All About Albania

Teaching Albanian Teachers

2008-03-20T11:51:00.003-05:00

Hello again!

On the same day as the accident occurred, I had the opportunity to teach Albanian teachers in the village of Laç (about an hour north of Tirana).

The director of GDQ and I taught a seminar on classroom management to eighteen Albanian teachers in the city, Laç.

This seminar was part of a collaboration with World Vision in an effort to provide an opportunity for Albanian teachers to learn new concepts and receive more training.

Much of the information that we presented is drastically different from the cultural norm, especially in relation to discipline. However, the teachers received the information well and actively participated throughout the seminar.

Not only was it a great opportunity to pass on information and ideas that I have, but it was also a wonderful opportunity to build relationships!

Explosions

2008-03-20T11:47:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, April 15th, there was a horrific accident that occurred here in Albania. Let me fill you in on some of the details.

Albania has about 100,000 tons of ammunition stored in former army depots across the country, and on Saturday a team of specialists were dismantling about 40,000 tons in a village about 8 miles from Tirana.

No one knows yet exactly what happened, but people are speculating that human error was to blame. Safety procedures were said to be so lax that gunpowder was stored in unprotected containers. There was speculation that the first of six blasts could have been caused by an explosion of gunpowder that accidentally caught fire. Five blasts followed this initial explosion, and were so strong that they were felt 190 miles away in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. Houses more than a mile away were damaged while in Tirana, eight miles away, windows were shattered and the international airport was temporarily closed.

Nearly 300 people were injured, and at this point eleven people are known to be dead. The government said that more than 300 buildings in the area have been completely destroyed.
Please pray for all the of the people who are effected by this tragedy— injured, lost their homes, or were killed.

Kosovo Independence Day

2008-02-18T05:59:00.003-06:00

An important event in history occured on February 17th, Kosovo announced its independence from Serbia.

"The proclamation sent thousands of jubilant ethnic Albanians into the streets overnight, where they waved red-and-black Albanian flags, fired guns and fireworks into the air and danced. One couple named their newborn daughter Pavarsie — Albanian for "independence."

People stopped to scribble names and messages on a sculpture spelling out "NEWBORN" in giant iron letters across from the U.N. headquarters in central Pristina.

And the republic's new flag — a blue field featuring a yellow silhouette of Kosovo and six white stars, one for each of the main ethnic groups — fluttered from homes and offices.

'This is the happiest day in my life,' said Mehdi Shehu, 68. 'Now we're free and we can celebrate without fear.' " (William J. Kole and Nebi Qena, Associated Press Writers).

Kosovo is made up of 90% ethnic Albanians, so celebrations were also happening in the streets of Albania. In the center of Tirana, there were street concerts, fireworks, and dancing - celebrating the victory! I went down to see what was happening and snapped a few pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Hiking Pictures!

2008-02-18T04:54:00.005-06:00

Albania is about 75% mountainous, and over the past few weeks I've been able to go on a couple different hikes - one up a mountain with snow (Mali me Gropa - mountain with holes) and another without snow. Here are some pictures of the adventures!

The steep climb up, me with my friends Louise and Tim, and a hut along the way

My friend Sarah and I and a view from the mountain

Been a while....

2008-01-16T14:37:00.001-06:00

Hello! I hope everyone has been doing well. I apologize for the long delay since writing last...I know, my usual thing to start off with! It's definitely been a busy past couple of months, so let me see if I can break it down into sizeable bits!

School:
I faciliated the end of term play, so a lot of my time the last month of school was focused on that. The students were in charge of the production - the script, props, etc. They ended up doing a great job and everyone enjoyed it (or were just making me feel good :))! The term ended, report cards went out, and we started out break!

Break:

My body decided that after school was over, it could finally let down, and in doing so, I got sick. It was very unpleasant - a bad cold where I couldn't leave my house for a little over a week. Susan was a good nurse, and I had a lot of reading time, which is always good!

At the very end of being sick, our team left to go to our field conference in Tunisia. The conference was great - studying the life of Jeremiah. It was also a great time of relaxing and getting to know people better. On our off days, we were able to see El Jem Coliseum, the port, the Old Town Sousse, and go on camel rides! Now, I'd been on a camel before, but this was a five mile journey! Let me tell you, my legs were a bit sore after that!!!

Overall:

Life is going very well! It's definitely been a rainy week, and I've been enjoying the water proof trousers that my parents sent on my bike rides! What a difference!!! The electricity has also been MUCH improved recently, so hopefully that will continue!

Please let me know how you all are doing and what you are up to! And here are some pics to enjoy as well!

Thanksgiving

2007-12-05T08:43:00.000-06:00

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! This was my third Thanksgiving away from my family (a few years ago I was in China). It's always sad to be away from family during this season, but by no means did I celebrate the holiday alone! We had a Christar dinner and a group of friends got together for a meal as well! Well, I've always sad that the best part is the mashed potatoes...but I never expected to make them for that many people! Yup, mashed potatoes for 50 people!! Well, it's tough to judge how much to make for so many people...so I thought 21 kilograms (45ish pounds) would be about right! So, Susan, her mom, and I cooked ALL those potatoes!! Here's a picture of the bag as well as some others from that day!

Halloween!

2007-10-29T05:12:00.000-05:00

My mom sent some headbands and candy from the States....so here you have it, Halloween in Albania!!

Poland

2007-10-26T09:59:00.000-05:00

Hello! Last week we had a week off school for our half term break, and Susan and I used that time to go to Poland. My great grandparents on my mom's side are from Poland, so we went to see where they lived as well as some concentration camps (my great grandparents and great aunts on my dad's side of the family died in Auschwitz, and we are not certain about the rest of our family).

Of course, along the way there were many adventures, which is to be expected with my travels!

First, before we went to Poland, we spent the weekend in England with Susan's mom (or mum - we'll be British :)). Well, the airlines ended up losing our luggage, which wouldn't have mattered so much, but we were going directly to a wedding! After speaking with the airlines, they said that Susan and I would each have $100 to buy clothes. So thanks to them, I now have a new outfit! We had a great time in England though and were able to spend time with Susan's mom and grandma.

