Quite unexpected…

Monday, March 30, 2007:
Quite unexpected…

When I was first informed of the Peace Corps and what and where they went I had a vision in my mind. That vision usually included a volunteer whom lived quite frugally among modest folk in a small village somewhere in Africa. The volunteer would spend his days learning the language of the locals, informing them of a culture foreign to them, while learning about one to him. They would find themselves living in a hut made of earth eating things he never knew existed and could only dream of a shower. The volunteer would then spend the next two years of their life in a completely different world and would eventually invoke a curiosity in the locals that would lead him to teaching/helping them in some grand way.
While that scenario may hold true for some PCV, that world I thought of does not exist in Albania. While there are many things here that just don’t make sense, I have spent the last two weeks in luxury compared to my PCV friend in Africa. I spent this afternoon in Elbasan for our second hub day. During breaks we were encouraged to go for coffee. I spent the evening after our sessions updating my blog and checking my mail at an internet café. I came home and spent the even watching a movie on my laptop then joined my host family for dinner, only to watch an American movie (in English, with Shqip subtitles) on television. Last night I finished an assignment in the comfort of my neighbor’s house while listening to jazz fusion from his laptop while discussing how we could communicate that he had fresh coffee beans from Guatemala.
The day before yesterday the 5 other volunteers, our Albanian teacher and I decided to try out a new restaurant during our break for lunch. I’ve never had better barbequed meat ever. We had 2 huge plates of lamb chops, three plates of fried potatoes and three plays of the freshest salad. We each paid roughly $5 American dollars.
It just doesn’t make sense to me…this is not the Peace Corps that I had imagined when I sent in that application; quite a world of differences in fact.
I’ve also learned that on Saturdays the main strip of my town basically shuts down to host a huge market that sells really any produce you can think of. No farmers here use preservatives, everything is fresh and organic and I cannot begin to describe how delicious all the food is.
While there are certainly things that I was not expecting that I will not have to live without for the next two years (internet, western toilets, hot showers), there are definitely things here that are apparent and need to be addressed.
As a post communist state trying to implement a functional democracy problems are not far from being present. The lack of infrastructure is what is noticed right away. The government does what it can with the funds it has, but there are so many complex problems that have no right or wrong answers time will only tell how they are solved. I’ve begun to realize how futile my efforts may be in creating change on a grand scale. This comes to all Peace Corps volunteers I presume, some earlier than others, but from what I’ve heard it is a common epiphany. Having that said, my purpose in Albania is to serve the Albanian people; they have requested our service and so I shall give all I can and do everything in my power to make a difference. Perhaps when it comes to the close of my service in 2+ years I’ll look back on this entry and laugh at my naivety.
I believe I’ve rambled enough for one night. Time to catch up on some sleep.