So I visited my site this last week, and I thought that I would write a little blog about it. It is a town called Kucove, there are about 3o,000 people who live there. It is pretty big by Albanian standards, but it still has that small town sort of feel to it. Its actually a really nice place.
Trying to find information before I went there was diffucult because people dont really go there. Everybody who knew where it was could only say, oh thats close to Berat. Berat is a really cool old town. There is a castle and a lot of old houses that are being preserved by the state. It is called the city of a thousand windows, and if you ever visit you will know why. All of the exteriors of the old buildings are property of Albania and residents own the interiors of the houses. There are literally around a thousand windows and they are all surrounding a big river. I'll post a picture someday.
Back to Kucove. It is a fairly new town, only started in the 1920's when some British guy found that there were oil reserves in the area. Its kind of an oil town, but the only one in Albania. During communism it was one of the more developed cities in the country. It was named Qytet e Stalini (or something like that) or City of Stalin from the end of World War Two until 1992 when the dictatorship fell here.
The town is pretty nice though. There are a lot of old oil well pump type things, whatever they are called. People said that you can see oil seeping out of the ground but I didn't actually see any of this. There are two secondary schools, the regular high school where I will teach and there is also a technical school. There are two English teachers at this school, but one is also the vice director so she teaches part time. The full time teacher is young, 26, but she is pretty progressive and really wants to impliment some new strageties to get students excited. The other teacher is a little bit more traditional, but I think that she will be really great to work with.
My living situation is also pretty good. I am connected with a family, but I will be living in a studio apartment next door to this family. The apartment is small and pretty modest. There is a room with a bed and a couch, a kitchen, and a bathroom. The kitchen doesn't actually have a sink and the stove is in the bathroom (probably because it is bigger than the kitchen and it has a window) so the bathroom is kind of more the kitchen than the kitchen is. I have a turkish toilet and I have to stand over it to shower. I know it all sounds amazing and I will post pictures as soon as I get a chance. I think that my favorite thing about the apartment is the fact that I do have a small balcony with a pretty good view of the town. It will be nice to sit there and drink coffee in the evenings.
My family is also pretty good. The host family that I have here in Kuqan is really great and I think that it would be difficult to beat them. With my new one there is a mom who is a housewife, the dad works in the oilfields, there is a 15 year old son and a 17 year old daughter. The dad doesn't really talk much, the thing that he has probably said the most to me is avash, avash, which just means "slowly, slowly". Its a turkish word that people use, but I dont really know why he says it to me. The mother is kind of crazy. She is very touchy, like a lot of Albanians, and when she thinks that I dont understand here she just talks louder. She also talks a lot, so I think that we will have an interesting relationship. The kids are alright too, I think that the son lives with the grandparents.
There is another volunteer who will be living in Kucove with me. She will be working in the municipality. I am glad that I am not alone, and when I need to speak with an American we can always go to get coffee and complain to eachother.
Thats all I have for now. I'll probably send out another email soon. I have said this before but once I get some pictures hosted, I'll let you know.