Ready for something to do...

Summer is rolling along. It is interesting to get here without much to do in the way of work. I am a teacher, and I dont have anything to do this summer. Summer is going by quickly though. Kind of living for the weeked, not because I am busy but because that is when I can travel. I didn't really travel this weekend just went to Berat. It is like 30 minutes away so it doesn't really count. I think that next weekend I would like to go to Puke (a town in the north, halarious all the same). I will have to coordinate this trip with a few other people though so we'll see how it goes.

Not having a job makes things a little more difficult because I live without much sense of purpose (this isn't on a grand purposeless life sort of scale, just a professional one). I know that when school begins I will have days when I will yearn for the summer again, but for now I usually have to find reasons to leave the house on a regular basis. It just makes the days a little longer. The heat doesn't help. It actually rained quite a bit though last night. It was really nice to wake up at around 1:30 or 2 in the morning and see rain off of my balcony.

Samantha asked me if I were to go home tomorrow, would I come back? I think that I really would. I think that it is important to remember that even though there are things that I miss, I would end up falling into a routine if I were to go back (or when I go back I guess) and things would be kind of the same that they were when I left. There are a lot of little things that I miss including (I will try to include my entire list right here):

- SJ
- Jags
- My family
- My friends
- 24 hour water (I only have it for 6 hours a day which gets frustrating because it dictates when I have to shower, brush my teeth, sleep habits, etc)
- 24 hour electricity
- Variety of resturants
- Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich
- Target (out of convience)
- Starbucks
- Grocery stores
- Insulated houses and central heating
- Readily available internet access
- drivers who have some concept as to what they are doing

And a few other things I'm sure. But as you can see, with some obvious exceptions, they are generally little things. It also makes me appreciate when I can have some of these things. There is a real honest to God grocery store in Tirana (we had to take a special bus to get there) and I dont think that I have been that excited to actually see a grocery store before. Finding things like Cyanne pepper (even though it was $6 and I didnt buy it) and peanut butter. Also in Tirana there is a Mexican resturant, a few chinese resturants, and a place where you can get an American style breakfast with coffee. These places are all pretty much amazing when you can actually get there. I really like the fact that I am able to appreciate them as much as I do.

I also like this whole "living abroad" thing. There is something that I really like about sitting in the Stevens Center (the place with the american breakfast) with mainly other foreigners and there is a collective appreciation of the situation in the room as I eat my Mexican omlette and drink my coffee. Of walking down the street and hearing somebody speak english and doing the double take, or vice versa. Or people assuming that I am a tourist and being suprised when I can speak Albanian to them. There have even been people who have asked me if I was Albanian, and if I am not why am I able to speak the language. This is flattering because I can barely speak the language.