It's about 7:45 p.m., and the day is coming soon to a close for us. It typically won't probably end this early, but the jet lag makes has made it a little difficult to be responsive throughout the day :)

I apologize to everyone for not writing sooner. I intended to post during my layover in Munich, but unfortunately I could not connect to the internet. Oh well. It gave me some time to run and get a coffee and water... which cost almost $15!! And I thought Starbucks was expensive.

As we prepared to board the plane to Tirana, I immediately recognized my new housemate, Danika, thanks to Facebook pictures. We arrived in Albania and proceeded to pick up our luggage, but waited awhile and couldn't find Danika's. It turned out that hers hadn't reached Tirana quite yet, but apparently it often happens with the Canadian airlines (Danika is from New Brunswick).

We had a wonderful authentic Albanian lunch (except for the fact that native Albanians typically eat their large meal at dinner rather than lunch) made by Eva, the eldest of the Bishop clan. She's graduating from high school next year, and then Josh is next oldest, and then Steven.

Then we went to look at our apartment, which is on the second floor of an Albanian family's home. They are such a beautiful family! Arti and Mariana are our landlord and landlady, and Arti's parents, his two children, his sister-in-law and her two boys live with them. We went over to get acquainted with the family, and what started as a simple meet-and-greet turned into cookies, Turkish coffee, and apricots, and lots more conversation.... learning Albanian.... lots of laughs at Danika and my nonresponsive faces... and three hours later we began to wrap up the visit.... Dawn was begging to let us go to bed and get caught up. Sooooo that's what I'm gonna do. Right now :) Next entry should be a little better lol, because I'll have my normal brain power back.