begins to ring as the bus pulls up. Finally we were able to begin our trip.

Some of you may remember me blogging about going to Kosovo last year and complaining about the 12 hour journey on horrible roads but nope, not anymore, Albania has a new major 4-lane highway, complete with an amazing tunnel that's 3.6 miles long!

The highway was wonderful but the tunnel isn't completely ready yet and only one lane is open inside. Therefore cops stand on either side and direct the flow of traffic. As a result people have to wait so what have Albanians done? Opened cafes of course while people wait for the tunnel to allow cars to move through. So our bus stopped and people had a coffee on the side of the road.

After getting through the tunnel we continued along and after a total of about 5.5 hours, we made it to Peja - amazing, seriously. We exited the bus and Teuta lugged the suitcase to her aunt's house and up the stairs to her aunt's house.

Thankfully her aunt lived near the bus station. Peja has a bus station. We stayed at the aunt's house for the night. The next morning we woke up and a young waiter from the cafe downstairs delivered coffee to us in the house - love the personal service. We later got dressed and set out to meet the Nusja. Once we met up with her in the center, we had a coffee at a cafe and then sat out to visit all of the family.

Six houses and five Turkish coffees later, we found ourselves making our way back towards the center. Teuta, her cousin and I decided to have dinner at this qebatore and I ate my first "gys e pese" which was more than delicious.

Afterwards we drank Peja beer (what else would we drink?) and made our way back home. Initially there were plans to go out to a concert but the rain kept us in for the night, which was quite alright because we had our own party in the house. And who was the host? Grape raki of course! Teuta's uncle started it all, he brought out the raki and kept toasting and refilling my glass. Plus one of Teuta's younger cousins continually brought out plates of cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes, I mean how was the night ever going to conclude?

We had ourselves a good ole time, at one point I found myself saying "Mashalla si molle" - I apologize, translation unavailable!

Sunday we woke kinda early to head to Prishtina for the day. Prishtina is the capital city of Kosovo and has recently erected a new statue for Bill Clinton on Bill Clinton blvd. All weekend people had been calling me Bill Clinton's daughter after they learned my name so Teuta said it was only fitting that I go and pay my "dad" a visit.

On the way to Prishtina however, our bus was pulled over by the cops. Perhaps I driver was speeding in the road, however from my window, I was unable to fully understand the exchange between the driver and the police.

We got to Prishtina, walked around for a bit and visited Skanderbeg and Mother Theresa in Kosovo. We also saw many signs like this one about Kosovo's freedom - I'll have to further write about these at some other time.

Finally after a few hours we made our way back to Tirana, where we dropped of not at a bus station Wondering what was in the suitcase? Well there were items such as a fancy dress, nice shoes, other pieces of clothing for the Nusja, a few household items, decorative soap, and also some really nice lace because Teuta's aunt is going to properly prepare the package and then dress it with the lace before delivering it to the Nusja. Last but not least, there was a towel on top of everything. I asked Teuta what the towel was for and she replied, "Oh there's always a towel." And that's that I guess, mission accomplished.

chaning my name

2010-06-14T18:24:00.003+03:00

I've changed my name. It's no longer Chelsi, it's now Donika. That was the wife of Skanderbeg. What do you think?
And I'm telling people that I"m from Shkodra.

An Albanian Party

2010-06-14T16:49:00.008+03:00

So I realize that I haven't posted in about a week but it's been because:

A. I have too much Albanian language homework
B. There's been some serious partying going on lately

Seriously the lack of writing is probably more closely related to the second and not first but hey I'm doing homework too! Anyhow, on the subject of partying I've decided to post about the party I went to recently. A friend of my has finished her stint in Albania working for the World Bank and so her office came together and threw a party in her honor. My friend DB and I were invited to join and I just don't think I was ready for everything in store. First off I was informed that there would only be light refreshments as it was a cocktail party. So when we arrived and found plates with meet, cheese and small pieces of bread, I thought to myself, great, glad I ate dinner before coming. However, after that round of food out came salads. Then some kind of unrecognizable fish in a creamy butter sauce. Then some uncooked (yes uncooked) shrimp. And another fish we didn't recognize. Then came out octupus and squid. Then another round of shrimp, this time small and lightly fried. Followed by mussels. Followed by crab cakes. This kind of seafood kept going on and then finally when I thought it was all over, they brought this out for each person:

Well I wasn't very hungry when I got there but really, after all that food to begin with, who was going to be able to eat that whole fish and potatoes? The next time anyone mentions a light meal (just like at Ms. B's) I'm just going to have to starve myself beforehand. I'd really be curious to see what a big meal is!

After all the eating it was time to dance and man y'all should see DB's moves on the floor! We two-stepped, did the twist, danced to the Beatles, pulled out some moves from Saturday Night Fever, at one point I kinda felt like a flapper from the 20s. But everyone there loved it, at one point we got a standing ovation and whistles for our dancing! Here's a picture of us doing some traditional Albanian moves:

And the dancing went on and on and on, here are some more pictures and a clip:

People even got up and recited poems, I love it when Albanians get up and start reciting poetry from Albanian literature, I'm going to start memorizing more poems, especially by Naim Frasheri (if I can memorize the Albanian first).

At the end of the night, or at least when we had to call it quits early Sunday morning, we were going to just walk home but then one of the ministers (and nope not from church, from the Albanian government) insisted that his driver send us home. Well you just can't be that!

A small lunch

2010-06-07T23:18:00.005+03:00

Mrs. B. invited Ikuko and I over today for what she called a "small lunch":

Salad with tomatoes and cauliflower
Grilled eggplant
Soup with vegetables
Rice with vegetables
Stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes (by stuffed I mean meat and rice)
Toasted Bread
Apples
Turkish Coffee at the end

I guess we'll call this the Albanian small lunch. And speaking of lunches, I learned never to bring kumlat (or at least I think that's what these are called, see photo below) to someone's house for a meal. I was completely rejected, everyone just laughed at me, is this fruit just not appropriate???

names and origin

2010-06-05T13:49:00.004+03:00

I had lunch with Mrs. B. and her friends yesterday (I'm still working on a name for this club, but trust me, I definitely feel that I am a card-carrying member of an official ladies lunch group) and while eating, they asked the typical questions of how my family was doing back in the States. FYI, we only speak in Albanian during these lunches, so I always have to explain as much as I can but sometimes I actually have more to say, I'm just not able to. One of her friends, Jolanda, asked why my brother's name was Alexander, inquiring whether we had Greek or Macedonian heritage in our family. I laughed at the question and explained that no, we didn't have any to my knowledge. Illiria, another friend of Mrs. B, then asked how Alex got his name, to which I responded that I had picked it out when I was a little girl. They asked me if I had a classmate whose name was Alex and I said no. So then they wanted to know how I came up with that name. "I just liked it," I said. This answer did not suffice. They nodded their heads but I could tell that they were not satisfied.

Illiria continued and wanted to know what exactly was my "origin". I have written about this before, how oftentimes, many Albanians want to know where I'm "really" from. When introducing myself, I explain that I'm from the States and that I'm from Mississippi but this is never enough to answer their questions, they don't believe that I would have my origin in the States. It is true that asides from Native American Indians, no one has their "origin" in the States, but many times people only ask me this question. For example I was once with a group of students and I was the only Black American (everyone else was white) and the Albanian family who was hosting us would not believe that I was from the States, they kept questioning where I was really from - only me.

So yesterday I tried telling Illiria that my mother's family, all the way back to the 18th century or so (because we have records from one family tree) comes from Mississippi. But then she wanted to know where I really came from before that. Then Mrs. B interrupts and says, "she doesn't know." "Well why wouldn't you know?" asked Illiira. At this point I was confused about how I would answer the question. You see, the way American history is often taught internationally is that a group of white Europeans "discovered" this land and claimed it as America. At some point much later some Black people came and there has been some racial tension but that's about it. The one history book that I've found didn't even mention slavery. Blacks aren't actually from America though, they are from Africa. Somehow people have forgotten that whites aren't really from America either.

I decided to just say that when people were first coming to the United States in earlier centuries, they did not maintain good records and therefore, a lot of information was lost. As a result, my family doesn't actually know where our ancestors are originally from. Even as I said the answer though, I felt torn in two directions because though I'm very proud of my heritage and who I am, who my people are, at the same time, I know that many people here don't see me as a "real" American and for lack of better words, it pisses me off. I know that this concept of "origin" is ripe with potential for research questions but right now, I just get frustrated and annoyed when I'm singled out.

Let the hair questions begin

2010-06-05T13:10:00.007+03:00

My friend Adam from grad school asked me what my experience in Albania was going to be like this time around because of my recent hair changes. For the majority of my life, my hair has been chemically relaxed (some of y'all might say "permed") and for the first time since I was a small child, I've decided to let it be natural. I cut it all off (it was really short at first) and now it's growing out, like a fro. I'm loving my natural hair - though my dad isn't - and for those of you who remember the hair experiences from last time (you can see the infamous youtube videos here on the blog) then you'll know how much easier it is for me with my hair at this length.

Before:

Now:

Well Adam was right though in his thinking that Albanians would have odd responses to my hair because already people are touching it more in the street, asking me questions about it, even how I "got it" this way - I grew it:) But it's funny because I don't think they are used to seeing Black women with natural hair. Of course many are still getting used to Black women as I frequently write about, but the new hair addition is causing lots of questions. Also I visited Klodi, my former hair stylist, yesterday and he's disappointed now because he said all we can do is have coffees together. There's no more hair for him to straighten or at least not until it grows out more! I guess that was the highlight of our time together. He really did look sad. I however cannot express more strongly how glad I am not to have long hair to straighten or relax every 6 - 8 weeks!

Anyhow, I went out with some friends to Tirana Rock last night (who needs The Hard Rock Cafe?) and when I got there, I met the first Albanian person who I've ever seen with twists in his hair! Basically this guy's hair looked a lot like mine especially when I twist it, of course the texture is different, but it looked as though he's trying to lock up (what many refer to as dreadlocks). I was surprised, and went right up to him in true Albanian style, and started asking him questions. I just wanted to know what motivated him to change his hair style, to which he said, he liked the looked and wanted to try it. Sometimes people here give me the simplest answers! I guess I had just never seen an Albanian person who had tried anything like twists or locks before but now I'm definitely going to pay more attention because I'm curious. He commented on how much he liked my hair haha! So below is a picture, I wonder if people walk up to him and touch his hair in the street...

here i go again

2010-05-31T20:18:00.003+03:00

Hi everyone,
So I'm headed back to Albania, sitting at the ATL airport now waiting for my flight to head across the Atlantic. I've just finished my first year in my PhD program and my advisor has informed me that I need to spend this summer taking lots and lots of notes - just filling up notebooks with everything about Albania! And pretty much that's my assignment. I'm also going to be working on my Albanian language, I've enrolled in advanced courses for the summer. Plus I've finally been invited to an Albanian wedding and I'm so excited to be going in August.
As part of my project I'm planning to visit more Albanian communities outside of the Albanian nation-state - in other words, I'm traveling more to other countries around the Balkans (and possibly places like Italy too) in order to learn more about Albanians outside of the Albanian geopolitical borders.
Okay well check back for updates, I'm sure this adventure will be just as fun as the last.

Ciao

Home Sweet Home - AGAIN

2009-07-08T20:07:00.003+03:00

I wrote "Again" because I once entitled a post "Home Sweet Home" back in November, only I was referencing Albania, not America. But alas, here I am at my home (well my parents' home anyway) in the States and for the past week I have:
1. Slept
2. Ate (and flushed it all down with Dr. Pepper)
3. Spent insane amounts of time with old friends
4. And I have allowed my suitcases to remain in the center of my floor without unpacking them, I guess just magically awaiting for someone else to do it!

While these four things have definitely been occupying my time, and while I love being here with family and friends and getting used to life again here in Mississippi, I must say that I really miss Albania, probably more than I had thought I would. I miss the people that I used to see everyday. I miss the mountains. I miss walking everywhere, and I would continue to do so if Jackson, MS believed in sidewalks and if suburbia America hadn't taken over and things weren't so spread out. I miss my friends. I miss byrek. I miss walking across the Lana River in Tirana and wanting to hold my nose for a few seconds. I miss my hair salon. Oddly enough I even kind of miss random people asking me questions in the street. But most of all (except for people of course) I miss speaking Albanian!!! English is just not fabulous enough!

Sadly I don't think I will be continuing my blogging, so this will be the last time to toast "Gezuar." I will be starting a Masters/Ph.D program at the University of Texas in Austin this fall, where I will continue my studies of anthropology and of course Albania. Technically this isn't goodbye because hopefully one day soon I'll live in Albania again and will have plenty to share of my experiences.

I must say that while this year has had it's moments, various challenges and difficulties, to say that I enjoyed it would be an understatement. I have learned and grown so much, more than I thought an individual could do in such a short period of time. And I have established bonds and connections that I pray will last a lifetime. So I guess what I really need to say is "Thanks Albania." Albania has truly been a gift for me - sometimes when we receive gifts we're so excited to see what's inside that we hurriedly unwrap the presents, anxiously awaiting to know the contents of the present. But I think in Albania's case, I had to allow the gift to open itself to me, and for this reason I feel that made the experience that much more valuable than me trying to open it for myself.

Thanks to all of you for reading - hope you found it interesting and enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing! If you know any Albanians in Austin, let me know! GEZUAR!

Tears in my eyes

2009-06-28T10:54:00.003+03:00

*Before I begin this post I must apologize for forgetting Mexican food and oatmeal cookies off the previous list. I guess I'm just apologizing to myself ha ha!

OKay, but on a not so funny note, yesterday was a tearful goodbye. In fact not only did I cry at the train station when saying goodbye to people (Elvisa, Ms. B., Ikuko, Ikuko's new Albanian boyfriend, Austriana, Elvisa's sister and her best friend, as well as this girl who I just met yesterday but wanted to come and say goodbye) who came to escort me to the bus for Athens, but I cried as we drove all through Albania. And when I woke up at 7 this morning in the middle of Athens, I wanted to cry because it just didn't feel like home.
That's what I've come to believe - that though I'm going home, in fact flying out of Athens tomorrow afternoon, Albania was starting to feel like my home and so it felt like I was leaving home. I know it had only been a short time, but believe it or not I've developed some very close relationships, literally feeling right at home at friends' places like Elvisa's, Cindy's, or Ms. B's. I know that all of my family and friends are anxiously awaiting my return, and I'm ready to see them too, but still a part of me is very sad to leave.

I'm on my way to see the Acropolis now and that's pretty much the plan for the day because Athens is EXPENSIVE! I almost cried when I saw the 2 euro espresso - they are 50 cents in Albania! And they aren't even as good here!

One other thing - at the border between Albania and Greece we had to get off the bus and go through the station to talk to the police and have them search our bags (pretty intense border crossings here) and this one girl, who's Albanian but grew up in Greece, kept swearing that I spoke Albanian better than her, so she started introducing me as Albanian who had grew up in America - I thought that was pretty funny. I just hope now that after learning the language I don't forget it!

Okay, off to the Acropolis now though Shqiperia (Albania) is the only thing on my mind...

Top Ten Foods To Eat When I Get Home

2009-06-24T19:23:00.003+03:00

Okay truth is, I've thought about this list for a LONG time - I think whenever people travel one of the first things they naturally miss is the good old home cookin', or even just stuff from home that's not available abroad. So without delay, I present to you the final product, in order with number 1 being the thing I've missed the most living in Albania this year:

10. Squash - weird I know, but for some reason I've really wanted some lately and I can't have it here

9. Real sausage for breakfast and not hot dog meat, I mean while I've grown accustomed now, I could really use some Jimmy Dean style meat for breakfast - in fact I just want a good breakfast, period

8. Lemonade - not really a food but I've missed it. Of course I could make it myself but I'd rather drink it freshly made by someone else (perhaps I'm revealing my laziness now)

7. Thick pizza, deep dish even, mmmm, sounds great

6. Red Beans and Rice, Gumbo, Jambalaya, ANYTHING Cajun, and also a trip to Popeyes - yes all of these things go together...Popeyes sounds wonderful right about now

5. Sweet potato pie, which my cousin Linda will hopefully have ready for me, ha ha ha hint hint

4. Greens - I've been trying to get by with spinach throughout this year but it's far time for some collard or turnip greens, far time

3. Fried Catfish

2. ANYTHING my Dad cooks, Daddy I hope you're ready to work in the kitchen!

1. of course there's a tie: Biscuits!!!! - I NEVER KNEW MY LIFE WOULD BE SO HORRIBLE WITHOUT THEM. And for this reason I plan to go to McDonald's for breakfast on the morning of Tuesday the 30th (because I get in on the night of the 29th)

And I'm sure many of you guessed it, DR. PEPPER...was there even a doubt that this was number one???

