The other day, I arranged a meeting with the mums of the area which I live in. This was an opportunity for me to just show them that I had arrived, and get to know them a bit better. They all came over this morning to have some nibbles and get the pictures of our previous visit, which I had printed out for them. They liked the photos a lot, and I had put on a great spread of biscuits, walnuts and mandarins. Some of the youngsters also came, and I think a good time was had by all. I tried my best to pluck up some courage to speak in albanian, but to be honest – I woosed out, and ended up using Liri as a translator. I did understand a lot though, so that was a start.

Life here is very different. It’s a bit weird, as all the men are generally earning a living, and so being at home, and getting Joni from school, for example seems very strange to me, as I’m pretty much the only man doing it. It’s all good though, as once again, we are having a scorcher of a day. Being out in the sunshine is totally fantastic.

The rest of the day was pretty hectic really - lunch, meeting Jeff again before he goes back to the US and finally helping Skenda to pile up about a 1000 logs which they will use over the coming winter as firewood. I'm cream crackered now, so im off for an early night.

Whoever thought kids would be so tiring…??

Today, I mainly looked after some of the neighbourhood kids. For those who have been here before – they were Elda, Alma, Sara, Arifi and Joni. They are full of beans, but thankfully – they also served a great purpose today. This morning I had a lesson in verbs with Liri, and this afternoon, I got a chance to try them out. I told the kids what I had learned, and they helped me put those verbs into practice.

We went down to the beach, and I let them play for a while, collecting shells and throwing stones into the sea. I, meanwhile, had a chance to get some photos. Now, this was no ordinary day. Today was a scorcher!! It was so warm, I couldn’t even wear my jacket. I hope the weather back in the UK is just as nice!! Ha ha ha ha!!! :o)


This evening, I met with one of the local missionaries – Jeff. Jeff has been working in the orphanage for a long time, but is due to fly home at the end of the week to care of his mother, who is in hospital, and is not very well. His wife is currently in the US, caring for both her parents, who are both very ill also. Prayers for Jeff and his family would be greatly appreciated. He will hopefully return to Sarande in February.

Sorry – not a very eventful day, so I will leave you with some of the pictures I took today. The children on the beach are as mentioned above, and the view of Sarande is from a road, which should be named ‘Sarande’s balcony’. A beautiful view I hope you agree.


Until next time…

After my meeting with Richard, who has been a missionary here from Birmingham for over 10 years, he took me to see his good friend Romi. Romi is a barber, and I found out (through my very basic Albanian) that he has been a barber for over 30 years. When I explained how I wanted my hair cut, I prayed a lot that he would understand. In my terrible Albanian, I continued to tell him that I wanted the top short, but the sides and back even shorter. I think he understood, but when he got the number 3 razor out first, and cut my head into the shape of a mushroom, I was beginning to get a bit scared. Thankfully – he did it very well…. Who needs a Tony and Guy hair cut for fifty quid, when you can have a cut from Romi for the equivalent of one pound fifty?? Bargain!!

This afternoon, I continued in my Albanian lesson, failing miserably to remember I am, You are, He is…. Etc etc. Its something so simple, and yet so complicated. I am really finding it tough – especially then putting things into practice.

I must admit I slept in this morning – something I have been doing quite a lot. This is only because I have been waking up to the sound of screeching brakes quite a lot lately. There is (and this a good thing) a very large and thick piece of rope lying across the street now, since our last visit as a team, to slow the traffic outside. It is quite a hefty piece of rope – enough to make drivers slow right down (a little like the bumps on Beech Lane, for those of you living in Reading). The problem is – there’s no signposts, so the drivers are seeing it at the last minute and skid to a halt. I’m sure I’ll get used to it though!! I haven’t heard the cockerel for a while, but I’m assured its because I’m used to the sound now, because I would have been eating it if it were dead :o)


My morning meeting with Richard was very productive. We have been discussing both politics (unfortunately of the church variety), and ways of raising money for the Cuke gypsy people. Richard suggests that we contribute money towards their education, providing funds to purchase both books as well as contribute towards funding the employment of a full time teacher. This is one sure-fire way of helping them help themselves. I think it may be too late for the older generation, but the younger generation should be molded to help shape the future of their settlement.

Contact me further if you would like to contribute regular donations to this work.
Thanks.