The first city we went to in Poland was Krakow. We chose this city because it's the closest big city to Auschwitz and Birkenau (concentration camps). We stayed at a very nice hostel and the city was very beautiful. It was definitely a lot colder than I had expected though. Susan and I, by the end of the trip, had purchased a scarf, hat, gloves, and coat (for Susan)!

On our first full day in Krakow we signed up to go with a tour group to Auschwitz and Birkenau (an hour and fifteen minutes away). On the tour of Auschwitz you were able to see a lot of things because all the 28 buildings were still standing, as well as the barbed wired. Each building has been turned into a museum, displaying different aspects of the camp and the prisoner's lives. You could see luggage that had been taken away from people, seven tons of hair that had been shaved off people after entering the camp, the empty cans of the Zyklon B (gas), the gas and cremation rooms, the torturing cells, the execution wall, and much more. It was very horrific.

(outside a gas chamber and crematorium)

After the tour was over, before we took the bus to Birkenau, we had fifteen minutes to use the bathroom, get coffee, etc., so we told our guide that we were going to go to the archive building to look up information on my family but that we would still meet them. Well, Susan and I were TWO minutes late to the meeting point, and no one else was in sight, nor the bus! Yup, they had left us. After looking unsuccessfully into other options (walking, taking the city bus, etc.) I only saw one option - going with another tour bus. So, seeing a group walking to their bus, I went up to the tour guide and asked if we could go with them. He agreed, so we stepped onto the bus with the other passengers, who turned out to be a very elderly group of Italians! We blended right in! We arrived at Birkenau only to find that the tour had just ended. Thankfully we were given a few minutes at the end, and Susan and I were able to look around ourselves in that time.

After spending 2 nights in Krakow, we went to Warsaw where we stayed another 3 nights. Our first whole day in Warsaw, we went had decided to go to the town where my family is from, Wegrow. All of the Polish train websites are in Polish, but we found it surprisingly easy to navigate through and find the trains we needed to be on, or so we thought! Two stops showed up when we typed in "Wegrow" so we decided, since we didn't know which would be the center, to get a ticket to the second stop, but get off at the first and walk. Thankfully, the train doors shut too quickly and we couldn't manage to get out in time, because all that was around us at that time were forests!!! At that point we assumed that the second stop must be the center of town. After getting off the train on the second stop, we had quite a shock. Wegrow, from looking on the internet, was supposed to be a town of 12,500, but what we saw was a town that had a population of 10! The land was very flat, and in the distance as far as our eyes could see, we could only see 5 houses!! We thought that we still must not be in the center of the town, and we saw a bus pull off when we got off the train, so we started walking in the direction of the train. We walked a good ways, but to no avail - all we saw was more forest.

At that point we walked back to the train station, which strongly resembles and old saloon (door squeak and all). We saw a woman and tried to find out if the center was near or far, but to no avail, she didn't speak any English, and we were not able to communicate using hand signs. Then, in came a man in his late 50s/60s wearing all camoflauge (hat and all)...and he spoke some broken English. We asked him the same question and he said he would show us on a map at his house. So we went outside and started walking, crossed the train tracks, and he started climbing over a train! What were we to do but follow! I was sure that Susan was going to fall, but she made it! It turned out that we were 37 km away!! A bus ride later we were finally there.

After we got off the bus in the real Wegow, we weren't quite sure what to do. In my mind we were going to find the town hall and find out where she used to live and all that, but from the looks of it, that was definitely not going to happen. The town was definitely bigger and looked like a town of 12,500 people, but from the looks of it, none of them spoke any English! We went into a bank thinking they might know English, but they didn't...so we walked out, and just looked up like, "what are we going to do now???" And that's when we saw a notice advertising and English class! We followed the sign and went into a building, only to meet a man from Nigeria that taught the class! Very random! He told us that he would take us to the cemetary, which ended up being very interesting.

From that point, we needed to figure out how we were going to get to Treblinka, a concentration camp that most people from that town were sent to. We had looked on the internet and knew how to get there from the wrong town we went to initially. So, the Nigerian man then saw a family that he knew that he said was from Albania driving by, so they drove us to the bus station! So now we were in Poland, with a Nigerian man, being driven by an Albanian family - crazy! Turns out the Albanian family has been in Poland too long to remember any Albanian, but they still managed to get us to the station. We took the bus back to the wrong city, only to get off the bus and see that at the SAME TIME the train we needed just pulled away!

When we had been walking around that city, thinking it was the right one, we saw a sign that said "Taxi" on a tree by someone's house, so we went back to it. A woman and child were inside the gate by the house and immediately after we said, "Taxi", the man was ready to drive us away. The taxi drove us to Treblinka, waited for us while we looked around, then drove us to the nearby city where we could take a train back to Warsaw. Treblinka has been completely destroyed by the Germans so as to destroy any evidence. However, there are now stones in place to symbolize what was there, as well as a huge memorial with a grave stone to represent each country that people were sent from, as well as a gravestone for each city in Poland that people had come from. It was very well done.

In Warsaw, Susan and I were also able to go into the Jewish quarter and see the only synagogue that made it through the Holocaust, as well as see the train station in the ghetto where the Jews were sent to the concentration camp, among other things.

The trip was very educational and interesting to see, but also very emotional. It's difficult to think how something like the Holocaust every happened, and even more difficult to think about how people believe it never happened. One of the quotes on the wall in a building in Auschwitz said this, "The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again" (George Santayana). I'll end on that.

Vlore

2007-10-09T05:47:00.001-05:00

Hello! Last weekend, Susan and I went to Vlore, a town about 3 hours south of Tirane. We have friends there that we wanted to see and we also wanted to celebrate her team leader's birthday.

Turns out that I left my bathroom bag in my apartment, not a big deal, all things I could buy at a store, right? Well, the store I found didn't have any adult size tooth brushes, only child size. Yes, I ended up buying one and decided that I had to show you a picture of it!

Besides the interesting beginning, the weekend went really well. We went up on top of the mountain outside of town, and the day was clear enough that we could see Corfu, Greece! We also bought some honey that had been hand bottled in the area, and let me tell you, it is delicious! They only had one size, BIG, so we'll be enjoying it for a while!

