Greetings:
The
academic year ended last month and the first thing I did was take a break – I
headed south to Himara, a coastal village between Vlora and Saranda. Ten days
in the sun, beach and a little boating.
So,
a lot has happened this year which I simply didn’t have the blog-time to get to.
So this is a 12-month recap on life in Albania: last year’s month-long visit to
Salt Lake City and San Diego, a quick trip to Cabo San Lucas with my stateside
friend Nelson, semester preps for three undergraduate courses and two graduate
seminars, conferences, high school visits, kick-starting a sleeping Creative
Arts Club, theses supervisions, heading up a university-wide writing contest,
and another break to Athens – so here we go.
August
2017 stateside:
 |
| With a few of my assorted munchkins - Kai, Parker, Lauren (it's NOT Laurel, Grandpa!), Hayes, Finnegan, and...whatever... |
It
was great to get back – but I was hit with all the stuff that reminded me of my
decision to live elsewhere: American materialism, the infatuation with fame and
the famous, the gap between the rich and poor, the politicizing of higher
education, a general apathy, oh yeah – the increasing popularity of reality TV
(the Kardashians still going strong? Seriously? Famous for being famous?), and
of course, something new after I headed to Guatemala in the summer of 2014 –
the bizarre ascendancy of Donald Trump and the Orwellian mentality that goes
with that. But all in all, the culture shock was mitigated in seeing family, old
friends, colleagues, and getting back to some less-than exotic food. I must
have hit KFC, the local Mexican and BBQ joints eighteen times in my month-long
stay.
 |
| Alexis booked an overnight in Frankfurt - great, because I would have missed this guy! |
 |
| Abby and food, Alexis and church (!), Lauren and fun |
 |
| My coffee guy, Hubier, at the Humanities Building, Johnnie and Beth at the Tanner, and a sneak-peak of the UTES summer camp |
 |
| A visit to my brother Dan's buffalo ranch (!!) and trying to remember the chords |
* * *
Academic year: classes, conferences and high school visits:
I
spent most of my summer getting ready for the fall term. Three undergraduate
courses: Introduction to Literature, British Literature, and Introduction to
Shakespeare. All of my favorites, but still I had to prepare lessons for all
three. On top of that, I also got assigned grad courses in Psycholinguistics
(an overhaul of the grad class in Vlora) and Literary Criticism – Methods. Me
teaching Methods is so damned ironic – it was my first grad course and the B+ was
the only sub-A in all my grad work. Poetic justice.
The
spring term was a bit (just barely) easier: repeat of Academic Writing, Stylistics,
and American Studies. But two more grad courses: the first was Science Fiction
and then there was a question of who would teach Poetry – I got that
assignment, too! “Professor, I am praying to Allah for you to teach us.” Ha,
ha. Again, I asked, “Do you really want to work that hard?” Work hard, huh?
Well, two semesters, ten courses, and around a hundred weekly student journals
to read, comment, and score. Holy hell.
 |
| Going over some work with Xhulia when Kamela realized it was a photo opportunity! |
Conferences…
 |
| Early morning breakfast with grad students and faculty meeting over coffee |
…and
high school visits – from Durres to Korce, Elbasan to Kosovo. My first trip to
Kosovo – a nice visit in both Prizren and Prishtina, the historic and modern
capitals.
* * *
High
School Writing Contest:
Every
year the university sponsors a high school writing contest. This year we had
over two hundred essays submitted. The rest of the staff narrowed it down to
about forty and then I determined the winners – holy hell. The contest is open
to all high school students and they’re pretty excited about their trip to
Beder and their chances.
Creative Arts Club:
Student
clubs are a bit iffy in Albania – well, pretty much non-existent. Professors
are busy with classes, grading, etc. and many of them simply don’t have much
time to devote. So when we had a meeting about getting some life out of the
clubs at Beder, it seemed that the Creative Arts Club was the best bet to be
the advisor. And since my social life here is just about zip – pretty much by
choice – it was a great chance to get out and see/do some stuff.