Do you remember french lessons back at school?

Je, Tu, Ill, Elle, Nous, Vous….etc etc…

I used to hate these, especially since we had to learn them all from memory. Well – unfortunately, they also have these in Albanian, and they are equally as important, and equally as difficult. To make matters worse, they even put an emphasis on how far away a person is, and whether the objects in question are masculine or feminine. It is SUCH a difficult language!!

After my lesson this morning, I helped Liri with the shopping, and picked little Joni (her grandson) up from school. I was amazed at the kids playing in the yard there – they were playing totally separately from each other – boys with boys and girls with girls, despite playing exactly the same game.

Joni then took me on a tour of the neighbourhood to find 'treasure'.... He's obsessed by Pirates of the Carribean,.... Funnily enough - I know another little boy back in Reading who is also obsessed by that film.... He however, doesn't draw maps and uses his grandfathers pickaxe to try and dig for the treasure.... At least I hope he doesn't :o)

Missing you all.

Today was an early morning, with church at the Baptist church starting at 9 o clock!! Not quite what I’m used to, but after dragging myself out of bed, wolfing down a sausage sandwich, not quite as precisely prepared as my good friend Russell prepares them (He is the master at sausage sandwich making), I arrived at church with plenty of time to spare.

Thankfully – I was offered a translation to the service, and I gladly accepted. I am still finding the language difficult at times. The sermon was on unity within the church – fairly apt as I am aware that two of the church members had a falling out. This is reflected by the passage which was chosen in Phillipians 4.

Bimi and his son Joni took me for a drive to the farthest ends of sarande after church. We went to see a fish farm, which is only accesible by climbing over some seriously high rocks. We also saw the marina where after the communist times, 7 of the best boats of the Albanian army were sank by saboteurs. On our way we also saw this cow in the middle of the road. Something you don’t normally find in Reading town center :o)

Lunch was served on our return. Now most of you may not know that there are 3 foods I cannot eat… Mushrooms, coriander and beans. Unfortunately for me, lunch today was a bean soup, garnished with what I thought was coriander. It was lucky for me that there were no mushrooms, or that would have just spoilt the meal :o) But – it was actually quite nice. I have been spoilt so far with regards to food. Don’t worry mum – I am eating well.

My final activity of the day was going to the church in the evening, and then meeting up with old friends here – Diti and Eri. Genci came too – he was catching the 10pm bus back to Tirana, which he was planning to sleep on. Lets hope he did, as he had a 9am lecture!! I told him that he could always sleep there instead!!

We went out for a drink, and after spotting some Kalhua behind the bar, I decided to order a Black Russian, which to the uninitiated is Kalhua, Vodka and Coke. Of course, they don’t call it that here (I still don’t know what its called) but the waiter looked at me funny when I asked for it, and looked at me even funnier when I described what it was!! It passed the test though, and when the bill came, it was a pleasant surprise to see it was quite reasonable too.

Cock-a-doodle-doo……. No prizes for guessing what chuffing time I woke this morning??? Yes – that’s right – 6am!! An unearthly hour…. This time, until recently - about 12hours ago in fact – I didn’t know existed.

Thankfully, I went back to sleep, and slept until I was, well… fashionably late for youth church. Nice. I was kind of thrown into the deep-end a little today. The leaders were having a meeting, so they just said to me ‘make sure the kids behave’, and then closed the door. Erm…. Ok…. I know the words for ‘don’t touch’ and ‘I don’t understand’….. Thank goodness Genci turned up.

Genci then asked to play some guitar!! Given that my chord vocabulary is as awful as my Albanian…. It wasn’t an easy task.

At lunch today, I was asked if I slept ok. I dropped into the conversation about my aforementioned encounter with the cockerel, and my host – Liri – replied ‘Don’t worry – we will cut its head off’. A slight unnecessary overreaction, but I would sleep much better!! This afternoon, I had the opportunity to visit the Cuka – the Gypsy community near to Sarande. On my arrival, I was greeted by one of the girls, Christina, who recognized me instantly, shouting ‘Sioni’!!! This is now my new Albanian name apparently. Superb.

The church here in Sarande supports the Gypsy community in many ways. One of those ways is by once in while providing them food (ham and cheese rolls, which looked fantastic. The thought of them is making me hungry!). These rolls are given to those attending schooling in the area, provided by a charity called ‘The Lydia Foundation’.