We also had lunch at a restaurant on the beach, which was great. The weather was nice, but not swimming weather, so we just enjoyed the view.

Just thought I'd fill you in on what it was like in Vlore! Take care!

Why the Absence?

2007-10-01T08:04:00.000-05:00

Hello to those of you that haven't given up on me!

This has been a crazy time, and I apologize that I haven't sent an update out earlier.

As I mentioned in the last post, Susan's grandmother wasn't doing very well. She passed away in the early hours of Sunday, 9th September. Right after that time, Susan caught a bad virus that put her off school, leading right into the time that she spent back in the UK with her family for the funeral, etc. Because of her absence, and the fact that we couldn't find anyone to cover her classes (math, grades 5-8), I covered her classes as well as coordinating mine. It was great teaching math again, I really enjoyed it! However, this took up significantly more of my time, lesson planning for both classes, grading, etc.

Susan is now back in Tirane after spending some quality time with her family. She is also healthier now, praise God! She is back and school and things are settling back down. Susan is still very tired and trying to get back into her routine - could you please pray for a smooth transition back for her, as well as rest!

So far, grades 5-8 have had breakfast together as a get-to-know you time, and we had a great time! Everyone seems to be getting along well and it has been a joy teaching them so far this year!!

Take care!

Here's a picture of some friends and I playing Settlers of Catan. If you have never played, it's a really fun game!!

Back in Albania

2007-08-25T06:56:00.000-05:00

Hello! I'm sorry that it's been a while since I've written. I hope that this will not be the trend this year in Albania!!

Well, I had a great time while I was back in the US! I was able to see a good amount of people and do quite a bit of traveling. I'll include some pictures for sure! The one of my pants all wet is from the waitress spilling on me, by the way!!!

I have spent the last week in Leicester, England with my roommate Susan. It was great meeting her friends and family and to visit with her grandmother that is very sick. Please pray for her grandmother, she will be 98 in about a week and has pneumonia.

After arriving back on Thursday night I have managed to be busy already! We had our first education team meeting last night and met the new people on the team. They seem very nice, a 4th grade teacher, 7th and 8th grade science teacher, and high school math and science teacher are all new! Myself and the team leader are the only veteran teachers on the team, scary!

It's good to be back, and thankfully I haven't forgotten all my Albanian! This year I'm going to be taking grammar lessons once a week and continue meeting with my conversation partner a few times a week. Oh yeah, and do all my lesson planning and develop the curriculum for language arts grades 5-8. Only a little bit on my plate!

Hope you are doing well!! Please keep in touch if you can and I promise to try to update this a lot more than I have been!!

Ok, well, it's not letting me post any pictures right now, sorry!!! I'll try again later to add the pics.

My Birthday, in July?????

2007-07-23T16:27:00.000-05:00

This year I had my 27th birthday twice! It was fun being able to celebrate with friends in Texas! Thanks for the great memories!!

On the Road Again...

2007-07-20T21:26:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from when I drove from St. Louis to Denton, Texas. I stopped in Columbia, Missouri to see my friend Mary and then in Kansas City, Kansas to see my friends Juliana and Mark. All of them are friends from college, and it was GREAT being able to spend time with them!!!!

Pictures of Albania

2007-07-13T16:41:00.001-05:00

Here are just some pictures of Albania for you to see:

4th of July

2007-07-08T17:02:00.000-05:00

Well, had a pretty American 4th of July - cookout with the fam and fireworks. Doesn't get better that does it? Here are some pictures to enjoy. The ones of the fireworks didn't come out very well, but you get the idea!!

My aunt and Mom watching these fireworks

Adventures in Alaska

2007-07-03T22:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back in the US again! After getting back to Dallas on the 21st I left almost immediately to go on an Alaskan cruise with the fam. Beautiful is the best word to sum the whole thing up! Here's a brief rundown.

We stopped in Juneau where we went to a camp where they trained dogs for the Iditarod and UConn Quest dogsled races. After learning about the Iditarod in middle school I was interested in seeing what it was like, and let me tell you, it was more fun than I ever thought it would be! My family met a musher, Abbie, who trains the dogs to do the UConn Quest, and she not only introduced us to her dogs but she also took us on a ride!

Next we headed to Skagway where we went on the White Pass Rail, a old-time train that took us the same route as the gold miners! The scenary was very beautiful, but unfortunately we didn't take back any gold! Guess I'm still raising support!

Tracy Arm was our third stop but we weren't allowed to get off the ship. Yes, whereas the Titanic sunk because of icebergs, we actually sailed TOWARDS them! Rushing waterfalls and craggy cliffs outline the long, narrow fjord highlighted by snow-capped mountains. The glacial ice is an incredible and indescribable blue color! Sawyer Glacier, the biggest we saw was over 40 stories high! Amazing!!

On to Ketchikan, my mom's most dreaded stop for one reason, and one reason only...kayaking! Yes, at a water temperature of 55 degrees fehrenheit the Neuman family descended into the kayaks. Let me tell you, it was an adventure!! Neither my mom or dad had ever been kayaking before, so my sister and I each went with one of them. After surviving the two times my dad almost flipped us at the dock (which he will admittedly deny) we were on our way! My mom describes my sister's actions on that trip as being like a drill sergeant, "left, right, left, right". Apparently she wasn't going as fast as Stephanie desired to go! We did manage to hold a live star fish and water jelly, as well as see a sea lion and a bald eagle. Not half bad! We made it without any injuries and everyone still talking after an hour and a half; I'd say we were victorious!!

Victoria, Canada was our last stop, and unfortunately my sister and dad weren't feeling very well so they stayed on the boat. That also happened to be the expedition that my sister picked out, city lights and wine tasting. Unfortunately, my mom doesn't even like wine, so we were in for a fun treat! Thankfully they did the wine tasting with chocolate, so the chocolate saved the day for my mom! The wine was good and we met a nice mother and daughter that were teachers in the Dallas area as well! We had a good time and saw the spectacularly lit up Parliament building as well.

