Chronicles

Balkan Trip, Spring Break, March 2009: Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia

2009-03-25T22:04:00.024+02:00

After school on Thursday, March 19th, we pack up our rental car with friends Doug and Mary Jo and hit the road. That night's destination is Budva, Montenegro, where we stay at the same home of private apartments as we did two spring breaks ago (see earlier posts). After a yummy seafood dinner in the old town and a warm bed we wake up the next morning and continue on up the coast. The day is absolutely frigid, with freezing rain and wind that blows our umbrellas out, so we don't linger long in Kotor (again, see earlier posts) but decide to keep driving. The clouds eventually lift some, and we stop to take in the breathtaking views in the Bay of Kotorska.

The first tiny island behind us (above) is home to the Benedictine Monastery of St. George, where many sea captains have found their eternal homes. The islet to the right of that holds "Our Lady of the Rock", a little chapel from the early 1600's dedicated to the virgin Mary. The island itself is man-made out of the carcasses of old ships, and is reinforced with stone.

Next destination: Dubrovnik, Croatia. We follow the coast road but then veer off towards the mountains. After about an hour of driving the road begins to narrow and we begin to question our navigational skills. I had always heard the road to Dubrovnik is wide and welcoming and the road we are on is anything but that. We continue driving until we hit snow. It's time to turn around. Here, Travis speaks for us all:

Back down the mountain, we hug the coast road until the border of Montenegro and Croatia. We leave Montenegro, stamped and ready for the next country, but are told at the Croatia border we can't enter without the proper insurance card for our car. We must have a "Green Card", the card we have isn't good enough for them. We are told to wait two hours for the lady to come, take our 75 euros, and issue us the proper card. We're hungry. In hopes that she will wait for us, we turn around to seek food back in Montenegro. At that border, we are told again we can't enter due to lack of sacred "green card". But we just came from Montenegro! we tell them. A kind English-speaking tour guide works it out for us and we're allowed passage. When we finally return to the Croatian border, the lady is there, takes only 65 euros, and we break on through to the other side, heading for Dubrovnik.

DUBROVNIK: The view of the old town was more than could be imagined or captured by any old photo:

What is incredible to me is how the old city of Dubrovnik is still standing, all fortified, staunchly standing against time and war and modernity. Not that it hasn't been affected in some way by all three, but it truly is a visit back in time, despite all the tourist shops, cafes, and cozy restaurants. Below are views from on top of the city walls:

One of the highlights is getting to see Angie and her group of IU students! We hang out with them some in the old city, and then go with Doug and Mary Jo for a cozy seafood lunch.

After lunch we head back up the coast toward Split, Croatia, a large seaside town on the Adriatric with a charming old city. It is dark when we arrive so we hook up with a nice man renting out rooms in his home. We turn on the heat and head out for a short walk towards "the best restaurant in town" we are told. Some of us aren't so hungry and decide to get the soup. It is a cup of broth. Amy loves her pasta though.

In the morning we head to the old town and have coffee and pastries in the sunshine in a lovely piazza. Travis makes some friends.

Next we stroll around the outside remnants of Diocletian's Palace, the palace where a famous Roman emperorer retired. He was known for his intense persecution of Christians. Ironically, the mausoleum built for him has been turned into a Christian cathedral. Weird. Mass was going on so we only peek inside the doors. I (Amy) love how the hotels, cafes and shops flowed through and around the palace; the union of old and new.

From Split it is onto Bosnia, the highlight of our trip. On the way out of Croatia, we stop in the mountains for a quick lunch of 1/2 kilo of lamb, green salad, and more broth and bread.

The drive through tunnels cutting into mountains and tiny Bosnian towns is filled with the anticipation of the history and beauty we will encounter, and when we reach the exquisite old town of Mostar, Bosnia, that anticipation is fully realized. Mostar was hit pretty hard during the war in the early nineties, and it's claim to fame, an old Ottoman bridge (Mostar means "old bridge"), was completely destroyed. Many of the buildings in the old and new towns are riddled with bullet holes and shelling, which makes this town sobering, but unforgettable. There is a charm and energy however that is alluring, and makes it hard to leave.

The old city in Mostar and the famous bridge and walking streets:

That afternoon we drive onto Sarajevo, arriving around 8:30 at night. We had lingered longer in Mostar than had planned and had decided to forego meeting our Sarajevo friends at a meeting place and just try to find their house on our own. We must have asked 15 people and turned around a multitude of times before we end up at the house. Our friends give us a graciously warm welcome despite our lateness, feed us, and put us to sleep. The next morning, we visit the international school where our friends work and then head to the old town. Again, there are many reminders of the war along the way:

To me (Amy) the city of Sarajevo feels somber and quiet, despite the traffic and crowds of people, but maybe that is me transferring my own mood, my own feelings of its history onto the city itself. And then again, the weather is gray. I like that people just go about their business; not hassling you in the old town shops...the shopkeepers are simply there, friendly and available. The shop and cafe-lined cobblestone streets are beautiful.

I could spend days in this city.

