I Need a Break from my Weekend...

The weather has warmed up in Kaçanik and the snow has melted.  The snow melt caused quite a bit of fog and I really missed the sun, but Monday was nice and sunny.  On Thursday, I subbed for an English teacher at the gjimnaz (regular high school).  I did three classes there in the afternoon and my normal two in the morning at the vocational high school.  The gjimnaz had got some smartboards, which were being installed and they were in the process of taking down the chalkboards in the classrooms.  I used one of the chalkboards to write info about future simple and future conditional verbs.  On Friday, after my last class, I saw two chalkboards being carried into our school.  The chalkboards were from the gjimnaz and were being moved to our school because they are better than the ones we have.  I know they were from the gjimnaz, because my handwriting was still on one of the boards.

On Saturday, we headed to Ferizaj to meet up with a large group of other volunteers to celebrate one of our volunteers' birthdays (Cody). Cody is an amazing volunteer, as this is the sixth time he has volunteered with the Peace Corps. We helped him celebrate his 67th birthday. We started out at the Temple Lounge shortly after 11 a.m.  We stayed for only a little bit at the Temple Lounge, because Noah (who serves in Ferizaj) knew of a place that would let us bring in cake, rakia (homemade spirits), and wine.  I made a chocolate banana cake with peanut butter frosting and a lemon poppy seed cake with fresh lemon from my lemon tree.  Cody brought Ouzo and wine.  Winston brought Rakia.  We enjoyed all the treats and then we headed to McDonal's for lunch.  Cody wanted the mixed salad that I had the last time we were there.  After lunch, some people headed out as there are limited buses to some towns.  The rest of us headed to The Villages shopping area.  Some of us went for ice cream while the rest of us went to another lounge.  

Cody celebrating 67 years

Lemons ripening on my lemon tree

Thom and I left after that, but we decided to go to the ETC (which is like Kosovo's Walmart).  After nine months of living Kaçanik, I found non-dairy cheese in Ferizaj.  That was pretty exciting.  

Sunday, we went for a hike from Prevalla to the Peak of Arnen in the Sharr Mountains.  It was another fantastic winter hike with the most amazing views.  We were actually opposite the peaks we hiked last summer.  We had lunch on the top of the peak looking across the valley to Bistra and Konujsha (the peaks we hiked last summer).  There were a lot of hikers along the trail and a lot of people visiting Prevalla.  

The garbage problem in Prevalla

Walking to the trailhead past the chalets

Amazing views from the chalets

On our way to the peak

At the peak with some other hiking clubs

The amazing views of snow-capped peaks

The view of Brezovice Ski Area seen from Arnen Peak

Enjoying a quince on our way back down

Starting our hike

Stiff winds are blowing as we near the peak

Hiking by a spring

Our hiking club on the peak

The other clubs at the peak

An awesome photo

On our way down from the peak

Stopping for a photo

Beautiful views from a wonderful winter hike

The benches were provided in honor of someone's nephew, Rinori

Our picnic spot on top of the peak with amazing views

Sledders on the hill near the parking lot

For those who do not yet know, Thom is returning to the US in mid-February.  After the roll-over accident, there was an incidental finding and after many tests here, it was decided that he should return to the US for medical treatment.  I am staying in Kosovo to continue my service and he will eventually return.  We found out during our holiday trip back to the States and it has been a challenging time to navigate.

Last Week's Word is Përallë...

Last week in many of our classes, we read a story about Prince Harry and Megan Markle's wedding.  Our textbooks are published in the UK and there a few years old.  In the story, it described their wedding as a "fairy tale".  When I work with the second teacher, he often has students translate the text.  In most classes, only one or two students participate.  No one in the one class knew the Albanian word for "fairy tale".  Besim asked me if I knew the word and I did.  Mainly because I have a book of fairy tales in Albanian that I have been trying to read.  Besim then berated the kids for having 10 years of English and not knowing the word and I had only had 10 months of Albanian I did.  

It is easy to see why some students fail to learn English here. The teachers call on the students who are good at English in class, and those who aren't good at English are ignored.  I try hard to get every student to participate in class, but that is not easy to do.  Many come to class too tired or too hungry to participate.  Most kids get up just in time to come to school and they don't eat breakfast before arriving.  And like teens in the U.S., they often stay up too late at night gaming, texting, and watching videos on their phones.

I wish, I could say that my Albanian language skills were getting better, but it is taking time.  After coming back from the holidays in the U.S., I did feel like I was understanding more.  But at school when I speak with students, I use English as much as possible.  Sometimes we use Albanglish combining words from both English, Albanian, and the dialect Albanian often in the same sentence or phrase.  It works, but it is not pretty.

On Friday, we had our first Albanian lessons with Shpresim of the New Year.  I wanted to finish up the last two lessons of our main language book.  I skipped them earlier to do the TEFL lessons for the classroom.  This lesson was about an Albanian fairy tale.  The tale was about a woman who had 12 sons and one daughter.  The daughter's suitor was from a faraway land and the mother and 11 sons did not want her to marry him.  The youngest son, however; thought the man was a good choice, he made an oath to his mother that he would bring the daughter back to visit her mother.  But there was a war and all the brothers were killed during the war.  When the youngest son was killed, the mother went to his grave and cried out "Now how can you keep your oath to me and bring your sister back to visit?"  After the mother left the gravesite, the tombstone turned into a horse and the dirt into a saddle.  The spirit of the younger son rode the horse to get the sister and bring her to her mother.  Shpresim said that this tale represented the strength of the oath.  Once it is made it must be carried no matter what.

Sunday, we went on a hike to Uji i Bardhe (white water).  It was a hike from Kaçanik and we did it last summer with Sami and Valon.  Last summer, we hiked to Uji i Bardhe, and then went on to Shtraza where someone picked us up and brought us back to Kaçanik. For this hike, we went to Uji i Bardhe and then back.  It was a small group of just 6 of us, as the rest of the hiking group did an overnight trip to Albania.

As we started the hike, it was gray and foggy.  The temperatures were just above freezing and the snow was melting; creating a thick fog that blocked the sun.  As we walked from Kaçanik up toward the mountain, there was more snow and the fog layer, snow-muffled sounds, and hoar-frosted trees made it dreamlike.  Up ahead we could see patches of blue sky as the fog layer thinned and we could see patches of sun.  When we hiked into the sun, it was a fairy tale scene as the snow glittered and sparkled.  The pine needles on the trees were white snow needles, made longer and frostier by snow crystals.  For a while, we followed wild boar tracks and a fox trail to find our way to the picnic area.

The fog layer and Kaçanik are behind us

Snow-covered pine and most of our group

The fog-layer behind a snow-covered pine

Frost crystals on dead branches

The peaks out and makes the snow crystals sparkle

UCK Memorial at Uji i Bardhë

Straightening out the flags

Hiking in the sun's warmth

In the fog

Crystal covers all the trees and shrubs

Taking a break for others to catch up

Building a fire

The trail to and from Uji i Bardhë

The oven left from during the war

The spring water

Animal tracks leading up the hill

A patch of sun as we head back into the fog

Animal tracks leading up the hill

Warming up by the fire

Snow covered pines and sun peaking through

Group photo at the memorial

Rakia to share; rakia is a grape brandy

Once we arrived, the guys made a fire and roasted sausage. One guy shared Rakia and coffee-flavored candy.  I did not think I would enjoy winter hiking so much, but as long as it is not too cold hiking on the nearby trails is relaxing and fun.