Okay, you can laugh all you want but talk to anyone abroad and after family and friends (maybe) the stuff they miss the most is food and Americans especially over here talk about foods they miss all the time! I'll probably be making updates to this list over the next couple of days...

Headaches

2009-06-24T02:38:00.003+03:00

I've heard of some healing remedies before, trust me I can share a story or two. But I must say that what happened to me yesterday was truly an experience that I won't forget.
Bulli, my downstairs neighbor, is ALWAYS asking questions about me and in short, is pretty much all in my business. I mean she's the sweetest lady in the world, makes me food from time to time, and insists that I drink coffee with her every day. But she also listens at her door and comes out of her house whenever she hears me in the stairwell - and I'm almost convinced that at times she watches me from her peephole. While I enjoy having her as my neighbor, and have learned a lot from her and her old photo collection, sometimes I honestly try to avoid her because:
1. Sometimes she talks for hours (literally) and holds me up when I have places to be
2. She watches me like a hawk, questions everything that I do and who I'm with
3. At times acts like my grandmother (which she does call me her niece) and tries to tell me things like what time I should be in at night, or why I shouldn't go out to certain places alone (like the park, ha ha)

I also have to try and avoid Bulli at times because she and her son (who is a mute) can get started on a conversation and hold me hostage, forcing me to hear about things like hearing aids, different kinds of spinach available at the markets here in Tirana, or my favorite story (that I've heard several times) about how Eftimi, the son, fell off his bike when he was younger and since has never touched a bike.

But yesterday when I walked by them to go to my apartment, because I have to pass them, I wasn't trying to avoid them when I said I had a headache and was rushing to my house to lie down - I seriously had a headache. But when Bulli learned of this she got very worried, and though I assured her that I had my own medicine in my apartment that I was on my way to take, she made me sit down in one of the chairs outside her door, and sent her grandson inside to fetch the medicine that she thought was better. She kept saying that she had something that would help me more than advil, and so I sat there waiting and when her grandson came back, she made me bend my head over and before I could fully comprehend the next thing I know, she was pouring (literally) Raki in my head. That's right, Bulli poured Albanian alcohol, liquor, in my head and hair, and not just a teaspoon, I mean it was running down my neck. At this point, Bulli, the son, the daughter-in-law and the grandson were all staring around, smiling, and excited about their remedy. Bulli then says, "you see, I'm half doctor!"

Well I'm not sure what kind of doctor this makes her but not only did my headache not go away, but I was upset that I had to then go to my apartment and take a shower and also had to wash my hair - I mean what in the world, really, Raki in my hair? And I don't even wash my hair daily, something that most Albanians don't even understand, but I had to wash it because the smell was literally soaked into my hair and body. People would have definitely thought I was a drunk otherwise, and then who would believe this story if I told it while smelling like moonshine?

REally????

2009-06-21T22:48:00.003+03:00

Okay while I will not voice my preference for political parties or candidates in Albania, I will say that I'm getting sick of the "Shqiperia po ndryshon/ Albania is changing" bus/van/truck that's driving all around the city, blasting the democratic party theme song from its speakers, especially since whoever is driving it likes to park it right outside my apartment and forces me to listen to it! But this is not why I'm so upset today. I'm so upset because today I was waiting to cross the main boulevard and when the green walker lit up, I gave the slight hesitation (as normal) and then proceeded to begin to cross the street, when I (along with two other people) was almost run over by this darn bus! That's right the democratic party bus almost hit me in the street because the driver more than blatantly ran a red light, all the while speaking into the microphone about why we should choose that party candidate! I don't know about you but I'm not sure this is the best way to win votes...

Shqiperia po ndryshon/ Albania is changing

2009-06-16T23:13:00.003+03:00

This is actually one of the tag lines (and actually the title of a new song) for one of the political groups and is EVERYWHERE around Albania - elections are coming up! The big day is June 28th though from what I can tell, it doesn't seem that it is such a big day for everyone. Pretty much everyone I talk to says they aren't terribly excited about the election, they just want to keep their jobs and have food, which of course is what everyone wants when you get to the bottom line.
However, truthfully, Albania really is changing and one of the biggest things that has happened lately is the construction of a new highway that extends throughout a large portion of the country and goes into Kosovo - a highway that now makes the trip between the two countries only 4 or 5 hours, a trip that used to be 11hrs, I took it! Though the highway is not officially finished, large parts of it are and the tunnel (which many people just call it "the tunnel" referring to the whole thing) is nice, it really is. Today, I actually set out on an adventure to see the highway with my own eyes.
Klaudi, my amazing hair dresser, has been telling me for weeks that he wanted me to go out on a roadtrip with him and his sister to see parts of Albania that I hadn't yet seen before, so today we did just that. Because elections are coming up we had to travel to Klaudi's birthplace so that he could fill out the necessary paperwork for the mandatory national ID cards. I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning and by 6 we were on the road. We stopped first at his mom's house in a small village outside of Tirana and had breakfast, byrek of course. Then after that we ventured through the windy hills of northern Albania and headed to Miredita. All along the way we got all kinds of views of the new highway, from below, from above, from the side, you name it. Klaudi took about 200 photos and pointed out almost every single detail to me. As an anthropologist this was a very interesting experience to see how people reacted to something like a highway, something that doesn't get too many second glances in America, but here, for many people, means so much. Particularly for Klaudi and his sister, the construction of this highway is unbelievable to some extent because it goes right through the village where they grew up. Places that used to have houses or small stores; plus Klaudi kept pointing out to me all the small bridges in the area that were made by hand and used to stand out as important landmarks, but now are somewhat insignificant compared to this highway.
In addition to seeing the highway though, I realized again today that the Albanian countryside really is beautiful, I mean I feel like I could just drive (well technically ride) through the country all day, the landscape never ceases to amaze me. But what I learned today is that this is the same even for Albanians, people who've spent their entire lives here. Klaudi, his sister, and Marku (the friend of the family who was driving) seemed to be just as in much awe as I was as we rode through the hills and mountains, admiring the views and colors - and it was such a refreshing trip (though at times a bit rough on the roads, but then again, perhaps this is why they are building the highway in the first place!).
We didn't stay in Mirdita too long because everybody had some things to do. We stopped in Lezha on the way home and had a coffee (my third or fourth of the day), and then on the way back, I met three English speaking travellers, two from New Zealand and one from the States, who wanted info about what to do in Albania for a couple of days. One of the guys referred to me as a local since I'd been here a while and could speak Albanian - it felt good to hear that!
So as time winds down I'm realizing that I'm actually already kind of missing this place and I have yet to leave - in short, I really enjoyed today.

Apologies apologies

2009-06-15T01:17:00.003+03:00

It's been a while again, I know! Sorry about that, been trying to get in some last minute travel before I'm out of here. Just got back from the beach at Vlora today, fantastic water!
That's right though, in 13 days I'm leaving Albania and in 15 days I'll be landing back in the States. Here are some thoughts that have been on my mind:

1. I'm a little scared about driving again. I do not know why because driving is one of my most favorite things to do and I really enjoy it - but what will it be like the first time in such a long time?

2. Everyone keeps asking me what's Obama really like but I always have to say that I honestly don't know because I've been here...I guess I'll find out now huh, ha ha

3. I have no idea how I'm going to pack everything. I may just end up having a huge give-away everything party from my apartment because there's no way all of that junk will fit into two bags (how did I accumulate so much???)

4. Any tips for shipping things from Albania to the States (books for instance?)

5. I CANNOT WAIT TO GO TO MY HAIRDRESSER! Though I will say that the one I've befriended here lately, Klaudi, is Fab-u-lous!

6. Actually, though I've made this list it hasn't exactly quite hit me that I'm coming home so soon, and I think I must stop writing now before reality hits in...but really, when will it "hit" me, the night before I leave, or the day I actually see the States again

7. Oh ok wait, one more - who's going to speak Albanian with me once I leave???

How To Ride a Furgon

2009-06-04T19:08:00.002+03:00

A "Furgon" is the name for the Albanian minibuses used to travel around the country. But bear in mind that when I say minibus, it's more like a 15ish passenger van (that frequently turn into 20 passengers, depending on the day). Anyhow, riding a furgon is no easy process - it involves a complex step-by-step, carefully planned technique, and it's best to remember the following when attempting to do so:

1. Okay though various guide lists have attempted to provide tourists/foreigners in Albania with a furgon schedule, no such thing actually exists. Furgons leave when they are full, simple as that.

2. Going along with number 1, ALWAYS get on the furgon with the most people because that's the one that will leave first. There will more than likely be several drivers trying to get you to take their furgon but be warned, if choose one because it's pretty but turns out it's empty, you could end up waiting for 45 minutes while various others pull off. And then you'll be wishing that you didn't care so much about colors...(speaking from experience)

3. Furgons never have a straight ride. You must stop and pick up people along the way, drop people off in villages, pull over to allow carsick people to handle their business (hey it happens a lot here), and also once you're in the destination, drop people off all over the city - just tell the driver where you want to go!

4. If somone's selling cherries or fish on the side of the road, just holler at the driver, he'll let you stop!

5. If you're sitting near an older lady she's going to make you eat whatever she has, even if they are old biscuits (cookies) that she insists will help with the motion sickness (though in actuality probably make you worse), she just wants to ensure that you are okay.

6. If there are only two girls traveling and the rest are men, many times the men will insist that the two girls HAVE to sit together - it would be inappropriate otherwise

7. No furgon ride is complete without a soundtrack of traditional Albanian music blasting from the speakers

8. I have met some of the most interesting people of my life on a furgon, I find that people always have stories to share while they are riding. This being said, if you're a foreigner and can communicate in Albanian (and people know it), don't be prepared to sleep.

9. In fact sleeping is not always the best thing especially if you have to be dropped off somewhere along the way or in a particular location because you might sleep right through Pogradec and end up in Korce because no one woke you up (no jokes...)

10. Oftentimes people who ride never have ANYTHING with them, no bag, no change of clothes, no book, nothing. This always bewilders me because I ALWAYS have these ridiculously large bags full of all kinds of stuff, even if it's just for 3 days. But I constantly see people going places for several days without a thing - I bet life is much easier this way

11. Furgons are amazing because I can literally go cross-country for 9 dollars - can we get one from New York to L.A. with these same prices???

12. Lastly, and then thing I can't seem to understand - the drivers ONLY collect the fare, the fees, at the end, when you're getting off the furgon. I guess this is just their system, but I always think to myself, what if we get there and I actually don't have any money?

No Ordinary Lunch...

2009-05-31T14:09:00.002+03:00

When I was in Theth last week I met up with my friend Pjeter who I hadn't seen in two years. I first met him and his family in the summer of 2006, back when the only things I could say in Albanian were, "how are you?" and "no, I'm not tired." But for long periods of time, hours sometimes, we would attempt all types of conversation as we sat outside the small cafe, drinking Turkish coffee and eating Oregano Potato Chips. Anyhow, Pjeter was so ecstatic to meet me and to speak Albanian that we exchanged phone numbers and he wanted to invite me to Shkoder (where he and his family spend the fall and winter months) to have lunch with the family for the day. He said that I would come up from Tirana for the day, we'd have lunch, take a walk around the city, and then I'd head back home in the evening. Sounds simple right...but that's not exactly what happened.
I got to Shkoder around 11 a.m. that morning and met Pjeter in the center. After a thorough greeting (greetings are always more thorough in Albania, people have to know how EVERYTHING in your life has been going) we headed to his house. First we started walking but then Pjeter was convinced that we should take the bus because I'm used to driving in America (meanwhile I told him that I don't have a car in Tirana and I pretty much walk everywhere here) so we caught the bus. For a moment I didn't really think anything of it because I ride the city bus often here in Tirana, but I forgot that people in Shkoder had probably never seen a Black person on their local bus so after about 5 minutes when I took off my sunglasses and realized that EVERY person was closely watching me, a few with their mouths open (no exaggeration), I remembered that this was a new thing for them. And you should have seen how their faces changed once I started speaking Albanian with Pjeter, just pure shock I guess.
We got to the house, had a tearful reunion with his wife and daughter, looked at about 200 photos, drank lemon soda, and then I found out what we were really going to do that day. It was the birthday of the daughter of Pjeter's brother. Notice I could have simply said Pjeter's niece, but that's not how people talk here in Albania. It's always the daughter of someone of someone's sister, and so on. So we were all going to go to Pavli's house to celebrate his daughter's first birthday and even I had been invited.
I've mentioned before about the importance of hospitality and the role of the guest in Albanian society. But I do not think I have ever had an experience such as the one I did on this day. Because everyone else at the party was family, by default I became the head guest, and basically what this translated into was that everyone was desperately trying to ensure my comfort and make sure that I had everything I needed. I had to sit at the head of the table, the spot normally reserved for the oldest person present. Gjergji (George) the oldest person there and grandfather of the family, sat next to me and entertained me the entire time. From the first moment he saw me, he was fascinated and about lost his mind when he realized that I could understand him and communicate with him. He was already drunk from Raki when he arrived at the house, and continued to drink more as we conversed. Several times other family members pleaded with him to quit talking to me so I could talk to others or enjoy the meal, but then he would just get upset and start yelling, talking about how they were democrats and needed to be a communist like him.
When we sat down to eat the meal, the food was placed in front of us and we all kind of sat around talking. I was waiting on everyone to be seated and comfortable, or just waiting for them to start eating or say something like "ju befte mire" (bon apetite), but nothing, no one said nothing. So I just continued to talk to Gjergji who was telling me all about Albanian history, one that is totally different from the books I've read - very interesting for an anthropologist. But the bad part is that it never occurred to me why no one was eating. Finally after about 20 or 30 minutes one of the younger girls told me in English: "Okay you can start eating now." WHOOPS! Turns out they were all waiting on me, because the minute I lifted my spoon, everyone immediately began to eat! I felt horrible.
I must say that if I never have to see lamb again I think I'll be okay because people kept making me eat it. In the end I felt bad because they have given me three plates of meet (not lying) but I could only eat 1, which I barely finished. This was in addition to salad, bread, and vegetables. Plus I had to drink coke, wine, raki, you name it. And of course there was a huge torte in the end. Gjergji insisted that I had to stay and become a part of his family, and kept making jokes about how his wife was jealous of the amount of time he spent talking to me.
The other guy next to me, an uncle, was telling me how Mississippi's government used to have a communist wing, and that they had ties with Enver Hoxha, the former communist dictator of Albania, back in the 1960s and 1970s. Other areas of conversation included: my experiences in Theth (because this entire family comes from that region), why I don't like Tirana so much but love other parts of Albania, why I live alone, the origin of my name, and so on.
What was supposed to be a 1 or 2 hour lunch became a 6 hour festival at this family's home, I kid you not there were at least 20 people there. In the end I was wondering if I should feel bad or not because if I had not been there, I feel like they would have enjoyed just another family celebration and kept it easy; but I kept wondering if my presence burdened anyone...
I can say that I am truly grateful though for Pjeter's (and Pavli's) invitation because I can say that I truly enjoyed myself and had a fabulous time. Plus this has made for one amazing culturally ethnographic experience

Independence? Living Alone?

2009-05-26T14:16:00.003+03:00

So not only is this the first time for me to live away from Mississippi, it's also the first time for me to live alone. After high school, I lived with the same roommate for 4 years in college (love you Jimmie) and so this is the first time where it's just me - but I like it. Many of the Albanians here however, in fact pretty much all of them, don't understand me. I frequently get questions about why I'm living alone and so far away from my family. Elvisa's mom is ALWAYS concerned about my well-being and is also constantly forcing me to take food because she's so worried, just like Ms. B. Also when I make comments such as, "oh yeah tomorrow I'm taking the bus to Shkoder (or some other city) to meet friends," immediately people want to know, "Alone? Why are you going alone, why isn't someone going with you?" In my mind I always think, "But why does someone need to come with me?"
My neighbor Bulli, an 80ish year-old woman who lives under me is constantly checking on my and giving me stuff to make sure I'm okay, which is great except for the times she spies on me and my friends - plus she can be a bit nosy at time asking too many questions, but hey, I feel like I'm interrogated daily here!