But it is time to head home.

We leave Sarajevo after lunch on Monday and drive straight through the night until we reach Tirana. I don't know what we are thinking, I guess the trip is just over. 13 hours through dark and windy mountain roads and cities with names written only in cyrilic (good thing Travis and I can read them!). By the looks of things, we could be anywhere. We could be in Ohio. I keep reminding everyone in the car that we are in Bosnia. Hey guys, we're driving through the mountains in Bosnia. Hey guys, we just spent the night in Sarajevo. On one of these roads, just at dusk, a castle, looming on a far away rock, comes into view and reminds us that we are not, in fact, in Ohio. We are in the Balkans. A lone man stands at the top of this castle and stretches, looking out toward the sunset, king of the world.

Spoils of the Day

2008-10-19T15:29:00.005+03:00

What you see in the picture below is one of the top reasons we live in Albania. Fresh fruits and vegetables, all for less than 20 bucks (minus the gourds). One of our favorite places to shop is called the "Electric Market", where you can find a slew of hardware shops, but also lining the sidewalks are many vendors selling their finest from their gardens. Some run large produce stands, others just bring whatever they can get from their own backyards, even if it's just a few bunches of grapes. The gourd guy had his car piled high with the gourds. Now we just need you to come over and help us eat it all.

Albanian Wedding

2008-10-19T11:15:00.004+03:00

Last night we had the pleasure of attending our first Albanian wedding. The daughter of one of our guard's at the school was the honored bride. As we understand it, these things start around Wednesday or Thursday and end on a Monday. There's no official ceremony, just a lot of partying, though the couple eventually goes downtown and makes it legal at some point. Apparently, Thursday is a time for guests to visit the bride only at her parent's home. She puts on her wedding dress and sits around while guests come and give her gifts and the bride's family in turn serves little chocolates or candies and drinks. Friday is a "day off" and then Saturday (the event we attended) is the bride's party. It began around 8:00pm, but we came with some of our Albanian friends around quarter till 9. The groom wasn't there yet. He was scheduled to arrive with his family about two to three hours later (at which time the bride changed into a second wedding dress). We had wine, appetizers, a beginning course of meats and cheeses, and then a larger meal of two steaks and french fries. That course came around 11pm and we left a little after midnight, so we don't know what came after that, but we heard there were still more courses coming. It was a fun night full of dancing to Albanian music and a little Spanish music. And the wedding party does it all over again the next night, only this time it's the groom's turn. He has a dinner and then the bride shows up late with her family. Then on Monday, the groom's party comes and gets the bride and whisks her away to her new home. Below: Bride and groom; Bride with girl in traditional Albanian dress; Mother-of-the-bride with friends of ours dancing ; The spread; More Dancing.

2008-10-19T10:34:00.005+03:00

Below: Bride's friends, restaurant workers, Travis and dancers.

Heading South: The Beaches

2008-10-18T15:22:00.006+03:00

Our first stop was in Apollonia, an ancient city founded by Corinthian colonists around 600 BC. It's about a two hour drive from Tirana, along rough, dusty roads. It is said that the Roman Emperor Augustus (then called Octavian) studied here. Apparently Apollonia was an important port city for many centuries. Augustus declared Apollonia a "free and immune city", which meant the city didn't have to pay taxes to the Roman government. The people spoke Greek rather than Latin and used their own symbols on their coins. Inside the complex is a Byzantine monastery and beautiful little church, thought to date back to the 13th century. There are no monks that use the church still and I read that the church was only used as an archaelogical base. However, when we were there, we found modern pews and candles lit so someone must have been a-prayin'...

2008-10-15T17:50:00.004+03:00

Finally we hit the coast road. The views were dramatically breathtaking as we clung to the narrow curves 1,000 feet above sea level. Travis tirelessly drove while Amy and the other passengers vacillated between oohs and aahs and silent prayers. We drove until we hit the seaside town of Himare (Himara), had a scrumptious seafood dinner, and spent the night in a hotel right on the sea.

2008-10-14T19:47:00.005+03:00

On the narrow road back from Himare we took a detour to the tiny town of Jale (Yala). The winding cobblestone streets and crumbling stone houses made this a charming stop, but what really made it memorable was an invitation into a local home. As we were walking through the town, we noticed a man making Raki, the traditional Albanian drink, a clear robust liquor made from grapes or other fruit depending on where it's from. After hearing Travis exclaim, "Raki!" the man invited us into his courtyard to sample his fine product. And it was fine. I was a little nervous at first because I have heard horror stories about home-brewed Raki and how, if made wrong, can kill you in an instant. But I couldn't resist. You can see from the picture below how they make it. He stores it in barrels outside his home and probably sells it to local markets. His wife then came out to greet us with a baby on her arm. Another small child was walking around covering his eyes, too (See picture). The lady of the house told us he was too shy to look at us. They showed us around their small vineyard and gave us a sample of grapes and brought us some orange soda too. Lovely gracious people.

