Albania

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.