I made this blog to let you know what's going on with me in Albania!

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Pictures, finally!




Hey! I'm in a hotel lobby that has wireless internet so I'm hoping that the connection is good enough to let me finally upload some pictures!!! Hope this works!! Yay! It did! Ok, the one on the left is me with my backpacks about to bike over to the apartment to live with the Albanian girls. For those of you that have travelled with me before, no one is shocked :). I'm in front of Peter and Melodye's house.

The next one is a picture from when I went to Mt. Dajti, the mountain in Tirana. We went up in one of those lifts that you can see in the distance! It was amazing...very beautiful!!

The last picture is one of my roommates, Viola. She's great! I'm looking REALLY white in that picture....thankfully that's not the case now since I went to the beach!!

Hope you enjoy!! I'll post more pics soon!!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Crazy Lori Stories.....

Hey everyone! Well, if you know me, you know that funny things happen to me all the time. Here are just a few for you to laugh at!!

First, I had my first bike accident. I got hit by a car...the woman hit the back of my bike...so I'm pretty sure that she saw me! By God's grace I swung my leg over the bike and managed to keep moving and stay balanced on the bike. This was a huge blessing, because not only would it have really hurt if i would have fallen down, but I also had my backpack on that had my laptop in it!! God is so good to me!!! And, the bell on my bike works a million times better now....it must have somehow jarred it! :) I am not hurt though....will probably just be a little sore. No problem though.

Second, I was in my first Albanian wedding, but accident!! This past weekend I went to a village in the north where one of my roommates is from, and her cousin was getting married. Well weddings here are very different and it's a 3 day event. The biggest part, where the man went to go get his bride is followed by a lot of honking of horns and everyone in the whole town pretty much runs to see the bride. Well, the honking began so we followed suite and went to see the bride. Well, Mosa (one of my roommates) was a little behind me, and when I looked back it looked like she was waving me on to keep going. So here I was, all the sudden in some sort of receiving line! What could I do but act like I knew them and that I was supposed to be there and shook everyone's hand! I looked over at Mosa and she had fallen down she was laughing so hard! Apparently not only the shaking of the head is opposite here, so is the waving!!

On the bus on the way back to Tirana a woman got on and sat next to me. She looked at me very intently, then said (in Albanian of course) that I looked just like her grandma!! Well, that's definitely the first time I've gotten that one before!!!

Some stories...just for laughs.....

Things are great here!! Hope everyone is well!!

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Postal Info

Hey again! Sorry, no pics this time either, just words, but hopefully useful ones! One of my amazing friends has checked on postage pricing info. She would still tell you to go to the post office to mail things, but here's the web site from the postal service giving info on Albania:
http://pe.usps.gov/text/Imm/immicl/immiclab_002.html

So...if anyone has any inkling to send me anything in the mail...I hope this will help!!

Talk to you all soon!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Sorry folks...

Looks like the connection isn't stable enough to upload pictures! Sorry! I'll try again another time!!

Hello!

The past day has been quite interesting. When I got back to my apartment yesterday the elevator was broken so I took my bike up 8 flights of stairs! Then, when I was getting ready to make dinner, we didn't have any water. I started cooking anyway, and it wasn't that big of a deal. I used bottle water to boil water for the pasta, and the electricity was so low that it literally took an hour to boil the water! Crazy! So yeah, dinner was ready about 10:00...but the chicken picatta turned out good, and they all really liked it! An adenture worth the battle :)

This morning when i was taking a shower the water doesn't come out of the head because it's broken, so we just catch the water in a pitcher and pour it on ourselves. Not a big deal at all. But right after I got conditioner in my hair and soap all over the water went off again! All I could do was laugh. Thankfully there was a bucket of water next to the bathtub, so i used that water, unfortunately it was freezing cold. But seriously, I was just glad to get all the soap and conditioner off me!! Then the elevator was broken again and I had to take my bike down the steps. Strangely enough it was more awkward carrying it down the steps than up. Then when I was biking to my old apartment my chain came off the front and the back of the bike - but thankfully it was right AFTER a big intersection! I packed kleenex with me today too, so I was prepared for the grease!

So all of that stuff sounds bad, but the amazing thing is I don't feel like those were bad things at all, that they are not a big deal at all! God is very gracious to me!! He is SO good!
I was able to get my bike fixed today too. They took out two links of the chain, and it's for sure a lot tighter now! I should be a lot safer now!! I went to the AEP (Albanian Encouragement Project) to get some forms for my residency permit, and now I need to figure out where the US Embassy is so I can get forms from them as well.