Just when you thought the trip was over...we actually stayed a couple days in Seattle. Our cousins and my mom's friend live in Seattle so we had decided to stay and visit for a few days, unfortunately they all happened to be out of town! Not the best timing, but we did have a place to stay...one out of two isn't bad! Seattle is a great town! For those of you that haven't done the duck tour, the tour that goes in the same vehicle on the road as it does in the water, you haven't done Seattle! We had a great time, and my mom's friend came in town the night before we left so we had dinner with her also!

The vacation was a huge success...good times had by everyone! Right when we got back to St. Louis my aunt and uncle were in from out of town for a visit, so the fun didn't stop! It was great seeing them too!

Now back to Texas. I'll be leaving to drive back down (yeah, I know, scary considering I haven't driven in a while!) later on this week. I hope to see as many of you as possible before going back to Albania towards the end of August! Definitely keep in touch!!

President Bush

2007-06-11T01:14:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm sure most of you don't know, but President Bush was in Albania on June 10, 2007! It's a very historic event because no sitting American president has ever visited the country. It was actually on the eighth anniversary of the start of Serbian troop withdrawals from Kosovo and ratification by the United Nations Security Council of the American-brokered peace accord that ended the fighting. President Bush is pushing the Security Council to approve a plan that would lead to qualified Kosovo independence.

Here's some history for you. In Albania, which has not wavered in its unblinking support for American policies since the end of the cold war, President Bush can do no wrong. While much of the world berates Bush, Albania still loves him without restraint. Every school child in Albania can tell you that President Woodrow Wilson saved Albania from being split up among its neighbors after World War I, and nearly every adult repeats the story when asked why Albanians are so infatuated with the United States.

It was a beautiful day for him to come, and I went down to the center where he was going, so I could try to sneak a peak. The streets were blocked off from vehicles and mobbed with people wearing red, white, and blue. It was quite an experience, and I even got interviewed by a couple television stations! I didn't get to see the interviews, but some of the staff and students at the school saw it! Thankfully everything went smoothly for his trip here, and they are now naming a street after him.

Funny Pictures

2007-06-05T06:45:00.000-05:00

Hello! I just wanted to share some funny pictures. The one is of a funny magnet, the other is of a "blonde moment" that I thought was funny, and the other one...well, let's just say I don't think that kid is going to be the top of his class!! Enjoy!

New Haircut!

2007-06-04T05:52:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Well, it's official, I got my first haircut in Albania! It's a little different here, and after they get done cutting your hair, the hairdresser hits you on the back of the head and says, "shëndët" (good health). Everyone that sees that you've had a haircut does the same! The kids at school had a good time with that!

I'm pleased with it, let me know what you think!

Vlora and Rome

2007-05-28T01:48:00.000-05:00

Hello! Hope everyone is doing well! The summer is just about here!!! I'll be coming back to the States on June 21st, but won't be back in Texas until the beginning of July. I'm roughin' it with the family - going on an Alaskan cruise!!

I thought I'd write about some of the travelling that I've been doing. Two weeks ago I went with Susan to Vlora, a city about 3 hours south of Tirana. Vlora's on the coast, and it is very beautiful! We went down to see some of Susan's friends (and mine too now :)) and to see her teammates that are there. The weather was great, and it happened to be the "Opening of Beach Season" weekend, so it was packed! We made it to the beach for a total of about 45 minutes, just before we ate at a restaurant on the beach....and wouldn't you know it, in that short period of time, I got burned! Typical!!!

Last weekend, Susan and I headed to Rome to meet Stephanie and Kent (friends from Denton)! We went on Friday afternoon and Stephanie and Kent joined us on Saturday morning. We stayed at a bed and breakfast outside the center, and it definitely was, outside the center! From the airport it took us 2 hours to get back the hotel via train, walking, subway, bus, and then walking! It was definitely a long day!

We couldn't have planned it any better, it happened to be the end of the culture week in Rome, so all the civic museums were free! Usually, when you pay 12 euros to get in somewhere, you feel like you have to stay for a long time to make it worth it, but in our case it was nice to go in and have a look at a lot of different places! We saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Arch of Constantine, and St. Peter's Square....all in a day and a half!!!

The Colosseum was the most amazing to me! It is such an architectural and engineering wonder, and remains as a standing proof of both the grandeur and the cruelty of the Roman world. Outside the Colosseum we saw some men dressed up as gladiators, so of course we (well, I) wanted a picture with them! Kent was just going to take it of us girls, but one of them came over and told us all to get it and that he would take the picture. I thought that was nice until after he took the picture he told us it would cost each of us 5 euros!! We couldn't believe it, so we fought them on it (not literally of course, they had weapons), and didn't end up paying. Crazy!

We enjoyed a nice Italian meal at a restaurant close to the Pantheon. And of course, the meal wouldn't have been complete without me spilling red wine on my shorts! Haha

Everyone had a great time, and I was glad to be able to see Rome with such great people!!!

May Already!

2007-05-09T06:28:00.000-05:00

These pictures are of (from left to right): View from hotel room in Macedonia, with some of the children on the team, and with some students after the basketball game (yes, I am in jeans because I wasn't planning on playing!)

Hey everyone! Can you believe it's May?? It's official now...I'm wearing a skirt today!

I went to Macedonia for a conferene a couple weeks ago, and besides being sick, it was fun! I had a great view of the lake from my hotel room (which is nice considering that's where I spent the majority of my time!). The president of Christar, Steve Coffey spoke, and it was a good time of refreshment.

School is plugging along....currently my class is working on an assignment for geography where they are (theoretically) building a car plant in Brazil. Each group is made up of four people: personnel manager, transport manager, production manager, and sales manager, and they have to determine the best place to build that plant. They are making up company names and logos as well, and are doing a great job!

We have Sports Day this Friday when all of the students at GDQ as well as the home schoolers will participate in a lot of different activities. Some of the activities include crab soccer, obstacle course, three-legged race, etc. I'm excited about it, I don't know about the students!!

