For those of you on the East Coast who are reading this, I am glad that you have survived the combined assault of the earthquake and hurricane.
Things here have been intense as well. As school approaches, stress levels are rising and feelings of being overwhelmed are surfacing. There are so many things that continue to arise as road blocks to progress. The Albanian culture can cause an efficiency shock when trying to get objectives accomplished. Nothing can be taken for granted and supplies are either not available or time consuming and expensive to acquire. With a limited budget, Mrs. Shahini and staff are struggling to gather everything needed to start a quality school.
One specific area of frustration has been with getting hold of the school licence from the government. For several weeks, we have been told that all the qualifications are met and that the we can pick up the license soon...we have yet to do so. Two weeks ago all the teachers went with Dini and Klementina to Tirana in order to check the status of our license and perhaps nudge the process along by stuffing several Americans into the small office of the official who was overseeing the process to ask how it was going. After this, we were told that the final details would be taken care of and it would be ready by the end of the week. After several more visits to the Department of education by Dini, we still do not have the document. We found out last week that the only thing remaining was a signature from the Vice Minister of Education during the weekly meeting...apparently like many other Albanian officials, he is on vacation. While he may be back this Wednesday (31) it is more likely he will not be able to sign the license until September 7th, the day after we had planned to start school. We have decided not to take any chances and push the start of school back a week to September 13th. However, this development has its advantages. We will be starting school on the same day that public schools here do, but--more importantly--we now have more time to organize everything we need for the start of school. The popular opinion around here was that we could have used more time to acquire supplies and plan for classes...now we have it.
Going back to the trip to Tirana, besides showing our presence at the Ministry of Education, many things were accomplished. We got to eat at a Christian American restaurant which meant burgers, fries, and ketchup. It was great...and while some of the girls stomachs were overwhelmed by this reminder of the big American lifestlyle, I showed no displeasure in finishing what they could not. We also found an educational supplies store and purchased two whiteboards and bulletin boards. We also found the correct size of fluorescent lights that my classroom was missing. Later in the week we hung the whiteboard and the lights in my room, which allowed me to finally finish the exhaustive process of hanging flags on the ceiling. Apart from the LCD projector that will be installed, my room is finally complete...and I must say it looks good.
The past few weeks have seen some changes in personnel as the last two teachers, Milt and Ann Troyer arrived two weeks ago. This couple from Ohio are some of the nicest people you will meet and they have something new around here...real experience in education. Milt has worked in administration and Ann has been an elementary teacher. They have traveled many times before and worked for three years in Tanzania teaching English. Along with helping out in preparing the school, they will be the leaders for the English evening classes. Anyway, after they arrived we had to quickly take advantage of having all the teachers present by taking pictures. This process was rushed because David would be leaving early the next morning. That night we also went to a concert in the city square and were surprisingly invited into an exclusive cocktail party with the Mayor and some other officials. After listening to some speeches, we took advantage of the high class free food. Apparently, at some point we were caught on camera and news of our presence made news throughout Albania. No one ever mentioned it again to me, so it was most likely minor news...but hey, we made the news. In the middle of the night I said goodbye to David and was left to an apartment on my own.
The weekend before the arrival of the Troyers, the whole group of us decided to hike up to the castle on the hill above the city. As a history person, I always love visiting historic sights especially when they involve possible past battle locations. Naturally it did not take me long to start dominating the landscape by climbing the ramparts and structures to get sweet views of the castle and the city below while feeding my adventuresome spirit. It is always interesting to standing in the ruins of the past, while modern civilization is continuing on around you. Also, Dini and I likely played the first golf that has ever been played within those castle walls. After chipping and around and giving the girls some lessons, we drove a couple balls out over the mountainside below...on the side away from the houses.
On the way down from the castle, I stumbled upon a fig tree that had been neglected and found some amazing soft figs. I mention this because since that point I have increased my fruit consumption because it is so good. I usually buy a few soft figs to eat at the produce stand and then take home peaches, nectarines, and grapes. Although more expensive then the vegetables, the fruit is still cheap and a fulfills the need for sweets. Last night, Jessica finally found out how to at least turn on oven in their apartment and baked a thrown together cake, which was quite flat because of a lack of baking powder. When I came to the girls apartment later that night, I was confronted by a smell that had become foreign to me...sweet baked goods. We ended up buying a container of ice cream and eating a dessert that reminded of us of home.
