Being the horrifically clumsy person that I am, I have had the chance to experience a few more unique Albanians "tidbits" that I never knew of before I moved here.
Two weeks ago, I was putting clothes away in my dresser drawer when I knocked into it and boom! it fell straight on my foot. OUCH. Immediately, Bledi instructed me to sit down and prop up my foot. Then, he proceeded to cut up an entire onion, wrap it in newspaper and wrap that around my foot followed by a plastic bag (to keep the onion in place). He told me that this is to prevent the bruise from getting black and blue. Wouldn't you know, I did have a painful bruise on my foot but it was only slightly discolored, so I guess you could say that this tactic worked.
Of course, today I was making Turkish coffee because we had some visitors. For all of you Americans, Turkish coffee is made in a tiny little pot placed on the stove burner. When I went to clean up, I touched my hand to the side of the stove and oops burned my hand. Again, ouch! So Bledi's mom, in addition to putting ice on it, put a slice of tomato skin. It actually really worked to keep the burn down.
Just a few things I bet you never knew!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Life Lessons
Marriage Lesson #1
If you let your husband do the laundry, your very expensive white Juicy Couture sweatpants may be magically turned into a nice shade of blue.
;)
If you let your husband do the laundry, your very expensive white Juicy Couture sweatpants may be magically turned into a nice shade of blue.
;)
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
smile
"you make me smile like the sun
dance like a fool, forget how to breathe
shine like gold
oh, you make me smile...
don't know how i lived without you cause every time that i get around you
i see the best of me inside your eyes
you make me smile" <3
-uncle kracker
we've been married for... 4 months today!
dance like a fool, forget how to breathe
shine like gold
oh, you make me smile...
don't know how i lived without you cause every time that i get around you
i see the best of me inside your eyes
you make me smile" <3
-uncle kracker
we've been married for... 4 months today!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
sad.
Wow, I am really having a rough start to my week this week. :(
Both of my sets of students are really giving me a hard time, each for different reasons. It's depressing because I work so hard to do a good job teaching but unfortunately, things have been difficult lately.
I have been alone in the apartment for a few days, too. It's okay but I'm a little scared of being here alone seeing as I don't speak the language and such. Fortunately, we live in a nice, quiet, safe neighborhood of the city and I have a lot of close neighbors in case of an emergency. Being alone means I have to take care of any nasty stuff by myself that I would normally make Bledi do, haha, but oh well I'm a grown-up now, anyways.
Also fortunately for me I have some school friends to keep in touch with so at least I have someone to hang out with if I want to. And, on a bright note, Lindsey sent me some awesome magazines. It was a total surprise and now I have something to do besides watch movies!! :)
Both of my sets of students are really giving me a hard time, each for different reasons. It's depressing because I work so hard to do a good job teaching but unfortunately, things have been difficult lately.
I have been alone in the apartment for a few days, too. It's okay but I'm a little scared of being here alone seeing as I don't speak the language and such. Fortunately, we live in a nice, quiet, safe neighborhood of the city and I have a lot of close neighbors in case of an emergency. Being alone means I have to take care of any nasty stuff by myself that I would normally make Bledi do, haha, but oh well I'm a grown-up now, anyways.
Also fortunately for me I have some school friends to keep in touch with so at least I have someone to hang out with if I want to. And, on a bright note, Lindsey sent me some awesome magazines. It was a total surprise and now I have something to do besides watch movies!! :)
Sunday, December 6, 2009
I did it!
Yay!
Today, I cooked dinner... all by myself!!! Now, as everyone knows, I am deathly afraid of raw chicken. I think I paid too much attention in middle school cooking class when we learned about e-coli and salmonella. But, today Bledi was at work and I was hungry so I tackled my fear. Bledi had bought a whole baby chicken downstairs at the market and some potatoes. I put on my rubber gloves and needless to say I touched the raw chicken, rubbed a nice oil/salt/pepper mixture on it and sliced some potatoes and into the oven it went for an hour and a half. And let me tell you... it came out so tasty! Woo hoo - I think I finally made Bledi proud. ;)
(The fact that I then proceeded to throw out my gloves and disinfect the entire kitchen afterwards is irrelevant, haha).