I went to my first movie in Tirana, Spider Man 3! The movie was really good, but it was definitely a different kind of experience. The movie was in English with Albanian subtitles, and since most of the people there were reading the subtitles the volume was fairly low and there was a lot of talking! It was a nice movie theater, nice than I expected, that's for sure! Not quite the seats that can lean back or the arm rests that lift up, but comfortable! I'll definitely go back if there is another good movie!

My school (GDQ) played the Tirana International School in basketball this past weekend, and not to brag, but we crushed them 41-25!! The director said that he thought I could maybe pass for 8th grade and play in the game! Hopefully not!! They had a lot of fun, and after the game some of the students played against some staff/board members! Again, not to brag, but we beat them!

Things here are going really well. I appreciate all of your support - emails, calls, prayers, everthing!

Birthday in Albania

2007-04-10T09:52:00.000-05:00

Hello! I know it's a little past, but I wanted to give an update on what happened on my birthday weekend!

It was really eventful, definitely packed full! Susan's brother came in from England (not for my b-day, but we can use our imagination). On Friday some friends put together a live murder mystery dinner theater! It was a lot of fun and about 75 people from around the city came in for it. This wasn't performed for me, but it was good timing to kick off the weekend!

On Saturday evening about 25 friends and I went out to eat at a traditional Albanian restaurant. My friend Louise made a cake in the form of a jayhawk too!! After dinner we went to do some karaoke at a local bar! The whole place sang to me in both English and Albanian and I was given a rose from one of the waiters! I did my fair share of singing and dancing, and thankfully for you all I can't put video footage on here! Or shall I say, thankfully for me!!

On Sunday I went up the Sky Tower (a tall building with a revolving cafe on the top with a great view) for a coffee with Susan and her brother. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the view. We met up with some other friends to go bowling after that. Eventually I made it home to be able to wish my sister and my dad a happy birthday as well! The time change thing is really tricky sometimes, but that day it was actually very useful!!

I had a great birthday weekend! Thanks for all your calls and emails!

Random!

2007-03-19T09:46:00.000-05:00

Hello! Amazingly enough, there is actually a jazz club in Tirana! We went one night, and it was really fun! The band was very talented, and it was definitely something different from the norm! It's not for the early-to-bed people, starts at 11:00, but it's worth it! I've attached some pics from that.

Red Nose Day was Friday, March 16th, and we celebrated at my school. I'm sure you all are thinking, WHAT IS THAT??? I had that same thought up until a few weeks ago! It's a day that raises money for the charity, Comic Relief, who in turn gives money to children in poor countries. This year the money went to children in Africa. The theme was "big", so the red noses that we wore were big, and we had dress up contents among the teachers and students in big costumes! I was an elephant, and no, I didn't gain massive amounts of weight....I stuff myself with padding to be even bigger! I did end up winning 3rd place, not bad!! The day was a lot of fun, but definitely exhausting! We had classes in the morning, and in the afternoon we had a lot of different games and BIG activities! Can you believe my class had a difficult time taking me seriously when I was teaching like that?? Crazy!

Hope you are all doing well! Would love to hear from you!

Until next time!

Lori

Snowboarding in Macedonia!

2007-02-22T09:04:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm still alive! I made it back from Macedonia, and had a great time! I went with Louise, Tim, and Helen, all British, and work with BMS World Missions. Louise teaches at school with me, and through Susan and Louise I met Helen and Tim. As usual, I do have some stories, so I thought that I would share a little bit.

First of all, after being on the slope for 5 minutes I realized that snowboarding is not a genetic trait! The first day was definitely not easy, and the weather didn't help. There was a white out (basically everything is white and you can't see anything), and it was so bad that when we were on the lift we couldn't see the platform to get off ahead of time, just heard the screams and knew it was coming! When we did get off the lift we didn't even know which way the slope was! Once we found the slope it was difficult to tell how fast you were going because you couldn't see around you, but my main problem at the beginning wasn't going too fast, it was standing up after I'd fallen down! Seriously, I mean both of your legs are attached to the board, so you can't use them to lift yourself up. That might not sound difficult, but it takes getting used to! I finally got that downand was able to work on my edging, and actually go down the slope! It was a lot of fun, and I was definitely sore, but I would do again for sure!

We had to get in a true snowball fight and build a snowman while we were gone, just because we could! While I was rolling the head of the snowman, a dog came and "relieved" himself on it! Well, we all thought it was hilarious, but I figured, I'll just keep rolling it and it will all be covered up. Tim couldn't believe it, but no one else seemed to have a problem with it. Funnily enough, when Tim was sculpting an ear, some of the snow came off, and fell into his mouth; snow that he claimed was yellow! He was completely grossed out, and we all fell over laughing!!! Classic.

Kudos to those of you that snowboard, and for everyone else, give it a shot!!!

Karaoke Fun!

2007-02-16T06:42:00.000-06:00

Hello! Last weekend some friends and I went to a place with karoake, and it was a blast! I definitely sang my fair amount of songs...and by the end strangers were pulling me up there to sing with them! One of my Albanian friends wanted to sing a duet with me, and picked a traditional Albanian song! Needless to say I didn't know it, but it was really fun, and by the end I go the jist of it! Here are some pics for you to enjoy. Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to put video on as well....maybe you should be thankful I can't :).

Take care, and I'll write an update when I get back from Macedonia! I'm off to snowboard (hopefully)! Oh, and the other picture is of Susan, Louise, and I at the park!

Pictures, finally!!

2007-02-07T06:41:00.000-06:00

Hello! Wow, I actually figured out how to fix my picture problem and can now post pictures! To celebrate, here's a few to look at from when I was back in the States as well one from Albania. Hope you are doing well!

Here is a pic of my sister and I (I'm on the left) from when I was home.

This is a pic of some of the friends that I was over to see while I was in Texas.

On January 25, I went to a Ceildh (a Scottish dance). This is a picture of me dancing (or trying to!) with one of the students at my school.

February Already!!

2007-02-04T10:16:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! Can you believe it’s February already?? Time is going by so quickly! I wanted to write and catch everyone up on what’s been going on!

The first term of school finished very well. We had a Christmas play to close things off, and the kids all did really well! And so began my vacation! As always, there are a few stories, but I’ll just share one for the sake of space.