2008-10-14T18:48:00.004+03:00

We made our way down the steep, rocky cliffs some more in order to get to the pebbly, secluded beach at Jale (Yala). The water was turquoise and perfectly clear, with locals bringing in lobster as we soaked our feet and skipped stones. We were even visited by a mysterious, black sea creature that swam up to us and then swam away.

2008-10-14T18:18:00.004+03:00

Our final stop for the night was the Adriatic coastal town of Vlore (Vlora). We drove up and down the streets in search of a decent hotel and finally settled on the Bologna, right on the sea. The thing that always strikes me about Vlore is the blue, blue water, as blue as you think blue should be, nothing more, nothing less. The color is precisely blue. There's not much to do in the town this time of year except admire the beautiful views from our hotel room and stroll along the long boulevards eating popcorn, along with everyone else on the customary Albanian evening stroll.

Egypt

2008-02-13T21:09:00.004+02:00

Check out our pics from our winter holiday trip to Egypt.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562102860RNewkU

We can't even begin to write about it here. There's just too much. Invite us out for coffee sometime and we'll tell you everything.

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-12-08T00:57:00.000+02:00

This year the Americans at our school hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for the non-American staff. We managed to bring in 6 turkeys along with the rest of the traditional good stuff: mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, cranberry sauce, 4 types of stuffing (inlcuding Stove-Top!...thanks to homegrocer.com), green-bean casserole, jello, pumpkin bars, apple pie, and apple crisp. Our director hosted it in his house, and about 30-40 people showed up.

Scout

2007-12-08T00:33:00.000+02:00

Here's a picture of the new love in our life...Scout. We first thought the cat was a "she" so we named her Scout after a beloved and famous novel character. Then we found out the cat was a "he". So now the name has taken on a more masculine, militaryesque tone. Now we have a boyScout instead of a girlScout.

Korca Itself

2007-10-28T16:23:00.000+02:00

Ok, I got so frustrated trying to format that last post, I ended it. I couldn't get those last two pictures to separate. So I'm starting another one of Korca itself. And I'm not even going to try to find the correct 'c' for Korca anymore. So once in Korca, we visited the beer factory, the first Albanian school, Entela's family, the Orthodox cathedral, and the market. Pictures follow. (Can you tell I'm slightly frustrated

?) Korca is really a beautiful city, though. There are many lovely old buildings and about half of the city's streets are cobblestone. The traffic is far less than in Tirana, almost sparce. So it was a really peaceful weekend.

The Korca Beer Factory. It was nice, but mostly I'm glad to say I've been there. The beer at the factory wasn't as good, though, as it is in the bottle. I've heard that with Guiness, it's better the closer to the factory you have it in Ireland. I guess it's not the same with all beers. When Entela told our Taxi driver what I said about its been bitter, he blamed it on the German manufacturing process. Hmmm.

The first school ever in Albania, I guess, was not really open when we went there. There were men inside wearing dust masks and doing renovations. They were really friendly though and, although only construction workers, still offered to show us around. It is a museum now.

Here is a picture of the school's courtyard.

This is the new Cathedral. They were preparing it for a wedding, but we still got to go inside and see it. Certainly was lovely, both in side and out. Inside, there was a wooden chandelier about as big as our living room. Majestic, indeed.

This is probably the most famous of old buildings in the town.

Market pictures.

And one last shot of a lovely side street in Korca. They all looked like this. I like the blend of modern and traditional, too, with the In Accessories store on the corner.

Weekend in Korça

2007-10-27T08:57:00.000+03:00

We had an extra day off from school for Mother Teresa Day (She was Albanian, you know) and went with our friend Entela to her home town in the mountainous south. She had tried to get us a room at a cosy little villa, but when an important politician decided to stay there the same weekend, we magically lost our reservations. So we stayed at a pretty nice hotel called the Grand Hotel (included decent breakfast in a very cold room). Here is a picture of the lobby.

The trip going to and from Korça was one of the most interesting aspects of the weekend. By some unforeseen luck, a car was provided for us so we didn’t have to take the bus, which was really nice, in retrospect, since on the way back we had to take the bus. That was quite an experience.
The winding road with hairpin turns and switchbacks up and down the sides of mountains were enough to make several of our fellow passengers lose their lunches (Did we tell you the bus driver always passes out plastic bags for that purpose at the starts of these trips?). However, both going and coming, the views were incredible.

Here is another view. These pictures aren't the best since they were taken out the window of a moving bus.

We also passed through several towns along the way. Elbasan is an industrial city. Tons of factories spilling out gray smoke there, but we also passed a nice market place. Again, not the best pictures since taken from the bus.

And here's a guy on his cart, driving through town. This seemed to be a pretty common form of transport.

The other cool town was Pogradec. It's beside beautiful lake Ohrid so I took a lot of shots there. Interesting man there selling peanuts off the back of his bicycle and selling the passerby a chance to see his or her weight. I guess that helps you decide whether or not you really need the peanuts.

There were some lovely swans on the pond too. I don't know, maybe it was a waterway that connected to the lake, somehow.