My friend Andi once asked me about life in America and why when people turn 18, they generally leave home and no longer live with their parents or families. He wanted to know why this was the trend in the States, and honestly I had some trouble explaining it. I told him that people just want to leave home to "be on their own," to learn about life, some to make their own rules, and I don't know, just for freedom - but none of this made sense to him. He told me that he feels people can grow up and still live at home. For most people here, the trend is usually to live with their families until they marry, so it is not uncommon to have a family of 6, with the two older kids, who might be 24 and 25, still living at home because they are single. In fact, even my friends that do live apart from their families live with friends and roommates. To live at home is just weird for most people to grasp here, even my Nigerian football friends say the same.

Thing is, I kind of like it. Of course there are times when I'm in my apartment and get a little lonely, but then those are the times that I find something to just occupy my time or I just leave and go meet friends. But I honestly don't have too many qualms about living on my own - but people think I'm strange...

The Land That Holds My Heart

2009-05-26T12:44:00.004+03:00

I went to Theth last week for the first time in two years. For those that don't know, Theth is a village in the far north of Albanian, in the mountains of the Shala Valley. When I came to Albania for the first time, in fact the first time I ever left America, I was in Theth with my archaeology professor from Millsaps. He came in town last week with another professor from the school, and the three of us, with an Albanian archaeologist, headed to the valley for 3 days.

So one thing I've realized this year is that my first Albanian experience in the valley was totally different than that of my experience now in Tirana. Not that being in Tirana has been bad, but I realized that I'm definitely made for the small town life, and I particularly like places with less amounts of noise and fewer people. It was amazing to go back to Theth this time and actually be able to talk to people because before I never knew any Albanian beyond greetings and the word for donkey, "gomar"...still not quite sure exactly why that word stuck in my mind!

It's always really funny to share my Thethi experiences with people here in Tirana because very few of them have ever been there and many people don't understand why I like it so much. I must admit that I've never spent a winter there and am not sure I'd survive if I did, but I can say that I feel the most at home in Theth, more so than any other place in Albania. Beyond the wonderful Turkish coffees (I really think they make them the best there), the beauty of its landscape, and the unrivaled hospitality, there's just something about Theth that has become a part of me - and usually I can't really explain.

I can also say that living in Tirana has shaped my anthropological perspective in numerous ways, one of which being that now when I travel around Albania, I'm starting to recognize in more detail the cultural differences and practices throughout the country, and how each region has its own distinct elements. This of course is obviously true of the language and dialectical variations, but also true about interactions between men and women, concepts of family and child-rearing, and ideas about work and earning.

Okay, well below are some pictures, enjoy...

FYI...

2009-05-20T20:42:00.001+03:00

I'm leaving Tirana tomorrow to head off to Theth, a small village in the northern mountains of Albania, my home away from home, the place where I first fell in love with this country. While I'll only be there for 2 days, I'm excited to return after a 2 year hiatus. Hope to have lots to share when I return, until then...

The Music's Calling Me...

2009-05-20T20:11:00.000+03:00

This post may come across as kind of random but lately as I've been walking in the street and hearing music blasting from the radios, something strange has been happening. Usually it's traditional Albanian music that I hear but every now and then (which it just happened about 10 minutes ago) a car pulls up at a light, windows down, blasting American hip-hop music, particularly Dirty South Rap. And I don't know why but my head just instantly turns and I just get this huge longing for home! Not in this homesick type sense, but actually, I can't even describe it. Today when these particular guys saw me turn my head they all started putting thumbs up in the hair and clapping as if to say, "yay, yeah, look at us!" They were so excited that I just started smiling and laughing. I don't know why but the music just seems to be calling my name...

Quick Question

2009-05-18T22:54:00.003+03:00

Whenever I go with friends to get coffee, someone usually orders bottled water to go with our coffees. Many times, especially if it's a quick coffee, there's water left in the bottle that no one has drunk, and so naturally, since we're paying for it, I grab the water from the table before we leave. I recently did this with Elvisa and I guess it was the first time she'd notice and she asked what I was doing. I said, "What, well I mean we did pay for it right? This is almost half of a bottle that I can drink later." She stared at me for a second then called me strange. But while she thought I was strange, I thought I was thinking practically, especially since it's getting hotter outside lately, it's convenient to have water on you, right? I mean is there something wrong with this? As I conclude this post now I'm going to leave this cafe and take my water with me because I've only finished half of the bottle...

Oh Why Not Sooner???

2009-05-18T20:37:00.004+03:00

Sorry it's been a while, been doing some traveling and the only question I'm asking myself is why did I wait so long to go to Korca? Okay I may have said this before about another city but okay seriously, I think I have to live in Korca now!!!

I pretty much spent my time hanging out with locals around the city. I sat and talked with old men in the park about their experiences living in Albania, specifically about times during the Communist Regime. I also went to see the first school for Albanian, from 1887. I ate some fabulous traditional food and then made "Gjiro" in the street. The "Gjiro" in essence is strolling down the street, but it's so much more than walking. The main boulevard is closed to traffic, people put on their best clothes, and walk and talk, greeting one another, stopping for coffee here and there. So though I was wearing a gray t-shirt, my raggedy jeans, and green converse, I strolled with the Korcan women, as though I were a local of the city. In all honesty I felt right at home.

The men kept telling me I was making all of the women jealous, even in my beat-up jeans...ha ha...

Korca has the nickname of "Small Paris" because at one point it was the standout city of Albania, with the nicest landscape, the nicest houses, and was the happenin' spot for traditional culture and life. Though some parts have changed, the city still maintains the traditional culture, especially when it comes to things like weddings or music. Plus as I said, some of the best food comes from Korca, as well as the best cooks - like Ms. B!

So Tirana I love you and all but looks as though there might be a new apple of my eye...

Long Summer Days and Hospitable People

2009-05-10T13:22:00.004+03:00

First off thanks to all of you who provided positive feedback for my friend - I really appreciate it.

So in other news, I really love long summer days. And while summer has not officially begun and will not do so for at least another month, it kind of feels like summer now with warmer weather, the conclusion of school drawing near, and days where the sun is out until around 8. Last week, Thursday maybe, I was walking home when I ran into Lilli, a lady who owns a small store* near my house and usually when I walk by we always chat for a minute or two. It's always the same questions about school, my day, how much time I have left here, etc. But on this day right as I was leaving, her sister dropped by and Lilli wanted me to chat with them a little longer so she invited me to stay for a coffee. I had actually just finished a coffee with another friend maybe 10 minutes before, but I could tell that Lilli really wanted me to stay so I agreed. Another neighbor had also dropped by so the four of us sat inside the small store and drank machiatos (how do you spell that?) together.

I could tell they were really worried about my comfort because they kept checking to make sure that I was okay and didn't need anything. Lilli didn't have any chairs in her store so I sat on a crate of Tirana beer with a piece of cardboard on top, and though she was worried about that, I felt right at home. As we drank our coffee, gradually more and more neighbors came by (kids and older people) to buy things but also to figure out why in the world I was sitting there. It eventually occurred to me that though I've been walking the streets of my neighborhood for about 3 months now, this was actually the first time that I had ever sat somewhere for longer than 10 minutes to drink a coffee and have a discussion. Oh wait, there's the exception of Bulli who lives under me who's always checking on me, literally every day, and who somehow always convinces me to drink coffee with her and look at old photos. BUT I don't think my neighbors who live in the apartments around mine actually knew that I spoke Albanian beyond everyday greetings.

Once people realized I could talk with them, they kept coming over and telling me all kinds of stuff about their lives. A group of about 8 young girls came over and started telling me their names and ages, and of course I don't remember them now, but hey, until this day they used to all run from me as I smiled at them in the street - now they know that I don't bite. But seriously, I guess on this day I felt more like a resident and not just that strange girl that's always carrying a huge backpack and loads of books around the street at odd times of the day. Lilli was worried that I was spending too much time with older women (because they were all over 60, not that 60 is old!) and that I would rather be with 20ish people, but I reassured her that as a result of my friendship with Ms. B, I pretty much hang out with older Albanian women all of the time!

After I left Lilli's store, I went to a small park area near my apartment to write for a while and this little girl, maybe about 4, came close to me and stared for about 10 minutes, but she didn't say anything. Whenever I would look up she would kind of look away. Then at one point she just ran away. A few seconds later she returned, this time with her mom, and her mom said to me, "Excuse, my daughter wants to sit down next to you and color in her notebook because she sees you writing here and she wants to be like you, is that okay?" Though it may sound kind of cheesy I really thought I was going to cry because sometimes kids say mean things to me, one time a kid even threw a stick, but on this particular day I was so excited to hear what this girl wanted to do that I forgot all about that other stuff. I love my neighborhood!

*Tirana, and Albania in general, is full of these really small stores in the street where you can get just about anything. They are more than the "corner stores" as my family calls the small stores in Mississippi. Plus if I need to buy just two eggs because I'm right in the middle of cooking something, I can run down to Lilli's in my pajamas and buy them - that or fruit, vegetables or detergent if I need it. Don't know what I'm going to do when I'm forced to go to Wal-Mart again.

The Big Apple

2009-05-06T23:18:00.004+03:00

My dearest Albanian friend Elvisa has been awarded a grant to study in the States and will be starting graduate school at NYU in the fall '09 (if you remember I started tutoring Elvisa in the fall for the GRE and also I've shared my learning experiences with "cultural differences" that have occurred with her). Anyhow, thing is, she's just a little worried (understatement of the year) about moving to New York. This will be her first time to the States, and in fact asides from a short trip to Italy and Croatia, she's never left Albania. And she's also never lived on her own.

So basically I'm soliciting advice because I've only been to New York once and the only thing I know is that you shouldn't smile at people on the subway the same way I smile at people in Mississippi. So to all readers, can you all offer any help?

Also, anyone know anything about Albanian communities in New York?

hittin' the road and back again

2009-05-04T21:57:00.004+03:00

Sorry about the week-long absence - I've been in Istanbul the past couple of days. Initially when I moved to Albania, Istanbul (in Turkey) was not on my "places to visit" list, but after hearing so many good things about it, and plus after realizing how close I actually was, I decided to take a trip. It was fascinating, to say the least!

I could go on for days about many subjects but then that would just resort in a long post with excessive amounts of information and me talking too much - which is something I naturally do. Instead however, I will recap some of the highlights from my trip. I guess like my friend Nanny Garcia I'm really into lists...

1. When walking around the city people always asked, "excuse me, where are you from?" to which I usually replied, "Albania." This was always a very interesting experience because people either thought I said Armenia, and then they were confused. Or they heard correctly and yet still, they were confused. Many times people would then call after me saying things such as, "you're a liar, a liar" or "no no, you look like Obama, you're not from Albania."

In addition to this many people who wanted to talk to me repeatedly called me "chocolate" in the streets, so it was not uncommon to hear things such as, "Excuse, Miss, Chocolate lady, would you like to buy this bag?"

2. I had forgotten that one side of Istanbul is in Europe and the other side is in Asia, so now I can officially say that I've been to Asia - whoop whoop!

3. Istanbul is an incredible city for walking. I say this not only because the sidewalks and streets are great, but also because it just seemed that there was always something amazing to see, I even enjoyed walking through the neighborhoods and the "non-tourist" kind of places. This however was also quite dangerous because I kept seeing things that I wanted to buy and unfortunately bought many of them. Carpet anyone???

4. The Grand Bazaar is very grand - take precaution when visiting.

5. Whenever we went into a store and hung around for a while (usually trying to figure out if we could afford something or not), the store owner would come out with Turkish tea and we'd sit and chat for while. One guy even offered us wine and coffee as we looked through his shop...how come I haven't experienced this more often in America?

6. Fresh corn on the cob and freshly squeezed orange juice in the street...need I say more?

7. While crossing a bridge with a lot of fishermen I somehow got a small fishing hook stuck in the bottom of my shoe and when the police officer came over to help (no it was not that big of a deal but somehow I was "rescued" by an officer), he at first didn't try to help because he kept laughing and saying that I was a fish and someone's perfect catch.

8. I really like speaking Albanian when I travel because usually people can never understand what we're saying. However, I did learn on this trip that there are way more Turkish words in the Albanian language than I had previously thought. Nevertheless I got many strange looks walking around speaking Albanian - what did they expect me to speak in, English?

9. I like the number 9 right now so I will end on this note: I really wanted to go and take a Turkish bath but I couldn't because I didn't have any hair products. Now you may think that this is not a big deal BUT, not only did I not have products, but also I had limited means of taking care of my hair afterwards, if I had washed it (I mean they don't call it backpacking for no reason). I mean yeah it sucked that I didn't think about it before hand, but I was content with it. Besides I had just gotten my hair done two days before. Anyhow, we were invited by some Croatian students from our hostel to join them for a trip to the Turkish baths, but when I said that I could not go for hair purposes, and was serious, they didn't know how to respond. This led to about a 30 minute conversation on Black hair - they were really intrigued and told me that they have never experienced an opportunity before to converse with a Black person about hair differences. While I can't speak for all Black people of course, I was happy to be able to share some things with them - in return they shared with me a lot of things about cottage cheese and science.

Something Interesting to Check Out...

2009-04-27T23:41:00.003+03:00

Albania was the only European country after WWII in which the number of Jews inside the country was higher after the war than before - and now there's a book about it (well sort of, it's mostly pictures, so it's a coffee table book, but a book nonetheless). A Jewish guy from the States found out about the relationship between the Albanian people and their government with Jewish people fleeing Nazi Germany, and as a result, went on a quest to talk with Albanian people about their experiences helping and protecting Jewish individuals during the war. One of my professors sent me a link to this info and now I'm sharing it with you just in case you're interested.

http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c44_a15485/The_Arts/Books.html

Superstar!!!

2009-04-23T15:00:00.005+03:00

Okay so I've written about "Big Brother" before but omigosh would you believe it but yesterday the people living on the show ate Chinese food and had a Chinese lesson (language) given by the one and only, Huija, my classmate (from my Albanian language class)!!!! We knew that the people on the show would be eating food from her family's restaurant but when I was at Elvisa's and looked to the TV and saw Hujia teaching Chinese I flipped out!!!!!

Yep that's right I totally took pictures of the television with my camera! And Huija, who is normally kinda shy, was so cool and relaxed. The family that I was watching TV with kept commenting on how well she speaks Albanian - and she's only 17!

Really "Big Brother" is the hottest thing here right now since sliced bread, which now makes Huija kind of a big deal. Today after class we were walking in the street and people were making comments about the girl they saw on TV last night.

Okay but one funny thing that did happen was that the people on the show, I guess to be in the "Chinese mood," dressed up in traditional Chinese clothes, only they actually ended up looking more Japanese (kind of like Kabuki theatre for any of you familiar with that). And people kept saying, "Arigato" over and over again, which again is actually Japanese for "thank you" but ummmm yeah, perhaps they'll work on that for tonight because Huija's going back on the show for part two of the lesson. Whoop whoop!

**Ah yes, there was one more thing. One of the "Big Brother" cast members (if you can call them that, I'm not sure) asked Huija how to say the letter "B" in Chinese. But she replied that you couldn't just say the letter, that you had to say a word so he asked her how to say "Babai" which means "dad" in Albanian. Once she wrote it on the chalkboard, he held up his wrist to show a tattoo that he had gotten from a guy who said that it was the Chinese word for "dad" or "babai" but Huija's writing on the board proved that in fact this guy (as I'm sure many others in the world) had been lied to! Sure enough someone else figured out that his supposed Chinese tattoo for something like the word "love" was in fact something completely different, in fact Huija said she wasn't sure it was Chinese at all!

store hours

2009-04-22T18:03:00.004+03:00

Okay as I've written many times, Albania (like many other Balkan countries) is a coffee society. Just take a turn down any street and you'll count probably 6 or 7 cafes in the first two or three hundred meters. As a result, even people who work at stores and shops along the street drink coffee and take coffee breaks whenever they so choose. It is not uncommon to go to a store when it's supposed to be open and push the door only to find that it's locked with a handwritten note that says, "te lokali" which means, "at the cafe," which is usually just next door. In situations when this happens you have three options:

1. Wait around for a few minutes until someone comes back.
2. Leave and return a little later (though warning, it could be time for another coffee break)
3. Go to the cafe and find the store receptionist or owner and explain you need something from the store. Usually they'll immediately leave the coffee to attend to you but sometimes first, you have to join them for a drink.

Recently I went to what I call the school's "campus bookstore" because I needed to get some materials for my Ethnic Conflict course. I use quotations because the bookstore is actually a photocopying store, but since NO ONE here buys the actual books, everyone just photocopies them. This particular store is located across the street from the university and pretty much has every book on hand, just a photocopied version that's spirally bound. I mean even 700 and 800-page books, just go and tell them what you need. If it's not on hand, they can photocopy it and have it ready for the next day. This is just how it works. Sometimes copies are as cheap as a penny per page, but usually averages around 3 cents.