My flight to the States included an overnight in London due to the flight schedule. Some people had this same flight schedule, and because it wasn’t a planned overnight, but that was just the way the flights worked, the airline paid for a hotel room for them. Susan called the airline about something else and asked about the hotel info, and the woman with the airline confirmed that they would pay for a hotel room for me. My flight ended up being delayed leaving Tirana because of the fog in London, so instead of landing at 9pm, I landed a little after midnight! Of course the airport was pretty much abandoned at that point, but I followed the instructions of the woman on the phone, but came to find out that the woman had given me wrong information; the airline had NO intention of giving mea free hotel room! At that point I headed to the free hotel phone and proceeded to call every hotel on the list…but to no avail, there were no openings because of the cancellations due to the fog. A couple people (not together) came to look at the shuttle schedule that was on the same board as the hotel phone numbers and were complaining that their shuttle didn’t come until 3:15 am. I couldn’t help but say that they should be thankful to have a hotel to go to, that I couldn’t find any with rooms available! The guy (about my age) said that I could stay with him, but I politely declined. The girl (who looked about college age) and I started talking, and it turned that she was an American that was doing an internship in Ireland with Focus on the Family, was from Abilene, Texas, and was flying to Dallas! She too invited me to stay with her, and looking at my options, although she was a stranger, that looked like the best option! I did ask her if she was going to kill me when we got back to the hotel, and after saying no, asked me the same question! We got to the hotel about 4am to find a double bed, but at that point I didn’t care! It was fabulous to have a place to stay, and she wouldn’t let me pay, so I did get my free hotel room after all!

After all the excitement of getting back to the States, I had a GREAT time! I spent all but a couple days with my family, and we had a really good time together. Not only did I get to see my immediate family, but also a lot of my extended family! It was a busy time, but really enjoyable. I spent Christmas with my friend Mary and her family. I am so thankful that they opened their home again to me…it was a really special Christmas! The last night I was able to spend in Texas with my friends there. It was SO nice seeing everyone and just catching up! I was able to go back to the school where I taught and have lunch with my friends there! I saw a lot of people in a very short time! I wish I could have had more time, but I am very thankful for the time I did have!

I had such a great time back in the States, but coming back to Albania, I have even more assurance that this is where God has me right now, and want to stay for another year. I am just now really getting established as far as teaching, ministry, and language. Although teaching many subjects is still a challenge, I am feeling a lot more comfortable with it, and I am learning a lot! I am also part of the school’s crisis team, and am helping to create and implement a plan for different types of crisis situations. I am attending the same church regularly and am beginning to be involved in teaching the children. I am starting to meet with an Albanian girl and teaching her Titus 2 in Albanian! Crazy, huh? I am having a grammar lesson once a week and meeting with my conversation partner 3 times a week. My schedule is becoming much more set, and it’s been very helpful! I am playing football (soccer) once a week, meeting with a group of single woman for prayer and dinner once a week, going to Christar’s women’s bible study once a week, and a friend comes over once a week to watch Alias! My schedule is full, but it is very good!

Time has gone by very quickly, and it’s going to be half term in less than 2 weeks! I am going to go to Macedonia to go snowboarding with a teacher, Louise, from school, and a couple that has just arrived in Albania a couple weeks ago. They are all English, so looks like I’ll be the token American! Those of you that don’t know, I have never skied or snowboarded before, so it should be an interesting trip!!

Thank you for all your support and encouragement! Please let me know how you are doing and what you are up to! I’m sorry that I haven’t been communicating as well as I hoped to. In the words Susan would say, I’ve been “rubbish” about my updates. Now that my schedule is set, I’ve allotted time just to communicate with people outside Albania, so I hope to improve!

I will leave you with some praises and prayer requests. Take care and I hope to hear from you soon!

Praises:
- Great trip to the States over Christmas
- Susan and I continue to be getting along well/good living situation
- Have a set, consistent schedule
- For all of you, friends and family!

Requests:
- Support, both financial and prayer to stay another year
- Wisdom in teaching at the GDQ as well as the bible study
- I grow closer to God every day
- Safety while in Macedonia
- Continued safety on my bike

Back from Turkey

2006-12-02T07:15:00.000-06:00

Hello! Well, I made it back from Turkey, and it was great!

The conference went really well! There were 78 women as opposed to the 40 we expected, so praise God for that! They were all very excited about the material and wanted more. Unfortunately we didn't have more time give, but they were able to take home copies of the bible study and do further study. I'm hoping that God used this conference to set a foundation for future teaching opportunities in Turkey.

I was also able to go to the university campus and meet with students. I'll share about the conversation that was a highlight to me. We thought a good way to meet people was to play backgammon because EVERYONE there seems to play. So, a group of us went into a cafe where a lot of students were hanging out and playing, but the sad thing was, none of us knew how to play! I played when I was young, but didn't remember how to play! So we decided to ask people to teach us...so me, being the independent spirit, went up to a table of 2 girls and asked if they spoke english. I could tell by their response that they did, but were learning, and I decided to ask if I could join them and have them teach me how to play. Nothing like inviting myself huh?? They began teaching me, and before I knew it the friends they were meeting showed up, and we were all playing! I played a few games with them, and while doing so we were just making small talk. They were all in their first year of university and had met in the dorms and were nice. I had told them that I was in Izmir to teach, and they asked me what I was teaching. At that point I told them I was a Christian and that I was teaching how, as a woman, to develop a lifestyle pleasing to God. I asked them if they believed and God, and one girl got out her dictionary (that was one table) and pointed to the word "muslim" - all of them were muslim. I continued talking to them about the bible, and they looked a bit confused, so I got out the 5 bibles in turkish I had in my backpack and gave them to them. They said that they had never seen a bible before, only head of it, and were very intrigued. They were confused as to why I had to many, and they actually thought that I was selling them! I told them that another reason I went to to Turkey was to tell people like them, that hadn't seen the bible, the bible, and to talk to them about God. From there we were able to have a conversation about heaven and I shared the Gospel with them. They were in awe. After an hour and a half conversation with them I had to leave because our group was already over an hour late for Thanksgiving Dinner. I did exchange information with them, and look forward to keeping in touch!

