Down Parkas and
Cappuccinos: A Day in Tirana
So far Albania is my favorite country I have been to the
last 4 months. The food is delicious,
the people are warm and can’t wait to practice their English with us or tell us
how much they love America, and their culture is so rich and vibrant. This month we are working with Campus Crusade
and their high school ministry in the capital, Tirana. Here is what a usual day looks like for us
this month.
7am: Wake Up. Usually
snooze the alarm for a little bit. Our
house doesn’t have any heat and the past few days have been in the 30’s in the
morning so getting out of bed is a little rough. I usually throw on all my clothes then head
downstairs to shower and warm up only to find out that one of the girls is
using the bathroom…so I head back upstairs and get back in my warm bed until
its open
8:15: Leave the house, walk down the road and wait for the
bus to take us into town
grab a cappuccino across the street.
9:15: Meetings begin- Albanians aren’t known for being on
time. Depending what the meetings are
for they usually last an hour or two. During this time we either have devotion time together as a team or plan
upcoming events for this month- again have more coffee.
at the office for the high schoolers if they are out of school or we go to
their school to pass out flyers inviting them to events.
1:30: If we have events that morning after the event is over
we take the high schoolers out for coffee- third time for coffee so far. There the meetings are much more
personal. We talk about life in America
or Albania and share stories about our lives. If we don’t have events that day we usually go to lunch- either
cafeteria food at the university, crepes, pizza, or Greek food. If we have events that morning we usually
don’t get lunch until around 4, something we are slowly adjusting to.
done for the day. So far on our free
afternoons we have either stayed at the office to use the internet or explored
Tirana.
crepes. After dinner we head to the bus
stop and go back to our house. Then we
have family time and hang out for a while before getting to bed around
midnight. We are usually gone from our
house 12-13 hours each day. Our days
here are long, but rewarding. I wouldn’t
change a day here for any day so far on the race. I love this country.
