Volunteer Visit - Burrel

PST is taking over my life! I mean, seriously, I’m constantly on the go. From the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep is about training and learning the language. Phew! 

But I did get a chance to have a breather this past weekend during the Volunteer Visit event. And, let me tell you, this event is pretty much the coolest thing that the Peace Corps have ever thought of! Haha. Basically, what happens is the Peace Corps staff pair each trainee with a current volunteer that is doing pretty much the same kind of activities that the trainee may do after PST. Then, for 3 days, the Peace Corps staff sends you to the volunteer’s site to get a real-life example of what life is like after PST! Pretty cool, huh!

In the weeks leading up to the Volunteer Visit, you could tell how anxious all of us trainees were to go explore the country, especially since all of us had only seen Elbansan and our individual home-site villages since we arrived. To make it worse, the Peace Corps staff held-off on telling us until a few days before the actual visit. This is something the Peace Corps staff really likes to do. They tell us about a really cool, exciting event but wait till the last moment to tell us exactly what each of us will be doing. I think it’s their way of keeping things exciting during a stressful time. Haha. And, let me tell you, it works! But it kind of adds a little too much anxiety. :)

So, a few days before the Volunteer Visit, Ghenti, the Director of Training, made a map of Albania with each of our photos posted on the sites that were going to be traveling to for our visits. But….he waited till the end of the day to do the big reveal! Plus, when it was his time to talk, he kept on postponing and postponing the reveal until all of us were about to jump out of our seats and attack the map! 

When he finally revealed the map, we all rushed up to the map to find our pictures and our future visit sites. I found my picture just north of Tirana (the capital of Albania) in a city called Burrel. 

Saturday morning we left Kuqan early so we could start the visit as soon as possible. And to our surprise, it was beautiful outside! It had been so rainny and gloomy for the few weeks that we never imagined that we would get some decent sunlight. As we made our way to the furgon station, we bumped into our fellow classmate and trainee, Emilie who was heading to Tirana to meet her host as well. We all hopped on a bus together to head to Elbansan to find a furgon. When we arrived in Elbansan, we went directly to the furgon station (or should I say spot) for Tirana. We were instantly harrassed by a group of furgon drivers, trying to convince us to ride in their vehicles. One of them even physically grabbed Ian and tried pulling him towards his furgon. I quickly jumped into the one that looked the cleanest and had the most decent-looking people inside (I figured the locals would pick a good driver). Ian joined me, but we left Emilie behind since she was meeting others going in the same direction. 

The furgon rides was actually not too bad. Our driver drove safely and at the correct speed limit which is rare here. But I was happy. When we arrived in Tirana, we somehow miraculously ran into Kait within minutes of getting off the furgon. It was amazing! Right away, I could tell she was a down-to-earth kind of gal. I knew we were going to have a good time this weekend! Kait told us that her friend was going to join us for the weekend but wasn’t going to get in for a few hours so we planned to just hangout in the city until then. We headed over the well-known pyramid building in the center of Tirana. When we got ther, we saw another American. In my head, I was like “Another American? Must be another Peace Corps Volunteer.” And I was right! It was April from Group 15. Just after introducing ourselves, Jill and Mary from our group, who were meeting up with April, showed up. Almost immediately after, another girl from Group 15, Emily, showed up as well. She was waiting on three other trainees. It’s almost like Peace Corps Volunteers attract each other like magnets. haha. We all decide to wait together so we all walked over to a popular cafe (which I can’t remember the name, are you surprised? haha) to get a coffee. 

As we commerced over coffee, Tyler, Don, and Emilie (the volunteer we left in Elbansan) found us and sat down with us. We basically took over that cafe’s outside seating. It was pretty funny. It was a great way to start off the weekend!  Hanging out in a large city, drinking coffee in the sun. It was awesome. 

Afterwards, we headed to another well-known restaurant (when I say this, I actually mean well-known to the past and present Peace Corps volunteers) where we all got splurge on some comforting American food. Oh, oh, oh...I remember the name of this one…...Stevenson Center (or something like that). haha. 