And here's a boat on the lake. The day was cloudy, it rained on and off, and we were chilly when we got out of the car to take photos on our journey to Korça, but the pictures still turned out nice.

Rainy Day in Tirana

2007-09-07T21:02:00.000+03:00

This is the view from our balcony yesterday (kind of reminds me of our trip to St. Louis, see below). We had to stitch a couple of photos together to get this panaroma of it. Of course this picture doesn't do the real thing justice. It really was an amazing sight! I know that in the Bible God sent the rainbow as a promise not to destroy the earth with flood waters again, but hopefully this is God's promise to SEND some rain to Albania.

Return to Tirana

2007-09-07T11:26:00.000+03:00

We arrived to a drought-ridden land facing a major energy crisis. Albania relies on hydro-electric power, many of the plants having been built during the communist era. The government placed restrictions on energy consumption this summer. We've heard that some people in Albania were going for days without water and there have been many reported food related poisonings in the hospitals due to the electricity/water crisis. The heat and drought didn't hit us as hard, but it was still intense. At first we were mainly living in our one room with air conditioning, even pulling our bed in there to sleep. Now, for the last few days, the rain has come, but it will take a lot more of it to get Albania out of it's woes. We're expecting a hard winter.

Numbers

2007-08-18T18:20:00.000+03:00

I, Travis, have been playing with numbers. I have this addiction to Sudoku that I'm not even trying to buck. Also, I've had the opportunity to teach Middle School Mathematics for the last three years. I've really had fun with that. So I guess that's how my art is beginning to bend into the subject of numbers. The beauty of those nine digits really facinates me. I'm not sure exactly what it is about them, or where I'm going with all of this, but I don't want to stop just yet. I have a lot more to explore in this area. Please check out my other paintings at the link listed here. Thanks.

Anniversary, St. Louis, MO

2007-07-18T05:05:00.000+03:00

For their 5th anniversary, Travis whisked Amy away to St. Louis, Missouri for two nights. Here's the view from the hotel room.

St. Louis Zoo

2007-07-18T05:02:00.000+03:00

We went to the zoo. Travis stopped to rest.

Cathedral Basilica, St. Louis, MO

2007-07-18T04:56:00.001+03:00

This Romanesque cathedral in St. Louis was begun in 1907 and houses 83,000 square feet of mosaic art

Birthday Bash!

2007-07-18T01:27:00.000+03:00

In late June, we celebrated Joyce's (Travis' mom) birthday by partying it up in Indianapolis, Indiana. We ate at fun restaurants, went to the spa (ladies only), took a walking historical tour of Indianapolis (courtesy of tour guide Mark Vanest) and strolled the canal area by surrey. What a fun weekend!

Colorful Tirana

2007-06-02T00:00:00.000+03:00

Back to Durres

2007-05-02T18:40:00.000+03:00

We had a good time going to Durres with friends. Arte (Arta) teaches with us at school. She and her husband (Bata) and son (Sokol) also go to the church we’ve been to many times. They are all fluent in English and, more importantly, a lot of fun and an encouragement to us. We really like their company. So they took us in their car to a lovely restaurant on the seaside in the middle of a strip of beach full of hotels and cafes. We had some great local grilled fish, salads, wine, and bread. Then they took us to a really nice hotel for ice cream. After that they took us down the road a little farther and dropped us off in a patch of hotels and we said goodbye.

Durres, Albania

2007-05-02T18:28:00.000+03:00

We walked around looking for the right hotel and finally wound up where we started with a nice room and a decent view. We went out for a pizza for dinner at a place called Troy.

Beach Time

2007-05-02T18:17:00.000+03:00

After breakfast the next morning we walked the rest of the way, about a kilometer or two, into Durres and hung out along the sea. The weather was fair: sunny with a breeze, but not quite warm enough. We watched some crabs blow bubbles on some rocks and then decided to get a taxi and go back out to the beaches for some beach time.
Finding a taxi, we got out there and had lunch and relaxed on beach chairs for a while and then decided to come home. We didn’t know exactly how to do that since we weren’t near a bus stop. So we crossed the highway and stood there for a while until a white delivery van flashed his lights at us and Travis held out his hand to say, “Yes, please.”The guy pulled over and asked where we were going. We said to Tirana and asked how much. He said, “No money, Pa Lek.” So we said great and hopped in. He took us near town where we caught another bus, which took us into the middle of Tirana where we got a taxi to take us the rest of the way. It was our little adventure. Travis particularly enjoyed the weekend, because I really focused on using Albanian and tried to use new words and our little phrase book. Amy particularly enjoyed the relaxation and just getting away from distractions at home.

Sunday in Tirana

2007-04-29T12:37:00.000+03:00

It's a rather noisy Sunday here in Tirana. As I'm working to update all of you on the last couple months of our lives, gunshots are ringing (have been ringing for the last 3 hours) at the shooting range RIGHT NEXT to our house. Ugh. This morning we were awoken to loud wedding music being played at the neighbor's house. Actually the music has been going almost non-stop for a week now. It starts about 7:30 am and sometimes doesn't end until 11:00 at night or so. We're headed to Golem Beach in Durres (the coast of Albania) to get away from it all and have some R and R for a couple of days. Stay tuned for pictures.

