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| Historical Museum in Tirane |
It’s
Sunday night (03.29) and nje dite e mire,
another great day in Albania. Today is our day off and my young friend Sardi
and I caught a furgon into Elbasan and from there another bus into Tirane, the
capital. We had planned on visiting the communist dictator Enver Hoxha’s Cold
War bunker beneath the presidential palace but it was closed. Instead Sardi
took me to the Tirane Historical Museum. It was outstanding. Since most of my
ancient history studies centered on Greece, Rome, etc., it was nice to get a
bit more on the Illyrians – the foundation people of Albania.
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| Is this fun, or what? |
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| And of course, coffee. |
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| Offices of the President of Albania |
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| The line for the bus from Tirane to Elbasan |
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| Having missed our third chance! |
Getting
back to Elbasan was a difficult with all the buses filled with people going to
the Albania v. Armenia. (The stadium in Tirane is being refurbished so the
games are in Elbasan.) OK. We were in line
for one bus but no chance. One furgon filled; another filled; and a third
filled. No problem with me – I’m enjoying the whole thing. Sardi was worried
that I wouldn’t get back to Thane by my PC deadline – I told him not to sweat
it and that if worse came to worse I would flash my Peace Corps passport and we’d
get on with no problem. We both laughed. But before the third furgon takes off,
the guy in the front passenger seat calls for Sardi and then both of us get in
the front. I’m wondering ???? and as I get in I ask Sardi why we had space. He
said, “No problem, I just pointed out the old man with the American Peace Corps
and said that I needed to get you back to Elbasan as soon as I could.” I
laughed so hard tears came to my eyes!
Got
back to Elbasan and had the (yes, the definite article) perfect meal (at one of Sardi’s favorite spots) and
then went to the city’s main street where it was set up to show the outdoor
telecast of the game – I needed a team scarf. Holy hell – what a celebration. I
should have been back in Thane before the game started but I was caught up in
the spectacle of the thing. What an experience! Armenia scored first
and we left for Thane - one zip. We got back to our village in time to watch the second
period (half?). Albania comes from behind and the bar (and me) went crazy. I
recall walking into a bar in Rome during a soccer match and as lively as that
was this crowd was off the charts! One great cultural experience! (For any
Peace Corps admins reading this, all this fun has the deeper purpose of getting
to know the country.)
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| Check out the silhouettes on the castle ramparts! |
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| More! |
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| Trying to look as rough. |
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| Game tied! |
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| We take the lead - and win - 2-1!!! |
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| And then celebrate with fire!! |
***
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| Juli explaining some of the finer points to me. |
So,
I’m sitting in our last language class of the week yesterday and I observed
that we had successfully completed our second week in the village. My fellow
volunteers looked at me thinking I had made a joke – when it was clear that I
honestly thought it had been two weeks since the initial hotel stay in Elbasan – it really
felt like three! Holy hell. My brain is on overload but the good sign is that
on (a very rare) occasion I answer a question correctly!
To
give you some idea of my language work, Saturdays we study in the morning and
then start the weekend. Yesterday we had an assignment to take our rudimentary
language ability and interview a couple members of the community. I immediately
went down to the bar/café where I knew I would find a favorable audience. I
picked one man that I had not yet been introduced to – the conversation went
something like this (I worked pretty hard on this but cannot attest to the
vocabulary or grammar – and of course I got some help):
Bill:
Përshëndetje. Emri im është Bill dhe unë jam nga Amerika. Unë jam një vullnetar
i Korpusit të Paqes. A mund të flas me
ju për disa minuta?
Hello. My name is Bill and I am from
America. I am a Peace Corps volunteer. May I speak with you for a few minutes?
Redi:
Sigurisht.
Of course.
B:
Fillimisht, si e keni emrin dhe sa vjec jeni?
First, what is your name and how old are
you?
R:
Emri im është Redi dhe unë jam njëzet e tetë vjec.
My name is Redi and I am twenty eight.
B:
Faleminderit, Redi. Çfarë do të bëni për punë?
Thank you, Redi. What do you do for
work?
R:
Unë jam një arkitekt . une jam
ndertues
I am an architect.
B:
Ku jetoni ?
Where do you live?
R:
Unë jetoj në Thanë.
I live in Thane.
B:
A jetoni me familjen tuaj?
Do you live with your family?
