Hello Everybody,

I decided that a blog would be an easy way to communicate with the outside world. This may be easier for me than email as well because I know that I am not very good with all that jazz. Hopefully I can let you know how I am doing as well as fulfill my PC duty of informing the world about the country where I now live.

Albania is a very beautiful country, but it is obvious that it has suffered much in the past fifty or so years. Coming out of a brutal dictatorship, and then quickly moving into a democracy has taken its toll on the infrastructure and the economy. Some people said that this would be one of the harder assignments, and time will tell, but so far I am very happy here.

Right n0w I am a trainee. I live in the small village of Kuqan, and my host family is wonderful. The father is a Police, and there are two sons and a daughter. They are all trying to help me pick up the language.

I spend the first five hours of my day learning Shqip, or the Albanian language. It is actually kind of a difficult language to learn, but hopefully by the end of these three months I will actually be able to hold a conversation. There are five trainees in Kuqan, and the other 35 are scattered within a close proximity. We all have to go into Elbasan a few times a week for what they call "hub days" where we have sessions on safety and security, health issues, and technical education.

I will be a TEFL teacher, working in a secondary school somewhere in Albania. After I am sworn in as a volunteer in June, I will move to my permanent site. I don't yet know where this will be. I do know, however, that I will be ready to be done with training by then because this language stuff is pretty intense.