Mirdita to krejt!

We just had our first week with the kids!

From 8 til 10 a.m., Un punoje in the public centre which is located near the big parc of TIRANA. Si e ke emrin? Un jam Lilly! That´s all I´ve learnt so far…Tschmenduri!

I have to admit that on my very first day, I didn´t really know how to behave and what to do – I had never worked with children with disabilities before:
Some of them were very talkative and open – one boy invited me to have a coffee with him, another one asked me: “Can I get a visa for Germany?”
But some kids seemed to be a bit afraid of our big group of volunteers and didn´t really communicate.

It is hard to put in words how I felt like.

I probably was kind of shocked, realizing for the first time how many opportunities we have in life, especially compared to them. I had a bad conscience, as I was thinking about justice / equality in life.

It took me a while to understand: We entertained them with very little things, but you could see them smiling all the time. The seemed to be really happy! We can offer them our enthusiasm, creativity and affection. And that´s what we are here for…

The following days were great: I had the impression that some of the children recognized us and I just felt more self-confident and hat lots of fun playing “der Plumssack geht rum“!

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Lilly

 

Today I will share with you a few things that have surprised me:

->Train: – to go by Train in Albania is like a little journey into the past

            – very old ones from Germany

            – windows are completely destroyed by stones(maybe a free time activitie) 

            – some stations looks like the are closed …. abandoned tracks, left standing, old, rusty trains     

              with plants on the roof 

            – and the tickets also look like from a other time

-> Bicycles: 

            – you see really seldom a Bicycles driver, and when, then mostly old mans … so Albanian people 

              are a little bit lacy in this way ^^

-> Cars:

            – but they like to drive big, expensive and fast cars, even if it is not allowed in Albania to drive

              faster then 90 km/h

-> Houses:

            – are not so important like cars … so the houses are not so representative like the cars  

-> Streets:

             – some are not in a very good way, a lot of potholes

             – be watered every day by the people, it should help to keep the dust / dirt down  

->Garbage:

             – is not separated, you put everything in big containers, but garbage is everywhere … so to use 

               trash can is here maybe not so commend 

-> Money: 

            – is not the most important thing … it comes that you don’t need to pay when you want to buy for 

             example only 1 peach, or you have no small money with you, you have not enough money …. 

->Mind about Germany:

            -Many people here are enthusiastic about Germany 

            – can speak German very well (sometimes they learned it only 1 year and they speak fluently) 

            – people are for the German football team

            – you can find Germany flags everywhere 

            – people like to go to Germany ( for example to study)

           – are so happy when they meet German people 

            – have completely positive mind about Germany 

-> our Flat: 

            – we can watch German TV

            – very modern and colorful

Wow, today, our group of ten German volunteers has been in Tirana for 17 days! We have already got used so much to the rhythm of life here, the daily visits of a cafe, the busy streets, the fruit and vegetable markets… it is hard for me to tell anything about my experience here, because I really don’t know where to begin! 

Certainly, people who hear about Albania in Germany have scarcely heard about the fascinating cultural heritages here and the amazing landscapes. Fact is, they do have so much to offer, but fortourists, those destinations are not always easy to reach.

This weekend, we had the opportunity to visit two of the most important cultural monuments in Albania, Kruja and Berat. Both are castles built on quite steep hills with a beautiful surrounding landscape. In Berat, a whole intact antique city lies within the castle walls, and it is still inhabited nowadays! But for most of the inhabitants, life there is not very attractive anymore, as there are hardly any job opportunities on this remote mountain. They move to the foot of the mountain, where the modern part of the city lies. Up on that hill, I felt like some hunderes years back in time: No cars, the people dressed in traditional clothes, donkeys carrying their loads through the streets! 

For anyone who comes to Albania, I would absolutely recommend those places! The only difficulty here in Albania: It is not easy to organize a trip, because there is hardly any tourist information and no schedule for the public transportation. But the positive outcome of this: hardly any tourists! You are alone with the beautiful scenery!

Until next time!

Miriam Laschinski

Three weeks before, Duesseldorf, Germany: “Why do you go to Albania in June? You will miss the European Championship!” That was one of the first reactions I got when I was talking to a friend about my trip to Albania.” I answered: “Well, I hope that there will be at least one bar in Tirana which telecasts the game…”

9th of June, Tirana, Albania: Only a few hours left until the great match Germany vs. Portugal and we still did not know where to watch it! The reason for our indecision was not a lack of choice, but an excessive demand due to the fact that almost every bar in Tirana was telecasting the match!

Finally, we decided to go to a pedestrian zone next to the parliament: 10 girls with German flags on their cheeks were walking through the streets of Tirana. We felt a little bit embarrassed at the beginning, because we could not assess the reaction of the Albanians. But already after a few minutes, we started to realize that Albanians love football as much as Germans do! The city is full of flags, people are wearing football shirts and singing football songs!

As we arrived at the pedestrian zone, we were really impressed by the big screens and the number of people who cheered for Germany! I enjoyed the friendly atmosphere during the match and It was a great experience to celebrate Germany’s victory together with a huge group of Albanian and German football fans :).

My summary of the day? Football definitely connects cultures! 🙂

Hannah