My oh my, have I had a good weekend or what? Phew! It’s been a busy one, that’s for sure.
The fun began on Friday with a visit from one of the coolest girls in Albania…...Kat from Has! Woohoo! Extreme North reunited! We all met up for coffee at our favorite cafe, the main hotel in B.C. where we discovered that B.C. was hosting a huge music festival that weekend. How freaking perfect timing is that, huh?
Around 6pm, we followed the noise that filled up the city, towards the giant outdoor basketball arena near the entrance of town. It was packed! We had to sneak around the outside to find a place to see because it was so packed. The festivities began with many groups of traditional dancers and singers. We recognized many of the steps because earlier that week, one of our favorite restaurant servers gave us private lessons on how to do the traditional “Circle Dance” of the Tropoje region.
After a while, one of the female singers, who looked very confident on stage and really got the attention of the crowd, started to speak in Albanian. We didn’t understand any of it except when she mentioned “Teke lolli” which happened to be the most popular song in Albania along with what I would argue to be the song of Group 16’s PST experience. We all looked at each other with blank stares. Ian then said, “Wait, is that the Teke Lolli girl?” Then, all of a sudden, the song begins! “No Way!” I said. It was her! Everyone in the crowd began to cheer and sing along. She jumped off stage and walked around the arena engaging the audience. What was even cooler was when it came to the rapping part of the song (Ian has a deal with some other PCV’s that he will preform the rap part in the PC talent show in the fall), the actual rapper guy showed up on stage and started to sing! Wow two Albanian celebrities in Bajram Curri? Could this be real? We all got really into it, dancing and singing along. After they were done, we were so pumped that we wanted to wiggle our way down into the arena and hopefully meet these famous Albanians. When we got to the bottom of the stage area, we noticed Luke’s counterpart and a few of the police officers that we knew. They noticed us and guess what…..they let us come in! No questions asked! We felt like celebrities at that point! Of course, the Americans can come sit by the famous singers, the major, and everyone else that is important. It was awesome!
Another thing that was really cool was when we all went up to go take a picture with the Teke Lolli girl, when she saw that we were American’s she got really excited and hopped out of her chair to take a picture with us. It was almost just as much of a joy for her to get a picture with the Americans as it was for us to get a picture with a famous Albanian. It was pretty cool.
Kat and I recognized a few more singers that we had seen on Albanian TV. We couldn’t get over how we were put on the same level of importance as these celebrities. As the night carried on, the celebrities left, but we stayed around to celebrate and dance with the locals. At one point we were dancing with the major and some of the police officers. It was quite funny! I even met a local that was a famous ballet dancer. He told me how he has performed all around the world including New York, Texas, Paris, and London. He practiced some moves with me, including throwing me in the air! I felt like a ballerina! :)
After all the groups had preformed, the major invited us to the exclusive after-party. How cool is that? So of course we went! There was food, dancing, celebrating, etc. It was a good old time! After about a few hours, we headed home to rest up. Sali Berisha, the current Prime Minister of Albania was coming the next day and we didn’t want to miss it!
The next morning, I woke up to pounding Albanian music, right outside my window. Whe I looked out my bathroom window, I saw a stage sitting right in the middle of the main street. “Where did that come from?” I thought. Sometimes I wonder what Albanian’s do at night. Do they sleep at all?
We all met up at my place where Kat and I cooked an “American” breakfast for all of us. Yum, yum,yum, yum, YUUUUMMM! We made scrambled eggs, banana pancakes (with Nutella and peanut butter on top, of course!), a failed attempt at hash browns, and delicious Turkish coffee. Ok, well the last one is Albanian, but you get my point ;).
We enjoyed our breakfast as we listened to more famous Albanian singers preform their hits that we heard countless times during furgon rides. Then, just as we finished our breakfast, we heard a deep, power voice echoing through the town. We all took turns peaking out of the bathroom window to see the Prime Minister speak. We didn’t go down to the event, because 1. we couldn’t really understand anything, 2. we didn’t want to get involved in any political situation that would make Americans look bad, and 3. we had a way better view from my bathroom window.
We chilled the rest of the day, watching movies and listening to music. Ian even got to teach Kat chess which he was sooooo excited for! Good for him!
On Sunday, we woke up early. Since the moment we all got assigned to live in the North, we had been planning get-aways to Kosovo. And today was our first opportunity. We ate a quick breakfast and met up at the furgon stop just outside my apartment. Thankfully Kat was there to remind us to bring our passports because all three Bajram Curri-ers forgot theirs. Hahah.
It was a hot day! A REALLY hot day! I was sweating in the furgon ride there and it wasn’t even the peak hours of the day yet!
When we made it into Gjakove, my heart started racing. I was so excited to explore be in another country and to explore a new city. And that’s exactly what we did. We walked all around the city. We dominated that city! We saw a few statues and buildings, none of which looked like the type of thing you’d see in a tourist city. But I liked that. It made the city even more beautiful knowing that it wasn’t a popular tourist destination.
Gjakove is known for it’s endless sales on clothes and household items. Unfortunately most shops were closed because it was Sunday, but we did find an awesome cafe called Cacoo where we all enjoyed some foods we missed from back home. Kat and I enjoyed some tasty fruit smoothies, while Luke and Ian got some awesome sandwiches with some delicious apple-smoked bbq sauce. YUM!
Afterwards, we headed to the Supermarket! WOOHOO! One thing that you learn to love when you live in a small, foreign city is the Supermarket! Man’s greatest invention ;). Unfortunately, the monster of supermarkets was closed that day, but we did find a pretty decent one with many things from back home including hot sauce (Albanians hate spicy food), a few cooking spices, granola, and cacao powder. It’s funny how these things have become a luxury to use. Cheers to living life as a Peace Corps Volunteer. :)
After our shopping spree in the supermarket, we walked a little but more. As we were walking past a pharmacy, the lady that owned the shop called out to us. “Are you American?” Kat replied “Yep.” She hurried toward us with excitement. “Which state are you from?” she asked. “I’m from Colorado,” I said. Kat pointed to Luke and said “We’re from Arizona.” “OH, ARIZONA,” the women gasped, “My nephew lives in Phoenix.” Luke jumped into the conversation and said, “I’m from a city just outside of Phoenix.” Then the women got really excited. She invited us into her store where she continued to talk about her nephew. She insisted that she call him up to tell him that she’d met Americans from Arizona. We all kind of stood around as she hurried for the phone. If the situation wasn’t weird enough already, she was calling her nephew back in the states where it was literally 3:00am. After a few tries, she finally got ahold of him. She then handed the phone to Luke, as if they already knew each other. We watched as Luke tried to make the situation less awkward. He told us afterwards that the nephew was really confused about what was going on. But, it was very sweet how excited the lady got about seeing Americans. She was a very lovely person and I know that if we see her next time we visit Gjakove, she will be very warm and friendly to us again.
After that experience, we headed back to the furgon stop to head back to Bajram Curri. We were very excited to get back and cook the foods we had just bought.
Overall, it was an awesome weekend! I’m so happy that my weekends are so packed with stuff to do. I feel like I’m making the most of time while I’m here in Albania and I love it!
Now, you’ll just have to wait and see what I have planned for next weekend….Moohahaha. :)
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