From the time that I submitted my application last march until now, the Peace Corps experience has been defined by the temporary and the unknown. You submit your application and you wait. You get nominated for a position, fill out lots of paper work, and you wait some more. I felt like I was in limbo for most of last year-- I didn't want to put my life completely on hold, but at the same time I knew that I couldn't start any big new pursuits when I was going to be running half way around the world the next year. Or not-- nothing was guaranteed, even after you are nominated for a position. Even when everything came together and I got on the plane for Albania in March, there was nothing solid for me to grab onto. I was meeting lots of great people and getting to know some fantastic new places, but always in the back of my mind was the knowledge that I'd be leaving them at the end of our ten week training.
As such, I hardly knew what to do with myself last week when were given the opportunity to spend a week in our assigned cities. On Tuesday, I arrived in Pogradec and spent the next four days touring the city, meeting my coworkers and spending quality time with my peace corps site mates/new family. I had to continually remind myself that this was not just another stop on the Albania tour bus. This was a preview of my life for the next TWO YEARS. When people ask me about the Peace Corps ten years down the road, this will be the place where all my stories begin.
I am happy to report that the next two years promise to be very, very good. The city itself is beautiful. It is defined by Lake Ohrid-- it is located directly on its southern shore and life in the city revolves around its crystal clear waters. The economy is driven by the tourism that it attracts. The xhiro (pronounced jeer-oh, the main street and social center of Albanian cities. Summer evenings in Albania are spent on the xhiro, walking and talking with friends and family) parallels the lake shore and the beautiful park that the city built there.
During the evenings, the sidewalks in that picture are packed with people. It is fantastic. Many street vendors appear during the evening to cater to the xhiro crowd-- including a doughnut vendor who will give you a bag of 4 or 5 freshly made doughnuts with the toppings of your choice for 50 cents. Can you say dangerous? I got to spend several of my evenings in the town doing the xhiro with my new site mates, Connie and Stacy. You should become familiar with those names, because I expect they will be making many appearances in this blog. Stacy (who is also a new volunteer) and I stayed with Connie (who is one year into her peace corps service) for the week we were in Pogradec. I couldn't have asked for better site mates. They will be great friends and great people to work with on our various projects around the town.
Connie is on the left, Stacy is in the middle. I still don't know much about my work itself. I got to meet my counterpart (my assigned liaison between the peace corps and the municipal government) and the mayor, but the exact work that I'll be doing has yet to be defined. The city is doing lots of work related to tourism and planning, though, so I expect that I will eventually be doing work in both fields.
You can see the draw for tourism. On Friday afternoon, Stacy and I hiked up a hill on the west side of the town and enjoyed a great view of the city and Lake Ohrid. It was hard to leave at the end of the week. I will miss many of the people and places that I have come to know while in training, but I am ready for Pogradec and the life that it promises. I am ready to start putting down roots again. It has been far too long. Only two more weeks...
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