While chowing down, Allie, Kait’s friend finally arrived! Yay! I later found out that she too was a Group 15 volunteer and that she had spent 8.5 hours that day traveling from here site in the south of Albania just to get to Burrel. That sounds so crazy to me, seeing as Albania is only about the size of New Hampshire! 

After we were all done eating, we said our goodbyes to everyone and headed to another furgon station to get a furgon to Burrel. This furgon tool about 2 hours and luckily, the driver was pretty decent. What can I say, we must have had really good luck that day! But, the road was EXTREMELY windy, with curves after curves lining the entire mountainous road there. Kait told us that she only had one puker on the way here, only one! Hahah.

As the furgon approached Burrel, Ian and I were google-eyed over scenery that surrounded us. We were surrounded by mountains, with a beautiful green river below us, weaving between the mountains. Every mountain was covered with luscious green vegetation. It was absolutely stunning.  

When we arrived in Burrel, we walked through the city (which I was pretty excited about, since I had been living in a small village for PST and was unsure about what kind of sites I could be placed in) and to her house (yes, she has a house!). It was a small house compared to houses in the US, but to have a house as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Albania is like saying you own a hotel in the US. Pretty dang awesome if you asked me. The rest of the day we just chilled out and we got to meet Brad and Dan, to other volunteers that live and work in Burrel as well. 

On Sunday, the rain had returned but that didn’t stop us from exploring the city. Brad and Dan were our tour guides as they showed us the famous Burrel prison which is supposedly the most dangerous prison in all of Albania. In addition, they told us that at one point in time, the prison was closed and made into a museum but was reopened after the Albanians ran out of places to put prisoners. I thought that was pretty funny! They also took us to the WWII cemetery which was just outside the city, on a hill that overlooked the valleys surrounding Burrel. The rest of the day, Ian went to hang out with Dan and Brad, whereas I went grocery shopping with the girls and helped prepare dinner. We were becoming typical Albanians and we didn’t even have to try (hahah, jk). 

I think one of the best parts about this weekend was the food that we made. Kait is a really good cook and she was so stoked to make us foods from back home. So Saturday night we made mashed potatoes, Sunday we had Indian food with naan bread, and Monday night we had tacos/burritos with homemade tortillas. D-E-L-icious!!!

Monday was the day to get down to business. It was a work day so we were assigned to shadow our volunteer at work. So Kait took Allie and myself with her to her office at the Burrel Health Center. There, I met her two counterparts who were so excited to meet me. And like true Albanians, they wanted to know every little detail about me. They were very sweet. Afterwards, Kait, Allie, and I went to coffee (another Albanian tradition) and then did a little shopping. That was pretty much a typical day in the life an Albanian. haha. It was awesome!

After Ian was done observing Dan and Brad teach their English classes, we all met up again, had dinner and watched some Parks and Recreation and some Modern Family. Good ol’ chillaxing at it’s best. 

On Tuesday, we headed back to Elbansan. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much luck this time with our furgon driver. Not only did it take him an hour to leave Burrel (in which he continuously drove back and forth down the main road of town until his friend was finally ready to be picked up, which by that time the furgon was completely full, not to mention that he got pulled over by a cop and was ticketed for something that I couldn’t understand in Shqip), but the whole way back that he was speeding like crazy, passing every car and furgon that he drove behind until his tail-gaiting was too close to causing an accident. He even drove the opposite way in a round-about, just to beat all the other cars to the next highway. There were at least 5 times where I thought, “This is it. W’re definitely going to crash now.” But we made it back in one piece, thankfully! Yay! 

Overall, I had a blast during the visit! It was nice to meet current volunteers and to hear their perspectives on the Peace Corps and to see what it’s like to live in Albania as a Peace Corps volunteer. There is hope after PST! haha. 

But for now, it’s back to training and learning the language. A week from today is the day that the Peace Corps Staff reveal the ultimate news for all us trainees….that is OUR SITES!!! These will be the sites that we will be working and living for the next 2 years! So you can only imagine the anxiety levels that we’re all experiencing! It’s all everyone can talk about! Ahhhh….I can’t wait! :)