Last night, Friday, we received our permanent post assignments.  We will be going to Durres, the 2nd largest city in Albania, located on the central coast of the Adriatic Sea.  Criss will be working for the Archaeological Museum on a computer project and Carol will be working for a Women’s Center, an NGO that works to promote the rights of and deliver services to minority women in and around Durres.  Both of our counterparts speak English, THANK GOODNESS!!We are both excited about the placement and are looking forward to starting.  We have two more months in Peqin before we go and during the remainder of our stay, we will focus on building our community development skills, improving our understanding of the culture and of course, polishing our severely limited language skills.

Durres was originally settled around 625 BC and has played a critical role in Albanian history.  The Ignatian Road connected Istanbul to Rome, traversing Macedonia and central Albania with Durres being  the port city that connected to Italy.  It currently has a population of 300,000 and is about 20 minutes from the airport.  Durres continues to operate ferries serving Italy.  It is an Albanian vacation destination and will be a great place to host our visitors from the States. 

Criss will be working on a larger computer project to create a digital catalog of the museums holdings.  This is expected to be a multi-year project and is in the design phase.  From a language standpoint, this is great as most computer terms are just adopted from English and so he should be able to talk about his work and be speaking Albanian.

Carol will be working with the program director, visiting the surrounding areas, delivering services such as English classes and leadership training, and of course helping in the office with grant writing and women’s rights advocacy projects.

Finally, the best news is that internet access should be much more reliable!  We’re posting this from an internet cafe in Elbasan, but we’ve heard a rumor that a cafe in Peqin may soon be getting high speed access.  Keep your finger crossed as we’re not scheduled to be back in Elbasan for a week or so.  We miss not hearing the news on a regular basis, and haven’t found an English newspaper yet.  And of course, we miss hearing from you, so keep those emails coming!  Be sure to check the photo gallery as Criss posted many pictures the other day, not all taken by us, but great photos none the less.

 Hope all is well with you — start making those summer vacation plans!