So I headed over to get some articles that our professor had photocopied for us. Now mind you, I had informed the guy that I'd be coming the day before (we've become friends I guess) and he said, "yes, yes, see you at 9, I'll be here." So I showed up at 9 only to find written on the door: "At the cafe." So naturally I headed to the cafe but the waiter informed me that the store owner had been there but now was somewhere else. I had to be on the other side of town soon and didn't have time to come back so I hung around for a while. Eventually I ended up drinking a coffee, started reading, when I looked up about 20ish minutes later to see the store owner laughing and having a coffee with some friends. When he saw me he says, "Oh hey Chelsi, there you are! I was ready for you!"

Yep so if hanging out at the cafe means ready for me, so be it! Funny enough the store is supposed to be open from 8 until 10 everyday but right after he gave me my copies, which was around 9:40, he again put up the "at the cafe" sign and left.

Shqiptaret jashte Shqiperise

2009-04-22T17:02:00.005+03:00

Which means "Albanians outside Albania." Over the past couple of days I finally got the chance to visit a couple of cities in the areas north of Albania in Kosovo, primarily in Prishtine, Peje, and Prizren. I'm not sure if those are the proper English spellings or not, but lately I've been spelling many words in a combination of what I like to call "Albaglish." Anyhow, might I say that I absolutely loved the trip, especially my time spent in Prizren. I must apologize to Kosovari, one of the blog readers, because I know that you'd invited me to visit before but the trip was really last minute so I didn't have time to notify anyone but don't worry because I'll definitely be back. Particularly because the focus of my doctorate work will more than likely focus on transnational identity, which basically means that I will study Albanian identity both within the country "borders" (physical borders) and outside.
Of course many people are always questioning why in the world I travel to the places that I go, giving the usual raising of the eyebrows when I explain what I study but if nothing else I've learned this year that sometimes you just have to see things for yourself, especially before making decisions about a group of people and their story. I must confess that like here in Albania I had a few encounters with racism and people who acted rude or said improper things in the street, but also I met some of the most hospitable people in my life - there were also those who were so curious as to who I am and why I'm over here that they wanted to talk just to learn about me. So while I met ignorance along the way, I more frequently met smiles and kindness.

A few things that I noticed right off the bat about the trip: people in Kosovo speak with a different dialect than here in Tirana, or even in other parts of Albania, so I definitely picked up some new words and terminology. Also the roads were ten times safer, sorry Albania, Kosovo definitely wins this contest. I mean people just stopped in the road for no reason to let us cross the street, and even gave nice smiles and waves at that! We were shocked! One thing about Prishtine is that it has a huge international community which means we got the chance to eat things such as Mexican and Indian food (which was really good actually), but also meant that we didn't get a lot of the "local" experience until we traveled to places like Peje and Prishtine. I also must admit that I absolutely love traveling by buses now and the Balkans in general has some of the most beautiful landscapes that I've ever seen in my life. Plus for a student with no job, $15 for an international bus trip is kind of awesome!
So below are some pictures from the trip:

Above is a photo of the headquarters for the "League of Prizren," a group that was formed in 1878 during the time that individuals were coming together to create the nation of Albania (this was towards the end of the Ottoman Turkish rule in the Balkan region). This building, the initial headquarters, has now been turned into a museum. Interesting that this building is located in a part of the area initially thought to be Albania, but when international borders were drawn by the powers at be, this area (as well as many others) was left out. Helps explain some of the border problems today.

To be honest this photo does not have much significance beyond the fact that I really liked the positioning of the houses and the mountains with the snow on top.

Austriana and Iku decided to take photos around Prizren while I stayed at the League for a while to do some writing and looking around the area. While writing these kids approached me and wanted to know all about me, they even complimented my Albanian skills (which was shocking) - the young girl in the purple next to me also spoke English and was so excited to practice sentences with an American. These kids were so thrilled when I told them that I liked their city the best and they told me that I'm welcomed anytime and can even stay with them!

A picture of an old bridge and the river that runs through the city in Prizren.

Yep that's Bill Clinton alright! He's some figure in Kosovo, and has streets and Boulevards named after him all over the place - this picture was taken on Bill Klinton (with a "K" of course) Boulevard in Prishtine. Whenever I would talk with locals in the street or that the parks and they learned I was an American, some of them would put their hand to their heart or kiss it and say, "yes, we love America and Bill Clinton."

**This love for Clinton is due to the fact that when American intervened and helped Kosovo during the 1999 war, Clinton was the current president and sided with Kosovo. For more info about Kosovo, you can click here.

This is a picture of me at a monastery in Decan (pronounced Day-chan), which was built in the 14th century. We weren't allowed to take photos inside, so this all I can provide (sorry!)

This monument was erected once Kosovo declared its independence last year, and NEWBORN stands for the newborn state. Thousands of people have signed their names all over the place. Again for more info, check out the link to Balkan Analysis.

Mom visits Albana aka, "this is your mom? no no, must be your sister..."

2009-04-12T21:37:00.006+03:00

That's what I heard all week long - "Chelsi? Where is your mother because this can't be her, she must be your sister!" I mean pretty much every single person she met, whether friend or just someone on the street or at the market, EVERYONE commented on the fact that my mom just couldn't be my mom. The only other thing people said all week: Your mom dresses better than you!

Ah nah, ok there was so much more to our week, but I promise that the previous statements are true and un-exaggerated. From the moment my mom landed she was full of energy. Her luggage didn't' make it with her (thank you Al Italia) but that was okay because she was able to find a snazzy (that's right snazzy) dress at a local store (thanks Taylor) and was up and ready to party Sunday afternoon. After meeting all of my friends and dancing for hours with Ms. B, and then after a glass of Raki she was pretty worn out so that was the end of that day.

Featured above: Me and Mom dancing with Ms. B. Below, my mom and I with my new sisters Elvisa and Anisa.

Below is a play by play of the rest of our week together:

Monday - I took my mom to my Albanian class. It kind of felt like a "show and tell" or something. She brought some paperwork from her job, but I also made her interact with our assignment for the day. We had to take 20ish minutes to write about our favorite movie in Albania, and for my mom, she decided on her favorite movie and I translated for the class. She picked Splash with Tom Hanks and all I have to say is, how was I supposed to know the Albanian word for mermaid?

After class we walked around Tirana, bought her some shoes (because the bag still hadn't arrived) and headed to the ambassador's house for coffee. Had a blast - the ambassador's from North Carolina, so because he's had experiences in "the south" he and my mom had many things to talk about. That's right, when mom comes to town I get to do big things, like meet with the ambassador - felt kinda important!

Tuesday - We headed off to Berat for the day in southern Albania and hung out there for a while. We also visited the city of Kuçove (and I think I've fallen in love with this city) before we headed back to Tirana. I think I'm moving to Kuçove some day though people from Tirana keep frowning their faces at me when I say this. My mom brought a copy of Slumdog Millionaire with her and we watched it - definitely worth the hype, that movie had me hooked.

Wednesday - Lunch with Ms. B = Chelsi and Mom could barely move the rest of the day because of severe food intake. Ms. B's friends brought over all kinds of gifts for my mom, such as a pair of gold earrings, chocolates, items used to set a table, and Ms. B. had an Albanian medical article translated for my mom to read because it featured an article about her late husband who was a doctor - oh, right, guess I should mention that my mom's a doctor, or have I done that before?

Thursday- Back to class in the morning and then afterwards headed off to Kruja, to explore the city of Albania's national hero Skanderbeg (or Skanderbeu in Albania). Plus my mom had to buy all kinds of souvenirs, particularly a raki set for my dad - hope that's working out well! Afterwards we headed to Elvisa's house (my adopted Albanian family) for yet another ginormous (gigantic + enormous) meal, which included two birthday cakes, one that Elvisa's mom had made for me, and another that she had ordered, because I guess just one cake wasn't enough!

Friday - Said goodbye to my mommy, sad that we had such a short time together (because she's been traveling a lot lately and had to get back to her clinic) but grateful that she was able to come. Also grateful that:

1. She was able to experience espresso coffee here (and liked it a lot)!

2. She could try byrek (liked it too)

3. She met all of my friends (who now like her more than me)

4. Brought me Dr. Pepper (yep yep, brought in 4 small bottles covered in bubble wrap and Ziploc bags, made my day!)

5. She successfully learned 5 Albanian words: Shëndet (health), Po (yes), Jo (no), Faleminderit (thank you), Mirupafshim (goodbye)

We kept working on the word "mire" but I guess 5 is enough for now! Miss you already mom - dad it's your turn now!

Back to Business

2009-04-12T21:22:00.004+03:00

Hey yall! So I know it's been a while, but now that we're done with all of the NATO celebrations, my birthday festivities, and of course, hanging with my mom, I'm back. And pretty tired too, but I'm making it. I'm just now finding time to bring updates but the good news is, I have pictures too, which I hope that all of you will enjoy.
Below on this post are pictures from the NATO festivities here in Tirana. As I wrote about on a previous post, Albania has now become an official member of NATO and the party to celebrate has yet to end. The weekend of the 4th and 5th there were two concerts/festivals in honor of NATO, and though they were set up by the municipality and the national governmental branches, respectively, it just so happens that the mayor (who's head of the municipal branch) is a member of the socialist party and currently running for prime minister, against the current PM who's a member of the democratic party and who was in charge of the festivities on Sunday. So in a way many people were considering it a political showdown, in terms of who threw the best party...I want share my views here - ha ha!
But congratulations Albania - Gezuar!

It's time to Celebrate

2009-04-01T20:49:00.002+03:00

Okay, as someone stated under the comments in the previous post, you are correct, I did not share info about Albania joining NATO in the last post because I was purposely planning to do so on the official day, which I have been told is this Saturday April 4th. But if we want to celebrate ahead of time, which everyone is doing around Tirana anyways, then yes by all means, URIME (CONGRATULATIONS!!!) because this really is a BIG DEAL. More details to come later, promise. Right now I gotta make my apartment look presentable before my mom arrives...

P.S. There's a rumor going around that Barack Obama might make a secret visit, what are the chances this could actually happen? By all means as his cousin I think I have to be first in line to meet him.

So...

2009-04-01T18:36:00.003+03:00

Okay, so it's been about a week since my last post and though I'm sure none of you have been on the edge of your seats awaiting this one, I've decided that there's too much going on in my head that I want to write about, so I'm taking the easy (or maybe lazy) way out and making a list. So the top 11 updates from my life because 10 is just not a cool enough number:

11. Did I announce that I moved apartments? This actually happened about a month ago, but yeah I've moved and I like the new place. Five flights of stairs, but hey, it's from communist times. The front of the apartment is some pinkish-orange color I think because Edie Rama, the current mayor of Tirana, insisted on painting all of the buildings when he took office a few years back, and I love this fact. Only problem is that they forgot to paint the other side, so people often ask when they see that side of my place, "you live here?" ***To any family member, please do not freak out or worry, the place is perfectly fine I assure you.

10. I'm addicted to byrek I think (those familiar with Albania with know about this)

9. My class on ethnic conflict is going really well but I'm quickly learning that I do not know nearly as much about European history as my counterparts, go figure (thanks Mississippi!!) ***Again, only joking

8. I went to Budva in Montenegro recently and met some Albanians there who I attempted to convince that I'm a native Albanian but after the first 15 min of our conversations the truth was revealed because that's when my language skills began to break down - they were still shocked I knew anything at all and I'm still shocked that I set right next to people from the same city at that particular cafe. Of course maybe my physical appearance may have given away the fact that I'm not native but I'm going to go with language on this one...

7. I can't stop drinking coffee now, this is new

6. My hair has been successfully relaxed (permed as some people say) three times now in Albania and this is truly a shock because before coming here my beautician was not confident at all that my hair would survive (still though, it's not looking its best but hey, I still have hair)

5. I'm now crossing the street by myself

4. I have mastered the art of walking with an umbrella in the road because as those of you familiar with Tirana know, it rains, and rains and rains (at least in the winter and early part of spring anyhow)

3. I finally made a grad school decision so looks like I have a future. Well I mean I've always had one but looks like it's more concrete, maybe

2. My birthday is tomorrow and when people find out they always say, "ah, nje qind" which means that they are wishing me to be 100 years old. I like this, why don't we say such things in America?

1. MY MOMMY'S COMING TO ALBANIA!!! She gets here this weekend and I could not be more excited, in fact I was thinking of stuff to write basically so I could write this one thing. Whoop whoop!!!

A Quick Lesson in Greetings...

2009-03-25T17:28:00.003+02:00

Okay if any of you are ever going to try to learn Albanian, the most important word you need to know is "mire," which means, "good." Those of you who speak the language or have ever studied it can attest to this. I say this because the first ten minutes of any conversation with an Albanian are always with questions that you can just simply reply to with "mire." For example:

- Ah Chelsi, how are you?
"Mire."
- How have you been?
"Mire."
- How have things been going?
"Mire."
How is the apartment?
"Mire."
-How was class today?
"Mire."
- Your mother, father, family back in America, how are they?
"Mire."
-What do you think of Albania lately?
It's "Mire."
-How was today for you?
"Shume mire" (which means very good)
- How was lunch or dinner?
"Goxha mire" (another way of very good)
- okay, talk to you later.

I promise I'm not making it up. Plus the words for good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, all have "mire," so really, this is probably the most important word you need to learn. This is not just for foreigners, even when Albanians are talking with each other, it seems that the first part of the conversation is all about how many questions can you answer with the word "mire." So now when you come to visit me, you've got greetings down pack, trust me everything's all "mire."

Introducing for the first time...ID Cards!

2009-03-25T17:02:00.003+02:00

Okay, you might be thinking, what is interesting about ID cards and why would I be dedicating a post to them? Well if you think that they're boring and nothing exciting about them, you are far too wrong my friend.

Today in the middle of my Albanian language class, my teacher announced that there would be a ceremony at 10 a.m. on the second floor for the issuing of ID cards, and as a departmental instructor, she was required to be present. She gave us the option of hanging around the classroom for a half hour or so or accompanying her. Needless to say, being the nerd that I am, and because I was curious as to why there was a ceremony for ID cards, I jumped at the chance to go. We walked upstairs to a huge classroom which had about 100 or so university students and a good number of teachers. There were two cameramen in the center of the room and a podium at the front. People stared at us as usual because we look like an international parade whenever we walk around (a Black American girl, Japanese girl, Chinese girl and an Albanian girl who everyone assumes to be French or something because she's with us***).

When the ceremony started a man (who I assume is a dean or something) addressed the crowd, explaining how monumental this day was. He then went on to talk about the importance of ID cards and how they work, what they are used for, the purpose of having them in the first place. It was only then that it hit me: this is the first time in the University of Tirana's history that the students have been issued ID cards! As an American student, an ID card is not something I think about too often. I mean when school starts you go to the records or registrar's office, take a picture and then a few weeks later, you get the card. Everyone has one, everyone uses them around campus, easy right? But in fact up until this point, no one has had ID cards - I'm not sure how people were identified as students before.

When the guy finished talking and thanking the bank representatives (who funded the project), he called out a few students names and they went forward to accept their cards. People clapped and cheered, a few even whooped for this one guy who was smiling and cheering as he went forward to get his card - I think he'd be the candidate for "Mr. Tirana University" or something. You would have thought we were at a graduation ceremony or something! At first I thought that they were going to call each person out one by one but luckily only a few people went forward, the rest will get their cards later.

After this a lady came forward kind of as a guest speaker, and she discussed what it means to have a card. The girl next to me appeared to be taking some hard core notes (as I was) but once I took a closer look, she was actually finishing a homework assignment. It was then that I realized that all of the students around me were doing the same thing. I guess I blended right in taking notes (again, I know, I'm a nerd).

So now university students (at least in Tirana) have ID cards and can prove their student statuses. This comes at a perfect time because the nation has recently implemented a new law that all citizens must hold photo-ID in order to vote, so now these students don't have to worry about the other cards - killing two birds with one stone, see how important ID cards are?

***I don't think I ever wrote about my new classmate, but Austriana joined our class about a month and a half ago. She's Albanian but she grew up in Austria and doesn't know the grammar of the language all that well, though she speaks it very well. Anyhow, she fits right in with the group, I love her! And now she just adds another dictionary to our class collection: German-Albanian!

Who?

2009-03-19T17:18:00.004+02:00

Okay, Albanian, like many other languages, has gender specific grammar. By this I mean words have gender, so for instance the word for notebook, "fletore" is feminine, while the word for book, "liber" is masculine. Those of you who have studied Spanish, or perhaps German (I think) are probably familiar with this. Well also in Albanian, there is no word for "it" because all things are either male or female, in this case "ai" or "ajo."

