I couldn’t be more pleased with my new post. I am absolutely thrilled with the country, the people and the program in my new home in the Balkans and am looking forward to an interesting and productive couple of years here.
We’ve been here for about 2 weeks now and I have no complaints. Our training is as promised: some language, a bit of administrative stuff, and the rest is up to us. We’ve spent a lot of our time here travelling around to see what other volunteers are working on, visit workplaces and conferences and getting some hands-on experience. A lot of the traditional Peace Corps Pre-Service Training (PST) is classroom based discussing development in abstract so this has been a refreshingly nice change of pace from our Georgia instruction. The language is coming along well enough; I think most of us are a little anxious about going to work with 5 weeks of language but we’re getting tutors once we get to site and no one is interested in stretching out our mini-PST any longer than we have to.
The staff has been wonderful to us here. Even from the little we’ve seen of the transfer process we know what a monumental pain it is to bring in new volunteers outside of the regular cycle. Despite this PC:A has managed to design a new, abbreviated language curriculum for our needs, bring us up to speed on the Albania post’s idiosyncrasies and identify and organize permanent sites for us. Our program managers have been running around the country for the last 2 weeks meeting with municipalities, NGO leaders and school directors finding placements for us.
We’re staying in the capital for 5 weeks right now to simplify our logistics and have been having a great time. Albania, and especially the capital, has some long missed amenities that we’ve gotten to indulge in by virtue of being held over in Tirana for a little over a month. (They have Buffalo wings here!!!!!) We’ve gotten the scoop on most of the highlights here by the current volunteers who have also been awesome to us while we transition into their post. Not to brag but, within walking distance of where we’re staying is a good Indian restaurant, a couple of ex-pat hang outs and at least one Karaoke bar. The entire country is, obviously, not as lavishly equipped as the capital but most places in Albania are better off than towns of equivalent size in Georgia.
The host country nationals here have been as warm and welcoming to us as any could be; Albania is one of the last places on earth still holding the U.S. in high regard (after the conflict in Georgia the U.S. is now in questionable stead there, as is most of the west) and it shows in our daily encounters with the locals. There are American flags everywhere and people are eager to learn about the U.S. and practice their English with its citizens.
We’re also blessed with the fringe benefit of good location here; Albania is not only a beautiful country but has some attractive looking neighbors too. Italy and Greece are popular weekend destinations for volunteers and just about everywhere else in Europe is easily accessible from our new home. This adds an extra benefit for me. Most of you know my dad’s side of the family is from the Balkans and I’ve got the unique opportunity now that I’m “in the neighborhood” to go visit some distant relatives and see the countries we came from. I took some Serbo-Croatian (BCS) in college and my cousin provided me with some travel tips for the region complete with the village where my grandfather grew up. I’m hoping to travel sometime next summer.
Some people had some concerns about me joining Peace Corps Albania: I’m not going to discuss them here except to say that they were unjustified.
I’m happy to be in my new host country and to get to keep my position as a Peace Corps Volunteer. A lot of you know what it means to me to call myself a PCV and I’m grateful to all the people who made the transfer happen. After a long, exciting summer first in Georgia and then in Armenia I think all the transferees are looking forward to a wonderful couple of years here in which we can enjoy a nice, quiet service and, hopefully, prove we were worth all the trouble.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Transfer
Transfers were supposed to be a real long shot for the evacuees from Georgia: the way staff pitched them to us was as “stars having to align” and posts being reluctant to take in new volunteers mid-stream. You can imagine our surprise, on our first conference call with Peace Corps Albania’s Country Director and Program Director, the staff was not only willing to take us but was enthusiastic! Hill, the CD (and my hero), told us that; if we were interested, we were in. We were shocked. We showed up at the conference call with 6 interested volunteers, expecting a competitive fight for scarce spots, and Albania asked us if we could get them 12.
We had sworn in as volunteers at this point already so we were, according to Albania staff, entitled to be treated as such. This might have been the most exciting part for us; a couple of other country posts had already agreed to take volunteers but with the caveat that the transferees join the Pre-Service Training (PST) classes about to begin. In the case of Ukraine this was 12 weeks of language and technical training in addition to the 10 week PST we had completed for our Georgia post. Albania wanted us to do a few weeks (it turned out to be 5) of language acquisition so we knew a little Shqip (Albanian) but how much else we wanted to during our abbreviated introduction to Albania was largely up to us. This was the big selling point for me.
