Gezuar Cubed

During the few days between Christmas and New Year’s, I decided to head to Athens. It was a great time! I would truly recommend it. This is the second time I’ve been to Athens and I wasn’t sure if there was enough to keep me busy, but believe me there is so much to see in that city. The only thing that I did which was the same was go to the Parthenon and watch the sunset from this certain hill which is really pretty. Other than that everything was different.
And by the way, I love Greek food. We had KFC, McDonald’s, and Applebee’s. Before you judge me too much, please remember I live in Albania. I do really like Albanian food, but I miss American food. And Greek food is really similar to Albanian food. We did go out to a Greek restaurant one night and it was great. About half way through dinner, these two guys came in. One played the keyboard and the other the bazooki which is some sort of Greek guitar. We were almost the only ones in the restaurants so we had a great private conversation and got to talk to them a little bit. It was a very cool cross cultural experience.
When I got back, I got ready for the biggest holiday in Albania. NEW YEAR’S. I don’t think words can really describe what it is like here on New Year’s. On the days leading up more and more fireworks arrived in Kavaje. They were selling them everywhere and I’m not talking about sparklers, I’m talking about big fireworks that shoot high in the air and explode. Eight year olds were buying them. So all day fireworks are randomly going off, but about 10 minutes before the ball drops they really start going. None of the fireworks are sponsored by the city or anything they are just shooting them off randomly from people’s homes and the main square. So the whole city is just lit up. My next door neighbors were shooting them and I felt like they were going to come into my house. At some point, the fireworks set off a small brush fire near my house. So I watched my neighbor attempt to put it out with a hose. He was hampered by the fact, we had no water at the time. So once his reserve was out, he had to just watch it burn. Eventually some fire fighters showed up and put it out. This year, I observed this all form the comfort/safety of my home. Maybe next year, I will go crazy and wander down to the square. I will never forget New Year’s 2008.

Because of the holidays, I’ve been in a very reflective mood. I’ve been thinking over my life in the last year and how much it has changed. Because of a random set of circumstances, I quit my job last year on my birthday. So I kind of view that as the beginning of this crazy year. Last year’s Christmas was filled with me drinking up the last bits of family time. Then in March, I headed here. It’s been a great experience so far. I’ve done things that I never imagined possible.
School at the high school is going really well. It took a few months for me to get into the swing of things and for the students to get used to my broken Shqip/English conversations and I teach differently than they are used to. But I have mastered the use of the register (the teacher’s grade book) which is way more difficult than you would imagine. And I think some of the stuff I’m saying is getting through to them. And I taught them the phrases TGIF and bling, bling. So clearly they are better off knowing me.
The private school has been great. I teach a beginner class and team teach an advanced class. The beginners are getting to the point where we can have brief conversations in English. The school decided to have a New Year’s party and it was a really great time. Each different class worked on a presentation in English – a song, a story, a dialogue or poem. I taught my class Jingle Bells and they did a great job singing the song. I was a bit worried that my class wouldn’t be as good as the other classes so I pulled a favor and brought a guitar playing friend which ensured that ours was the best. Another highlight was the Romeo and Juliet scene. Two kids asked me to pick out a scene in Romeo and Juliet for them to act. I suggested that I translate it into modern English and they agreed. So I picked the balcony scene. I did forget how ridiculously romantic the play is and I definitely had some fear of screwing up Shakespeare. Especially the really famous lines. "Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?" It was a bit nerve wracking. But they memorized the whole scene and really brought down the house. The party ended with circle dancing and some hip hop. And the party ended at 11:30 am so all of this went on before lunch!
So in summary. I don’t think that I’ve ever had a New Year where I felt that my life had changed so much, but it all has been for the best. I’m enjoying my time here, meeting all kinds of great people, and hopefully making a bit of a difference here.
Hope you enjoy the pic of me shaking it up with my students.