Now, here's the problem: I'm still adjusting to the fact that things are a boy or girl because when I hear the word for boy/girl, I naturally think of a person. So yesterday I'm at Ms. B's house and she was talking about a person and said the sentence, "She brought this." The "she" was referring to a person, her cousin. But I didn't understand what she was talking about, so I said, "What did she bring?" Then Ms. B. pointed at an object and said (in Albanian), "her." I got confused and said, "no, I know who, but what?" "Huh" (says Ms. B). Again I said, "What did she bring, did she bring this?" pointing to a spoon. "No not him" says Ms. B, "her" pointing at something else. Me, thinking to myself, "when did a man enter the conversation?"
Before I could ask something else, Ms. B. said, "Now when she's done we're going to put her in the oven," to which I immediately wanted to know why a person was going in the oven, only to realize that Ms. B was just talking about the dish, which is a feminine word, and thereby the same pronoun as that for the word girl.

Shume veshtire (very difficult!)

I don't even know if you were able to understand what I just wrote, imagine what was going through my head yesterday. Sometimes I think I'm losing it!

Decisions...

2009-03-19T16:51:00.004+02:00

I've been accepted to graduate school...WHOOP WHOOP! Time to celebrate, let the party begin, Urime, Gezuar!!!

There's just one problem: I don't know where to go! And I have less than a month left to make this decision....can we say, HELP!!!!!

I've been talking with my friend Fashionetta lately who is also trying to make some decisions in her life. She and I have been talking about how things can be so different once you feel like you have to pick a certain path. That for a while things can come so natural, it seems that everything's kind of laid out and then you have to make some choices for yourself and it can be tough.

So though I think I may be closer to make a decision about school (though I might say the exact opposite tomorrow), but I still haven't done so yet. However, at some point I will have to do this, it's the number 2 thing on my to-do list. Number 1? Trying to better my understanding of Albanian humor so that I can laugh at more jokes...

Fresh?

2009-03-12T23:48:00.003+02:00

I've been eating a lot more fruit lately and I just don't think fruit is as fresh in the States as it is here in Albania...in fact, I'm pretty sure it's not. What's up with this? Has anyone else experienced this?

Scooterists and Bikers

2009-03-12T23:36:00.002+02:00

Okay, so I know I've written a couple of times about how bad some of the drivers can be in Albania and how dangerous it can be for people on foot like myself, but seriously something HAS to be done about people on the motorbikes, scooters and objects like these. I'm not sure why but most people on the scooters don't follow the same rules as people in cars, so this means that many don't stop at lights even when pedestrians are crossing the street! The worse thing that has happened me though occurred recently when I was walking on a street that I pretty much walk everyday. This particular street is a one-way street and everyone knows this, there are signs everywhere. Also many people walk this street in the mornings, especially students because it's near the school. Well since the sidewalks are always narrow and sometimes non-existent (as in the case of this street), most times people walk on the side of the street and look out for cars heading south, only south because as I wrote, it's a one-way street. Well would you believe it, a group of us almost got hit by people on scooters who were driving on the street the WRONG way! I mean if it's one-way for cars, it should be one-way for all vehicles of any sort, right?

Okay, just wanted to vent about this...

Dangerous For Male Waiters with Plates aka "Dita e Gruas"

2009-03-09T17:57:00.005+02:00

The 8th of March is Women's Day (Dita e Gruas) in Albania and is celebrated in high style and quality - I'm talking big time! You see I had been hearing about "Tete Mars" as it is affectionately called, for quite some time but I don't think I was really all that prepared. Ms. B. invited us to join her and some of her friends at this restaurant for the afternoon. We got there around 12 and once we went inside, they had all of these tables lined up with ribbons and decorations. There was a live band and a dance floor. Oh, and TONS of women! All ages, from about 8 months to the 90s. Everyone was dressed nicely (don't worry Mom I was dressed up too, well at least a little) and had flowers.

We began the afternoon with salad and a plate of food with three pieces of meat, cheese, a boiled egg, yogurt sauce, and bread. We also had soda, red wine, and beer. I thought that would be it for the day but silly me, OF COURSE NOT! After that we had more meat, french fries, fergese (a traditional Albanian dish), fruit, and a torte. I would write about how horrible this is going to be for my health but hopefully I danced away all of the calories because I don't think I've ever danced this much in my life! We made circles around the dance floor and held hands, doing traditional Albanian dances. I also realized today that Albanian songs are REALLY long, I mean they were going on forever it seemed. People were dancing on top of chairs and even the younger ones under the table. Would you know it but Ms. B. can really move, I mean there is no way that she's 66 because she was out-dancing everybody! The only males in the entire restaurant were the waiters and someone needs to create a better system for them to serve because the women were dancing all over the place and boys were moving through with plates full of food, I almost got whacked in the face with beef steak!

I honestly think that we need to adopt this holiday in America, just a day to celebrate women! I thoroughly enjoyed myself, we were actually there for about 6 hours! Albanians know how to throw a party, that's for sure. The power even went out twice during the middle of everything but that didn't stop anyone, the drummer kept playing and we kept our napkins in the air and danced anyway (anyone who wants to learn how to dance with napkins, I can now teach you!)

Gezuar Festa e Gruas 2009!!! U kenaqa shume!

Dita e Mesueses

2009-03-05T23:03:00.003+02:00

March 07 is Dita e Mesueses*, "Day of Teachers" here in Albania. From what I've gathered this is not necessarily a day off for teachers but rather a day when students show thanks for their teachers. My classmates and I have gotten together to get some flowers for our teacher for tomorrow, since March 07 actually falls on a Saturday this year.

But I was completely surprised when Sokol and Irena showed up at my house tonight with flowers. If you remember, about 4 months ago I started teaching English in my apartment to an Albanian couple (Sokol and Irena). Though I "teach" English (I used quotations because I'm not sure how great of a job I'm doing, ha ha) I hadn't really considered myself a teacher but sure enough they gave me a gift tonight, which almost made me cry. The first thing I said was, "Oh, I'm gonna tell my mom!"

When we went to this flower shop to pay for our teacher's flowers today, one of the employees asked me about the "Day of Teachers" in America and I stared at him with a blank look because I honestly could not remember if we have such a day in America, and if so, when it is. So please don't fault me but I'm wondering, does such a day exist? When is it?

*For those readers who speak Albanian, I may have messed up the word "mesueses" because I sometimes have trouble with this particular rasa, since it's the Gjinore form, but I'm promise I'm working on it...

Thanks

2009-03-05T22:59:00.002+02:00

I really like the fact that many of you enjoy reading the blog and I just want to write thanks to all of you who've provided positive feedback and comments lately, they mean a lot.

I especially want to thank those Albanian readers that may live outside of Albania right now and enjoy reading the blog and have sent me encouraging remarks. I haven't found a way yet to send feedback via the comments under the posts, so I'm just writing a thanks now.

Gezuar!

Please

2009-03-01T23:37:00.005+02:00

I created this blog to document my experiences and travels while living here in Albania, especially so that my friends and family could read about my journey over the course of this year. I realize that sometimes I express deep emotions and feelings and that some of you may not agree wholeheartedly with me, but I am not asking you to - this blog exists for me to convey my thoughts.

That being said, I would appreciate it if those who would like to comment could refrain from derogatory language (i.e. PLEASE DON'T CALL ME THE N***** WORD) and abusive statements, I would appreciate it.

Perhaps some people who have written such things (if you're confused, see the comments in the previous post from Thursday Feb 27) are mad at me about something I wrote. I'd appreciate it if you could express yourself in a more adult manner and just let me know if I offend you or offend someone you know. In no way whatsoever do I write this blog to offend anyone, rather to just capture my life while living here. I often record personal thoughts and reactions to situations, but in no way am I trying to disrespect Albanian, Albanians, or anyone for that matter. I would hope that people would also not disrespect me!

Just to clear things up about the previous post, I was in no way trying to convince people that something was "wrong" with Albania or the people here, RATHER, just examining cultural differences and how I understand them. If you have a problem with this, there is no need for name calling or hatred, just in an appropriate manner learn to express yourself.

Did he/she really just say that?

2009-02-26T15:24:00.004+02:00

I'm learning that many Albanians are a lot more forward than what I'm used to in the States. I know I may have mentioned this once or twice before but I'd like to share with you now some of the more recent comments I've heard from people:

1. I recently walked into a hair salon to have my eyebrows shaped up (been getting kind of bushy) and when a lady inside saw me she said, "Oh you've changed your hair" (two days ago I rodded my hair all over so that I now have tons of small tight curls) and then she said "you look better with straight hair, this isn't beautiful."

2. A guy was looking at some of my pictures from Rome and said, "You look nice here but the Japanese girl looks better. Her figure is better than yours."

3. A girl at a cafe asked me, "Chelsi, why don't you run in the park more often? Me, I run in the park a lot, not that I need to, I mean look at my body, I just run for fun, I don't need to. But why don't you run in the park?"

4. How come you don't dress nicer like Albanian girls? (okay actually someone asked Ikuko this but I had to include it on the list)

5. And finally, this is my most recent conversation in a taxi:

Driver: Hey let me ask you something
Me: Okay...
Driver: How come foreigners can't speak Albanian like Albanians?
Me: Uhhhh (making the confused face that I always do)
Driver:What I mean is, whenever Albanians go to England or America, after a few years they speak like English or American people. Or when Albanians learn Italian, they speak like Italians. Or with German, we sound just like Germans. Even when we go to Asian countries we talk like Asians. But why is that when people like you, or foreigners, learn Albanian, you don't sound like Albanians...why is it that people don't sound as good as us, we sound just as good as you...

BECAUSE IT'S ALBANIAN!!!!!!!!!!!! It's hard! IT'S FREAKIN' ALBANIAN! Well at least this is what I said in my head. What came out of my mouth was: "uhhhhhh..."

The Name Game...Again

2009-02-24T21:35:00.002+02:00

I hope that I don't offend anyone with this post. For some reason I just feel like I had to say that before writing.

Okay, in honor of Black History Month the embassy here in Albania is hosting an event with music, poetry and discussion for Americans and Albanians at the ambassador's house tomorrow (Wednesday). Now when I first got here, back in September, would you know it, 3 whole people asked me that day if I would agree to help with Black History Month - it was my third day in the country and my first day of orientation. Anyhow, needless to say, I have known for a while that I would be helping out some way in February.

Now once the details were all set I asked my P.O. (the person unofficially in charge of me while I'm in Albania) if my friends Ikuko and Huija could come to the event since I had been telling them about Black History Month and they were curious as to what a celebration entailed. My P.O. loved the idea, and warmly extended an invitation. As a result during a recent class break I was trying to explain (in Albanian) about Black History Month and its significance, when our professor came along and heard me say, "Njerezit te zi" which means "Black person." She immediately corrected me by saying, "No, no Chelsi, 'Black person' is impolite, it's not proper. Instead you should say "person of color." She continued by saying, "all of you are people of color, don't refer to yourself as Black or Yellow, but persons of color. Whether you're Black American, Chinese, or Japanese, you're a person of color." I then added that in America, regardless of whether it sounds "polite," most people say, "Black History Month," and that it's totally accepted. However, my professor now makes me say (in Albanian) "month of people with color."

Ugghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (That is supposed to express my frustration) I DO NOT LIKE THE TERM "PERSON OF COLOR!!!!" I don't care if people think it's the "PC" thing to do, I don't like the term. Honestly I think it just separates the world into two groups: White people and everyone else. Seriously, there is nothing wrong with grouping everyone together, in one group - I don't want to begin a debate on the blog but race, in my opinion is largely a cultural construction anyhow. But to divide the world into two groups is just ridiculous to me! And then to just group all "other" groups together, apart from Whites, makes it even worse.

I'm not faulting my professor, she apparently just didn't want me to be offended by the term "Black person" which I totally understand, but however, I don't like being forced to use a name that I don't agree with. As I've expressed in previous posts, I'm looking for a new name beyond African-American, and beyond Black American, but those two I will still use every now and again until I find the name that fits. But "person of color" just doesn't get it for me...

I shall end with this thought: last time I checked, white was a color too! And since when are people really divisible into these distinct "colors" anyhow...who came up with the term "person of color?"

Life Resumes in Da 'Bania

2009-02-19T20:16:00.007+02:00

A friend of mine started referring to Albania as the 'Bania - I've now coined that to "Da 'Bania" and many people are starting to like it, including Albanians...I just may have started a new cultural trend - or maybe somebody already did it and I just don't know yet...

So yes, I'm back in Tirana and as promised I'm uploading some pictures from the excursion to Rome. Everything was AMAZING! Normally, as I said in the last post, I'm all about Eastern Europe and hyping up places that normally few people (well at least Americans) travel too. But I must now say that if any of ever have the chance to visit Rome, DO IT!

Hands down my favorite place was Piazzo Navona, I honestly can't say why but I think I went there a total of four times in four days, loved it! I also spent about 6 hours at the Vatican and couldn't believe that I actually got to see the Sistine Chapel. Other places that we wandered include the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, St. Peter's Basilica, the Pantheon, the Forum, the Palatine, and of course the Colosseum, which I swear now that we look at some of the pictures, it seems as though they were "photo-shopped" but I promise I was there!

I ate gelato five times, ice cream will never be the same...

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but Ikuko probably speaks Albanian better than she does English, therefore we made a pact before leaving that we would try to ONLY communicate in Albanian while in Rome. Well this proved to be extremely useful because we never had to worry about anyone listening in on our conversations - NO ONE KNEW WHAT WE WERE SPEAKING! One guy at the hotel interrupted us at some point to ask me, "hey, you speak Japanese, " to which I responded, "no I don't." "Oh," he says, "because I know some Japanese and I didn't think that's what you all were speaking. What are you speaking?" I laughed, "Albanian" I told him. "Oh" (with a surprised look on his face), "Well why are you speaking that, it's so strange!" hahahahahaha

Don't be fooled though, there are many Albanians that live in Italy, and though Rome is a city of over 3 million, we just so happened to walk right into the ice cream parlor where an Albanian guy worked. In English he asked me where I was from. I decided to reply with "Albania" and when I did so, his eyes almost came out of his head. "Une jam Shqiptar, Une jam Shqiptar!" Which means, I'm Albanian! Man was he surprised! We ended up talking for about a half hour, that guy couldn't believe his eyes (and ears at that)!

Alright so to sum it all up, Rome was great, thoroughly enjoyed myself, and by the way, we had the best weather. I'd almost recommend that people visit this time of year if the weather's nice because there are fewer people and cheaper prices.

I've also decided that the next language I want to pursue is Italian...

Be Back Soon...

2009-02-12T01:50:00.004+02:00

I'm off to Rome for a few days. My teacher randomly announced that she was going out of town for some days and was cancelling class. At the last minute some of us decided to head to Rome, so I'll take plenty of pictures and be back soon.

I'm not going to lie, I'm excited about seeing the city, especially since this is kind of my first trip to Western Europe (I don't consider Greece to be Western Europe) but I'm also excited about eating Italian food...

Big Brother? In Albania...

2009-02-12T01:43:00.002+02:00

Yes that's right, if you remember the show "Big Brother" used to air in America (well it might actually still be on TV), the reality show where a group of people live in a house, it's all on camera, and one by one someone leaves for some reason or another, well it has made it's way to Albania. Now with reality TV the country is doing big things.
I'm not going to lie, I actually enjoyed the one episode I watched, mainly because I was taking mental notes of everything going on (hey I am an anthropologist), like for example the number of times each day the people in the house had a coffee. Of course there are many things that I don't understand because naturally the people speak really fast Albanian, and there's a mix of dialects in the house (because people come from all over the country) - BUT all of this is okay because Elvisa's mom is a fanatic and when I go over there house, she talks to me about her favorite people and the things that have been going on in the show. Oh I guess I didn't mention the best part: You can watch this show 24 hours a day. Ah, see the local Albanian Top Channel airs the show each night around 7ish, so people can check out the weekly version, but for those families with the upgraded Digitalb satellite programs, you can enjoy watching the lives of these people 24/7...and there are many Albanians doing this my friends, many!

Right now my favorite guy on the show is from Vlore, a city kind of in the south. I like him because he wears this big chain on his neck and thinks he's from "the streets" which is the best way I can translate what he said.

Power to the People

2009-02-09T19:41:00.005+02:00

News Flash: The students here in Tirana are protesting because there have been some problems as of late obtaining diplomas, or at least this is what I have gathered from my broken Albanian skills. It's crazy because I can watch the news for 30 min in Albanian and feel like I've obtained so much knowledge, but then when it comes to retelling the details, I don't do so well. But I digress...