There was a caveat to the offer though: they were willing to take a higher maximum of volunteers than any of the other countries but there was a minimum too. To justify the expense of having us moved to the post we needed at least 6 volunteers to sign on. Keep in mind no one had really made up their mind at this point. There were 6 that expressed interest in Albania but the conference call was the initial meeting. The option to go home is always on the table in Peace Corps; we serve at our discretion and can ask for a plane ticket home at any time. After what happened in the month preceding this no one would blame anyone for wanting out. Frankly, after sitting around doing nothing in Armenia for 3 weeks Peace Corps had lost of its “magic” for us too.
The truly interested left the conference room and started spreading the word as soon as the call ended. We probably pitched Albania to all 80 of the volunteers staying with us. We were the victims of bad timing too because, the same night we got a green light from PC:A, logistics starting finally coming through for tickets home. We had been sitting around for 3 weeks with agonizing little information about our fate and, in one night, we were presented with the choice between a new post and a ticket home.
I talked up the country as hard as I’ve pitched anything in my life. One small stroke of luck was that everyone was up late and gathered together to hang out that night. The unfortunate part was that people were up late to celebrate going home in most cases…We lucked out and found some converts by the end of the night. There ended up being 8 of us going but I want to write about one here. Stephanie Yingling is our agro-business expert and she caught my Albanian pitch on the way to confirm her travel plans with the staff. She actually had a ticket home in hand and turned it down to come with us. Hopefully her family in the states, who she had told she was on her way, won’t hold it against me. And, perhaps more importantly, she won’t hate her assignment in 6 months and come strangle me for talking her into this. Pennsylvania’s not that great anyway…right?
We met again with the PC:A staff the next day and presented the second crop of potential transferees. After a few more rounds of questions by our newly interested volunteers (and the confirmation of a few promises I had made to said volunteers, thank god!) it looked like we had our Albania group. We signed up with 3 English teachers, 2 Health volunteers and 3 Community Development consultants. Everyone came away from the talks with staff excited which was a nice change from the catatonic state the boredom in Armenia had left most of us in. Albania’s staff seemed genuinely enthused about taking us in which was what seemed to be what won people over in the end. It’s a nice thing to be wanted.
So, we’ve made it here now and are well into our “bridge to service” as its being called. The country is beautiful and the people are hospitable. The staff has proven to be just as welcoming as they sounded on the phone and we can’t express our appreciation enough for the hard work they’re doing to put us into the mix. They didn’t have any more notice than we did that this was really going to happen so it’s very impressive they were able to arrange teachers, trainings and sites for us in the span of a couple of weeks. They also had the good sense to take us to the beach our second day here which should keep the “converts”, those volunteers we talked into coming, from regretting the decision.
Hopefully, at the least, until I can get out of strangling range. :)
We had sworn in as volunteers at this point already so we were, according to Albania staff, entitled to be treated as such. This might have been the most exciting part for us; a couple of other country posts had already agreed to take volunteers but with the caveat that the transferees join the Pre-Service Training (PST) classes about to begin. In the case of Ukraine this was 12 weeks of language and technical training in addition to the 10 week PST we had completed for our Georgia post. Albania wanted us to do a few weeks (it turned out to be 5) of language acquisition so we knew a little Shqip (Albanian) but how much else we wanted to during our abbreviated introduction to Albania was largely up to us. This was the big selling point for me.
There was a caveat to the offer though: they were willing to take a higher maximum of volunteers than any of the other countries but there was a minimum too. To justify the expense of having us moved to the post we needed at least 6 volunteers to sign on. Keep in mind no one had really made up their mind at this point. There were 6 that expressed interest in Albania but the conference call was the initial meeting. The option to go home is always on the table in Peace Corps; we serve at our discretion and can ask for a plane ticket home at any time. After what happened in the month preceding this no one would blame anyone for wanting out. Frankly, after sitting around doing nothing in Armenia for 3 weeks Peace Corps had lost of its “magic” for us too.
The truly interested left the conference room and started spreading the word as soon as the call ended. We probably pitched Albania to all 80 of the volunteers staying with us. We were the victims of bad timing too because, the same night we got a green light from PC:A, logistics starting finally coming through for tickets home. We had been sitting around for 3 weeks with agonizing little information about our fate and, in one night, we were presented with the choice between a new post and a ticket home.
I talked up the country as hard as I’ve pitched anything in my life. One small stroke of luck was that everyone was up late and gathered together to hang out that night. The unfortunate part was that people were up late to celebrate going home in most cases…We lucked out and found some converts by the end of the night. There ended up being 8 of us going but I want to write about one here. Stephanie Yingling is our agro-business expert and she caught my Albanian pitch on the way to confirm her travel plans with the staff. She actually had a ticket home in hand and turned it down to come with us. Hopefully her family in the states, who she had told she was on her way, won’t hold it against me. And, perhaps more importantly, she won’t hate her assignment in 6 months and come strangle me for talking her into this. Pennsylvania’s not that great anyway…right?