Keep
in mind that these kids spend hours in class and any other interaction is too
often limited to conferences or the coffee-bar between (or skipping) class
lectures. It took almost a semester to get things going – but it’s been quite
the experience. Our first activity was a hiking trip for a day get-away, hardly
“creative arts”, but I have no problem with the kids using the club just to get
together. We rented a bus and had a hell of a turn out – about thirty students:
hiking, volleyball, lunch, guitars.
 |
| Concerts and museums - this one to the bunker of the communist dictator, Enver Hoxha |
The
club sponsored the First Annual Creative Writing Contest. When I suggested this
in a faculty meeting last winter, there was some question whether or not it
could be pulled off – whether the student body would participate. Well, I
thought cash prizes might do the trick, so I got Mitesh to spring for a
donation (!) and our first shot at it got two dozen original poems and short
story submissions.
Here are a couple of the poems:
Desara
– “Daddy”
To the sweetest daddy in the world...
Daddy is the most handsome...
The smartest...
The most clever...
The kindest...
He is my superman...
Daddy wants me to do well at school...
Daddy is just great...
BUT... he lies...
He lies about having a job...
He lies about having money...
He lies about that he is not tired...
He lies that he is not hungry...
He lies that we have everything...
HE LIES BECAUSE OF ME...
Kushtrim
– “Bringer of Light”
The
most important job to him was uploaded,
Explaining
the mercy to the hearts who were solid,
Sharing
the peaceful message of God,
And
giving the endless light to this world.
They
said, “We give you everything that you want;
Just
don’t explain to people for your God.”
But,
from his mission never escaped,
Even
though, he suffered the injuries that people gave.
We
call him “The Bringer of Light” –
He
is the reason this world still shines;
To
see him once, every Muslim cries,
Because,
his behaviors everyone likes.
That
Messenger’s name – is Muhammed –
“The
Commended”
He
is praised from the mercy of God,
And
he has gone happy from this world.
Summer,
stones, shattered bones,
Cruel
air, people instinctively dare,
No
real emotion, enough emotion for them
Continuously
cautious of the day – and then – BAM!
Another
year to fear the day of the superstitious,
That
of the Lottery, the Lottery malicious…
* * *
Ramadan
and Iftar:
Perhaps,
perhaps not, you know of the month of fasting on the Islamic calendar – the
dates are variable, like Easter, and this year it was from May 17 to June 14.
The fasting is from dawn to sunset, but I gather that the morning meal (suhur)
is around 4AM. There are exemptions – like pregnancy, illness, and the really,
really old. Like members in all religions, some observe, some partially
observe, some don’t.
Ramadan
is a big deal and the evening meal, iftar, is something of a family
celebration. The students who live in Tirana often invite out-of-town students
to join. I went to three – one with the faculty and third year students and
then a second year class invitation.
With
the grad students, I took them to an iftar dinner at a place called “The
Stephens Center” – as close to American food as I can get. I know the manager
and he let them really celebrate – such good kids.
* * *
Nelson
connected after I got back to Albania with a dilemma – he needed more air-miles
to get to his platinum level and came up with a plan: “Let’s get together for a
few days in Athens and then I want to fly back to Albania and see what you’re
up to!” Cool.
 |
| Professor Isa was a great host to Nelson - dinner and mountain trip to Skanderbeg's castle in Krujas |
* * *
* * *
* * *
Well,
that’s about it. A busy, busy year. A few students for summer studies and
thesis work, but other than that, the next few months should be uneventful.
I’ll take another break out of country before the fall term, maybe Romania,
Bulgaria, we’ll see. I’ll try to be a little more on purpose with these posts –
I think it’s a good way to let you know a bit more about the country, culture
and education. Going to stay away from the politics – enough of that in the US.
Hmm…how you guys holding up? Best to all of you. XO