Oh, and to answer your question, NO I didn't not have turkey in Turkey on Turkey Day!! We actually ate KFC for dinner! I can safely say that I haven't eaten KFC in ages, even when I was living in the States!!

Something really cool about the trip was also that I got to see 5 of the seven churches of Revelation (Revelation 1:11)! It was VERY cool!!! I saw Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, and it was amazing!! It was so fascinating to see and to learn about the historical and geographical locations of each, it really helped me understand the letters better! I also saw the apostle John and the apostle Luke's tomb and one of the seven natural wonders in the world, thermal water! I'll definitely share more later on all that, but I feel like this is going on forever and everyone is probably asleep!

I would definitely say that Izmir is more developed, but the lifestyle, food, and some words were similar to Albania. It was strange, although I had a great time in Turkey, I was anxious to get back to Albania.

Well, I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Take care! Oh, and yeah, still not letting me post pics, not sure what's going on with that. Sorry!

Yes, I'm Alive...

2006-11-16T01:11:00.000-06:00

Where to even begin. I'm not sure who is even still looking at my blog, who hasn't given up on me yet! Thanks for reading this, whoever you are!

So much has happened since I last wrote it's tough to know what exactly to say. For starters, if you didn't know, I moved (yes, AGAIN) and am now living with Susan, the 5th grade teacher at the school. She's from England, so my cross cultural living experience continues :). I LOVED living with the Albanian girls, but I wasn't able to get a lot of work done at the apartment because there were so many people and so little space. We still see each other though, and Viola agreed to be my new conversation partner so that we would have an opportunity to see each other a few times a week! It's been working out really well! Living with Susan has been great too...we have a great time together and seem to be playing host to quite a few people each week!

We had a week off school for Fall Break, and Susan and I decided (after MUCH discussion and practically a school vote) to go to Prague and Vienna! Let me just say, they were beautiful!! We had a really great time, with many adventures along the way! We saw the Prague Chamber Orchestra as well as the opera, Carmen, at the State Opera House in Vienna. We visited 5 synagogues and 2 Jewish cemetaries in Prague, did a tour on the life of Franz Kafka (author), informal (just us) bike tour in Vienna, and did a lot of just walking around enjoying the sights and cities.

When we came home it was back to reality with a BANG…or rather a "Yuck! What’s that horrible smell?"! As Susan opened our apartment door we were greeted with an indoor swimming pool once again (it had happened 2 days before we left also) and, after investigation, found that the landlord had not added this luxury feature but, in fact, the washing machine had once again spit out a whole cycle of water! The smell was the "fragrance" of mold coming from the rugs that had been saturated by the escaping water, which must have jumped over-board the very day that we left for our break. The rugs have been cleaned and the smell is gone, so all is well again :).

School continues to be going great! This week my kids had tests in a few different subjects, and I was very pleased with how they did! Science is always the biggest challenge for me, but Carolyn, another member of the Christar team, and former nurse, has been VERY gracious in helping me out! We have a great time teaching together, and I'm sure the kids are benefiting a lot more from us together than they would from just me! Right now in class, just to give you an idea, this is what my kids are studying:

Bible - Acts 7 (we do about a chapter a week)
Geography - coasts
History - just finished significant events in England 1500-1750
Math - problem solving using algebra
Science - bacteria and immunizations
English - not sure, someone else teaches them english!
Computers/Albanian/PE/Art/Music - someone else teaches them

I am leaving on Tuesday afternoon to go to Izmir, Turkey for a Titus 2/evangelism trip. I am really excited about the trip! I am meeting up with a woman from Denton Bible, and we will be joining up with a team of about 16 people. Please pray for clarity of speech and opportunities to talk to people. This trip also falls over Thanksgiving...so I'll be spending Turkey Day in Turkey! Now how many times can you say that???

Well, now that I've written a novel, I'll let you go! I promise to try to update this more frequently!!!!! Thanks for your patience! Oh and sorry, it is still not letting me download pictures!

Sorry it's been so long!!

2006-09-29T12:40:00.000-05:00

Hello! Sorry that it's been so long!!! I hope this catched you up on what's been going on with me lately!!

Last week I went with some of my roommates to the "Taiwan" to go bowling. Not sure why it's called the Taiwan, but it's a park with a big fountain, cafe, and bowling alley and such. We had a lot of fun bowling, and it was great to spend that time together! My old bowling skills came back and I ended up bowling a 190! Hopefully that didn't set some sort of precident for my bowling in the future!

Besides that things are going really well! School is going along very smoothly, and I'm slowly adjusting to teaching so many different subjects! My kids continue to be a huge blessing and are just great kids. The staff at the school is also very supportive as well as fun people to hang out with, so that's always a bonus!

Life with the roommates is good as well. A couple of them are sick, so you can definitely pray for them to get better quickly and that the rest of us would not get what they have! We have had water for the past fews days, so that has been GREAT! With the cold weather coming I'm interested to see how the electricty is going to be because it we already lost it for most of one day last weekend.

My language is progressing as I've been meeting with a conversation partner for 6 hours a week. Basically we just talk in Albanian (shqip) the whole time...it's really fun! I am also doing grammar lessons, but those are only 2 hours a week, and I am actually in the middle of changing teachers right now, so I haven't had a lesson in a couple weeks. Please pray for me as I continue to try to learn the language!!

Oh, last weekend I climbed Mt. Dajti, a mountain here in Tiranë! It was GREAT, but definitely not the safest thing I could have done! It was an adventure to say the least. I went with a teacher from school, the two guys that moved into my old apartment, and one of their Albanian friends. I was thinking that we were going to just go up the road to the top, but apparently that's in a military zone, so we had to go the hard way. We climbed up the really steep hills for about 2 hours or so. It was so steep that we actually had to have TWO walking sticks. At that point we found a road that we could use that brought us to the rocks to climb to get to the very top. It was seriously like those rock climbing walls! If anyone knows how I did the last time I tried a climbing wall, they are probably already scared! Thankfully no one was hurt, and we made it to the top! Unfortunately after all of that, the sun went down and we had to go down in the dark. We ended up literally RUNNING down because we wanted to get down so we could take the lift down from half way up. There were a stream of interesting events, which include trespassing on the Prime Ministers and Presidents residence's, and meeting 2 arms guards! Craziness for sure, but we made it in time for the LAST lift down (literally, they shut it down after we got off!). Another adventure in the life of Lori.....

