Mystery Solved

The car mystery has been solved! This morning at church--yes, we have church on Saturdays here instead of Sundays--pastor told us what happened to his car. As you may remember, there was no answer at the 126 number when he called from his house that day because it was after hours. The next day he decided to call Agron because Agron has a friend in the police force who might have a better idea of what happened. Sure enough. His friend said that on the street we parked on, that section is no parking. Even though there was no sign, pastor's car, along with all the other ones that were there at the same time, got towed. He had to go to the lot and pay the fine to get it out. But he has it back and we even got a ride back from church today. So all is well in Albanian traffic land.

All is also well in our apartment. We cleaned and scoured everything and rearranged and reorganized and rearranged some more. We thought the TV cable cord was very short and that we couldn't move the TV out of one specific corner in the living room. This made it very hard to rearrange the furniture and we were really stuck because the TV couldn't move. I suggested to Emily that we should check outside on the balcony to see if there was extra cord. Sure enough, there it was, coiled up on the wash line on the balcony. Haha! We were in luck! It worked to move the TV to the other side of the room, even if we did have to tape the cable cord to the floor and cover it with a rug. lol :) It worked. We just figured it will feel like dorm life in which case we'll feel right at home. Hey--been there, done that. Plus, you really don't even notice it with the rug. We taped it down to the grout part between the tiles on the floor anyway so it didn't stick up that much. But after we got that process taken care of, the rearranging of furniture was a cinch! We love it now!

That was all last night so we got to bed really late and then my mind was going a million miles an hour and I couldn't fall asleep. The last time I looked at the clock it was a little around 3:15am. That meant that getting up at 9:3o to get ready for church found me very quickly. I was tired but excited that I could go to church this week. It was my first Albanian service! Singing in Albanian is much easier than doing the congregational readings like the Creed and everything. They go so fast when they read, totally unlike churches at home where group readings are always so slow that I practically lose interest. Ok, that was exaggerating a little, but they are slow and home and really fast here. But because singing is slower, it gives me more time to read it and pronounce it slowly so that part was fun. I didn't really have a clue what he was saying, but we have a list of the readings and the sermon text so we can read it out of our own Bibles instead of the Albanian ones at church. But trying to follow as it is read will help me learn Albanian as long as I can keep up. Good grief! They go fast!

And then the best part of today happened in the afternoon. I got to talk to my parents on the phone!!! It wasn't long. Only about 10 or 15 minutes. But it was awesome! It was so good to hear their voices and find out that their first week of school went well and that they both sounded excited about another week instead of tired and worn out from the first. lol That happens to all of us sometimes. They are doing good and sounded happy and healthy. Thank God! I pray for that every night. :) And they said David is doing good too. I miss them all, but that's natural. I like it here so far and wish they could see it too! Guess I better start using my camera more for pictures and videos, huh? That would be fun to send. I've never sent a video before....Hmmm.....The gears in my head have started turning......

But before I get to carried away thinking about that, I need to remember to describe a few other things here. First of all, the buildings here are all made of cement. Some are brick, but most are cement. As I understand it, this is a result of the communist regime that ruled here. Now it is just that way because that's what people know how to do. And when people build here, there isn't really any sort of building permit you need, so people find a spot and build a big apartment building. But then many things happen. Either they find out the land belonged to someone, they run out of money and it sits there unfinished until they have the money to finish it, or they might totally change construction, which accounts for why some buildings look like they were broken in pieces and randomly mixed and matched with other buildings that were broken in pieces. It makes for lots of cool things too look at when I walk around. The people who build these don't really mind if their project gets stopped because they don't have to pay a property tax or anything anyway. It doesn't cost them to just have a building sit there, half completed.

But walking brings me to another topic--the roads. Many roads have apparently been paved since Emily arrived here last year. But that doesn't mean they're level or without potholes. In fact, there are drains without grates on them. Actually, most drains aren't covered because there aren't really drains in the gutters because there isn't really a curb and gutter system. Also, there are square manhole sized holes in the roads that are uncovered. It's kind of hard to miss them when walking, but for biking and driving, they could be hazardous. There is an Albanian music video on TV that makes of of that.

It also makes fun of how sometimes the electricity just goes off for no real reason. That's happened 3 times so far. Although luckily it hasn't been for long each time. I guess sometimes it's out for awhile when that happens. Also, in certain places, the water doesn't always work either. (This was the case at church the other day when Emily and I were there to use the scanner. We found that out when we tried to use the bathroom. And this morning, we didn't have power at church. But then, just as church ended, the power came on. God really must have a sense of humor. ;) Am I right?) The music video also makes fun of the water not always working. It strikes me as funny that an Albanian guy makes fun of his own country, but I guess everyone does that. You have to have a sense of humor about things because it's much more useful to laugh about things and joke about it than it is to get mad and angry about it.

So that's the news from here for today. I'm not really sure what's on our agenda for tomorrow. I guess I'll find out in the morning. Until then, I need to get some supper and then I think I'll relax for the night. For those of you in the States, enjoy the rest of your day!