I was warned very sternly 4 years ago, when I first came to Albania, that the road from the north to the south was very long, with many twists and turns, and in terrible conditions. Four years on, I thought that it had to have improved. Surely an 8 hour bus journey was because the bus stopped in every town on the way, and that it had to go to different places. Surely they’d built a proper motorway by now??? Well – if that was the plan, it’s a little behind schedule.

Thankfully – Magdalena was driving, and I wasn’t on the bus!! We left Tirana in a hive of traffic. Lane discipline in Albanian terms means that you know how many lanes there are, and you have to be disciplined enough to find your way to the front in the shortest amount of time. And to everyone who hates people not indicating when changing lanes… You can forget coming here. You’ll be lucky if the indicator light works let alone if the driver is courteous enough to use them!!

After battling our way out of Tirana, we got on to the motorway. ‘This is good’, I thought to myself. Not too much traffic… Two lanes… Fast road… It was a shame it lasted about 20 kilometers.
Imagine a road which was about one and a half car widths across, had pot-holes the size of wheelbarrows and had so many lorries coming the other way that your pants were bound to be slightly more soiled than they were at the start of the journey! This was terrifying stuff. There were some bits of the road that had sheer drops to the sides… The twists and turns were bigger and scarier than Oblivion at Alton Towers.. and I wont mention the number of times I hit my head on the ceiling!! Bless Magdalena – she kept apologizing, but I knew it wasn’t her fault.

Road-works on the motorways back in Britain gets on my nerves… But hey.. at least they leave signposts, informing us of lane closures and they also light the way brightly. We nearly fell down a ravine, due to one set of workmen who seemed to forget to show us that the road was diverted away from the big hole they left. Ok… granted – they were trying to improve the road… But it just wasn’t being done quick enough for my liking :o)

Overall – it took 7 hours. We left at 3, and I didn’t arrive in Sarande until 10. Most of the drive was in torrential rain, and the worst thunderstorm I have seen for a long time. Typically, as soon as we arrived, the lights went off, and the electricity went dead. Power cut.

This journey was one big message to me – Welcome to Albania.

Today I begin my journey down south.... To those of you who haven't (and can't be bothered to look up a map of Albania on Google... I've done it for you...) Here's the rough estimation of the distance I will cover today. On a bus - this journey would take 8 hours, but thankfully - Magdalena (the missionary who met me here) happens to be doing the journey today, and has offered me a lift. I am VERY glad, as every bus I have seen so far has been more packed than a London tube train at rush hour!!

So - its roughly the distance from Liverpool to London, which would probably take us half the time... Can you tell I'm a little scared of what is to come? I dont think the roads are up to British standards
:o(

This morning, after having coffee with Aunt Vera and the customary breakfast of French Toast at the cafe (Benni makes the best french toast, and puts up with my shocking language skills!), I went for a wander with my camera. Albania is obviously rich in fresh produce.... The markets boast a fantastic array of fruit, veg and olives....

Tirana really is busy.... I am looking forward to moving south to Sarande where the pace of life is just a little slower... I also look forward to spending some more time chatting to people down there, hopefully in Albanian - its coming along..... Kjo eshte nje libre..... This is a book!!! Ha ha ha.... It's like being back at french lessons in school. Only I'm just reading it from a book.... Ahh well.

I dont think updates will be as frequent from now on.... The internet cafe in Sarande doesn't boast wireless technology :o( Take care guys.... Keep in touch.

You can climb every mountain..... I'm sure there's a song that goes something like that. Well - today, after a much needed lie-in... I went, along with Magdalena, Odeta and Genci up Mount Dajti. Ok... now i have a slight confession to make.... Some of you may be well impressed by my efforts, but some of you know me well enough to know that there isn't a chance in the world that i would climb one of the highest mountains in Albania!! And you're right. Thank goodness for the Swiss, who have built a fantastic cable car system all the way up the mountain!

As you can see from the pictures, there were some awesome views... It was just a shame that the thing closed at 4, and we arrived at 3:45. So it meant we had to go up, and straight back down again.

Thats about it from me. Thanks for your comments guys, and your emails. Keep them coming.