The point is, not only are students rallying in the streets and shouting all kinds of things with megahorns in the hallway at the university (which I must say makes it very difficult to hear my teacher lecture), but many are also on strike from class. Which brings me to the clincher: Should I be going to class? I mean, I don't want to seem like a trader to the students, I'm a student too, well kind of, well sort of.

Actually I'm not a student at all. Albanians are always asking me what I'm doing here and so I tell them that I'm studying anthropology and learning Albanian at the university. They always follow with questions about which year I'm in (you know freshman, sophomore, etc) which then makes it confusing because I already have my bachelor's degree. I'm here in order to enhance my fieldwork experiences and prepare for graduate school. But most people around here can't grasp this concept. This oftentimes complicates the situation so then I just tell them that I'm getting another, separate degree which makes it easier for them to understand. I mean most people are already confused and shocked that an American would even be in Albania taking classes from the university at all.

So yes, many times I get confused about these classes, I start freakin' out about tests and assignments until my dear friend Nanny Garcia has to remind me that none of this counts for anything and that all my grant program requires of me is to be a "good American." Hopefully I'm passing that test...So yes I'm kind of the ultimate nerd because I'm taking language and history classes for no credit, simply to uhhh take them I guess.

Alright all of this rambling is basically to say, the idea of this protesting is really exciting and I always love sleeping in on weekdays so I just might join the rallies in the street!!!

***Disclaimer, I only wrote all of this as a joke. The students really are protesting but there's no need to get worried (particularly I'm writing this for my Dad, grandmother, cousin Linda and Uncle Harold) I'm not joining in ...yet....

Remembering Those Who Have Passed

2009-02-05T22:31:00.004+02:00

I hope this doesn't come across as sounding crazy but one thing that really fascinates me about Albanian culture is the understanding and expression of death, and how the society deals with those who have passed. Elvisa once took the time to explain to me how everything traditionally works when someone passes away, the mourning, the funeral, the remembrance, etc. Below I offer some of the activities that might occur when one loses a loved one in Albania:

1. Perhaps the second day after the person has passed, the remaining family members will have close friends and family over for coffee and everyone will mourn the dead person. These times can often involve lots of sad expressions of anger and bereavement. The close family and friends are also expected to give sums of money to the family in order to help with costs of the funeral processes.

2. Sometimes women are hired at the funerals as professional criers, and their job is to do just that.

3. The day of the funeral, a week later, 3 months after that, 6 months after that, and then a year later, the family has a meal to honor the death of the loved one.

4. These meals can go on for years, every year on the anniversary of the death.

Well today marked the 6 month anniversary of Ms. B's husband's death and she invited me to the lunch. At first I wasn't quite sure why because not only am I not family, but also, I didn't know her husband. However, she said that she wanted me to come, so I went. She said that we would have a "small" lunch and remember Josef (her husband) with some family members and friends. Well once everyone else arrived and we set the table I realized that it wasn't a small lunch after all. We ate: qofta (meat), pork chops, tzatziki sauce (Greek), tomato salad, another salad, red peppers, olives, potatoes, byrek me fasule (basically a bean pie), boiled eggs, bread and soup. When I inquired about the use of the word "small" to describe the lunch, I was informed that small referred to the number of people and had nothing to do with food.

So yes, 6 of us ate together, Ms. B, Josef's two nieces, his cousin, and Ms. B's sister in law. Later a few close friends of Ms. B came over, along with two of Josef's other cousins, a neighbor, and Ms. B's brother. In accordance with tradition we all drank Turkish coffee together.

I was just telling my student Sokol about my day and he was giving me more details about the Albanian traditions of mourning the dead, informing me that such festivities as this one are so very important to Albanians because during times of communism, when religion was banned and rules were so strictly enforced, it seemed that at times, family was the only thing that people had.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting to happen today, but I must say that more than sitting around and crying about the occasion, we talked and laughed. It was more about a celebration of life more than anything else, simply visiting with one another and me trying to follow the conversation in Albanian. Ms. B's always telling me that Josef used to enjoy having people over, that he was all about hosting guests at their home. So today we did just that in memory of him.

Jim Belushi...who knew?

2009-02-04T20:34:00.003+02:00

Yes that's right ladies and gents, if you didn't know, Jim Belushi is Albanian. He wasn't born here, but was born to Albanian immigrants in Chicago. His father is from the village of Qytezë. Belushi's spent all of his life in the States and doesn't speak a lick of Albanian (he came here for a concert last fall and confessed that to the audience), but sure enough he's Albanian and blames his bad driving skills on that factor!
Well Albanians take much pride in this fact...MUCH! Recently when I had some friends over I was forced (yes forced) to listen to and dance to "Everybody Needs Somebody" by the fantabulous Blues Brothers on YouTube, for at least an hour. They just kept putting the song on repeat over and again - if I never hear that song again I'm set for life. But I digress...
So yes, because Jim Belushi's Albanian it means that KLAN TV shows numerous episodes of "According to Jim" daily, which I admit I find myself watching every now and then if I'm home. I don't watch much television here but when I do watch it, especially if I'm a little homesick, I find that "According to Jim" is comforting - partly because it's in English.
What I've noticed though is that TV shows here do not begin on the hour or half hour as they do in the States. It is not at all uncommon for a program to begin at 9:20 or 3:50...and I swear the tv show came on tonight at 6:57, but that could have just been my watch.
Another great thing about tv shows here is that usually there's just one break in the middle for commercials, so instead of 3 or 4 breaks, there's just this 5 min point where all of the advertisements are aired, which I think is a great concept.

okay, basically the point of this post is that Jim Belushi = Proud to be an Albanian

Apologies...

2009-01-31T12:11:00.005+02:00

Okay, I'm apologizing, didn't mean to go all pity party on you guys. I think I just had kind of rough day on Tuesday or Wednesday or whatever day that was. Perhaps just one stare too many or something and I just got really frustrated. Some people have asked me if I feel the way I do, experience the things that I do, why did I even choose to live in Albania? And why I have I chosen to stay amidst some of the challenges?

Well answering those questions is actually kind of difficult but I will try. While I can quickly enumerate frustrations about being here, I can just as quickly (if not faster) list the reasons I love it so much here. Sure I made the decision to live in a homogeneous society where people rarely see others different from themselves. Sure I came to a country that was closed off for about a period of 50 years, with a literal wall built around the borders. Sure I came to live in a place that when people hear the name of the country, they squint, make a face and assume that I'm studying somewhere in Africa instead of revealing that they honestly don't know where I am. But all of these things, I knew before I came here. I can't say that I was fully prepared as to what the living experience would be like, but I was aware of these things. I had time to think about this, to try and get myself ready - thus here I am.

So yes, some days are worse than others, but the good definitely outweighs the bad. To be honest my real motivation for studying here is that Albania reminds me a lot of my home and Albanians remind me a lot of myself. I like the history, the story of the land and the people. Albania, like Mississippi, has been plagued by labels and certain assumptions that people hold true. Sure many things are true, but many things are false as well, it's only til you visit that you see for yourself. Similarly, Albanians have experienced horrible reactions from other people around the world simply because of where they are from...anyone from Mississippi, does this sound familiar at all?

Part of the reason I like living here is that each day is really unpredictable. Though I was complaining in the previous post about the predictable nature of the staring and name calling, you really can't foresee someone calling you Obama's cousin while you're walking in the street.
Because you never know what's going to happen everyday, you never know what you're going to learn. Though some days may suck, this happens for people everywhere, not just in Albania. Plus in the long run, it's not just me trying to learn about Albanians, but also, many Albanians are trying to learn about me too

Maybe things make a little more sense now, maybe they don't, but then again living here has taught me that many times, life doesn't make much sense at all, we're all navigating as we go along...

You Don't Get Used To It

2009-01-28T19:00:00.004+02:00

It's been over 4 months now and yes, they're still staring! Every single day, every single day somebody gets in my face and someone has something to say. Before coming here I knew that people would look and point, I knew that people would have odd reactions to seeing me. I mean I had been to Albania before, I thought I was prepared for this. But I wasn't.
I guess previously I had only been here on trips, even if I got upset with the way someone reacted to me I could breathe deeply and remind myself that I only had a few weeks or a few days left. But 5 and a half months is a little different. I also guess I thought that eventually I would get used to it. Unfortunately I'm starting to think you don't get used to it.
It's hard to just shake it off or even to ignore things. I especially hate comments that people feel compelled to say to me, so about 3 months ago I started walking with my Ipod EVERYWHERE but now people feel the need to shout at me or just come stand in my face until I acknowledge them. Usually people just want to look at me, I guess to confirm that what they actually see is true, like I said many people around here have just never seen a "live in person Black female." It's not like I feel like I'm in danger I'm just tired of the looks.
I'm tired of the kids pointing at me, or yelling words at me from the school bus. I'm tired of men staring me down as I cross the street. I'm tired of girls whispering about me behind their notebooks. I can't get used to be called out of my name ("hey Black girl" "hey N-word") which I'm not making up, it happens, not all the time, but enough. Some people clearly don't know how to address me and out of innocence, don't understand how to address me. But there are others that know exactly what they're saying, and it's not cool, not at all. And being from Mississippi there is just some stuff that you hear and you're ready to go at it, right then and there...
I'm not depressed, I'm not having a breakdown, I'm just having trouble sticking out and honestly I want to know if anyone ever gets used to it...because I don't think I am...

Gobble Gobble

2009-01-25T18:50:00.003+02:00

This post has nothing to do with Thanksgiving but something so much more important. Yes people, it's true. I HAVE FOUND SLICED TURKEY HERE IN TIRANA. It may not seem like a big deal but until now I couldn't find turkey ANYWHERE. Unlike many American kids I didn't grow up on peanut butter and jelly, though many don't believe me, I never ate my first PB & J sandwich til I was 21 (I swear to this). I love PB & J now but honestly my favorite sandwich has always been turkey. ALWAYS ALWAYS! By the end of September I was already in withdrawals and had been going out of my mind without turkey. So imagine my reaction when I'm at the Italian grocery store yesterday and I came across it. There it was, ever-shining brightly, a ray of light just led me right to it and the package read: "yes Chelsi this is for you."

I bought all of the turkey they had. Sure the check-out looked at me kinda funny but everyone always looks at me funny so what else is new?

Praises for Dina!

2009-01-23T20:16:00.002+02:00

I have a new friend here named Dina, she's from Mozambique. She's married to an American who works for the embassy and they just moved here about one month ago. Well guess what??? SHE USED TO WORK IN A HAIR SALON!!! Whoop whoop! So today I went over and she relaxed my hair because it was past due time (if you remember the last time was around November 12th and uhhh I'm supposed to relax it about every 6 weeks!). Anyhow, looks like Mindy and I didn't have to have a round two though I'm sure it would have made for some more hilarious videos!!!!
Dina's now searching for an Albanian salon that is familiar with hair extensions and sew-ins...I'll keep you updated as to how that turns out...

Wait This Interview Is Live???

2009-01-21T16:47:00.003+02:00

Ever since it was announced that Obama had won the election for president in November, I had to admit that though I'm having the time of my life, I was sad that I couldn't be in the states to celebrate. Nevertheless you can always count on the Sheraton in Tirana to remain true to its American roots. And sure enough the American Chamber of Commerce hosted an Inauguration party in the lobby of the hotel with a satellite feed of CNN on large TVs. I assumed that it was going to be this casual gathering of people watching the speech and ceremony but oh no, this was a minor scale cocktail party complete with drinks and there I was in my latest Barack Obama t-shirt that I had received in a package from my college's Black Student Association (thanks y'all). But I didn't care because I was "festive."
Well it didn't take long for people there to notice me and how I was dressed. Many Albanians came to ask for my picture and others took it without permission. So somewhere there are tons of pictures of me stuffing small ham sandwiches in my mouth. Anyhow though, this one lady came up to me asking if I could do an interview for a TV station, KLAN. She said that she wanted to ask me some questions about the election. Reluctantly I agreed thinking that she'd just ask a few things, we could edit here and there, and then later it would air on the local news. But just as I was prepping my mind, thinking about what I was going to say, WHAM, we were live! The lady was talking on the mic and I was just staring at the screen because there I was on live, NATIONAL (not local) Albanian TV...I just lost my words, which is even hard to imagine because I love to talk! I heard her say, "I'm here with a Black American girl who's supporting Obama by wearing this blouse, as you can see..."
Thankfully though I eventually began to ramble something about hope, change, history, you know the words that have marked this election from the beginning. She was asking me questions in English which was great but then at the end she goes, "So you say you're learning Albanian, can you say something about Albania for the viewers at home?" uhhhh uhhh, panic, panic, "I like Albania, a lot. And ummmm, when I'm here in this country I feel like I'm at home."

I guess that was the right thing to say, the only other sentence in my head was "the ham sandwiches here are very delicious." When I was walking around the city today a guy at a cigarette stand yelled at me, "Hey Obama girl, we saw you on TV." I guess Obama girl or cousin of Obama is just going to be my new permanent name.

Maybe it wasn't so bad after all...but I'm not wearing that shirt again for a while.

It All Started With a Bald Guy and a Guitar...

2009-01-19T15:48:00.005+02:00

On Saturday night Ikuko and I went to one of Albania's finest "lokals" (nightclub, coffee house, cafe, bar - pick your choice) for some traditional Albanian music and wine that was advertised to begin at 9. We got there around 9:30 and found about 10 people sitting around with drinks and this one bald guy lightly strumming his guitar. One of Ikuko's coworkers is a waitress at this place, "Art 27" is the name, and is the one who had invited us. Though we were somewhat skeptical of the scene when we first arrived, we took off our coats and joined the crowd.
Eventually this guy with the acoustic guitar comes to the mic and plays a few songs, a pretty wide variety actually, Albanian music, then Metallica here and there. Now at some point this really nice older Albanian man comes to our table and demanded that Ikuko and I go to mic and perform something. Now I didn't think that this was open-mic night at Art 27 but apparently it was...for foreigners.
Before I knew it I was performing Chubby Checker's "Twist Again" (hey the guy didn't know that many songs that I could sing) and actually twisting, along with everyone else in the bar. Then after that Ikuko sang some song in Japanese while the guy just kind of played some background music. Apparently the people at the bar really enjoyed Ikuko's song because she ended up singing it 3 more times before the night was over. Apparently my performance wasn't so great.
Sure enough around 12:30 or 1 the rest of the musicians showed up and the "real" music begin. Though many Albanians consider me very different from them I guess we have CP time in common!
Now if it's one thing that Albanians know how to do is dance, and man did we dance that night. Once somebody brought out the napkin and began the line dancing it was all over. We must've weaved all through that restaurant, kicking up our feet, turning around, some of everything. You would have thought we were celebrating some huge occasion such as a wedding or something but nope, just celebrating life which is something I can always get down with. In addition to dancing we must've "gezuared" (which means cheers) a thousand times, to good health, to happy living, success in school, blessed families, and on and on.
At some point someone suggested we take a break and cool off from the dancing so the guy on the keyboard played some "light" music which turned out to be Mariah Carey. So at 2:30 a.m. I sat in a bar in Tirana, Albania singing Mariah Carey's greatest hits at the top of my lungs...nice!
Overall I'd say it's been one of my best nights here so far...gezuar!

Can't Say It To Save My Life

2009-01-16T19:38:00.003+02:00

Zgjedhoj

I can't say this word to save my life. I've been practicing but it just doesn't seem to want to come out. When translated it basically means to conjugate a verb. So I'm thinking that I just won't learn how to say this word at all and if I ever have to say "conjugate" in Albanian, I'll just say something like, "change" instead....yeah I'm sure that won't work...

In other news, I found out today that you can't just say, "drive" in a sentence, according to my teacher. You must say, "drive a car." So for instance I said, "I don't want to drive in Albania because it is dangerous" and she corrected me by saying, "I don't want to drive a car in Albania because it is dangerous." This led me to ask myself, are we taking some kind of shortcuts in English or something? Why is it totally acceptable to just say drive? I mean what else can you drive? Actually this has been happening a lot lately, where I'll try to say something in Albanian the way I say it in English and it just doesn't work simply because in English we use a lot of "shortcuts" it seems...does anyone else run into this problem?

They Must Not Know...