R:
Po.
Yes.
B:
Kush janë anëtarët e familjes suaj?
Who are your family members?
R:
Unë kam nje baba, nje mama, dhe nje vella.
I have a father, a mother, and a brother.
B: Valemenderit,
Redi. Mirepashim!
Thank you, Redi! See you later!
Now please understand - I take an hour to write out my script, and probably another hour to make sure I understand what Redi is saying to me in reply. By
the time I finished the interview we had about eight others gathered around our
table. I needed one more interview and when I picked another candidate four or
five others made it plain that they wanted to be next! Quite hilarious. I chose
based on age and things calmed down. It was a lot of fun.
***
This
last Thursday (03.27) our small group walked to the neighboring village, where
we met Ymer – remember? – one of the education trainers. He took us into the
high school which also services my village. After some formal introductions we
were introduced to a class of third year English language students (12th
grade). We all sat in the back row but I got up (surprise!) and sat next to a
student toward the front. I thought Klodi (pronounced Klodee), the teacher, did
pretty well considering he had about forty students in his class – it was
evident, since he was on display to Peace Corps volunteers, that he had the
sharper students participate most of the time – well, we’d all do that,
wouldn’t we? The class finished up with an assignment to write a short
biographical paragraph on a famous person. I could see that class was over so I
moved back to my seat with the rest of the volunteers and missed the next part
where we were to introduce ourselves individually. An immediate lull and the
rest of the volunteers pointed to me; I wasn’t sure what was going on but I got
up still thinking that this next bit must be connected to their homework
assignment. Not that I assumed I was a biographical item, but simply for
demonstration. So I presented a mini-introduction offering three statements
about myself – two true and one false. I had prepared something like this for
the Peace Corps pre-assessments during my last month in Salt Lake City. I
thought it went pretty well and the kids had a great time, even though the kids
did not buy into the possibility of me singing lead for 60s group Vanilla
Fudge. I was totally mortified to find out after class that all I was supposed
do was stand up and briefly introduce myself!!! Most (but not all) of the other
volunteers thought it was funny, even typical – I felt horrible. OK. It won’t
be the last time I screw up.
***
On
Friday we had some great sessions in Elbasan: Crossing Educational Cultures,
How Languages Are Learned, and Language Awareness. I get it. This stuff sounds
boring as hell, and frankly to most people it would be. But to this group,
going into a strange land and taking upon themselves the task of teaching
English as a foreign language, this stuff is critical. One of our teachers
presented a typical conversation between a PC volunteer and the Albanian
“partner” and illustrated the possible breakdowns in communication that can
come up simply because each is missing or ignoring the nuances of the spoken
word and focusing in on inferences that would be off the mark. It was a great
lesson.
Some
of our total group meetings are tough to handle – I mean seriously, how can you
possibly spend twenty minutes on what to do with a sprained ankle? Again, I
chalk up some of the most inane volunteer questions and observation to the fact
that all these guys are excited as hell to be here and after three weeks in
Albania (funny, I mean two, and four days in Philadelphia) they’re ready to get
out and do something – thank goodness the schedule is not going to be quite
repetitive after next week (more on this below).
***
Now
a mini-lesson. A couple of things got my attention this last week that I would
like to share. One of the goals of the Peace Corps is to communicate to the
citizens of America the culture (and aspirations, even) of the citizens of the
countries in which we serve. This blog is a part in fulfilling that goal (but
to be frank, there’s not enough time in the day to answer your emails
individually on what I’m up to – I love all you guys, but you get it, right?
And I evidently don’t know what day it is most of the time anyway). OK – bear
with me. Most of you have heard my take on what are the most important elements
determining a nation’s prosperity and well-being – speaking economically here
(though certainly not ignoring the impact on the political and social). When it
all comes down to it (remembering my course in macro-economics) it’s a matter
of natural resources and education, with the latter being the most important
(e.g., Japan). Shortly after the demise of communism in the 90s Albania got hit
with a massive Ponzi scheme (abetted by its corrupt successor government) and
it wiped out much of the savings of many of its citizens and the private
business sector – fifteen, twenty years later the country is still recovering
from it – massive unemployment and corruption in many parts of the public and
private. As I have said, Albania looks to be on the threshold of some great
things, but overcoming the unemployment levels, a low tax base, and little
investment money is going to be a tough nut.
