Life in Albania
 
 
This is a short photo history of my life in Albania since March 2007. Albania is an interesting place of contrasts; donkey carts share the road with new Mercedes Benzs; we have internet access, but an energy crisis keeps the power off much of the day. The people are warm and welcoming, the language is difficult, and the fruits and vegetables are the freshest I’ve ever eaten.
 
Where I’ve lived in Albania
The first 3 months I lived with a host family in the village of Kuqan. We had language class 25 hours/week here, and additional training in Elbasan, 20 minutes away
Kuqan (“Koo-chan”)
My host family kids, Klaidi, Donaldi, and Rigersa
My room in Kuqan
Kuqan main street
Albanian (shqip) language class at the Kuqan school.
Shqip noun chart. Lots of fun...
Studying on the porch
Kuqan schoolyard
Language class comrades and our teacher, Erina, in traditional dress
After training days in Elbasan, we’d go to the “Castle Bar” (outside of a 16th century Ottoman castle) to relax.
Harvesting hay the the village way
Our language class did a project with Kuqan students where they made English-language bulletin boards to hang in the school
President Bush visited Albania in June. I was one of 10 Peace Corps volunteers randomly chosen to meet him. Albania loves Bush.
We met Bush at the airport and made him wear this hat. He chatted it up with us, and I shook his hand and had a short conversation.
Tienmu and Katie speaking for volunteers at our swearing in ceremony, June 16
Matt at swearing in in Ukraine, 1996
Matt at swearing in in Albania in 2007. Still a dork.
The Gjergji family, where I lived for two months in Durres.
The Gjergi men picking grapes in the front yard.
Host family at dinner.
I worked an archaeological excavation in Durres for a couple weeks.
Matt digging graves
Luma and Shaze, friends from the musuem
Bimche the sculptor and his son in the studio. Bimche works with the archaeological museum.
My apartment with a view of the Adriatic Sea
A typical Albanian bathroom. Toilet, bidet, and shower without a shower curtain. Mopping the floor after a shower is mandatory.
Alexander Moisiu University, my primary teaching assignment
Durres from a hill. I live in the building to the right of the photo.
Durres is a city of about 200,000 people.
Roma kids in the city of Pogradec, eastern Albania
Sunset on the Adriatic