THE CITY
perhaps i shall tell you a bit more about the city (there's much that can be told!). as i said, it is bustling with people and cars and noises and so many smells and merchandise. after communism fell, MANY of the lower levels of buildings have been transformed into shops of all kinds--from clothes to food to perfumes, deorations, postcards, everything. street vendors sell vegetables and any merchandise they've gotten their hands on (not really pushy or anything, just there). we've seen a few gypsy (Roma) beggars as well.
the cars honk all the time, as if it will help ease traffic, and we are told that we must never expect them to wait for us... one of our translators joked that they'll only stop for you if they're afraid you'll dent their car. the other day i laughed to see a car, as if its brakes were out (but i doubt it) honked feverishly and went straight through a crosswalk. but the native albanians know what they're doing in crossings (and we are very careful and watch them), and the city is very walkable. it's not to hard to get around, except that not all streets have names or signs.
i could maybe say that the city looks a bit like you might expect an italian town to look like, with colorful but old & somewhat crumbly buildings, often with balconies that have flower gardens and clothes hanging from the line. There is old tirana and new tirana. although i'm not sure of the dividing line, it is easy to tell the difference. the new buildings are tall and nice, often this is what we see on postcards. the city is more colorful than many american cities, which is nice. it also seems not so different from a mexican city at times, though it is paved usually and has sidewalks, and is not quite so dusty.
old tirana shows its age and the wear of communism and troubles. the area our appartment (eva's) is in is older, the stairs have holes or uneven dips in the cement, and the house below us has decaying clay/pottery shingles. that house also has a turkey (i laughed as it sounded much like dad's funny turkey call) and chickens, and we can hear dogs also. inside eva's appartment though, as i think i've said, is very nice and clean and decorated beautifully, as i think i've told you, although it is small. she tells us that before communism, they had a big beautiful house with a yard. another told us that during communism many houses were taken away (perhaps destroyed or made into government buildings) and many people instead ended up living in the 5-story appartment complexes that went up. there were not many tall buildings at all before this. Eva said that the current mayor of Tirana has done a good job fixing up the city a bit, even if his motives are suspect.
CURRENT EVENTS
right now there is election drama going on, though i'm still trying to find out more (difficult issues to understand when asking those with broken english). as far as i know there are two parties, "democrat" (with mostly democratic ideals) and "socialist" (remnants of communist i think). our host eva tells us she finds it suspicious that the current prime minister, who now insists he is democrat, used to be the secretary of the communist government. i believe that this is the 13th day of a hunger strike by the socialists, i think, who are protesting because, from what i can gather, they believe there was a miscount of votes. if you wish perhaps you could research it more. but it is troubling for many who know what goes on. although i hear that socialist is the minority.
TEACHING
We do not start teaching til monday, although there is an orientation today in which we hope to find out more about the classes will be teaching.
i suppose that's enough for now, i will try to write just a bit later this week if possible when i hear about our teaching, and then i will proabbly write near the beginning of next week.
please pray for me as we go in to teaching... the lincoln center says "learn from the experts" but i do not feel like an expert. in english, in that i speak it, maybe. but not in teaching. i have never really taught english before at all. pray for God's continued grace for me and patience as i learn and practice.
much love to you all and thank you for your interest and prayers.
Jessie
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