Until next time! I guess it's not letting me put pictures on again...I'll try that again in another blog.....

Exciting Things and Prayer Request

2006-09-11T08:54:00.000-05:00

Hello! I wanted to let you know some exciting things! First off, school is in full swing now! We started school on Wednesday, and it's going great! I have 12 kids in 7th and 8th grade that I teach history, geography, science, math, and bible to, and I teach math to 8 6th graders. The kids are angels! It's definitely a switch to have to teach so many subjects, but I'm trying to get a hang of it! I have some pictures of the of my kids, I'll post them as soon as I can! The staff of the school is really supportive and I've enjoyed getting to know them. It is quite interesting because the teachers are from England, Finland, Canada, South Korea, Albania, and the US, and we're teaching British curriculum! My kids are from all over as well! 6 different countries represented just with my 7th and 8th grade class!!

Other good news - I found some guys to take over my contract at my apartment!!! Thanks so much for your prayers! It worked out SO well! Two guys from Wisconsin are going to live there. They are here with the Lutheran church studying to be pastors and are going to be teaching english classes. My landlord was willing to cancel my contract and take them on with no problem - praise God!! We made the move on Saturday, and now I'm all moved into the apartment with the Albanians!

Prayer Request - My laptop has somehow crashed! All of my stuff is on there, so it's pretty crazy! I am currently having someone look at and hopefully get my files off of it!!

Hope everyone is doing well!! Talk to everyone soon!

Pictures

2006-09-05T06:45:00.000-05:00

These are some pictures of people! The first one is the view from my classroom. A little different from last year considering I didn't have a window! The next one is Bethany (doing a 2 week survey trip with Christar), me, and Manuela (roommate). Next is Moza, Elona, and Viola (all roommates). The last one is of me and Viola. So now you can see all my roommates minus 1, Rezi. Enjoy!!

Stories and Pictures

2006-09-05T05:52:00.000-05:00

Hello! Well I'm going to attempt to put more pictures up this time. I'm going to hold off on posting pictures of my apartment because hopefully I won't be living there! To catch you all up, I have absolutely LOVED my immersion experience and want to continue living with my Albanian friends. In order to do this I have to find someone to take over my contract at the other apartment. I had some people come by and look at it the other day and they were very interested, so I'm hoping that will work out!

This is my last day before school starts!! I can't believe how time has gone by so quickly! We have had staff days at school for the past few days and it has been great getting to know the other teachers! Everyone is very supportive and helpful, so that definitely helps! I made my schedule, but have yet to do all my lesson plans! Yesterday we had the open house and I was able to meet some of the parents and students, and that was great! I'll definitely be posting pictures of my students as soon as possible!

I have a funny story for you today as well. Well, not sure if it's more embarrasing or funny! Basically I biked home, got off my bike and was unlocking the door to my apartment building. For whatever reason I lost my balance and ended up falling down on top of my bike! Of course it hurt my pride more than anything else! Thankfully there wasn't anyone around!! I do have a nice bruise on my hip to show for it though :). Hopefully the visual that the story creates will be enough to make you chuckle a little bit!

The pictures are of my school and my classroom! Soon to come will be pictures of the outdoor bull mating place right outside my window!!

Pictures, finally!

2006-08-26T08:34:00.000-05:00

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!!

Crazy Lori Stories.....

2006-08-22T11:46:00.000-05:00

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!!

Postal Info

2006-08-16T11:14:00.000-05:00

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!

Sorry folks...

2006-08-15T07:06:00.000-05:00

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

Hello!

2006-08-15T06:56:00.000-05:00

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!

My Immersion so far....

2006-08-11T11:47:00.000-05:00

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!

Pictures from Vienna and on the plane....

2006-08-09T04:14:00.000-05:00

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

Made it to Albania!

2006-08-09T03:56:00.000-05:00

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!!

More Pictures of Going Away Party

2006-08-07T02:33:00.000-05:00

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

Enjoy!

Going Away Party

2006-08-07T02:11:00.000-05:00

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???

Answer to Questions Fincancially Supporting Me

2006-08-06T08:27:00.000-05:00

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!

Back in Texas

2006-08-02T01:31:00.000-05:00

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!!

A Glimpse of Albania

2006-07-19T16:26:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture that I took in Albania when I was there this past March. We were driving between Tirane (where I'll be living) and Kruje (a city in the mountains). Albania is a very beautiful country, don't you think? Just wanted to give you a little peak of what Albania looks like. Oh, and I added a link that tells you what the local time is there...pretty handy!!

My Very First Post!

2006-07-19T01:45:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I say everyone, but who knows if anyone is even looking at this! Well, like I said in the description, this post is to keep everyone up to date with what's going on in Albania. I'm completely knew to this whole blog thing, so please be patient with me. I am excited about keeping in touch this way, and hope it's a fun and informative for you! I am putting a picture of me on here, just in case you forget what I look like :).

Well, I have my play ticket, and officially leave for Albania on August 7th. Pretty crazy! I can't believe how quickly the summer went by. It was definitely filled with a lot of things, from weddings in Charleston, Denton, and just recently in Chicago, to going to Kenya with Titus 2, visitng my sister, among other things! I am leaving for Kansas City and St. Louis on the 25th, and will be visiting people, as well as spending my Mom's birthday with her and dropping off my car.

The word of the week this week is PACKING! I'm going into packing mode, and trying to organize my things.

Prayer requests:
- God continue to bring in support (both financial and prayer)
- That I be diligent to study my Albanian
- My relationship with God continues to grower deeper and that God helps me trust Him with all the details that need to be worked out before I can leave
- Motivation to pack!

Thanks for all of your support! I will write again soon and let you know what's going on. Please write comments and let me know what you think about my blog so far and how you are doing!