We are down to 2 weeks left in country and the goodbye fests have begun. There is a joke here that in America it is work, work and sleep, in Europe it is work, sleep and fun, in Albania it is fun, fun, fun. They definitely like to have their fests. These events usually involve… Continue reading 2 Weeks Remaining
It has been amazing to see the changes in Durrës over the past two years. When we mention to residents that things are changing quickly, they don’t believe us and so we start listing the changes we have seen. This of course just leads to the conversation of
In 2007, the United Nations released a report “The Wealth of Nations” in which economists tried to account for the wealth of a nation or economy. What they discovered is that for wealthy nations, over 50% of its wealth is comprised in its institutions – courts, legal system, education system and political system. These systems… Continue reading Value of Civil Society
On March 15, 2008 at approximately 12:15pm, there was an accident at a munitions depot in Gerdec which was destroying old ammunition. This accident resulted in a series of explosions – the largest registering 2.5 on the rector scale was heard and felt 20 km away. The number of dead and the extent of property… Continue reading Tragedy in Gerdec
As Carol continues her exemplary service at the Durrës library, she is continually surprised by reactions from the patrons. Just the other day, a woman came in and Carol was at the front desk by herself. The woman wanted to open a new library card. The conversation went like this, except in Albanian:
Tepelena is a small town south of Durrës which produces bottled water. This water has been approved for distribution into the European Union marketplace and is a good product of Albania. But we not writing to tell you Albania can bottle water to EU standards. No, if you look at the label below, circled in… Continue reading Suffled how it gush
Saturday noon, we were sitting outside with an Albanian friend and we heard the distant boom and felt the concussion, but did not give it much of a thought, just figured it was some construction work. About 30 minutes later we start getting phone calls from Peace Corps asking if we were ok, they had… Continue reading Munitions Depot Explosion
Seeing half a glass of water…… Some people say the glass is half empty Some people say the glass is half full A Peace Corps Volunteer looks at it and says … That’s a bath!
Can you believe it has been over 2 years since Criss & Carol left the US for Albania? Can you believe NONE of you have crossed the pond to bring us tortilla chips or cheddar cheese? (We have had 3 come for a visit and we really appreciated that!) Well, here is one last opportunity.… Continue reading Albania – Last Chance!
We have tired on several occasions to describe the transportation here, but a verbal description just does not capture the experience and so it has been delayed and delayed. But what would a blog on Albania be without discussing the furgons? We must try. What is a furgon?