I can't believe Man Utd lost last night!! As soon as I leave the country, they start playing badly!!!

Anyway - today, I had a nose around Tirana... I had a few things to get - a Nokia charger, which I later found in my suitcase, having already bought one this afternoon... I also needed a UK->Euro plug adapter, which I bought from a guy selling second and stuff.... Not too sure if it works, but it looks like its from circa 1980!!


Having spent most of the day walking around, I have totalled up about 17 near misses with the local drivers.... They are crazy. I dont think there are any actual lanes, crossings dont have any road markings, and some people dont even stop for red lights!!! Amazing!!! You can see from the photo too that Tirana is busy!! Oh - I saw someone driving with no lights on last night too. Well, kind of saw him!!

Talking about traffic isn't all that interesting - sorry, but here are some more pics of Tirana.... The mountains in the background are especially cool. These shots were taken from the top of the Vodafone tower. I've never paid so much for an ice tea!!! I could have had three anywhere else!!


Anyway folks... take care of yourselves...

In case you were all really worried about me (mum...) I am here safely.

I arrived in Tirana, and was greeted by a tax collector, who looked at my UK passport with such puzzlement, as I said ‘Sa Kushton?’ (How much?). She then tried charging me in Euros, and I had none!! Thankfully – I had some leftover lek from our last trip, ensuring I could pay my way into the country. To be honest - I'm surprised that they let me out of the UK in the first place, as some of you know - I would win an Eminem lookalike contest easily, but it REALLY doesn't look like me!

Once I had my bags and stepped out of the airport – I was not only greeted by a flock of people, eagerly trying to set me up with a taxi or a hire car, but a small entrepreneurial boy (of about 13-14) trying to make a quick buck, offering to push my trolley. I was perfectly capable of doing this myself, but I liked his style, and despite my panics as I thought my laptop bag was about to smash on the floor into smithereens, it was all good. It's still in one piece! He tried to charge me 200 lek, but Magdalena gave him a 100 and told him to buzz off….

I really don’t know what I would have done without Magdalena... She is a missionary here in Tirana. She is from Malaysia, but is now fluent in Albanian, and has been living here for AGES! She drove me all the way to Tirana town center, found me a lovely room in their guest house come office and took me out for nachos in their restaurant down stairs. This is all in the Stephen Center, where they also have a clinic, and a small Christian bookshop. They are doing some AWESOME work.

We then met up with Genci and Odeta (some of the youngsters from Sarande who are here for University)… They took me on a whirlwind tour of Tirana, showing me the museum, the opera house and the student village where they live. These were, unfortunately, miles apart, and my feet are now killing me! Highlight of the tour was walking through a park, and seeing a security guard just casually erm... how can i put this... watering the plants?! The daft thing was that there was a bar about 10 feet away!!! Suerly he could have asked nicely to use their facilities???

Anyway - I'll keep you posted. I'm feeling as rough as a dog, as I think I may have tonsilitis, so all prayers would be MUCH appreciated. I'm just about to tuck into a nice English breakfast.... must keep my strength up :o).

Sion.x

My last day in the UK, and its a total mix of emotion....

I'm excited to leave...
I'm aprehensive about going to somewhere where I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, or who'll be there to meet me.....
I'm freezing my bum off..... (does that count as emotion?)
I'm sad to leave all my friends, family and of course Anna behind.....

It was great to see so many of you out the other night - thank you for coming.

I'll update this blog next when i get to Sarande, but in the meantime - please remember me in your prayers. Thanks.

For those who don't know me : This is me.... not the best of photos, but i blame the person behind the camera for that!!

This was taken about two months ago on my last trip to Albania.

Not long now..... :o)

All,

Wecome to my blog. I'm sure I'll have a few teething problems with this thing, so I'm checking it out now...

As I'm sure you all know - I am leaving HP for 12 months and taking a step into the unknown... I am moving to live in Albania, where I will be working for some churches out there, teaching children about Jesus (and adults too), helping the Cuke Gypsy people, visiting the orphans, leading worship... and generally being kept very busy!!

(Sarande at night)

I have 3 weeks left before I leave, but still so much to do. This was one of my tasks, so one more tic in the box, but that leaves about a million more....

Thanks for tuning in.... I will keep you all posted of developments as I prepare. Please remember me in your prayers.

Sion.