Since I have a little bit of time with free internet, I've been browsing the blogs and catching up on the ones i don't read to often. i noticed a theme. everyone said what their fourth of July plans had been. So here is mine...

Albanians don't really celebrate the fourth. Their independence day is in November and interestingly enough is two days long. One is for their independence back in the twenties and one is for liberation from the Nazis. You would not believe how long it took me to figure that all out. They do, however, get very excited that it is a holiday for us and I was kissed, hugged, and gezuared all day.

For my fourth, I headed up North to a town called Lexha. Its on the coast and the city of Skanderbeg. We had a big bash at one volunteer's house and it was great. Hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, pies. It was amazing. The hostess even tried to make homemade hamburger rolls. They weren't much of a success, but everything else was delicious.

A fun event was that we ran into British people who were cycling from England to Istanbul and had arrived in Albania and needed a place to crash. Of course, being kind Americans, we invited them to stay and then proceeded to have an anti-British fest. They were very nice about our patriotic spirit and didn't mind at all that we teased them all night. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of home. I miss you all and wish i could have enjoyed the day with every single one of you.

Love Ain't a Stranger

Here's a quick update.

It's summer time and it is hot in Albania. My students all just want to spend time at the beach. So when in Rome... I've been hanging out at the beaches near my house a bit. Recharging my batteries. Checking out a few Albanian historical treasures. And really enjoying my days off.

I am teaching a little bit at the private school and a course in my house. It's been a great few weeks.

Extra points if you can identify what movie character I am

Special thanks to the Matt Trifecta, Kenji, and Andrew for making this special moment come true

Can we pay for this in Euro?

It’s official. I’ve finished my first year as a school teacher. It was a long, strange trip to say the least. The last few weeks, my students have been obsessed with this song by Timbaland, called Apologize. I don’t know if it’s popular in the US, but it is crazy popular here. I can’t tell you how many people (young and old) have asked me what hanging off a rope or apologize means in Albanian. So as a goodbye present, I printed the lyrics for each of them and we played it on my iPod.

Now I have to admit, this is not a favorite song of mine. Maybe it’s because I hear it being played on the cell phones every day in class, maybe because it is crooned to me at every restaurant in town, but I have a great amount of hate for this song. So I spent my last five classes of the school year listening to my students sing along at the top of their lungs. It was a great moment for the kids, but by the fifth time it was played in one class. I gotta admit. It was definitely too late for Timbaland to apologize.

School's Out for Summer!

Getting my hair cut. Always an adventure!

Cleaning up in Fushe Kruje

the Ampitheatre of Durres. Those Romans were amazing

Skanderbeg's a Hero

This is the main square in Tirana. And the oh so famous Skanderbeg, a war hero in Albania. Google him.

A BEAR on the BEACH