A night out

Happy Halloween everyone!
Even though it is indeed Halloween today, you wouldn't know it here in Tirana. Dressing up is not a big thing here, although some people go out to clubs and wear masks and such. So far the only decorations we've seen have been a few coffee places putting up spider webs and such.
The past few days have been less than exciting, Bledi and I have been taking turns having colds and being sick. I'm pretty sure that I am the one aquiring them by my various jobs involving small children and then I pass them on to Bledi. Oh well, he gets well quicker than I do, anyway.
Today was a beautiful fall day here so we took a nice long walk around the city. I have to say, this is one of the things that I really do like here- just being able to go outside our house and walk around and find amusing things to do. At the end of our walk we sat down for a coffee at a nice place with an outdoor fountain and we took some pictures.

How not to boil an egg.

Don't tell this to my husband.

Apparently, the correct way to boil an egg is not to boil a pot of water and then gently place an entire carton of eggs into the boiling water.

ew.

I may or may not have learned this from experience today....

and now I am on my way downstairs to buy some more eggs.

New Sink.... woo!

So we have some plumbing issues in our house (I guess this is the fun part of being a "grown-up"? haha). So luckily today we had a very nice plumber friend come over to fix our kitchen sink ... since I have been washing the dishes with cold water for a few weeks now and it also leaks all over the kitchen.
Anyway I never thought it would be very exciting but that's when they decided to cut off our sink with an electric saw (or something, i don't know too much about tools, anyway) and there were sparks flying all over our kitchen! I'm talking like major fireworks, it was pretty funny. By the time I grabbed the camera they were smaller but still I figured that they are pretty amusing and so I will share them with everybody.
Oh, the adventures of owning a home!

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Cold.

Lately I have been feeling sick with a cold and today, I had to walk all the way from school to home which took me about an hour - in the pouring rain! I don't think that this helped my cold much, but I am so lucky that Bledi has been taking very good care of me. He made me some soup, makes me tea, and brings me dinner.... :)

Today we got some more mail - letters from both grandmas. It is so nice to get mail here, it really makes us happy to see something from home and that people are thinking of us.

Fall is Here!

Things here have been very busy lately (which is good for us!). I began my tutoring job, which is going really well so far. I also got another job as a long-term sub at MIST for a 1st grade class room (which I am hoping can turn into a permanent job for me - fingers crossed!!).

Thanks to Nick and Eva, we moved a lot of old furniture out of the house and now we are using theirs. It has been quite the mess moving everything around but the house is starting to come together and we couldn't be happier about having some nice new furniture!

Mom and Dad sent me a nice package :) and I was so happy to see some Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations in there!! I have put some of them up and now it really feels like Fall to me. Plus, Dad threw some leaves from our lawn in there... it wouldn't be fall without them. Too bad Bledi is in Albania and can't help rake (oh yeah and me too... I'm a good 'supervisor').

Doing the simpleist things....

The simpleist things here are a lot more challenging than at home. For instance, we need a new fixture for the bathroom - just something like you would pick up at bed bath and beyond - to hold our shampoo, etc. (everything is everywhere right now.) I also need some more winter clothes since I didn't have so many to pack and it has gotten FREEZING here overnight leaving Bledi and me both with colds.

So instead of going to the nearest store, we had to walk, walk, walk to Skenderbeg Square (i'm not sure maybe a 15-20 minute walk), wait for the free bus, get on the bus, drive for 10 minutes to the mall.... and then we decided we were too cheap to buy anything anyway! Although I did manage to buy one nice black sweater.

Today the Director of MIST called and I am happy to report that he wants to meet with me next week to discuss some long-term subbing at the school. :)
Also Bledi has a new job prospect as well, if everything goes well I will be sure to let everyone know about it.

A day in Kruja

Kruja is a beautiful town located in the mountains of Albania, about a half an hour's drive away from Tirana. It is an ancient town, more than 500 years old (to my knowledge) that we had the pleasure of visiting today. Kruja is the town of Skenderbeg, an Albanian hero, and here you can find the ruins of his castle, located up on a mountain side.
We walked around this small town, saw the old pazar (a shopping area), saw the ruins, and the gorgeous view of surrounding Albania, including a wonderful view of the Adriatic Sea far in the distance.
There is a very interesting and lovely museum built here in the place where Skenderbeg's castle once stood. We took our time to look around and I learned a lot about Albanian history.
We really enjoyed our day here, especially the view. It was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of Tirana. We also got a lot of walking in - we are really beginnning to love walking from place to place.

I am a wifey!

Here is the salad that I made all by myself today for us for dinner! I was pretty proud of myself. Now I just need to tackle something a tad more difficult!

forced to excersise

A broken elevator means climbing 6 flights of stairs all day. I am lucky for the forced excersise :). Maybe Albania is going to be good for me!!

PS also today I got a dye job and a hair cut at a very nice salon... and it cost $10! Pretty exciting, especially since my new job is only just starting.

A look into our world

So I thought it would be fun (at the suggestion of dad) to give everyone a glimpse of our apartment and what it looks like inside. Its probably the closest you are going to get unless you want to come visit us (which we would LOVE!!).

Please keep in mind when you see the photos that this home is a work-in-progress and I plan on doing a lot of redecorating. This is just the beginning but still our home is very cozy. (Rachel this means you, you interior designer you). :)

Hi from Albania

Hi everybody!
Bledi and I are having fun here in our new home, Albania!
Just an quick update on everything we have been doing so far....

We are living at our home in the capitol city of Tirana. So far we have been wandering the city (by walking!) and learning our new surroundings. The streets here are always crowded with people and the city is never quiet. We are having a lot of fun visiting Bledi's old friends and having a lot, a lot of coffee!! For those who are not familiar with Albania, almost every other store on the street is a small coffee shop and everyone likes to sit down and have an espresso ( I drink macchiato - espresso with a dollop of froth) at all times during the day! You almost never see an empty coffee place here.

I have been going on a lot of interviews for jobs and I finally found one as a private tutor for a young student at a private school here in the city. I will be tutoring him every single night during the week and it sounds like a great opportunity for me to get some teaching experience. I am hoping to find some more students, as well, so I can tutor them out of our house.

Well that is all for now but soon I will post some video so that everyone can see what Albania looks like!