Familja Ime

Oh my! I love my host family! They are absolutely perfect! 

Let me take you back to when we first arrived. So, Saturday after a language classes and lunch, we packed all our stuff (again! haha) and jumped in the vans to our designated villages. This was kind of a sad moment because we had to say good-bye to most of the other volunteers. I know it probably sounds funny but we all created such a strong bond in the past 4 days that it was weird splitting us all up into different areas. But, we knew we were still going to see each other on HUB days (technical training days) twice per week. 

Ian and I were headed to a small village called Kuqan, about 8km from Elbansan. It is the closest of all the villages that the PC volunteers are staying at, so it really didn’t take any time to get there. We were with three other volunteers: Emilie, from South Dakota, Laurel from Tennessee, and Lawrence from Texas. 

Lawrence’s hosts’ house was the first house for the van to stop at. We watched anxiously through the windows as we watched Airi, one of the Peace Corps staff, mediate the introductions and assisted with carrying all of his luggage into the house. Next was Laural’s hosts’ house. Emilie recieved news that a family member of her host family had passed away the day before so she was staying with Laurel and her host family for the weekend. So, again, Ian and I watched as they met Laural’s host mother and 2 young brothers. 

Then it was our turn. The driver put the van in reverse until we reached this tiny dirt road. As we made our way down the tiny, rock road, Airi pointed to the yellow building to the right of us “This is the school where you will have classes.” The dirt road, winded right next to the school. As the van made an “S” shape around a small white shack sitting right next to the school, we saw a yellow, two-story house with perfectly-arranged marble slabs leading up to it, surrounded by lushes lemon and orange trees. It was like a house you’d see in a storybook. Our host family was patiently waiting for us at the foot of the steps of the porch. With butterflies in my stomach, Ian and I quickly got out of the car, grabbed our first set of luggage, and headed up the marble walkway to make our introductions. Then, with much excitement, I said the only phrase I remembered from the few language classes we took, “Unë jam Jenny.” My nerves made me pretty much forget all the other things I was suppose to say to my host family. But that’s aright. They were really excited that I tried speaking Albanian. We met our host mother, Lindita, our 16 years-old host brother, Emilijan, our 22 year-old host sister, Elda, and their 5 years-old niece, Cindy. They guided us up the steps to our room and then we all]headed downstairs to get to know our host family more. 

We all took a seat at one of the three couches that surrounded an elegant coffee table that made up their living room. Elda, our host sister speaks pretty good English which really helped with the communication barrier with the other family members. They mentioned that they had three previous PC volunteers in the past few years which made me feel more relieved since they have been in this situation before. After getting to know each other a little bit, Ian and I headed upstairs to unpack some of our luggage. 

Now, this was a big deal for us. This was the first time during our entire Peace Corps experience thus far that we got to go through all the baggage that we brought. Back at the hotel, they only allowed us to bring up one suitcase and our carry-on since the rooms were so tiny. Therefore, I was really excited to get out some of the things that I had been missing for the past 5 days. Half-way through our unpacking, our host dad, Kujtim arrive and introduced himself. He speaks English too! Yay! After he arrived, we were kind of tired of unpacking so we all just hung out around a table on the balcony that we walk through to get to our room.

Their house has an amazing view of the village. You can see all the mountains and hills surrounding the area and both the sunrise and sunset. As we chatted, we could hear their many chickens and roosters playing in the field below. 

FUN FACT: Did you know that chickens climb trees? They do!!! Ian and I got all big-eyed as we watched 7 to 8 chickens climb into one of the trees and then rested there. It was insane!

While chatting, their grandfather and grandmother stopped by to say hello. Elda told us that they live in the house directly next to us, in the same property. They are Kujtim’s parents. He told us how he was the oldest child of 8 and that he was born in his parents’ house (and I thought I had a huge family!). He then built this house when he got older so he could take care of them if they needed help. 

Just as the sun was setting, Lindita called us all down for dinner. When we walked through the door of the kitchen, a nice wave of heat smothered us. It is definitely the warmest room in the house. Dinner was a vegetable and potato soup with bread and a fresh green salad. Everything was vegetarian! I felt so honored that they were kind enough to respect my vegetarianism! I had been worrying about that since the Peace Corps staff told me about how much meat was involved in the Albanian culture. And every meal since then has been vegetarian! It’s been wonderful.

Watching the sunset on our balcony 

The one difference that Ian and I saw was that Albanians like to from communal plates. The fresh green salad made with lettuce, green onions, olive oil, pepper, and salt, was prepared in two separate plates, placed at the two ends of the table.  We did get our own soup bowl, thank goodness, but when we wanted to eat some salad, we would have to take our forks and stab the leaves from the community plate. It was kind of weird the first night, but I think I’m getting use to it. I love cultural difference like this!

After dinner, they cleared the table and immediately grabbed a deck of playing cards. They really like cards! Every night so far, our family insists on playing a few games before bed. This is much different than what we’ve heard about the other volunteer’s families. Most families watch tv. Not our’s though! I’m so happy we were placed with them. Cards are definitely more entertaining than tv. Plus it’s more family-based and requires you to actively-think; good for the brain and socializing. :)

I could go on and on about our host family, but I’ll save more stories for another day. All I can say is that they are awesome! I’m really going to enjoy my stay here. Plus, I’m going to get really good at cards!