The Wheels On The Bus

The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round according to the song. But here in Tirana, they stop at the strangest places. Like the other day for example. I was riding home from church after my late class. It was around 7:30 and we were about half way between church and the stop where I get off. We had been creeping at a snail's pace, no joke, the whole ride. All of a sudden I realized: the bus is stopping and it's not a regular stop. We weren't even at a stop light or at a stand still because of traffic or anything. We stopped so the bus driver could get out and run into the bar kafe. He came back out with some sort of drink for himself and a macchiatto for the ticket guy. He then proceeded to drive even slower so he wouldn't spill his drink! lol Then, all of a sudden, right when we got to the corner where we turn onto the street where my stop is, the driver floored it and started honking at everyone and everything in sight! I had no idea what was going on. I was just relieved that my stop was next. That was one crazy ride! lol Only in Tirana. :)

See? I told you every day here is a new adventure! Haha!

Our activity night on Friday was a good one. It was rainy that day, and rain here always means lower attendance for events. However, this one was fun because we had another parent come! Yay! One of the moms who has started coming with her son to one of Emily's beginner classes showed up with her son and her young daughter. It was good to see them there. We had a little Thanksgiving Celebration. I gave a very brief story of the origin of Thanksgiving. Then we all wrote a list of things we were thankful for. The catch was that they had to start with the letters in Thanksgiving, as I had written that word down the page. We shared a few of the things on our lists.

After that, Emily told about the Thanksgiving meal and we handed out cranberry sauce (the typical goodness in a can :) that Americans love) for people to try. Most of those in attendance liked it. Except Danja. She was funny. She made a nasty face and told Emily "Ewww!" Hee hee!

Finally, I taught them how to draw turkeys by tracing their hand. So we made Thanksgiving pictures to give to the people we're thankful for. Emily and I got many pictures. lol So sweet! Sometimes I feel like the kids forget about everyone else when they're at Activity Night. They just swarm us for attention, but it's cute. They are always so excited to be there and in class they're so excited to learn English. It's just fun to be around them!

I let my small class choose American names during class. I now teach Ruby, Natalie and Jasmine instead of Xheni, Enxhi, and Sasha. lol They are so silly! It took them so long to pick the names because they were so happy they got to pick their own that they wanted it to be just perfect. I remember being like that in Spanish class in high school. lol Some things never change. :)

Pastor came back this weekend and brought some goodies with him for Emily and I. (Thanks, mom!!!!) I now have a replenished supply of Ramen noodles. Is is sad that I could still live off of those even though I'm out of college? Haha! Anyway, she also replenished my chocolate chip supply, sent some peanut butter, brown sugar, sent advent candles and a nativity for church, sent my flute back so I can play in church, piano music, an advent devotion book, an advent calendar, Christmas cards (not to be opened until Christmas, of course!) a Thanksgiving card, candles for our smelly bathroom (the pipes don't quite drain as quickly as in the US so some days it smells like sewer), and a few other great odds n ends. Then, Sunday night when we went downstairs to Pastor's apartment (he's living underneath us when he's here) for game night, he had an early Christmas present for each of us from he and Mrs. Ahlers. Emily got the game Ticket To Ride and I got the game Settlers of Catan. We were so excited!!!! It was perfect because it gave us a much better game supply to chose from for game nights now. lol I'm telling you, it was like Christmas came early! We were so excited! What made it even better was that we played three games of Settlers and I won all three! That board likes me! It's lucky for me! Hee hee! ;)

This week we're having a meeting to catch Pastor and Agron up on our future plans for English class and to talk more about outreach and home visits. We're also having our first Mary and Martha Meeting. That's the group we're starting for girls ages 13-17. We'll do devotions and an activity. This week we'll do a craft. We're making the invitations to our Christmas Program. Should be fun! We're also continuing our Christmas Program Practices. I need to start practicing the piano a lot because I'm accompanying the songs. I volunteered so I better be ready. :)

We cancelled our classes on Thursday so that Emily and I can celebrate Thanksgiving. We invited Agron, Vitori, Dorien, Pastor, and Aida to come here for a Thanksgiving meal. Turkey is hard to get this time of year since that's what they traditionally eat for New Years. Plus, even if we did find one, we'd have to buy it live, kill it ourselves, and pluck it ourselves. Um, no thank you. I've never even made a frozen turkey before so I somehow think it would be even more difficult if I had to start with a live one. So we're settling for rotisserie chickens instead. They can be found easily around here and are quite tasty. So Thursday will be a busy but fun day off.

There is no Activity Night this week because Friday is Albanian Independence Day. Then Saturday they celebrate Liberation Day, or Nata e Bardhe (pr. NAH-tah EE BAR-the) which means White Night. It's when the Albanian flag was first raised to show their independence. It was raised in Vlora, a city in the south of Albania, so the biggest celebration is there. But everyone everywhere stays out all night to celebrate. Ay ay ay. I'm counting on some interesting observations. ;) And when a holiday falls on a Saturday here, they observe it on the following Monday. Therefore our students don't have school on Monday so we don't have English classes on Monday either. Emily and I have a five day weekend! Woo hoo!!!

Christmas isn't a huge holiday here like it is in the States. Being a communist country for so long, people couldn't celebrate Christmas. That's why Albanians go all out for New Years like we do for Christmas. So there are no Christmas decorations up here, no Christmas lights, no candy canes in shops, and no bell ringers. I can't lie....I don't miss those bell ringers. It always gives me a headache. lol In absence of this Christmas spirit, my iPod has become my new best friend when I'm out walking around town or riding the bus to church. I listen to Christmas music because when it is combined with the crisp chilly air, it makes me feel a little closer to home at this time of year. :) Emily and I are planning to decorate our place for Christmas though before Thanksgiving. We want our apartment to look festive when our dinner guests arrive. :)

Despite a long weekend ahead, I have plenty of work to do! I have worksheets to make for my classes, "bulletin board" stuff to prepare (mostly things to cut out so they can be taped to the wall), words to translate, piano to practice, meeting notes to prepare for tomorrow, supplies to gather for making the invitations, and I need to come up with an idea for a Christmas gift to my students. So if any of you have ideas for that, please share! I'm most definitely open to suggestions! As you can see, I have plenty keeping me busy. ;) Hope you're not getting overwhelmed back at home. This time of year always seems to start piling on the stress. Be sure to enjoy it a little extra for me, ok? ;) Thanks!