We met again with the PC:A staff the next day and presented the second crop of potential transferees. After a few more rounds of questions by our newly interested volunteers (and the confirmation of a few promises I had made to said volunteers, thank god!) it looked like we had our Albania group. We signed up with 3 English teachers, 2 Health volunteers and 3 Community Development consultants. Everyone came away from the talks with staff excited which was a nice change from the catatonic state the boredom in Armenia had left most of us in. Albania’s staff seemed genuinely enthused about taking us in which was what seemed to be what won people over in the end. It’s a nice thing to be wanted.
So, we’ve made it here now and are well into our “bridge to service” as its being called. The country is beautiful and the people are hospitable. The staff has proven to be just as welcoming as they sounded on the phone and we can’t express our appreciation enough for the hard work they’re doing to put us into the mix. They didn’t have any more notice than we did that this was really going to happen so it’s very impressive they were able to arrange teachers, trainings and sites for us in the span of a couple of weeks. They also had the good sense to take us to the beach our second day here which should keep the “converts”, those volunteers we talked into coming, from regretting the decision.
Hopefully, at the least, until I can get out of strangling range. :)
Backlog
Ok, I know I’ve been bad about updating the blog since the evacuation. In Georgia I had nothing but time to write most days so I was a little more productive there. I also needed the blog posts to organize my thoughts. After a month in Armenia my brains have effectively turned to mush so there weren’t many thoughts to organize. Plus I had a lot of other volunteers as an outlet there, as I do here, so I was able to discuss things with other people that might otherwise have been recorded in my journal/blog.
After some loving rebukes though, I’m back at it. I’m in Albania now serving with the Peace Corps post here and I’ve got plenty of updates about the transfer, my time so far in PC:Albania and the second chance I’m getting with Katie (we decided to give it another shot). I’ve also got some back posts from Georgia that were recovered when my laptop was retrieved from my training site, I’ll be putting those up to as well.
Enjoy.
After some loving rebukes though, I’m back at it. I’m in Albania now serving with the Peace Corps post here and I’ve got plenty of updates about the transfer, my time so far in PC:Albania and the second chance I’m getting with Katie (we decided to give it another shot). I’ve also got some back posts from Georgia that were recovered when my laptop was retrieved from my training site, I’ll be putting those up to as well.
Enjoy.
Georgia Back Log:I don't know who was more surprised...
On Sunday my cluster mate Casey and I were preparing for our mid-training language assessment and freaking out a bit about it (at least I was). My host grandfather came into the room excited about something, when we came downstairs we found a couple of bicyclists in the backyard. The man was from South Africa and the woman from the Netherlands and we were all a little shocked. They were riding from Turkey to Azerbaijan and were passing through Georgia. My grandfather found them at the highway and invited them over for lunch.
Having 4 foreigners from 3 continents over for lunch is pretty rare in my little village so my host family really did it up. We sat down with the couple (who spoke no Georgian) and my host grandparents (who spoke no English) to a fabulous meal and proceeded to translate back and forth.
I’m surprised at how well the conversation went. In part because I lucked out having Casey with me because he happens to be the trainee who happens to know every food item in Georgian so we could explain to our guests what they were eating. In general though, we didn’t have a lot of trouble going back and forth. It’s amazing what you pick up in just 5 weeks of language but, at the same time, it wasn’t a very complicated dialogue. The couple complemented the food and offered their thanks; my host grandparents welcomed them and served the food and wine. Casey and I explained all the toasts my grandfather made (to our guests, to the family, to peace; usual stuff) and communicated the couple’s gratitude. Our biggest task was interdicting the refills of their homemade vodka (“chacha”, awful stuff) and thinking up excuses to explain to my host grandfather why they couldn’t drink.
After a successful lunch my grandparents held an impromptu demonstration of Georgian folk dancing which they persuaded all of us to join in on. Casey and I wrote up a cheat sheet of Georgian phrases to get them through the rest of the country, explained a few cultural points and gave the couple the name of a good hotel in Gori. After a few pictures we said our goodbyes and they continued on. Peace Corps is one of the few jobs where you can come from America, work in Asia, have a woman from Europe and a man from Africa over for lunch and get really loaded with your grandparents while technically being on duty. We blew off studying for the rest of the day but felt pretty prepared for our language assessment all the same.
[Supplemental: Casey and I did fine on the test, I score in the top group.]