I am also going to attempt to post pictures from when I went to Mt. Dajti, me and Rezi (one of my roommates) riding a horse, me with one of my roommates, Viola, and my bike.

Take care!

Friday, August 11, 2006

My Immersion so far....

Hey everyone! Sorry that I have not posted more pictures this time. I unfortunately don't have my camera with me to post them. Next time...next time...

I am having a great time with my immersion experience! I am living with 4 Albanian girls that are the same age as me. It's really good that we get along because we are all living in 2 rooms! :). Reminds me of when I moved into the wilderness house....but we had a little more room....

I got a bike, and it's VERY helpful...but needs a little work. The chain keeps coming off. It's not that big of a deal, but it's messy when I need to put it back on....lots of grease! I'll definitely post a picture of me bringing my bike up the elevator because I have to lift it so it stands vertically in the elevator, or it won't fit! Quite an experience!! I also had my first experience of biking in the rain yesterday...good times for sure :).

Well, I hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for all the feedback...keep it coming!! Take care and I'll post again soon...I just don't have access to the internet very often while I'm living with the girls. Keep in touch!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Pictures from Vienna and on the plane....





Here are some more pictures that it wouldn't let me post from the last post! Enjoy!!

Made it to Albania!






Hello everyone!! Well, after a long journey I made it to Albania! It is Wed. morning now, and I am in my apartment! I'll take pictures of it as soon as I can, but in the meantime will post pics of my trip! There are pictures of me with my luggage, me, Ethel, and Steph, and pics of me from Frankfurt and Vienna. I took a city tour while in Frankfurt, and that statue is from there, and it actually spits water at you when you walk by! I also went to Vienna, and against all good logic (since my layover was only 4 hours) I took the train to the city and did some walking around. I also met and Albanina while I was waiting for my flight and we ended up changing seats so we could sit next to each other on the plane. It was great fun and we talked the whole time! Marsi is her name, and that is who is in the picture with me on the plane! Looking forward to talking to everyone soon!!

Monday, August 07, 2006

More Pictures of Going Away Party





If you didn't get enough pictures before, or even if you did...

Enjoy!

Going Away Party






Here are some pictures from my going away party. I have the most AMAZING friends, that's all there is to it!! If you missed it, you'll have to tackle the sponge bob pinata another time....

Notice something about all these pictures?? I look really short! What's up with that???

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Answer to Questions Fincancially Supporting Me


I have had some questions about how to give online from the Christar website, so I wanted to clarify. If you click on the Christar link to the right, then click on the link that says "giving" then under "support the work of Christar" you can click on give online and either fill that out or click the link that says "electronic funds transfer" at the top of the page.

Thanks so much for being interested in supporting my ministry in Albania!! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask them!

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Back in Texas

Well, I'm back down in the heat of Texas. They should change "down in the heart of Texas" to HEAT! Just something to consider...

I had an amazing trip to Kansas and Missouri! One blessing of the trip was great being able to go to the eye doctor. Dr. Westfall is very generous and has a kind heart...if anyone is in the Kansas City area I strongly recommend her!

I was also able to spend time with some of my best friends I met in college. It was great being able to catch up on what was going on in our lives. So crazy how time flies! Unexpectedly I was also able to have breakfast with my cousins on the way to St. Louis. I hadn't seen them in a while, so it was good to see them!

Spending time with my family was really fun. My sister was able to come down from Chicago, so it was great to spend time together as a family. Those of you that know my family know that it was no doubt filled with laughter and good times! I was also able to get a lot of things I need to take with me. My parents were very generous in that regard, and even gave me the sheets right off their bed! They are so great!

When I got back in Denton my friend Ann was very kind and is letting me drive her car for the week, which is a huge blessing, especially considering I need a way to get my stuff to the shipping company! I am so fortunate to have such great friends! I can't believe that time is going so quickly, and that I leave in less than a week! Crazy!! The new roommate moved into my room last night, so now my room is no longer mine...still a little strange to get used to! I'm really excited about Albania and can't wait to see what God has in store for me there!

Thanks for being faithful to keep up with me! I appreciate all the feedback you want to give on my blog. I'm still getting used to this whole thing!

Here are some praises and requests!

Praises:
- Safe and enjoyable trip to Kansas and Missouri
- The opportunity to talk to more people who are interested in joining my support team
- Great conversations with Liz from Christar and Melodye in Albania
- Amazing friends and family

Requests:
- Discernment on how to spend my remaining time
- Continued support to come in
- God to prepare my heart for what's to come
- My time with the Lord be of utmost priority

Until next time...and happy birthday to Stephanie today!!