My country director recently asked me to write up a couple of vignettes about my experience here to send to the Director of the Peace Corps who is doing some stuff with my alma mater, Messiah. I decided that you might enjoy it as well so here goes.
In March 2007, I joined Peace Corps, Albania. Albania is a small country in Eastern Europe which lived under a communist dictatorship for 50 years and was considered one of the most closed countries of the world. It is now an emerging democracy and is opening its doors to the world. I live in Kavaje (pronounced Kavaya) which is a small city on the Adriatic Sea thirty minutes south of Durres, the second largest city in Albania. I am a TEFL volunteer and teach English at the high school in Kavaje.
My experience so far has been incredibly rewarding and challenging. Teaching a group of 47 Albanian students is not easy. During my first week of school, a group of boys lit a fire in my class. I knew a rough road was ahead of me. But fortunately, I am blessed with a great school director and Albanian co-workers who have helped me regain control of the class. These same students who couldn't speak a word of English at the beginning of the year can now hold brief conversations in English. Albanians are incredibly generous and helpful people. They have bent over backwards to help me even when I butchered their language. In my first few months I kept getting the word for little girls and eggs confused. Imagine their shock when I told them I like to eat little girls for breakfast.
One of the most interesting projects that I have worked on recently is a production of Romeo and Juliet in modern English. An Albanian English teacher and I have been working with a group of 20 students with excellent English skills. To begin this project, I rewrote Romeo and Juliet into modern English. It's a strange experience to rewrite Shakespeare. "Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo" becomes "Romeo where are you?" At some points, I feel like it loses its magic, but it’s much more important for them to learn modern English than Shakespearean English. It's also interesting to determine what translates cross culturally. Almost all of the funny lines from the nurse and the amazing speeches by Mercutio had to come out because they would require translation skills that I don't have. Also interesting is that Albania is over 80% Muslim. So when it came to the part of Friar Lawrence there were some challenges. I offered to change it to Imam Lawrence. They didn't like that idea, but at the same time, none of the Muslim students wanted to play the part of a priest. So we searched the school for an Orthodox Christian student who could speak enough English to do the role. After asking his priest's permission, he agreed to do it. Interestingly enough, he is studying to be a priest so he will be wearing his priestly robes for the performance. Another challenge is the lack of budget. In Kavaje, they don't really have extra-curricular activities, so my co-worker and I have chipped in to photocopy the script and buy "swords" (wooden broomsticks.) To help the audience differentiate between the Capulets and the Montagues, the students are wearing different colors, but they'll still be wearing their usual school clothes. Finally, when I agreed to help with the production I forgot just how romantic the script truly is. Albania is much more conservative than America and male and female students don't interact as much. The students playing Romeo and Juliet have really struggled with their embarrassment of saying such romantic things to each other. I tried to convince Romeo to kiss Juliet's hand when he says "with this kiss, I will leave." But even that is a little too much for them. As a result, we will be putting on a "kissless" play, but it's Albania so that's OK. It's been really rewarding to watch them develop their English skills and see the natural leaders have a chance to shine. One of the things that is much easier here than in America is getting the students to memorize their lines. As a result of their years of schooling using rote memorization, these kids have an incredible ability to memorize even in a foreign language. I am really looking forward to Valentine's Day, when I can tell my students to "go break a leg." And then I'll attempt to explain to them what this goofy English idiom means.
I've been here for a year and its been an incredible cross cultural experience. I will always have special place in my heart for Albania and its people.
In March 2007, I joined Peace Corps, Albania. Albania is a small country in Eastern Europe which lived under a communist dictatorship for 50 years and was considered one of the most closed countries of the world. It is now an emerging democracy and is opening its doors to the world. I live in Kavaje (pronounced Kavaya) which is a small city on the Adriatic Sea thirty minutes south of Durres, the second largest city in Albania. I am a TEFL volunteer and teach English at the high school in Kavaje.
My experience so far has been incredibly rewarding and challenging. Teaching a group of 47 Albanian students is not easy. During my first week of school, a group of boys lit a fire in my class. I knew a rough road was ahead of me. But fortunately, I am blessed with a great school director and Albanian co-workers who have helped me regain control of the class. These same students who couldn't speak a word of English at the beginning of the year can now hold brief conversations in English. Albanians are incredibly generous and helpful people. They have bent over backwards to help me even when I butchered their language. In my first few months I kept getting the word for little girls and eggs confused. Imagine their shock when I told them I like to eat little girls for breakfast.
One of the most interesting projects that I have worked on recently is a production of Romeo and Juliet in modern English. An Albanian English teacher and I have been working with a group of 20 students with excellent English skills. To begin this project, I rewrote Romeo and Juliet into modern English. It's a strange experience to rewrite Shakespeare. "Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo" becomes "Romeo where are you?" At some points, I feel like it loses its magic, but it’s much more important for them to learn modern English than Shakespearean English. It's also interesting to determine what translates cross culturally. Almost all of the funny lines from the nurse and the amazing speeches by Mercutio had to come out because they would require translation skills that I don't have. Also interesting is that Albania is over 80% Muslim. So when it came to the part of Friar Lawrence there were some challenges. I offered to change it to Imam Lawrence. They didn't like that idea, but at the same time, none of the Muslim students wanted to play the part of a priest. So we searched the school for an Orthodox Christian student who could speak enough English to do the role. After asking his priest's permission, he agreed to do it. Interestingly enough, he is studying to be a priest so he will be wearing his priestly robes for the performance. Another challenge is the lack of budget. In Kavaje, they don't really have extra-curricular activities, so my co-worker and I have chipped in to photocopy the script and buy "swords" (wooden broomsticks.) To help the audience differentiate between the Capulets and the Montagues, the students are wearing different colors, but they'll still be wearing their usual school clothes. Finally, when I agreed to help with the production I forgot just how romantic the script truly is. Albania is much more conservative than America and male and female students don't interact as much. The students playing Romeo and Juliet have really struggled with their embarrassment of saying such romantic things to each other. I tried to convince Romeo to kiss Juliet's hand when he says "with this kiss, I will leave." But even that is a little too much for them. As a result, we will be putting on a "kissless" play, but it's Albania so that's OK. It's been really rewarding to watch them develop their English skills and see the natural leaders have a chance to shine. One of the things that is much easier here than in America is getting the students to memorize their lines. As a result of their years of schooling using rote memorization, these kids have an incredible ability to memorize even in a foreign language. I am really looking forward to Valentine's Day, when I can tell my students to "go break a leg." And then I'll attempt to explain to them what this goofy English idiom means.
I've been here for a year and its been an incredible cross cultural experience. I will always have special place in my heart for Albania and its people.
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