Wandering the Balkans with friends

2007-04-29T12:34:00.000+03:00

I (Amy) think I’m going through empty nest syndrome. All the friends are gone and the house is quiet once again. We’ve had two fun-filled weeks of roaming the Balkans with Wes, Penni, Chris, Andrea, Matt and Entela. Here’s a recap:

Matt came to Tirana on Thursday March 29th. After a day’s rest or so he took off to the South of Albania. On Saturday March 31st, we picked Wes and Penni up at the airport. They were determined to fight the jet lag and stay awake until bedtime, so we strolled around Tirana and ate some good Albanian home-cooking at Petro’s Kitchen Club, one of our favorite little eateries owned by this guy who speaks about 4 different languages and has had 10 restaurants in the past 9 years. The food it traditionally Albanian and very well done, although the restaurant is more of a shack. The tables are wobbly and the outdoor seating is literally in his yard. We think he lives in the upstairs part. He has one other cook and one waitress working with him. And the bill always comes late. We love it, though. We sure hope this one sticks. On Sunday we took them (along with Entela) to the port city of Durres and had an amazing seafood dinner on the water.

Travis and Wes conquering one of Hoxha's bunkers-Durres, Albania

2007-04-29T12:27:00.000+03:00

Entela, Amy, Penni dining by the sea- Durres, Albania

2007-04-29T12:23:00.000+03:00

Ulcinj, Montenegro

2007-04-29T12:21:00.000+03:00

Now on to Montenegro where we traveled up the coast, hitting the cities of Ulcinj, Sveti Stefan, Budva and Kotor. Monday we woke up bright and early and the six of us (Travis, Amy, Wes, Penni, Entela, Matt) grabbed a couple of taxis and headed to the buses. In Tirana, there are official bus stations, but many of the buses just congregate on major streets on the way out of town. We found the bus and headed to Shkoder, a northern Albanian city, where, during lunch at a totally local hole-in-the-wall eatery, met a famous Albanian actor who bought us all a round of Raki, a very alcoholic drink that looks and tastes similar to vodka but is made from grapes. He said he was celebrating because he just got back from the States where he'd landed some sort of contract or movie deal. From there, slightly woozy, we picked up a bus that would take us to Ulcinj, a coastal town where, even though it is in Montenegro, the majority of the population is Albanian. It’s a lovely city with a charming old town inside a fortress, long beaches and rocky cliffs. It’s said to have been a favorite destination of pirates and at one point even housed the famous writer Miguel de Cervantes (“Don Quixote”) who was held captive there for 5 years. While we were there, there were rumors flying of Adrian Brody (The Pianist, King Kong) in town filming “The Brothers Bloom”. On a stroll through the old city, we happened upon the production office for the movie. Travis asked if it was the movie in which Mr. Brody was starring and the women in the office dodged his questions fearing him to be a stalker. Travis took the hint. However, we remained vigilant, looking out for him around street corners or relaxing at a restaurant.

Ulcinj, Montenegro

2007-04-29T12:11:00.000+03:00

Sveti Stefan, Montenegro

2007-04-29T12:05:00.000+03:00

We stayed a night in Ulcinj and then continued up the coast on Tuesday. Our next stop: Sveti Stefan (St. Stefan). A treasure of an island in the mighty Adriatic, connected to the beach by a short walkway. It was once an old fishing village until someone snatched it up and converted the whole island into one giant hotel with rooms costing about 200 euros a night. Needless to say we didn’t stay there, but admired the view from afar. You actually couldn’t even go onto the island. It is closed for 2 years to “give it a rest” from eager tourists like us tromping through its historic cobblestone pathways.

Sveti Stefan, Montenegro

2007-04-29T11:56:00.000+03:00

Budva, Montenegro

2007-04-29T11:53:00.001+03:00

From Sveti Stefan we headed to Budva, evidenced to be one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic. According to Wikipedia, a famous legend tells that Cadmus the Phoenician, who was exiled from Thebes, took up refuge in Budva with his wife, Harmonia. In 1979, a powerful earthquake destroyed much of the old city, which has since been restored. Once we arrived there, we needed a place to stay, so we walked around, knocking on doors, asking if anyone had rooms for rent. We found some in a house up on the hill, with gorgeous views of the sea and the old city. We spent our time there walking around the old city and the beaches. There was great eating to be done there, which we did.

