I know the date that I will ring the bell that signifies the end of my service here. I will ring the bell on April 15th. Thom and I will take a short trip to the coast of Montenegro, before flying out of Tirana, Albania, to Chicago on April 20th.
Since January, I have been busy at school helping the new English teacher to use the technology in the English lab and helping her as she adjusts to teaching at our school. Unfortunately, it is Ramadan, and students are often tired and hungry. They are less interested in school, and class participation (especially the second shift) is at an all-time low. I have four more weeks left of teaching, two of which will be before Ramadan ends. I wish there were a better ending to my two years of service here.
The hiking group has not been doing their weekly hikes because of Ramadan. Two Sundays ago, we hiked with the guys from Gjethi. Sami and Valon's wives also came. We did a local hike that had the most amazing views of snow-covered Ljuboten. It was a beautiful spring-like day with sunny blue skies. We hiked to a monument with some picnic tables where we had a fire to roast sausages. Danny came as well, and we had a wonderful time.
On Saturday, I led the Access Leadership group in a discussion on technology topics. This was an amazing group of kids, and the activity went really well. There were four other volunteers there. Afterwards, we went to our new favorite restaurant in Ferizaj. It is an Italian restaurant called L'Olive. It was recommended by the Peace Corps doctor, and the upscale Italian food is really good and a welcome change from most restaurants in Kosovo.
Last Tuesday, we went to the cultural house for a display of architectural models of buildings in Kaçanik. The models were made by students in the architecture program at the university in Ferizaj. A guy we met on a hike was responsible for the display, and many members of the hiking group were there. The guy also gave us a book that has many of the buildings in Kaçanik. It is a book that will remind us of the many buildings we are so familiar with.
I had coffee with Danny today. We were talking about the new volunteers, and how we helped train them last year, and now his group will be training the new volunteers. Sometimes, it feels like a long time since my training. But sometimes, it feels like it was just yesterday that I was going through training. Thirty-nine new volunteers landed in Kosoo a week ago. That doubles our numbers. We also have five response volunteers, and I am told there will be more. The Peace Corps is regaining the level of volunteers that were present before COVID. It will be weird to leave, but I am ready to be home.
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