Contrasts

As we speak, I am sitting in a hotel lobby in Elbasan, Albania. For a long time, the Peace Corps seemed like a nice idea that only actually existed on paper. It became very real today. I would love to do a big post about staging and traveling and the first afternoon in Albania, but that would take a long time and I really want to sleep right now. So here's a list of random early thoughts. They may or may not be coherent, but I figured it would be better than total silence:

-My fellow peace corps volunteers are excellent. I will dearly miss everyone at home, but you have good substitutes for the time being.

-The luggage for 50 pc volunteers will not fit on a regional jet. That's why just about every single one of us is missing a bag (or two, in some cases) at the moment.

-I haven't seen a single traffic signal or stop sign.

-There hasn't been much land use planning in Albania. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Either way, the lack of design and space regulation has created a world of variety that the American in me is not accustomed to seeing. The planner in me is so very confused.

-Half the cars on the road are Mercedes. Almost literally.

-The mountains are stunning. I can't wait to get more than a glance at the beaches.

-The majority of houses have a full garden and a vineyard or orchard of some sort in their front yard. They usually don't have back yards.

-People build something until they run out of money, and then stop until they get the funds to carry on. The number of half-completed buildings in this country is surprising and, again, totally foreign to the American in me.

-Summer produce promises to be excellent.

More later. Right now, I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. It will be excellent.