The Old City and Marina- Budva, Montenegro

2007-04-29T11:46:00.000+03:00

View from our Room- Budva, Montenegro

2007-04-29T11:41:00.000+03:00

Kotor, Montenegro

2007-04-29T11:40:00.000+03:00

On Wednesday we left for Kotor, the highlight of the trip. It rests in a little bay in a river canyon creating a dramatic landscape. The delightful old city is suggested to be one of the oldest medieval towns on the Adriatic and is kept in such good condition. It’s been declared an UNESCO world heritage site. After walking through the narrow cobblestone town streets, we hiked up the mountain to St. John’s fortress and to a church built by the survivors of the plague. The hike was intense, climbing 1,350 crumbling steps. Apparently it wasn't intense enough for Travis who decided to get off the beaten path for part of the climb and head straight up a grassy, rocky part of the mountain. he was detered from ever doing that again by a rather large black snake that seemed to be detered by him too as it scooted away quickly into the rocks. From the top, the view of the fjord was beautiful, with mountains surrounding a series of breathtaking bays, encircled by red roofed houses and other old buildings.

At the Church- Kotor, Montenegro

2007-04-29T11:35:00.000+03:00

Left to Right: Penni, Wes, Travis, Amy, Entela, Matt

View from St. John's Fortress- Kotor, Montenegro

2007-04-29T11:26:00.000+03:00

St. John's Fortress- Kotor, Montenegro

2007-04-29T11:20:00.000+03:00

More friends arrive!

2007-04-29T11:18:00.000+03:00

After Kotor we spent one more night in Budva and then headed home. It took us about 3 hours to get back to Tirana by the same way we came. The next Saturday, Chris and Andrea arrived! We were SO happy to see them! We spent Saturday trying to keep them awake and then Sunday we went to Kruja, a little mountain town about 45 minutes from Tirana which is the center for Albanian souvenirs and antiques. We visited a castle there, had lunch and shopped. We also had an encounter with a turkey which Travis tried to speak to in its own language. On Monday morning, we took a bus to the old Albanian city of Berat and stayed the night. The next day, Matt, Chris, Andrea, Wes and Penni headed off for the Greek isle of Corfu and Travis and I sadly journeyed back to Tirana without them (we had to teach the next day).

Lunching in Berat, Albania

2007-04-29T11:07:00.000+03:00

Wes, Penni, Matt, Chris, Andrea, and Amy - For more on Berat, see earlier posts.

At Taiwan Fountain: Us with Matt and Chris- Tirana, Albania

2007-04-29T10:53:00.000+03:00

Taiwan is a popular restaurant/bowling alley/dessert parlor here in Tirana.

2007-04-29T10:50:00.000+03:00

In March our school flew us to Sanaa, Yemen where we completed our writing of the new Reading and Language Arts curriculum for our organization of schools, QSI. We stayed right in the beautiful old city of Sanaa. The buildings all look like wedding cakes, with their mud-brick facades and white frosted windows and decorations. Being in the old city felt in many ways like going back to the old west. The men and boys each wear a knife, called a jambia, around their waists and some of the men carry rifles or pistols as they walk through the streets. One man (see picture below) was very proud of his rifle and asked if we wanted a demonstration. Travis said sure, but Amy emphatically declined the offer. The women of Yemen, on the other hand are in stark contrast, quiet and elusive, wearing all black and covered from head to foot with only their eyes and the tips of their shoes showing. The head covering is due to family tradition rather than government mandate, so Amy didn’t have to cover up. However, a friend of ours who was writing curriculum with us, purchased and donned a balto (the full covering) and walked through the market just to see what would happen. The women were awed that a foreigner would wear it, actually stopping and turning their heads as she walked by (I’m sure they could tell by her walk and her shoes that she was a foreigner). The men had mixed reactions. Some of them would look at her, put their thumbs up, smile and yell, “Yemeni!” Some would gawk. It was an interesting social experiment. All in all, we loved Yemen. Travis was able to use his Arabic and Amy had fun seeing her husband’s more “Arab” side. Check out some of the photos below and click on the link for more Yemen photos.

Sanaa, Yemen

2007-04-29T10:30:00.000+03:00

Big Blacksmith, Little Blacksmith

2007-04-29T10:12:00.000+03:00

Proud Yemeni Men

2007-04-29T09:21:00.000+03:00

Palace on the Rock- Sanaa, Yemen

2007-04-29T09:10:00.000+03:00

Yemeni Kids

2007-04-29T08:54:00.000+03:00

Yemeni Market Wares

2007-03-30T18:53:00.000+03:00

Mariah

2007-01-29T18:30:00.000+02:00

This is Mariah. She guards our building and is totally loyal. She sets a perimeter for us as we walk to school, making sure we get through the gate safely. She walks us up the stairs when we come home (only once has she had the motivation to follow us ALL the way up to the 4th floor). Whenever she sees us, she wags her tail vigorously. Mom, Dad, we know you can't be with us. But you can sleep well knowing how loved we are.

Chicken

2007-01-13T15:39:00.000+02:00

We had a fire. A possible first for us in marriage. Nothing major, kitchen fire.

You see Amy wanted to get me a chicken the other night since I was in a lot of pain with a sinus infection. So she goes out to get this chicken from our local ‘chicken shack,’ a little place about a block away that serves tasty juicy broasted chickens. They cost five bucks. Isn’t it interesting how no matter where you go in the world, a broasted chicken costs five bucks? However, when she comes back, she has no broasted chicken. ‘Yo pule (no chicken),’ she tells me they told her. ‘Finish.’ So she bought a raw chicken from a grocery instead.

