Hello blog readers
Things have been going well here in Albania. Kucove has been rocking (not too hot which is good) and I have been able to travel a little bit and see everybody in some other towns around the country.
Last weekend I went to Girokaster, an old city in the south were there are four volunteers all from group nine. It was really nice to be able to see everyone down there. There is a big castle that we saw with an old armaments museum, mostly guns left by the Italians and Germans from World War Two. I was also told that they have a collection of antique weapons that they are afraid to show because they aren't sure whether they are legal or not. There is someone down there who wants to work with the museums there though to bring their collections a little more up to date. I think that it sounds like a great project.
We also ate at a nice resturant that overlooks the city and were able to walk around a little bit. If anybody wants to come and visit me (really) I would make another trip down there.
Other than that I have been hanging out a lot, reading a lot (I just finished Great Expectations and it was much better than I had expected), and teaching a few classes at the youth center. Things are going well there too. I think that the students are slowly warming up. I have two classes. One is with more advanced high school students where we are reading articles and doing a lot of discussion. I think that it will be a really fun class to teach. The other class is with beginner students and is a little more challenging. I am using a book to teach with for that one and I have to teach mostly all in Albanian. This only highlights my shqip inadequacies and makes me realize that I need to keep studying. Eventually with enough effort I am able to get my ideas across, but there are still those times where I just have to give up and move on. Oh well.
Thats all for now. I hope that things are going well and keep in touch.
Ryan