2009-01-11T20:00:00.002+02:00

I feel more "Albanian" now because I ride the bus a lot. I know that may not seem like that big of a deal to some of you, but seriously, not many foreigners here ride the city bus often. Well I would like to replay for you an incident that happened on the bus a couple of days ago:

I get on the bus and sit down. The change boy comes around to get my 30 cents. He looks at me and says, "I spent 7 years living in England and I can speak English really well." "Bravo," I said. "I can tell you speak it well." In typical fashion of most guys around here he smiled and said thanks as if to say, "I don't need you to tell me, I know I speak English well." When he gave me my ticket I told him thank you in Albanian to which he asked if I spoke any Albanian. I explained, in Albanian, that I was living and studying in Tirana.

At the next stop, two boys get on the bus, one sits next to me, the other across from me. The change boy is standing in front of us, watching them stare at me.

Boy 1 (next to me): in Albanian. Hey, check her out, this girl.
Boy 2 (across from me): Yeah I see her
Boy 1: Where do you think she's from?
Boy 2: I don't know. What do you think she's doing here?
Boy 1: I don't know, I've never seen a girl like her here. Who is she?
Boy 2: I don't know but I think she's from Africa.
Boy 1: Why is she here from Africa?

At this point I'm smiling to myself and I look up at the change boy and he nods his head as if to say, "go ahead, say something in Albanian." So I looked to the boys and said, in Albanian, "I understand Albanian, you can ask me." Then all four of us burst out laughing, though I know the two boys laughed slightly out of embarrassment because YEP they got busted! The change boy laughed the hardest and said, "Nobody here would ever think that you know how to speak Albanian...

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-07T21:31:00.002+02:00

Someone shout from the mountaintop, finally my packages from my mother and aunt arrived with..........................KOOLAID!!!!! Thus I can finally quench my thirst! You never really know what you're missin' til it's gone, I have a giant Koolaid smile on my face now I as I drink my fourth glass today!

No Place for a Mississippi Girl

2009-01-07T20:04:00.002+02:00

As I said I also visited Skopje, Macedonia this past weekend and stayed with my friend Seth, another Fulbrighter. When we got there I immediately wished I had brought some boots with me...the place was covered in snow! Not only was I quite possibly the slowest walker in snow, but I also had a very nice fall not too far from Seth's apartment, which only now can I truly laugh at. Despite all of the cold weather I enjoyed my time in Skopje, especially Seth's stories about "ethnic issues" as I'll call them, here in the Balkans. Though only next door, Macedonia is quite a different place than Albania and is extremely interesting and complex when one examines the various groups of people who reside there (Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Serbs, etc). Some things of note that Skopje has that Tirana doesn't: post offices that look like a game piece from connect four or a lego, wine bars (a fabulous idea by the way), taxis that only cost about a dollar, and oreos.
The difference that I most remember about the weekend though, is definitely the snow. For this reason I'm just not sure that Skopje is a city for a Mississippi girl!
Thanks for everything Seth!

The Honor of Being a Guest

2009-01-07T19:35:00.003+02:00

As in many cultures, some Albanian traditions of the past have been abandoned as the country progresses further into the 21st century. One of those traditions that has not disappeared however, is the treatment of a guest in one's home. Being a guest at someone's home has more to do with just spending time with a family or staying the night - being a guest means that the family gives you the utmost respect, regardless of where you come from, your past, or your current condition. In fact Albanians hold the guest in such high regards that at one time, they were bound by law to avenge the blood of a guest if he/she was killed while a guest in your home (for more on this I recommend that you check out Ismail Kadare's book, Broken April).
Okay, I don't intend to freak any of you out (Dad), I just wrote that last part to emphasize how important it is to take care of guests here in Albania. Currently I am not involved in any blood feuds and as far as I know, no one is out to get my life...
Back to the original point - this past weekend I went to Tetova, Macedonia with my friend Enisa and was a guest in her home. Though they live in Macedonia, Enisa's family is Albanian, about 90% of Tetova is. Here's the layout of the weekend:

1. Friday night around 7, I arrived in the home of Enisa. Enisa's mother immediately came to the door, hugged me, and kissed me four times.

2. I joined Enisa's parents in their living room to talk and impressed them with my Albanian. Either that or they were just smiling at me to make me happy. Enisa's father commended "my people" on being such a good grade of individuals, informing me that he's watched movies about us and our lives in America, especially in Mississippi. He especially finds fascinating how dedicated "my people" have been to America over the past few centuries despite our struggles.

3. Around 8:30 that night we went out for coffee (after we had just finished coffee and tea at the house) and Enisa's father insisted that I have coffee and ice cream. Then he gave Enisa more money to take me out for another coffee.

4. I returned to the house to find that the family had set up their bedroom especially for me, and had even rewired the television somehow to get a signal for international CNN. They also set up the bathroom especially for me. When I got out of the shower I had warm slippers and a sweater waiting for me.

5. I slept like a baby, literally. When I awoke the next day Enisa's mother prepared a breakfast with meat, eggs, four different types of cheeses, milk, green tea, black tea, figs, kiwi, apples, oranges and bread. While eating she draped two different sweaters on my shoulders because she said I looked cold. Oh, did I mention that they also gave me special orange juice?

6. The family got dressed up to take a picture with me, the first American to stay the night in their home. Enisa's mom also presented me with a gift, a special apron for cooking in the kitchen (I guess she's heard about all of the cornbread that I've been making...)

7. Enisa's mother walked us out to the driveway because she and I were heading to Skopje (which is where I spent the rest of my time in Macedonia). She hugged me several times and said that she cannot wait for me to return again. She also said that she was excited about the next time that Enisa comes to America so that she can come to my house in Mississippi (get ready Mom and Dad).

So yes, in his book, Kadare says that every person, Albanian and foreigner alike, has the secret desire to really want to be a guest because of the amazing treatment that one receives from the hosts...after this trip I can definitely attest to that!

profile picture

2009-01-02T08:58:00.001+02:00

Okay so you can barely see it but I've changed the picture on here because for the first time in my life I went inside of a bunker! Okay just wanted to note that...

Let the New Year Begin

2009-01-02T08:38:00.004+02:00

It all began around 10 p.m. on the night of the 31st. I had dinner with Elvisa's family and her mom stuffed me with byrek (these Albania pies with stuff like spinach, tomatoes, but you can even make them with milk or beans), hen, potatoes, Russian salad (my new favorite thing), lamb, cheese, olives, cabbage, broccoli, and many many more things. She just kept putting more food on my plate though I literally thought I was about to explode. And laugh if you will but we drank boxed wine and I had never had it before but I love it now! Yes Nanny Garcia I'm sure you will laugh at me for that one!
At midnight the tradition for Albanian families is to toast with baklava and wish blessings and good will for the year. Then the sky EXPLODED with fireworks. Honestly I've never seen anything like this in my life, it was just a 360 show of lights in the sky, the city went crazy! We watched them from the roof of Elvisa's apartment building which is in the center of town. After the fireworks I went out with some friends and rang in the New Year, which included me learning some traditional Albanian dances that I'm sure I butchered. Again though people think I can dance well because I'm Black...
Yesterday for New Year's Day we went over to Ms. B.'s for lunch/dinner and I discovered that Albanians eat like 8 different kinds of salads on New Year's. Ms. B made a tomato and cucumber salad, Russian salad, white cabbage salad, red cabbage salad, eggplant salad, and some more that I can't remember. Needless to say that I was full from salad before any of the other food was ready! Like Elvisa's mom, Ms. B. continued to pile food on my plate though I insisted I'd had enough. The way one of my friends has explained it to me, Albanians begin eating on the night of the 31st and eat non-stop until the 4th or 5th of New Year's...good thing I'm heading out of here today for a couple of days!
So yeah I'm on my way to Macedonia now to hang out with some friends...ciao!

You Talking to Me?

2009-01-02T08:32:00.002+02:00

Some kid in the street: Hey girl, girl...
Me: Walking, not really paying attention (because he's speaking in Albanian so I didn't realize he was talking to me)
Kid: Hey girl, Barack Obama's Cousin, hey girl?
Me: Turning Around...Me? Are you talking to me?
Kid: Yeah, Barack Obama's cousin right? Come here!

I guess this is how people will refer to me now over here. I had heard others before such as Barack Obama Girl, which many people have actually begun to yell at me in the street. But this latest one really intrigues me, Barack Obama's cousin...gezuar to that!

Saranda and Such

2009-01-02T08:15:00.005+02:00

I know I've been gone for a couple of days but that's because I took a trip to southern Albania with Ikuko and one of her friends who's visiting from Japan. Going to Saranda, Butrint, and Gjirokaster reminded me why I think Albania is the most beautiful place in the world and why I love being here so much, becuase livng in Tirana I was starting to forget! But yes, to say that my tirp was amazing would be an understatement, and I'm going to try and post some pictures here now for you all to see but I don't even know if they will do it justice!
I am now taking reservations for whoever wants to come and visit me...these are some of the places that we can go:

All is Well That Ends Well

2008-12-26T00:18:00.004+02:00

What a wonderful Christmas Day it has been! Earlier I would have never guessed that I would write such a sentence but I'm truly grateful and thankful for today. This morning I went to an Albanian church service and learned how to sing "Away a Manger" in Albanian. Then I went to Camille's house for a FABULOUS Jamaican/Ghanaian dinner, with some of the spiciest food I've ever eaten though everyone else talked about the food not being spicy enough. Jake brought about 12 or so futbol (soccer) players with him, from Nigeria, Cameroon and Zambia. Turns out it was Valentine's (one of the guys) birthdays, so after dinner we had a party for him. I danced to music from Nigeria and Cameroon all night, and even learned some new moves...though I'm sure I looked quite horrible dancing them! One of the greatest things about tonight was that with the guys I even spoke Albanian since many of them have lived here for 3 or 4 years.
So yeah perhaps today wasn't all that Albanian but it sure was fun and good because I didn't think about how much I missed home. In fact I really enjoyed myself, I really did.
Plus with the amazing technology of Skype I was able to talk with family and friends, so though I wasn't physically present at home, I was still able to spend part of the day with loved ones. So I guess as they say (whoever "they" is), all is well that ends well :) Gezuar per Krishtlindje (which means, "Merry Christmas).

Merry Christmas Y'all

2008-12-25T07:11:00.003+02:00

On Christmas Eve I did some walking around the city, hung out a little with Ms. B, and ended up in my room with pizza and apple cookies for dinner watching my dvd collection of "The Wonder Years" on my computer. It was definitely a first for Christmas Eve. Now I'm awake and it's 6 in the morning...I guess no matter how old I get or how far I am away from home, the internal clock in my body will not let me sleep in for Christmas. Later today around 10 I'm heading to a church service and then off to Camille's house to eat Christmas dinner with their family.

Many Albanians celebrate Christmas but not all of them because a majority of the country is Muslim. However, the country celebrates Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox holidays, therefore we get breaks for all of them:) But seriously, New Year's is the big thing around here. There are "New Year's Trees" (which we would call Christmas trees, exactly the same) decorated on the streets and in houses. Everyone gets together on the 31st and 1st to celebrate with family, eating food and exchanging gifts. And apparently the sky is completely lit on fire with fireworks at midnight. I'm going to spend the 31st with Elvisa and family, then on the 1st, Ms. B is hosting me, Ikuko, a friend of Ikuko, and Huija for dinner, since her children are pretty far away and her husband has passed. It should be good for all of us to celebrate together, Ms. B will host the club of international students I guess.

So today should be both interesting and fun, though of course I'd rather be home with the family, eating my Dad's cookin' and watching college football. BUT there's no time to complain or sit around being homesick ....Merry Christmas y'all.

Entrepreneurship

2008-12-21T21:51:00.004+02:00

Today after breakfast Naja and I walked around town for a while because today, despite the cold temperatures, was a really nice day. We decided to walk through the huge outdoor market and we ended up on some of the streets where they sell second-hand furniture. This one couch in particular caught our attention because it looked so comfortable and when we inquired about the cost, it turned out that it was only 25 dollars. So while Naja was making small talk with the owner of the store, I wandered inside to discover many birds inside of cages. I asked one of the employees about the birds and he informed me that they were for sell as well. Naturally he then asked if I was looking to purchase a bird to which I kindly declined. But now I am fascinated at the fact that the same store that sells used couches also sells pet birds...neat.

Other notes from the market today:
1. One guy was selling wrist watches, socks and floppy disks.
2. It was extremely difficult to resist going to the fresh bakery shop and stuffing my face with the bread (bread in Albania has changed my life)
3. I purchased a brand-new pair of bright orange fuzzy slippers to wear around my house (pictures upon request....ha ha)

Today was a good day

Brains for Breakfast

2008-12-21T21:28:00.002+02:00

My friend Naja is always telling me that I have to join her for breakfast some day so today I finally did and we ventured to a small hole in the wall kafe/restorant (all of a sudden I'm forgetting how to spell things in English) where we joined a group of men who were smoking and drinking wine and whiskey at 9:30 in the morning. I've found that many times restorants only have men here in Albania, I guess the women are supposed to stay at home! Anyhow, Naja kept raving about this dish Paçe (pronounced Patchay...kinda), saying that Albanians love it for breakfast and that I had to try it. But then when we got to the restorant she says, "okay well I just realized that maybe you won't like the dish." I asked her why and then she said, "because it's basically brains." Hmmm, "who's brain?" was my first question!
Surprisingly, I loved it! The dish was kind of like this soup and we put some vinegar and peppers inside. I enjoyed dipping my toast inside and kind of scooping it, but perhaps that just the Mississippi girl in me who's used to scooping everything with biscuits or rolls.
One of the greatest things about breakfast this morning was that Naja and I ate Paçe, meat (which again, I don't know what kind they just called it "meat"), toast, hot tea and water for 5 dollars. Can we say, fabulous?

Really???

2008-12-20T18:18:00.003+02:00

The grocery store here in Tirana, Albania has Weight Watchers Milk! Yes that's right, Weight Watchers Milk. THIS BLOWS MY MINE AND UPSETS ME AT THE SAME TIME! On the one hand I think to myself, "wow, why on earth does this store (which it's called Conad, an Italian supermarket chain) sell Weight Watchers Milk here in Albania and who is buying it?" It's definitely something that makes me laugh. BUT...at the same time I am upset! So we can get Weight Watcher Milk but not Dr. Pepper? I don't understand...

The Cake for People with Black Skin

2008-12-16T00:27:00.004+02:00

Whenever I go to Elvisa's house her mom is always in the kitchen preparing some yummy dish. And EVERY SINGLE TIME she eventually emerges from the kitchen with food for me. Well one particular time her mom brought some creamy cake that appeared to have a lot of milk in it. Now as many of you know I'm lactose intolerant and so I require a Lactaid pill whenever I eat dairy (which Albanian food is basically killing me day by day with all its milk and cheese). Well on this occasion I had forgotten to reload my backpack with Lactaid so I was unable to eat the food. I explained this to Elvisa and her mom, which turned out not to be a problem because her mom just packaged it up for me to take back to my apartment.
The next time when I went to Elvisa's her mom had prepared a more simple (yet still delicious) cake with a few nuts and spices. And every time since then her mom has only prepared this cake for me, no other types of creamy or milky desserts.
Well a week ago my friend Celeste, another American who's teaching English here in Albania, was at Elvisa's and her mom had given some of the same cake to Celeste. Elvisa then told Celeste, "Chelsi likes this cake too because it's good for people with dark skin, like Chelsi." Naturally Celeste was both surprised and confused by this statement and asked Elvisa to explain what she meant. Elvisa went on to say that since Black people cannot have milk, since we have problems with it, we must only eat a certain kind of cake without milk...NICE!
This isn't the first time that someone has assumed that I am the typical model of Black people everywhere around the world, apparently, according to Elvisa and some of my other Albanian friends, we all have seasonal allergies and we all have trouble digesting bananas too!
Okay so maybe this post just makes me sound weird but ultimately I'm trying to address this issue of many Albanians assuming that I'm a representative of ALL Black people everywhere. I had to explain this to Elvisa tonight and you wouldn't believe the shock on her face when she realized that all Black people aren't the same...who would have thought?

G-Up Paqe Jeshile

2008-12-10T21:54:00.001+02:00

Hmmmm....

2008-12-10T21:47:00.005+02:00

Everyday when I walk home I pass by my friend B.C. who is always, always ready to speak to me about any and everything. He always asks about my day, about my family, about class, partly because those are some of the questions that I can properly answer in Albanian. But I absolutely love this guy because he gets so excited to see me, singing my name in this deep voice, "Chelllllssssiii, Chelsi is here," as though I get some kind of grand entrance or something.
Anyhow today B.C. informed me that I will have to meet his son, a rapper here in Albania. Now B.C. has no idea that I studied hip-hop here in Albania last summer, he just randomly suggested that I meet his son. "Sure" I said, "that can happen." Well later I asked Gersi about it and turns out they are friends and Gersi has directed me to a YouTube Video with B.C.'s son. I am posting it here for yall to take a look, feel free to tell me what yall think, the video will post above this message.
Nanny Garcia I think you may find this particularly interesting....