We decide, of course, to do our best to come up with the same kind of thing the chicken shack makes, but we come up with a baste of our own—honey, mustard, curry, butter—de—licious.

Everything was going fine while the thing was cooking until the fire alarm went off. Again, another genius idea of Amy’s for us to buy an alarm in America and bring it with us. Honestly, I hadn’t thought it was such a good idea. A waste. But now it came in handy. We ran to the kitchen and opened the stove to find a hot pad on fire underneath the tray holding the chicken. It must have stuck to it when Amy took the chicken out to baste it. I grabbed it with tongs and ran out onto our balcony, placing it on the ledge to cool.

The kitchen was filled with smoke, so we were crawling around on our hands and knees for a few minutes trying to get things back together. I don’t honestly remember what we were doing, but we crawled around for several minutes. The chicken was fine, though, so we closed the oven door and let it cook. It would have been pretty funny for someone to come into that kitchen right then to find it full of smoke and us crawling around on the floor like a couple of wild animals
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When I left the kitchen and sat down in the living room, I heard Amy outside on the balcony banging the burned hot pad to death with one of my shoes, making sure it didn’t spread (over the cold hard concrete).

Our chicken was better than what we get at the chicken shack, but we’ll probably never try cooking a chicken again in Tirana.

Milan Highlights

2007-01-13T15:24:00.000+02:00

We stopped in Milan for a three day getaway before heading home for Christmas.

Our Home

2006-12-09T19:14:00.000+02:00

Some of you have requested pictures of our home...this is the outside of our building... We live on the fourth floor. Three other teachers and our friend Entela also live in the building. Our landlords live on the bottom. Their dog Mariah guards the place. We'll have to get a picture of Mariah. Stay tuned. You can see our community garden on the right which is filled with persimmon and orange trees and grape vines.

2006-12-09T18:54:00.000+02:00

2006-12-09T18:41:00.000+02:00

2006-12-09T18:24:00.000+02:00

We like to eat our meals out here, however we have to keep a fly swatter close by to kill the bees between bites. It's December now, and we're still swatting bees it's so warm.

Istanbul

2006-12-03T17:29:00.000+02:00

Last week we had the luxury of a five-day weekend so we headed to Istanbul with some families and staff from the school. We filled up on amazing Turkish street food and fresh squeezed juices, shopped until we dropped, and visited a few important cultural relics. Here's Amy being drowned out by the Blue Mosque. Luckily we made it out of town a day ahead of the Pope's controversial visit.

2006-12-03T17:09:00.000+02:00

We ducked off of this crazy (but fun!) walking street into a little alley where we had a cup of apple tea and a game of backgammon.

2006-12-03T16:56:00.000+02:00

Can anyone out there attest to the effectiveness of this stuff? (And I don't mean the Baklava on the left).

International Night

2006-12-03T16:35:00.000+02:00

International Night At School. The kids came dressed in their national dress and the parents cooked up a fabulous international feast.

Puppies

2006-11-23T18:14:00.000+02:00

We did the unthinkable: we rescued two puppies. On our way home last Sunday, we found them in an embankment. They had made a nest for themselves in the grass. We had no idea what to do, but having heard that people often find strays and take them in, that's what we decided to do. We kept stopping on the way home and saying, 'should we just take them back and leave them?' 'what can we do with these things?' 'will anybody take them?' Anyway, we ended up taking them home. Travis prepared a box and Amy made some phone calls about what to do. In the end, we decided it was a bad idea for us to keep them. On Monday night, a vet came to our house to give them worm shots, flea medicine and check them over. The next day we put signs up at school, asking for someone to give them a good home. Wednesday, a highschool kid adopted both puppies. We miss them.

2006-11-23T18:08:00.000+02:00

Sudoku and a nap.

Kruja

2006-11-17T22:28:00.000+02:00

This is Kruja (pronounced Krooya), a little town in the mountains about 45 minutes from Tirana. It's known for its shopping, attracting anyone in the market for authentic Albanian carpets and tablecloths, traditional dress, or any other national keepsake. There are also antiques galore. The main shopping street is less than 1/2 a mile long, but you could spend all day weaving in and out of the shops, searching through all the dusty treasures.

Doughnuts

2006-11-09T21:31:00.000+02:00

Update on the doughnuts: My friend went back the next day (unfortunately in the afternoon again) and the woman still would not sell her a doughnut. "You'll buy it and take it to your international friend," she said.

