It's Raining, It's Pouring

Literally, it's raining and it's pouring. It has been raining with very few breaks since around 11pm on Tuesday. Everything is wet, making the air damp and chilly. The thunder storms are really loud here because cement walls and tiled roofs don't provide any sort of sound barrier or buffer the way insulated walls and ceilings and attics do in the US. Normally I sleep through thunderstorms. Not here though. I lie awake trying to sleep, but if that fails, I've been using the time to read or listen to my iPod. Anyway, right now we're in the midst of a break from the rain. How long or short it will be remains to be seen.

When it rains here, many events or activities are cancelled. If they aren't, the attendance is usually poor. Why is that? Because people have to walk in the rain to get to the location of the activity or event. Yesterday, when it was pouring all day, Neda told me her teachers asked the students why they even came to school at all that day. The teachers proceeded to tell the students that if tomorrow was the same, don't come to school. Most kids have a decent length walk outside, which means they'd get soaked, then spend all day at school in soaked clothes only to have to walk back home again in the rain. That makes it way to easy to get sick.

My classes still had good attendance yesterday, even though the weather was crappy. I found out that next Monday is another holiday here. It's the other Bajram celebration so they have off school. They have more national holidays here than they know what to do with! lol It's funny because that's one of the things Albanian was told by the European Union that they have to fix before they can become part of the EU: reduce the number of national holidays. Too funny!

On Tuesday we received an invitation from Agron. His great niece, Laura, is around 9 or 10 years old but is an outstanding violinist. Her mother, Eva (Agron's niece), is a relatively well known opera singer in Albanian as well as Italy. Her father is an orchestra conductor. As you can see, Laura's musical inclination comes naturally. Anyway, she had a recital that evening and Agron invited us to attend with him. So Pastor, Emily, Agron and I all met at the Opera House a little before 7pm for this recital concert.

I had no idea how impressive this would be! There was a small string orchestra to accompany those giving recitals. We learned from Agron that this orchestra was made up of music teachers, mostly from the School of the Arts, which Laura attends. The father, Agron's neice's husband (nephew-in-law?), was the conductor for the recital. They played one song and then Laura came out and played her violin. She played the first part and performed all of the solos. She was incredible!!! Lady Catherine from Pride and Prejudice would have called her "a great proficient." I mean, they were playing actual symphony type pieces! I couldn't understand the names of the songs because they were written on the program in Albanian, but the three composers whose work was performed during the recital were Bach, Vivaldi, and Hayden. That right there tells you how amazing it was!

The interesting thing was that people kept talking and whispering throughout the performances. That must not be a no-no here because the people in Durres talk and whisper all through church, people at the movies do the same thing, and kids talk about constantly talking and whispering through tests at school. Despite the distractions, I enjoyed the little concert immensely. It took about an hour and was a truly excellent performance. Laura looked like nothing phased her at all. The other girl who was a violinist, probably around 15 or 16, looked the same. Cool as a cucumber. Then, this one girl, probably 16 or 17, came out to play the piano. Holy cow!!!! WOW!!!! She even looked bored, if I can dare to say it! When she had rests in her music, she'd look out at the crowd, flip her hair out of her face, or fidget. But you could still tell she was counting and when she played, her fingers just flew across the keys! The whole thing was awesome!

I've been busy planning for classes this week and for other activities this week including Activity Night and Christmas Practices. But I have had a little free time which gave me the opportunity to put all of my random fall fun pictures into an album. So, for your enjoyment, here is the link to view some Fall Fun In Tirana:

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=125600102&k=XXL3P3PSWVWM5FCGYK23RW

It hasn't started raining again (yet!) and I'll even be bold enough to say that I think it's gotten lighter out. Hopefully it won't rain any more today! I have to teach later and then this evening we're meeting Lejda for coffee. It would take a lot of the fun out of it if we have to battle the rain to make it from place to place. Luckily, I have rain boots! :) They're wearing out already though because I've used them so much. Crazy, right? But they still keep my feet warm and dry.

I think that's all there is to report for the time being. Don't worry though--I will continue to keep you updated on anything interesting that happens. Please feel free to do the same. Don't be a stranger to my inbox. :) Thanks to everyone for keeping it fairly full!