While we are talking about fears, we all know that I have had a lot of those over the years! Elevators, aquariums (yes, you can have a nightmare about aquariums)... but I have since gotten over those. However, for some reason there are a few things I am still deathly afraid of.
1. Mold! 2. Spiders 3. Heights
And for some reason, I seem to encounter numbers one and two incredibly often despite all of my efforts to the contrary. For example, Bledi's mother had never seen a spider in this apartment in 3 years... until I came here! Since then, we have killed about 5. Hmmm.
Also, just today only, I have found moldy bread and also that my backpack (of all things!) decided to sprout nasty green and white mold. Of course, I noticed it only after I had put it on my bed. Yuck.
I swear, if I wasn't so afraid of mold or spiders I would never encounter them!
Friday, December 4, 2009
It's beginning to look a lot like....
Christmas!!!!!!
Thank you so much to Aunt Alice for sending us such a sweet and thoughtful package! We received a cute little Christmas tree complete with battery operated lights and ornaments in the mail today. It is a perfect size and it looks so festive in our house! I'm so happy to have some Christmas here in Albania. :)
Thank you so much to Aunt Alice for sending us such a sweet and thoughtful package! We received a cute little Christmas tree complete with battery operated lights and ornaments in the mail today. It is a perfect size and it looks so festive in our house! I'm so happy to have some Christmas here in Albania. :)
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Well...
that's just life...
Today I spent a good 5 hours teaching second graders how to do fractions. One kid that I tutor really doesn't like me. I don't think it is because I am me, but rather the fact that when he sees me, it means that he will be staying after school for two hours doing homework instead of going home and playing! However, that little 7 year old really can hurt my feelings! Amazing, isn't it. I know he's only 7 but I almost wanted to cry today because I work so hard for those kids, I prepare and prepare things for them to do after school that will enrich their learning and yet every time this kid sees me he starts to cry! I don't understand because I am nice, encouraging... I try to find fun educational activities for them...I compliment them, I tell them what a good job they are doing... and I help them! Without me, they would be much more far behind in school than they already are. But this kid, he has told two teachers -in front of my face! - that he hates me and I'm mean. Of course those teachers are my friends and they know I'm not mean, but it's hard to teach a kid who sticks his tongue out at you when you say "good job!". I guess the rewarding part of this job comes later?
Bledi started his new job on Wednesday. Woo hoo!!!!!!! The sad part is that it involves a lot of traveling to other parts of Albania. Next week he is leaving for 3 days to go to the South, so I guess I'm going to be lonely for a few days. But, luckily, I have a few friends so I am hoping I can invite them over or go out a few nights. I already have plans with one teacher to go out for coffee... so I guess it's a good opportunity to get to know some more friends while Bledi is gone.
And... only 14 days until I come home! I can't wait. I am so ready. It's been a fun but tough few months and I need the comforts of home for a while.
Today I spent a good 5 hours teaching second graders how to do fractions. One kid that I tutor really doesn't like me. I don't think it is because I am me, but rather the fact that when he sees me, it means that he will be staying after school for two hours doing homework instead of going home and playing! However, that little 7 year old really can hurt my feelings! Amazing, isn't it. I know he's only 7 but I almost wanted to cry today because I work so hard for those kids, I prepare and prepare things for them to do after school that will enrich their learning and yet every time this kid sees me he starts to cry! I don't understand because I am nice, encouraging... I try to find fun educational activities for them...I compliment them, I tell them what a good job they are doing... and I help them! Without me, they would be much more far behind in school than they already are. But this kid, he has told two teachers -in front of my face! - that he hates me and I'm mean. Of course those teachers are my friends and they know I'm not mean, but it's hard to teach a kid who sticks his tongue out at you when you say "good job!". I guess the rewarding part of this job comes later?
Bledi started his new job on Wednesday. Woo hoo!!!!!!! The sad part is that it involves a lot of traveling to other parts of Albania. Next week he is leaving for 3 days to go to the South, so I guess I'm going to be lonely for a few days. But, luckily, I have a few friends so I am hoping I can invite them over or go out a few nights. I already have plans with one teacher to go out for coffee... so I guess it's a good opportunity to get to know some more friends while Bledi is gone.
And... only 14 days until I come home! I can't wait. I am so ready. It's been a fun but tough few months and I need the comforts of home for a while.
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