2006-11-05T20:38:00.000+02:00

Amy: My friend Entela and I were out on the town yesterday and we came to this bakery that sells doughnuts – I’m talking the real thing: authentic, Sunday-morning-before-church, police-officer-hang-out, road-trip-middle-of-the-night-gas-station doughnuts. It’s 5:00 at night, haven’t had dinner yet, but of course I have to have one. It’s more than a taste of home. It’s a doughnut. We walk in and I stare at all the choices (half of which are gone since it’s the end of the day): Raspberry-jelly filled (with powdered sugar), Boston Cream-filled, vanilla frosted chocolate, coconut-frosted, etc, etc, etc. I raise my finger to point at the one I want and I hear yo, yo, yo in Albanian which means no, no, no in English. I look at my friend Entela who is sadly shaking her head. She tells me the woman is refusing to sell me a doughnut because they’re not fresh. “I don’t care,” I say, but the woman continues to tell me no. I’m willing to pay her any price, she shoots me down. “You’ll think I make bad doughnuts if I sell you these,” she tells us in Albanian. “No I won’t,” I charm, “I’m sure you make wonderful doughnuts. Besides, Americans sometimes like them old.” I turn to Entela, “Really, they’re very good old. The glaze gets all crunchy and everything. Tell her I like them old. “Yo, yo, yo,” the shopkeeper says. “Look,” I tell her “what if I buy one, and promise not to eat it.” I’m desperate and playing dirty now. She laughs. I laugh politely. I say thank you and tell her good-bye. She smiles and says good-night. I walk out, crushed.

Berat

2006-11-05T20:19:00.000+02:00

After visiting Vlore we caught a bus to Berat, a 2,000-plus year old city about 2-3 hours outside of Tirana. It's been called "the city of a thousand windows", and it was absolutely stunning. Cobblestone streets, quaint little cafes, lots of history...it was hard to leave. We stayed in a nice hotel for about $7.00 per person. If you come to visit us, this is where we're taking you.

2006-11-05T20:15:00.000+02:00

One of the many narrow pathways winding through the whitewashed buildings.

2006-11-05T19:53:00.000+02:00

This is one of 8 out of 42 surviving churches in Berat, dating back to the 3rd century. It's inside the castle of Berat. There are still people living within the walls of the castle. It's incredible to see their daily urban lives set against this ancient backdrop. While we were inside the castle walls, we saw a boy returning home carrying a rented playstation game, passing by crumbling walls that are probably a good 1500 years old.

2006-11-05T19:47:00.000+02:00

Tobacco sellers at a street market in Berat.

Vlore

2006-11-02T20:44:00.000+02:00

A couple weeks ago during fall break we took a trip about 3 hours south of Tirana (by bus) to the seaside town of Vlore.

2006-11-02T20:25:00.000+02:00

2006-11-02T20:18:00.000+02:00

Amy and our friend Entela at a cliffside hotel in Vlore.

2006-11-02T20:09:00.000+02:00

A teletubby keeping the evil spirits away from our hotel. Stuffed creatures of all types hang from houses and buildings everywhere for this purpose.

2006-11-02T20:02:00.000+02:00

Travis being sacrificed to the gods of the Adriatic.

Shkodra

2006-10-24T23:34:00.000+03:00

The best part of the day trip to Shkodra was visiting the mask factory that made the carnival, Venetian masks for the movie "Eyes Wide Shut" with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The masks were absolutely incredible. This mask to the left is our proud purchase.

2006-10-24T23:27:00.000+03:00

Incredible view from Rozafa Castle where you can see the huge mosque.

2006-10-24T22:57:00.000+03:00

In September we took a trip to the northern city of Shkodra, about 2 hours by bus from Tirana. We hear that Shkodra is much more conservative than the modern Tirana. There are a couple of interesting articles about Shkodra: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4273020.stm and http://www.unicef.org/albania/reallives_765.html

We visited Rozafa Castle, which is about 2,400 years old. This was Amy's first castle ever. Rozafa has kind of a cool legend, you can check it out here: http://www.geocities.com/spiritofalbania/legendofrozafa

Tirana

2006-10-24T22:48:00.000+03:00

Travis went to a football match complete with fireworks and totally crazed fans. Albania was playing Romania. Albania lost 2-0.

2006-10-23T08:42:00.000+03:00

This is the Kolonat, otherwise known as "the broken arches", however the word Kolonat means "towers". It even has McDonald's style rolling highchairs and their own version of a happy meal called "happy kids". I haven't seen Ronald yet. In any case, all the kids love it. They have more ice-cream flavors than I thought possible. In case you're wondering why it looks like its housed in a tent, one look inside at the strong resemblance will confirm why it's probably not so smart to invest in a long-term permanent structure.

2006-10-23T08:31:00.000+03:00

2006-10-23T08:16:00.000+03:00

Another view from another balcony...when we go downtown we have to cross these soccer practice fields of the University. We pretty much live on the University campus. Grazing alongside these soccer players are cattle watched over by their weathered caretakers. Sometimes there's even a horse or two. It truly is a multi-purpose field. Travis likes to eat dinner on this balcony and watch the scrimmages. When Amy goes to the gym, she likes to say hello to the old women who are knitting and tending the cattle. The other day, two men with drums tied around their necks were walking along making music and young boys were catching bees in bottles.

2006-10-22T19:23:00.000+03:00

This is the view from our kitchen balcony. In the bottom of the yellow building is a little market where we can get most of the basics. A couple of doors to the left is a new pizzeria that delivers. The street is newly paved. Changes are happening everyday.