Having 4 foreigners from 3 continents over for lunch is pretty rare in my little village so my host family really did it up. We sat down with the couple (who spoke no Georgian) and my host grandparents (who spoke no English) to a fabulous meal and proceeded to translate back and forth.
I’m surprised at how well the conversation went. In part because I lucked out having Casey with me because he happens to be the trainee who happens to know every food item in Georgian so we could explain to our guests what they were eating. In general though, we didn’t have a lot of trouble going back and forth. It’s amazing what you pick up in just 5 weeks of language but, at the same time, it wasn’t a very complicated dialogue. The couple complemented the food and offered their thanks; my host grandparents welcomed them and served the food and wine. Casey and I explained all the toasts my grandfather made (to our guests, to the family, to peace; usual stuff) and communicated the couple’s gratitude. Our biggest task was interdicting the refills of their homemade vodka (“chacha”, awful stuff) and thinking up excuses to explain to my host grandfather why they couldn’t drink.
After a successful lunch my grandparents held an impromptu demonstration of Georgian folk dancing which they persuaded all of us to join in on. Casey and I wrote up a cheat sheet of Georgian phrases to get them through the rest of the country, explained a few cultural points and gave the couple the name of a good hotel in Gori. After a few pictures we said our goodbyes and they continued on. Peace Corps is one of the few jobs where you can come from America, work in Asia, have a woman from Europe and a man from Africa over for lunch and get really loaded with your grandparents while technically being on duty. We blew off studying for the rest of the day but felt pretty prepared for our language assessment all the same.
[Supplemental: Casey and I did fine on the test, I score in the top group.]
Georgia Back Log: Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice showed up in Georgia this week and Peace Corps got a chance to crash the press conference. Most of us volunteered; it’s not everyday that you get to meet a cabinet member and it didn’t hurt that it was a day out of language class.
Secretary Rice is in the country to talk with Georgia’s government over the increasing tensions with Russia but made time for a quick meet and greet with embassy staff, AID workers and us. There was a short speech about the importance of our alliance with Georgia and the future of the region (I’ve got it on video if anyone’s interested) and afterwards she came out to shake our hands. The press conference was nice but I think I was happier about the fringe benefits of a free trip to the capital than the sound bites. I hadn’t had a doughnut since leaving the U.S. and there were huge trays of them waiting for us when we showed up at the Tbilisi Hilton where Secretary Rice was speaking. It sounds like a small thing but right at that moment, it was pretty awesome. 50 Peace Corps volunteers beat out embassy staff, some Marine Corps officers and pretty much all of US AID to raid the continental breakfast the hotel had set out and not a one of us feel bad about it.
AFTER the speech is when the real perk came. When were in America we couldn’t have cared less about McDonalds but, once in Georgia, it might as well have been the American Embassy. Cultural imperialism has its critics but, after living in a village in rural Asia for 6 weeks, the golden arches looked pretty good. We spent (lets just say longer than we were supposed to) getting cheeseburgers and milkshakes before heading back home.
There was one extra bonus: when the Secretary was done the embassy staff let us play on her podium with the official Department of State seal on the front. We all took pictures of us playing Secretary of State and generally looking like children in front of the American expatriate community. Good day all around.
Secretary Rice is in the country to talk with Georgia’s government over the increasing tensions with Russia but made time for a quick meet and greet with embassy staff, AID workers and us. There was a short speech about the importance of our alliance with Georgia and the future of the region (I’ve got it on video if anyone’s interested) and afterwards she came out to shake our hands. The press conference was nice but I think I was happier about the fringe benefits of a free trip to the capital than the sound bites. I hadn’t had a doughnut since leaving the U.S. and there were huge trays of them waiting for us when we showed up at the Tbilisi Hilton where Secretary Rice was speaking. It sounds like a small thing but right at that moment, it was pretty awesome. 50 Peace Corps volunteers beat out embassy staff, some Marine Corps officers and pretty much all of US AID to raid the continental breakfast the hotel had set out and not a one of us feel bad about it.
AFTER the speech is when the real perk came. When were in America we couldn’t have cared less about McDonalds but, once in Georgia, it might as well have been the American Embassy. Cultural imperialism has its critics but, after living in a village in rural Asia for 6 weeks, the golden arches looked pretty good. We spent (lets just say longer than we were supposed to) getting cheeseburgers and milkshakes before heading back home.
There was one extra bonus: when the Secretary was done the embassy staff let us play on her podium with the official Department of State seal on the front. We all took pictures of us playing Secretary of State and generally looking like children in front of the American expatriate community. Good day all around.
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