As I sit here, I'm overlooking the city as I chill. The last few days we have been going non-stop, so I apologize for the lack of posts.
Wednesday: Rainy/Cold day
An executive decision about camp was made fairly early this morning because it was rainy and cold. It was supposed to be a pool day but we felt like we better cancel just because of the weather. Pool day will now be moved to another day. It was sad we didn't get to hang out with the campers but we were able to have some group bonding time instead. The group just stayed at the hotel and watched a movie on the girls hall since they were setting up for a prom downstairs on the second floor. The mayor of Lilburn, Johnny Crist, and Brian Burchik joined us around lunch time. At the end of the movie, we took a stroll to Rozafa 2 to enjoy a delicious lunch. All afternoon Berat tried to keep Johnny and Brian up and took them around the city so they would be better adjusted to the time.
One of my favorite things here is the pace of life and the value of relationships. Life here is so relaxed and relational. I'm always amazed how people sit at restaurants and talk for hours. In the US we don't ever just sit and talk with people on a daily basis, much less sit and talk with the same people for hours. We are all seeing the benefits of true community as we experience life here. Once a conversation comes to a close at one restaurant, you leave a table and move to another table at another restaurant for coffee or dessert. A few of the leaders left lunch did just that and went to Edona for machiados because that's what so many people do. Another aspect of this community feel is doing things for others or sharing. I don't drink any coffee but I was freezing so I asked Valdeta if there was something like hot chocolate. She told me about this thing called bambi and my life has forever changed. While we took Val away, many of the students left lunch to go buy baby gifts for her because we are having a surprise baby shower on Friday. She's having a boy this time and only has a crib so we wanted to show her our love for her. This took pretty much the entire day of venturing out again in the cold we decided to spend the rest of the day in the hotel. At least one meal is either skipped or "forced down" here because we are either really hungry or not even in the mood to eat. The students mostly go out in groups to eat lunch and dinner now, so they did that before manuscript time but then after our manuscript study, the leaders went out to Venecia for a late 10:00 dinner.
Thursday: Liberation Day
Camp was not at our normal 10:00-2:30 time. Instead we invited them to hang out with us throughout the day. Our day started by visiting the graves. We walked past the families who lost someone in the war and showed them our appreciation and support. Since Berat was in the war we have a pretty good understanding of what happened in the war and are all touched by the stories our campers tell.
Afterwards we went to see Albiona play soccer. She came to America in the fall so we let her know how American cheer for those we love!!! We got an applause for coming to the game and probably some strange looks because of our ridiculous comments!
Things change "minute by minute" here, so we have learned to be flexible. The game started an hour late.
We left at half time and split up to go get some lunch before the parade.
We were given the chance to walk in the Liberation Day parade all the way through Suhareke to the school where the concerts were held.
Mayor of Lilburn (Johnny), Berat, and Brian
Concert fun- We loved showing off our Albanian dance skills and chatting with our new friends
Berat's father
Camp: Round Robin #2
We started camp in Rozafa because Brian got the chance to talk to the campers. It was such a great talk. Afterwards the students were dismissed to go to their round robin rotations. On the way to the school to start rotation number 1, I knew our entire English lesson needed to be changed based on the talk they just heard. Yes, that's the teacher inside of me. The students really loved getting to chat about what they learned from Brian. Deep conversations started from the talk which was incredible.
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