Where has the time gone?

8 months in Albania… 8 months that have been both long and short, easy and hard, adventurous and mundane. Being here, I feel like I’ve felt every emotion under the sun (some emotions BECAUSE of the sun- the heat here is real y’all). But I am sure all of you who are reading this are wondering what I’ve been up to, so here..we…go.

The school I am working at is called Shkolla “Lush Kola” 9-vjeçare (K-9). My primary project has been to work with the teachers on interactive health lessons for topics like hygiene, sexual education, and puberty. The main purpose of why Peace Corps has this program in Albania is because of the culture around this topic and the hesitation to teach it in schools. But, let’s just be honest and say that there is a culture of shame and fear around teaching this subject in the United States and many other countries as well. I thought for sure that no one at the school was going to let me teach these topics, at least not until my second year here. But through relationships with the students and teachers, a lot have teachers have been more than happy to have me come into their classes for these topics. I mean come one, who really wants to teach menstruation to 4th and 5th graders right?? At first I kind of dreaded these talks with the kids, but I’ve been met with so much enthusiasm. Sometimes I feel like Phoebe on ‘Friends’ when she goes to sing songs to kids and is BRUTALLY honest, making all of the adults really uncomfortable. But when she gets fired from that job, the kids come and find her to listen to “the lady who tells the truth”. Now, I am no Phoebe and I am not singing about how these kid’s grandparents will die, but I do feel the acceptance and mutual respect from these kids for giving them honest and useful information.

Although I’ve jumped right in with menstruation, puberty, pregnancy, and sexual health- those have not been the only subjects I’ve co-taught. Some REALLY fun ones were about subjects like first aid, communication, gender roles, leadership, and American culture/food. Each week is an adventure for me, I never know what subject or activity I’ll be asked to create which can be quite exciting and terrifying. Currently I am working on an oral health project/competition with the younger students that I am so excited about (more so because I get to hang out with the cute 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders each week. J

While I spend a lot of time in the school working on these subjects, my work doesn’t end when the last school bell rings. Much of my time has been spent on my secondary projects for the kids in the community.

In April, I created a questionnaire for the students to complete that basically formalized the question “what do you want from me”. A significant amount of them stressed the need for a girls club or “klub për vajza” (even a few of the boys wrote it). And until now that has until now been where a lot of my time and energy has gone. In villages around Albania, it is a pretty standard expectation that women and girls stay in the house while the men and boys are given more freedom to roam about the town. This a standard that I really dug into with the 9th graders in our gender roles class, but we all agreed that nothing will be different if everyone just accepts this gender role. There was also mutual agreement that to adjust this, BOTH genders need to help each other.

With all that in consideration the school psychologist, Blerina, and I started this club in May of the last school year. Within just a short time the girls have done so much, and I have been really proud of all we have been able to accomplish. From the beginning, the girls and I mostly discussed small topics like self-esteem and played volleyball. But it has grown into so much more than that. We recently finished up at 4 month project with the local retirement home where the girls fundraised (a somewhat new concept here), planned, and painted a mural on one of the outside walls. I could go on and on about this experience, as it was truly incredible to watch each of them grow in confidence and ability throughout these 4 months. If you know me at all, you knew that I loved community service. Being able to share that experience with these girls was selfish on my part, because I got to watch a few of them fall in love with service too. These girls have been my source of light here, especially during some hard days, and I don’t see them as ‘students’ anymore- I see them as my friends.

Days have gone by, and with each “milestone” passing it’s weird how normal my life is getting. I recently celebrated my 22nd birthday here, and a day that I was kind of dreading turned out to be one of my best birthdays yet. I felt an outpouring of love from my girls (they bought me this adorable backpack and took me to the pool), my host family (made me a yummy feast with a delicious cake and got me a present), my sweet, sweet American friends and family (who sent me a giant box of everything I could ever want from the U.S.) and my sweet Peace Corps friends who took me to a nearby beach to celebrate the only way I know how to (drinks and food). In a way I feel spoiled by the love and support I’ve gotten from here and from the U.S.

I’ve been able to go on so many adventures during my time here, both in Albania and outside. For my readers in the U.S…. STOP SLEEPING ON ALBANIA. Every place I have visited has been just so full of beauty, I am running out of space on my phone for all the amazing places that feel right down the road from Barbullush. I think my mom is convinced I am just lying to her to get her to visit me, but she’ll believe me eventually!! I was also so lucky to get to see Macedonia, Malta, and Vienna (as I am sure you’ve seen from my excessive picture posting). This is something I would never have been able to do if I weren’t here, and I feel truly lucky to have gotten those opportunities.

Some days have been so fun a simple, like enjoying a coffee with colleagues or hanging out at the pool with students. While there are other days I felt like I could jump on a plane and never turn back. I guess that is what’s so beautiful about this experience is that wide diversity of emotions and struggles. Even though there are hard days, I’ve tried to remind myself that there will ALWAYS be good and bad days. No matter what job you have, what friends you have, or where you live. One thing I will never stop being thankful for is the support of my sweet friends here. It’s pretty outstanding to have people that I know I can call at any moment that will support me, reassure me, and challenge me. Since being here I have had some significant problems with my asthma, something I rarely even thought about while in the U.S. While I’ve had many hardships here, this is really the only one that has forced me to consider packing my bags and heading back home. But if anything has kept me moving forward here it is 100% love. With all the love and support I’ve gotten, I’ve found that leaving here would be harder than staying. I guess that’s when you know you are where you’re supposed to be right? So bring it on Albania, show me what you’ve got.