Seeing the World Through the Eyes of Language

2008-12-09T18:20:00.004+02:00

I knew that learning Albanian wouldn't be easy. It's not as though I came over here thinking that learning the language would be a piece of cake, I was totally aware that Albanian is ranked as one of the most difficult languages to learn, especially for native English speakers. But what I am learning now is that learning the language has to do with more than just trying to speak or pronounce words correctly, it also involves learning to see the world as Albanians do. I am now fully convinced that in order to properly speak a foreign language you have to undergo some literal shifts in your thought process. Examples:

1. You do not "bring" an umbrella to class, but rather you "take" an umbrella (or any other object for that matter). I was trying to make a sentence in class one day and this was an issue because in English I can say, "I need to bring my umbrella with me" but in Albanian the correct verb is not "to bring" but rather "to take."

2. People do not "know information", they "have it." Look at this sentence in Albanian: "kam informacion rreth qytetit" which means, "I have information about the city." But in class I tried to say, "E di informacion" which means, "I know information." But my professor made a face and said that people have information but they cannot know it, that does not make sense!

3. EVERYTHING has a gender, EVERY SINGLE THING! So as a result there is a different word for male dog and female dog (and so on). I asked my professor what would happen if we were riding in a car and saw a dog on the street, would I say qeni (male dog) or qenushe (female dog)? She said I would say "qeni." But why, I asked. How would we know the difference? She said that we can distinguish female dogs when they're in the house, maybe if they're wearing a pink collar or bow, or something like that. Or if they're surrounded by their puppies...other than that, we just refer to all dogs as qen until we know otherwise. I wanted to ask why this couldn't be the other way around, but I decided against that.
Don't be fooled, gender is not limited to living things, inanimate objects have genders as well!

4. The day cannot be busy. In a sentence, a person can be busy but not the day. So if I say, "Today was a busy day" that does not work. "Today I was busy"...that's more like it.

5. You don't go "to" work, you go "in" your work

6. There are completely different words for school pants, work pants, jogging pants, sleeping pants, etc. You can't just call all of them "pants."

7. And if you're ever going on a trip, you cannot say, "I have a trip tomorrow so I'm going home now to pack." If you do Albanians will look at you strangely and say, "pack what?" Then once you say "I have a trip tomorrow so I'm going home now to pack my clothes," then and only then will you be speaking clearly.

That's all for now but trust me, there are more to come.

Mississippi Food!

2008-12-09T18:05:00.002+02:00

I have two friends here Oret and Gersi and they coach futboll near my house. We've become friends because I literally walk by them everyday on my way home and naturally we just started to hang out. Oret's always asking me about the food we eat in Mississippi and said that he really wanted to try some, so finally last week I had them over for dinner. My friends Ikuko and Huija from class came, as well as Peter and Kim, my landlords (and probably the best landlords in the world). The menu? Well I've been experimenting a lot lately with different foods so I set out to prepare fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cornbread and sweetened tea. My father gave me cooking tips via Skype, and though I didn't have the exact seasonings that he uses, everything was okay.
I had to go to the pazaar to buy everything for the meal, I had to buy the chicken really fresh (I'm talking somebody killed it the day before and I bought the individual pieces which were hanging inside of a shop), and I bought fresh potatoes, veggies for the salad, and corn meal from a grocery store.
Huija and Ikuko came over a couple of hours early because they wanted to see how to prepare the food, and Huija especially wanted to learn from me. It sounds so odd because before coming here my cooking skills were pretty much limited to grilled cheese!
But alas the meal turned out really well! Everyone had a great time and ate all of the food! Albania's known for its amazing honey so we put that on the cornbread and Huija also brought some Chinese food from her family's restaurant, making it a hybrid meal! I actually found hot sauce at this itty bitty everything-you-need-store, which was fabulous for the chicken. We also had this amazing wine that Oret and Gersi brought from Italy, but I'm afraid it may have been contraband...oh well it was good!
That night was my first time to ever host a dinner, not just here in Tirana but I think in general. Or maybe I should say it was the first time that I hosted something in which I did the work and not just my parents throwing me a party or something! Oret and Gersi were so glad that they got the chance to eat some "Mississippi Food" as they are still calling it, though I wish I could have given them some greens, because that really would have made it good! If anyone knows how to get turnip or collard greens to me here, I'm all ears!
So overall I was very satisfied with the night and I think everyone had a good time, the only problem is that word has gotten out about the meal and now my other Albanian friends are wondering when I'm going to have them over to eat Mississippi food....

Thessaloniki

2008-12-03T00:24:00.006+02:00

Here are some pictures from Greece:

Some pictures like this came out really dark but I have to post them because it's a freakin' castle.

There was an entire museum inside of this Tower:

Inside St. Sophia Church:

This picture may not actually be from Greece, I took it on the side of the road while driving, so it could either be Albania, Macedonia or Greece. I love driving in the Balkans, what great things to look at while on the road!

There's No Place Like Home

2008-12-02T23:55:00.004+02:00

The oddest thing has happened to me...and I can't really explain it. You see I have now officially been out of the country longer than I ever have before (last summer I spent the majority of my time in Tanzania and Albania) and so I believe my mind is finally accepting the fact that this is not just another trip or vacation. However as a result, I think Albania is starting to grow on me, really grow on me.
This past weekend I went to Thessaloniki, Greece with Camille and her two daughters. She invited me to come along since there was a long holiday here in Albania and she offered to cover gas and stuff. Well it took me all of 5 seconds to agree to join them! It was my first time to Greece and I thought it'd be a cool way to conclude the holidays. Not to mention a break from the intense day-to-day action of Tirana!
Some of the oddest things happened while we were there though. For instance after taking our bags to the hotel room we asked our receptionist for a recommendation of somewhere good to eat and he said, "well you can go to Applebees or Pizza Hut." For a second I thought he was kidding but NO this guy was serious! I couldn't stop laughing about it. Thankfully we talked to some locals and ate some good Greek food throughout the weekend, but yeah there was definitely a Pizza Hut and an Applebees.
We saw archaeological sights and went to several museums. But what stood out the most to me was church architecture - man the churches there were breathtaking. Tourists are not allowed to take pictures in many of them, I'm posting the few that I have but they don't even begin to do justice. While in the city I thought to myself, "wow, I'm in a place that's mentioned in the Bible." I thought that was cool and added to my interest in the churches.
I also met lots and lots of African immigrants, particularly from Nigeria. At first I was caught off guard when I saw Black people working places and walking on the street, or coming up and speaking to me because as I've gotten so used to not seeing many other Blacks here in Albania.
I have a confession as well...I went to Starbucks! Okay phew, glad I got that out of my system, call me a typical American traveler, but oh when I saw it I just had to have it, okay, I can't even talk about it anymore...
To get back to the original context though...about midday Sunday I made the oddest statement. I said to Camille, "This place is nice but I'm ready to go home to Tirana." And then I thought, wait, Tirana's not home...or is it? Well the answer seems to be that yes, it is becoming home. Turns out that I wasn't the only one missing home, so was Camille. She even made the comment, "I miss Albanian drivers." I wouldn't dare go so far as to say that!
It's true though, we missed the everyday life here, the smiling people who say the craziest things, the fact that even near a border crossing in the middle of nowhere, Albania ALWAYS has a cafe where you can use the restroom, or the fact that you never meet a stranger, we missed home, I missed home!
So overall the trip was great, I enjoyed myself, but now I'm glad to be back in my smoggy city where everyone honks their horns, no one crosses the street properly, time is spent in cafes all day and people will grab you on the street, hug you and proclaim, "Barack Obama, very good man!"
Home Sweet Home

Ditë e Falinderimeve

2008-12-02T23:32:00.006+02:00

Turkey Day was great here in Albania. I realize that this post is a few days late but I've been running around all over the place. The only important thing that you all need to know is that Dave and I successfully made my Dad's cornbread dressing and it was actually edible. In fact people gave many comments about it, though they could've been lying to me to make me feel good, but hey that's okay too! I thought the dressing was fabulous but of course it paled in comparison to the extravagant and magnificent cooking of Dave Scott, who cooked a wonderful Thanksgiving Day meal. He even made sweet potato casserole, which literally made my day. Because Cindy and Dave are such great people they hosted about 14 of us that day, including Ms. B who got the chance to celebrate her first Ditë e Falimderive, which is how you say Thanksgiving in Albanian.
I'm posting some pictures now for you all to enjoy.

Ms. B and me

Everyone!!!

What's Thanksgiving without Sweetened Tea (my Dad makes me write "Sweetened" and not "Sweet" Tea)

Above on this plate you can see turkey and dressing, Dave's famous five bean baked beans, homemade applesauce (which I'm in love with), the infamous sweet potato casserole, and then this Italian meat dish that I actually don't remember the name of. And also Dave made some bread from scratch, this was only round one for me.

And yes, pictured above is my greatest accomplishment, the cornbread dressing. Below is what it looked like later:

Pressure

2008-11-27T04:32:00.003+02:00

Okay I realize that some of you may make fun of me for this post but I feel that it is something I must write about. My international organizations course meets every Thursday afternoon but this Thursday is Thanksgiving and so I informed my professor that I would not be attending class. He's spent some time studying in the States and so he completely understood, but since this week was midterm week, he told me that I would need to take the exam early. He suggested that I sit in on his Tuesday evening course because those students would also be taking a test and I could take mine early.

So I arrived to campus on Tuesday evening only to discover that many students from my international organizations course were in this other class as well. They all wanted to sit close to me so that they could see the test questions (the test that they will be taking on Thursday). One of the girls even came up to me and instructed me to write down the questions from the test and give them to her afterwards. At first I smiled and laughed but then she said, "oh no, I'm serious."

When Ilir, my professor, handed me the exam he said, "Chelsi, please be sure to cover your work and do not tell the other students about the test. Even as he was talking to me I could feel the other students staring at me, and I begin to feel the pressure. As someone who wants to become a professor someday, I would never cheat on an exam. I hold students to high standards and expect everyone to study hard and earn their grades. This perspective though, is largely shaped by my idealism and optimism. In the real world people cheat all of the time and many of my classmates expect me to "help them out" or to "give them a hand" when they're struggling. In fact many of them responded to me as if to say, "why wouldn't you help us, what's the big deal?"

Though I had the test in my possession, I thought about this for five or ten minutes. I didn't contemplate cheating, just tried to reason how I would get out of this awkward situation. My solution? I wrote as fast as I could, I mean I didn't really check my work, I just wrote, wrote, wrote, in hopes of beating anyone else and racing home to the other side of town. After all, I already have my bachelor's degree and these classes don't mean all that much (I apologize if this offended anyone...Mike or Julian).

But seriously, I've been thinking a lot about this over the past couple of days. It was clear that many of the other Albanian students were cheating during the other test and helping each other out. They expected me to do the same. In no way did I consider myself superior to these students or better than anyone else, I just couldn't cheat. I mean we've even signed an honor code, swearing that we wouldn't do such a thing, but from the looks of it, only a few were actually abiding by that code.

What does that code mean anyway though? What does it matter if I abide by it and others don't? Are my actions and the actions of the other students just a reflection of our cultural and societal values? Who can really say what was the "right" thing to do in the situation, because though many would consider cheating "wrong," these Albanian students are trying to get ahead, to get degrees, and maybe sometimes they need a little help? But would me giving them answers help at all? Would the situation have been any different or the same anywhere else? Is it even a big deal at all?

These are the questions running through my mind. I welcome your response?

I'm pretty sure differences will always exist

2008-11-22T23:49:00.004+02:00

Last summer I researched hip-hop music performance in Tanzania and Albania. My thesis addressed numerous questions and issues, but my central focus dealt globalization, and whether or not our world was experiencing a more homogeneous performance of hip-hop, or if global and local practices were fusing together and producing a more heterogeneous hip-hop scene. I know that's a lot of wording, but basically in today's age many people feel that the world is just becoming the same place, that with advances in technology and more communication, it seems that societies are no longer as culturally distinct as they once were. I think about this pretty much everyday here in Albania and after my recent class field trip to get lunch, I felt moved to blog about it.

Albania, I believe, is the only European country without a McDonald's but who needs McDonald's when you've got Kolonat. While I have no idea what Kolonat stands for or who Kolonat is/was, this fast food restaurant has everything from the golden slants to the Big Mec. If you've noticed I changed my blogger picture to one with the Kolonat bag. Though the name is different it seemed at first that almost everything about this place reminded me of McDonald's, except for the fact that customers can order beer with a combo meal, which is not called a "combo" but rather a "menu." Upon first inspection though, one might assume that this place is just another effect of globalization and increasing homogeneity everywhere until you see something like this:

That's right the girl behind the counter wrapped my drink in a bag. I tried to stop her and tell her that I could just hold it but I was so intrigued that I just let her continue. Then I took a picture.

So I know that many of you want to know what the food tasted like...well unfortunately I wasn't brave enough to try the Big Mec so I just ate some pizza (another thing McDonald's in the U.S. doesn't have) and french fries. And of course my Sprite that was wrapped in a plastic bag!

Oatmeal

2008-11-21T15:26:00.002+02:00

It's always been one of my favorite things to eat. When I was younger I rode the bus to elementary and middle school, and often times this required me to wake up as early as 5:45 in the morning to catch a 6:20 bus (my schools were weird and the bus rides were long). In an effort to make sure that I did not go to school hungry my mother always got up shortly before I would leave to prepare me a quick breakfast. For the most part this would include one of three things: oatmeal, grits or biscuits. I know that some of you may think, "how exactly did I my mother prepare oatmeal for me on a school bus?" Well simple, she would just pour the oatmeal in Styrofoam cups and then cover them with foil, then give me a couple of plastic spoons. All of this she would put in a Wal-Mart bag and of course she always included enough for my friend Micki as well.
So imagine my surprise when I was at a really small fruit and nuts market the other day and came across oatmeal on one of the shelves. I mean I was truly in heaven - I'm afraid I won't be able to find biscuits or grits anywhere here in Albania. But as for oatmeal, I mean to find that here just made my day. Naturally I did the likely thing once I found it: I began to make it for breakfast in the morning. For some reason though, no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to wake up an extra ten minutes early so that I have enough time to eat the oatmeal before leaving the house. Considering this coupled with the fact that I've always eaten oatmeal on the go, and plus my mom sent me over here with Glad Tupperware from the U.S., I decided to just take the oatmeal with me to class. I soon learned however just how odd of an experience this was for everyone around me.
For one thing, no one else in the class had ever seen oatmeal. Ikuko said she had heard about it but the dish was foreign to all of them. Now I have seen several Albanian students eating snacks around the campus, stuffed croissants with chocolate inside, or bags of chips, or candy bars, things like that. So I assumed that it would be no problem to just eat whatever I wanted in class as long as I wasn't loud. But ummmmm....no! Everyone watched me as I took out my spoon and before I ate my first bite they had to say, "Ju bufe te mire" which when translated basically means, "Bon Appetit." Then when I finished everyone wanted to know if it was good or not and if I was satisfied. I thought it was a weird experience but assumed they had those reactions simply because it was the first time I'd eaten something in class. Besides Huija eats bread and crackers all of the time and no one makes a big deal about it. So I decided to try the oatmeal again but still got the same reaction. I'm not exactly sure why. Today I ate yogurt in class and it did not warrant a single response...there must be something about oatmeal!

So How Did It All Turn Out?

2008-11-16T20:57:00.007+02:00

Well the last video that you all saw involved attempts to wash all of the relaxer out of my hair. Fortunately, four rinses and shampoos later, we were successful at getting everything out. We had a slight emergency though because the comb we used to do the relaxer still had chemicals on it that wouldn't come out and Mindy didn't have a comb, but as always Cindy came to my rescue (with the aid of her daughter Taylor)! A process that takes about 30 minutes at home took Mindy and I about 2 and half hours!
Since then I've been to the Albanian hair salon where my new found beautician, Alona, gave me my first "wash and set" here in Albania. Though she did not part my hair, oil my scalp or have any oil sheen, I'd say that the style turned out very well. I received numerous comments about my hair at the Marine Ball last night and though it's very frizzy now (from all of the dancing and then rain today), I'd say that everything turned out A okay - THANK GOD!
Below is a picture of me from last night and also a picture of me with Mindy, who has now found a calling relaxing hair!

Washing it all out

2008-11-16T20:57:00.001+02:00

Time is running out

2008-11-15T17:11:00.001+02:00