Little Drummer Boys

To give you a little background on Albania, I need to explain some "facts" first. If you look up information about Albania, you will see that Albania claims to be around 70% Muslim. I say "claims" to be because every source gives a different number near that range. But mostly I say "claims" because that's exactly what people say. They say they're Muslim, but they are non practicing. For example, we hear the call to prayer when the wind is right, or when we're walking somewhere close to a mosque, but I have yet to see a single person bow or kneel on a mat or pray or even turn and start walking in the general direction of a mosque. People just keep going about their business. I do see people dressed as Muslims do, but besides that, there is no visual witness that 70% of Albanians are Muslims. In fact, every Albanian I've met says that not many people are Muslim at all. They say what I just said--that people say they are but don't practice any part of the Islamic faith. In fact, on any given day, you're bound to see more people wearing crosses (probably because they're Catholic or Orthodox) than you will see in Muslim garb.

Despite the non-practicing Muslims, those who take their beliefs a little more seriously are taking part in Ramadan right now. How does this affect me, you're wondering? Very little, actually. Daily life on the street has stayed the same except for two small things. First of all, I will randomly see boys or men walking around banging on drums. It has been explained to me that this is done to remind the Muslims that it is Ramadan. They did this drumming much more last week and over the weekend. For now, the drummer boys have slowed down a bit. But a few mornings I was awakened to the sound of drums. Not quite the wake up call I'm used to, but it could be worse. (Like an air horn....although I did sleep through one of those going off right outside my door once...) The only other change I've noticed is that there are more beggars. Many more poor people, invalids, or gypsy people will sit on the street, especially the main streets or on streets around the mosques, and beg. That probably accounts for why Emily and I were kind of attacked by those kids last week. The reason more beggars come out now is because, as it has been explained to me, during Ramadan Muslims are supposed to be extra generous and give more to the needy.

The other big process I learned about recently was buying a bike. I mentioned that Aida was going to take Emily and I out to help me buy a bike. She kept her promise. Emily brought along the bike Laura used last year so we could try a trade in to get a better price on my bike. Laura was much shorter than me and her bike was too small for me. The first place we went had a few very nice, semi expensive bikes, but the man wouldn't give us anything for the other bike. The second place would give us a decent price but didn't have any good enough bikes for me to show any serious interest. The third place at first said they would give us 2000 leke (pr. LEK) for the bike. Emily told Aida to ask for 2500 leke. The guy said yes but he needed to check with the older man who was also there. The older man, probably the younger guy's dad, said no, only 1000. We were like, forget it. So we started to walk away. Then he called after us, "Ok, ok, 2000." They had a bike I liked so they gave us 2000 off that bike and took Laura's bike. He also put a new seat on the bike for me for free. By American standards, it's a men's style bike, with the bar straight across, but here no one pays any attention to that.

Then we bought a good lock for the bike and Aida took me down the street to buy a bell. Everyone has bells on their bikes here because of the crazy traffic. You ring your bell at people or cars to get out of your way or let them know you're coming. It's kind of like how the drivers honk for absolutely any little thing--cars, buses, bikes, people--I think they just honk for the sake of honking. It's crazy. Aida said my bell is very good, that it will wake people up in their homes if I ride in the mornings. lol She said that's why she took me to that guy to buy the bell because she knew he has the best ones. So I have a bike with a lock and a bell.

It reminds me of the bike I had since 3rd grade at home. It's black and neon pink. It's used, as almost all bikes here are, so it has some scratches. But it's a very good one because the brakes work well, the wheels spin straight, it has wider tires, it has a holder for a water bottle, and it has very nice rather new fenders. Bikes here have fenders because of all the dust, dirt, gravel, and because people ride when it's wet or even in the rain. So for 7650 lek (which means less than $76.50). I have a new form of transportation. :) Thank goodness! The buses here have no air conditioning, mostly windows that don't open, few vents on the top, and many times are packed with more people than should be legal. They don't have the same concept of personal space here that Americans do either. Haha! Since it's been so hot here anyway, many bus rides have been very unpleasant just because you get so stinkin' hot and sweaty. Yesterday was especially awful. It was just stifling. As Emily said once we got home, "I think there's probably a special spot in hell that is Tirana buses." She was joking of course so we got a good laugh out of that one.

We spent a lot of time in the heat yesterday as it was our day to go walking around handing out fliers about our English classes. We decided to focus on the Lapraka neighborhood of Tirana which is the neighborhood across the street from the church. Olsa and Neda had said they would help us. That was good because they obviously speak Albanian and we don't, so if people had questions, those two could talk.

All four of us met at church and took a stack of fliers. They were printed on one side in Albanian and on the other side in English. Emily and Neda teamed up and went one direction and Olsa and I teamed up and went the other direction. We decided to meet back at that particular corner in 20 minutes. A short time, but it was so hot that we thought that would be a good time for a break if we needed it.