Over
a midday coffee I was talking to Mitesh, who’s going to work in community
development, and we were wondering what we could possibly do that would make a
difference – Mitesh rattled off some ideas that could make it easier for
start-up businesses and I started wondering about the availability of career
counseling in the university system – I had not seen any indication of a career
center when I visited the campus earlier in the week. Well, I found out that
the universities don’t offer any kind of career counseling. When I brought this
up to my PC/Staff friend Ymer he acted like I was following the right clues (as
far as what volunteers can do – believe me, what volunteers do is quite often
not spelled out – but hey! I’m an American and I’m with the Peace Corps!). He
said that a university career office would certainly be a great and needed resource
– helping new graduates see their possibilities, let alone getting work. We
talked about the viability of starting one up at just one school and (if it
works) then see where it could go from there. (Just to give you an idea of the
need, I sat on furgon the other day with very well dressed young man – a degree
in engineering – he goes into Elbasan every day to do piece work simply because
he cannot get a full-time position. And he simply has no idea what else to do
except to emigrate to where he can find work.)
OK.
That was cool – finding a need, figuring out possibilities. But then I
discovered something else that absolutely hammered me – I mean BAM! – a
cultural 2X4 to the back of the head. Remember that my friend Sardi left the
university after one year? He told me that the reason he left was that a
professor or two required a personal payment from him in order to take his
final exams! I talked to Ymer about this (remember, Ymer also teaches at the
university here in Elbasan). Sadly it is true. Ymer told me this payment can
amount to as much as one to three hundred dollars (when many of the families in
my village eke by on ten dollars a day). Not all professors are like this, but
more than a few.
Now,
I totally understand that students dropping out of high school or college can
come up with reasons why (we’ve all heard our share). But this one is a pretty
good one and it effectively directs the responsibility for an individual’s
failure away from, say, the student’s lack of interest or poor study habits
(Albanians are big on blaming the system). My language trainer, Erion, told me
that he knows this happens but that in all of his years of university study he
was never approached by a professor for money – I told him given his demeanor
and maturity they probably wouldn’t dare. I don’t know have a complete picture,
but the fact that this is even included in the frame is disheartening. I gather
that shortly after the fall of communism these pay-offs were quite
common-place, happily less so now and on the decline, but they’re still present
enough to do damage to a number to these kids and their lives. Now think about
this – if one of a country’s “well-being” pillars is the education of its
population (the other its natural resources), this practice is like shooting
yourself in the foot (or perhaps a more deadly place), and those pulling the
trigger (teachers) should have cause to reexamine the benefits of their
immediate individual needs at the expense of their professed academic virtues
or morals.
OK.
So let’s review, munchkins (object lesson coming to a close): a country freshly
released from a collective mind-set, hit with a massive, man-made financial
crisis, compounded with high unemployment, has the ability to educate their
young – but at the same time allows (some) educator-self-interest (for monetary
gain) to do hurt these same students, and finally, no available career-oriented
mechanism or resource to help direct those who are successfully educated. If I
could write my own (initial) job description in the Peace Corps/Albania, this
would be it: get posted in a university, do a hell of a job in the classroom,
perhaps some “Martin Moments” with colleagues (culturally sensitive, of
course), and brainstorm with Ymer and some of the other volunteers in the COD
(community development) about creating a university career center. Pretty sure
that could qualify as doing some good.
Again, I’ll let you know.
***
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| Gjergj Kastrioti - Skanderbeg (1405-1468) - Albania's National Hero |
I’ll
try to post again at the end of next week but just in case, I thought I’d let
you know what’s up a week from today. After a morning language session at the
hub (in Elbasan) next Saturday each volunteer connects with a current volunteer
for a two-night, three-day visit. We’ll be spread all over the country
(there are fifty-four of us) and dropped down in a location and partner specific
to our anticipated job. I’m getting connected with a volunteer who works at a university
in Tirane. Yes, this bodes well (for the assignment type, but no one goes to
the capital in the first year). On the other hand, it may well be that the PC
Director simply wants to keep a close eye on me (trying to keep a low profile
but you know how that goes). I’m looking forward to the visit and I’ll give you
the full report. But now it’s Sunday after a day at the museum, a night with my
friends cheering the Albanian victory, and still a bit of studying to do. My
very best to all of you. XOXO