At the school we have continued to work on preparing the school by finalizing our classrooms, scavenging for books to put in the library, discussing school procedures, and creating the invitations/bulletins for the ribbon cutting ceremony that will be on September 2. The last week has been spent mostly lesson planning. We have reported to the school at 8am and not stopped planning till about 6pm when we got hungry for dinner. Since most of us have few resources and little experience, planning has been difficult. To add to the situation, because we are not sure how many students will join the school in the future we cannot know how many sections of students there will be, therefore we are not sure what elective classes we will be teaching. I mentioned last time that we completed the schedule...false, it has been ever-changing and not finalized. As of now we have not had many more students join after reaching our goal of 30. It looks like we will have enough students to open a second section for 10th grade, but there is not enough for a second section of 11th. It is the law that students be taught Albanian language arts by an Albanian, so with the hiring of an Albanian teacher, none of us will have to teach four blocks. However, if we do not get a second section of 11th to make four total sections, then two of us will only teach two classes in the morning, so we will have to teach an evening English class. Unfortunately, that would mean three preps and for a first-year teacher this can be overwhelming.
The craziness at school has taken up all the day and there is little time for anything else. This past week we took a break from our Albanian lessons to prepare for the beginning of school. Being indoors all day also means very few interactions with Albanians, so I have had little time to study or practice the language. It has been frustrating at times to be in a new culture, yet for the most part be contained within the walls of an American school. This also means a lot of time spent around the girls, but for the most part it has been good to get to know them. It is always nice to take a break from school with them and discuss whatever comes to mind.
Despite not feeling very productive after taking the majority of a week to plan and still not feeling prepared to teach my classes, I feel good about this weekend. Yesterday morning, I slept in till 11 then decided to tackle all of the tasks I had been neglecting. I started with a long stretching session to loosen up my back and legs, then I did two loads of wash, folded and put away all my clothes, wet mopped the entire apartment, cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen, and then made brunch before doing some studying and reading. Today, we again gathered at the small mennonite church down the street. There are three Brazilian missionaries who run the church, the staff of our school, and then a couple Albanians who come to the service. We have a time of worship in Albanian with a guitar, followed by a sermon or discussion interpreted by Dini or Klementina. I have enjoyed the experience attending this church to observe how culture can effect the sharing of the Gospel. After church, the teachers met at the Troyer's apartment which is on the 8th floor of one of the taller buildings in the city and is incredibly nice including perhaps the best view in Lezha. We ate a great Sunday afternoon meal and enjoyed a nice time of fellowship before returning to the school to get some more planning done. In addition to these two meeting times, we have also been gathering with the Shahinis once a week at the school to worship in English and share what is on our hearts. This has been a meaningful time of worship and experiencing community that has encouraged me.
The honeymoon period of first experiencing everything new has been coming to a close. The heat has continued to drain us of strength and there has been no sign of rain or a change in the season. We all understood that starting a school in another country was going to be difficult, but frustration has mounted as new problems arise and we feel like we are not making sufficient progress. We are thankful that God has called each of us work at forming this school as part of His plan and need to focus and depend on God to give us strength and encouragement. Please pray for each of the staff members, especially Mrs. Shahini, as we continue to work through this process. Also pray that the supplies we are depending on, such as computers and textbooks, reach their correct destinations on time in order for them to be brought here by the members of the school board who are visiting for the ribbon cutting ceremony this upcoming week.
Thank you once again to all those who have supported me and the school on this journey. Although things are difficult at times, I have full confidence that we will pull through and be a great presence in this community. I am sorry that I have not updated often, but days seem to pass by as if hours were minutes. Feeling like there is so much to do and having to take some time away from work leaves little room for much else. I hope you were all able to check out the picture album that I posted on Facebook a couple weeks ago...hopefully more will be added soon.
This is going to be quite an adventure and I cannot believe I have been here almost a month. The fact that summer is over and school is starting in the States seems crazy. It is beginning to set in how much time I committed to here and how much I will miss at home over the coming year. I hope that things are going well with all of you and would love to hear updates over email or Facebook. Despite the frustrations, I am still very much enjoying my time here and am so thankful for all the blessings that I have been given.
God Bless. Falemenderit. Mirupafshim - "Thank you and Goodbye."