Olsa and I started walking and right away someone asked us for a paper. They were just curious, but hey! That's good! So we walked and handed them to people we passed. Our strategy was simply to smile at people because smiling is a universal language. We came across a small pool hall. (Billiard Bars, as they're called, are fairly popular here.) There were three teenage boys inside so I said "Let's take some in there." Olsa was a little timid because they were her age, so I just went in, said "Mire dita!" (Good day) and handed three fliers to the boy who was sitting at a table. Then I smiled and left. We started walking away and the boy came out and said something to Olsa. He gave her two fliers back and said, "We can share so you have more to share." Then a boy around 11 ran up and asked for one. He had some question for Olsa and then she told him I was one of the teachers. I waved and smiled at him so he did the same back.

We kept walking and handing some out. Then we ran into a spot with very few people so we started putting them on car windshields. We thought we were doing pretty good as we were walking back to meet the other two. But then we saw them and they were all out of fliers! We had given out a little over half of ours, but theirs were gone. Neda saw us, shook her head at us, took our fliers, and by the time we were back at church, she had them all gone! lol Wow! Sometimes it's a good thing she's so bold. She loves doing things for the church too. She really truly wants to tell everyone about it. That's so awesome. :)

There is a bar kafe next to the church that we go to often to get water or Nescafe or other coffee drinks. The bar tender there asked Agron about our classes for him and about 4 of his friends. Even though they're close to our age, which could be akward since we're foreigners and have been warned about not talking to Albanian men, Agron said they could come to our class. He knows them well enough to know that they really just want to learn English and and Emily and I have been in the kafe enough to know they probably wouldn't try anything sneaky or say anything inappropriate, especially since Agron is there during our classes. So I went in and gave the guy a flier before we left. He usually tries to say an English word or two when we're in there. So I said, "For you" and gave it to him. He said, "For me?" I said, "Po" (yes) and handed it to him. When we came back, two of his friends were with him so I gave him two more. He smiled.

All total we handed out 150 fliers and put two big posters on the door to church, one in English, one in Albanian. Next week Tuesday through Thursday is registration, so we'll see what kind of response we get. I really have no idea. Emily and I did take 3 extra medium sized posters home with us. One is so we have a final copy of the info we handed out (smart, huh? lol) and the other two are for people around here.

There is one man at the sufflaqe shop (sufflaqe, pr. soo-FLAH-chay, is an Albanian fast food. It's like a gyro only there are a few french fries folded into it as well. He speaks some English and always talks to us. He's a nice man and is used to foreigners because there are a decent number of them in our neighborhood since it's a very safe section of Tirana. We thought he might be interested in classes because it could help his business and because sometimes, Emily said, he asks how to say things. Then we took another one for a guy we met on Monday, Jim, who lives in the apartment building across the street from ours. He heard us speaking English and stopped to ask us about it. Turns out, he lived in the states for while (NJ, near the PA border) and his wife is American. They recently moved back here for business. She has 2 masters degrees, but I forgot the subject area, and he has two bachelors degrees but didn't say in what. His English was very good and he has 2 young children that he wants to learn both languages. His oldest is his 7 year old daughter who was catching on quickly in the States and he wants her to continue in lessons besides at school. His wife can teache her too, but he wants her to have more opportunities to converse with people in English and be around other children who are learning to speak both languages. We'll see what comes of it. He invited us to come visit any time and suggested that his family and Emily and I all meet for coffee at the little place just down the street sometime. Maybe we're about to make more friends. :) He was wearing an American shirt and had American mannerisms like shaking hands and other classic American hand gestures when speaking. Overall, not very sketchy at all. Whew!

I should mention that Monday night we met Lejda at Taiwani for drinks. (Not drinks like Americans think of, but coffee drinks, or iced tea, or soda. Or people will say they are meeting for coffee and if they are meeting at a bar kafe. Remember that for future reference.) I really like her! She is super easy to talk to, she's extremely talkative, and funny to boot! We got on all sorts of funny topics! She's part of the Baptist church here and works there part time too. She is very spiritually grounded and is a wonderful example that even though people might not emphasize the same details we do, she knows the truth. She knows Jesus is her Savior, that he died for her sins, and that he'll come back for us. Emily told me that the only things she doesn't fully understand about our beliefs are--take a guess. Yep. Communion and baptism. So while we don't feel a huge push to try to convert her or anything, I mean, she does know the important part, it's nice to hang out with someone who has the same values system and has the same morals. It's nice to be around someone with the same mindset. There are many people here who don't know the truth at all and those are the people we really need to share with. But we had a blast with Lejda and are excited that we already decided to get together again on Friday.

Whew! This was a long one but there were many stories to tell and much to explain! I'm off to bed because tomorrow is a work day for Emily and I. We're going to ride bikes to Big Park (Remember that story? Haha! ;) Too funny!) for practice. It will be my first time taking the bike out and braving the unpredictable Tirana traffic. Plus we can bike around the park where things are under control. And there is a kafe there where we can stop and work on our planning for a while. We're creating a placement test so I need to be well rested tomorrow. I have to remember things like simple past tense, present perfect tense, irregular verbs, etc. It's been awhile....I feel old. ;) So until tomorrow, goodnight and sleep tight!