It’s
been a couple of busy weeks since my last post.
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| With some of my fellow soccer buds - I still haven't perfected the double-headed Albanian eagle (as the kids keep pointing out!). |
Last
Sunday was another soccer game in town – the last until the season starts again
in the fall. This time it was a “friendly match” with the visiting French
national team v. the Albanian squad. France is picked as one of the favorites
for the European Cup next year. Albania pulled off a mega upset, beating a
stunned French team, 1-0, on an amazing penalty kick. OK. I get it. Americans
have a hard time appreciating a game where one British footballer could say “Zero
– zero is a big score!” I know, funny. Here’s the highlight of the winning goal
(on a free kick, I get it, a free kick is an unobstructed kick awarded after a
foul, just like a free throw, excepts from the spot) – you can do this…it’s
just a few seconds over a minute long. The broadcast is in French (Abby,
translate and get back to me) and you can tell how pained they sound.
(I know - all of us are amazed that I could stick a video on here! Ahhh...the possibilities...)
***
This
last week I have been dealing with a very difficult washing machine. It wasn’t
quite on its last leg, and with a bit of care it surely would have outlasted my
stay. But as my experience has proven, it was only a matter of time before it
sucked up my clothes without forgiveness. It took some time before the promised
attention showed up – “Please let the landlord know that at 12 noon today I
will start taking the machine apart myself and see if I can fix it.” This was
alarming enough that by 9am – a knock on my door: the bathroom was measured, options
were discussed (in Albanian), the machine trucked out, and by 3pm a new one was
delivered (along with my bag of stinky, wet, clothes).
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| My new, all-time, favorite piece of household furniture and my two new, very best friends, Arben and Kristaq |
I washed two loads to celebrate! I had tried to make it clear
that the breakdown was my fault: I offered to pay for a new washer, pay for the
labor, the whole thing. But the landlord said simply, “I want you to be happy.”
I
was sooooo happy.
***
On
the boulevard block where my apartment is located, I counted about 15-20 coffee shops. Most
of them sit right on top of each other – side by side. I’ve been to about half
of them. Coffee is the number one past-time in Elbasan if not Albania. And it’s
great coffee! Here are some pics – and some others of a night out:
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| My favorite - "The Coffee House" (!) - they play rock and roll, blues, and Motown!!! And the cappuccino is great. |
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| Nobody is bleeding here - it's just my camera!! |
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| "Seriously?? Can I have some attention here? These are my best moves!!" |
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| With Gimet, a visiting professor from France in-residence at Aleksander Xhuvani - I told her to look like she was having a good time - she's very funny... |
Tomorrow
starts our last two weeks of PST (Pre-Service Training). Now, we’ve been in our
sites for five weeks (PSTII) and we need to give an accounting regarding our
experiences. I’ve spent most of my time at the university doing some teaching,
final exams, and working with students on their final papers.
A substantial portion of my
time has been selecting a secondary project (my primary project is my teaching and ELTA
assignments). As a result of talking to countless students, professors, and administrators, I’m very much interested in starting up a student center for
academic and career counseling and international study abroad opportunities.
But after talking to Ymer, Mike, and John, I settled on a student newspaper (in
addition to the obvious benefits, this will give the students a platform from which to
address these possibilities). You’ll hear more about this in the months to come
– it’s going to be a long process.
But to give you the starting point, I connected with a student who proposed
a student newspaper to the Faculty Senate last year; he got approval, but alas, no funds
available. He was pretty excited about revitalizing his plan (well, I am with
the Peace Corps). What’s really cool is that while he is finishing up his
graduate degree at Aleksander Xhuvani he also works as a television newscaster
for a local station. Julian prompted another shift in my thinking: admittedly,
I am attached to print on paper; he said the students would be more in-tune
with digital. Got it. Julian is going to write-up a cost analysis (this is
where a Peace Corps Small Grant comes in – keep your fingers crossed) and then
another presentation to the Faculty Senate in the fall (cross your toes). We’ve put together a
time-line on the whole thing and we're shooting for the beginning of spring term for the
first edition.
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| I promise, Julian smiles quite a bit - he's just got on his on-camera face. |
Now, I
thought about my incredible deficiency in technology (the old family joke is
that I just recently discovered text messaging). Check out this email exchange:
Sent:
Tuesday, June 16, 2015 3:25 PM
To: Jacob
Sorensen
Subject: Albania university student newspaper
Dear Jake:
I am writing
you in your capacity as General Manager for the University of Utah Daily
Chronicle….
What would be
helpful is if you could connect me with someone on your staff (or perhaps in
the journalism department) who might be interested in advising. There are
certainly pitfalls (or at least bumps) ahead and we would very much appreciate
as much help as you or anyone else could offer in structuring and organizing.
(My only school-paper experience was in the sixth grade.) A journalism student
might consider this as a capstone project for a BA, or a graduate student may
look at this as great opportunity for primary research, or even a
"hands-across-the-water" experience for the Chronicle itself…
Note
that this email is posted Albania time – eight hours later in the day than
in Utah. An hour and a half later I got this amazing response:
Sent:
Tuesday, June 16, 2015 4:57 PM
From: Jacob
Sorensen
Subject: Re:
Albania university student newspaper
Bill,
Wow! What a
great email to start off my day. I think this is a very cool idea with many
opportunities and possibilities…
We’d love the
chance to work with your students in a “hands-across-the-water” experience. I
think there is much we can share with the resources we have and much that we
can learn from your students in regards to conducting journalism in a foreign
country. I will bring it up with our student leaders…
Initially, I
think it would be very easy for us to assist in setting up a website,
establishing a URL, etc. There are many tools we use that I think would be easy
to implement for you....
Anyway, let’s
continue the conversation. It’s very exciting and something I would love our
students to be involved with…
BAM!!
Jake also listed a number of faculty contacts (including Paul Rose who is
teaching web communication at the University of Utah Asia Campus in Korea – Utah
is a founding institution of Incheon Global Campus along with SUNY, George Mason,
and Ghent). A few of Jake's referrals, including Paul, got back to me within a day or so expressing high interest and ways we could connect, including video conferencing from class to class (another BAM, remember? I'll be co-teaching Intercultural Communication with Ymer in the fall term). So, all in all, it’s been a pretty exciting few weeks. I think the excitement is going to increase.
***
As
you can tell, I’m having a wonderful time. It’s getting horribly late but I wanted to
get this off before I got busy with my next phase (PSTIII). My best to all of
you. XOXO
