A Traditional Food Experience

This Thanksgiving week is also a week of Albanian holidays! (None of which are Thanksgiving, by the way. I'm definitely gonna miss waking up to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year!) November 28th is Albania's Independence Day with schools and the government closed, so at least it will feel normal for Americans to celebrate a holiday, too.

Various parts of Albania were ruled by different nations at different points in history, from the French, to the Germans, to the Turks. A great deal of variety exists between cities and villages, which means that each city represented in our squatter community celebrates different religious and cultural traditions. Last weekend the Albanian family with whom I used to live invited me to celebrate a holiday of theirs celebrated in their northern village.

I Am Not a Pumpkin!

Being immersed in a new language means that I misunderstand people every single day. It means I need to be very flexible, laugh at myself, and take no offense at what people might say to me. Cultures differ in what is appropriate in conversation. While telling an American that they are "fat" is offensive, in Albania there is no shame in talking directly to a person about their weight. I have noticed that a great percentage of females my age and younger are extremely thin. In comparison, I have been called "fat," but I brush it off and take no offense, recognizing that it's a different standard than what I am accustomed to.

The Rub

Thank you to the woman who stopped me today and reminded me what is important here.

“You Americans are so different from us. You walk right past us so quickly on your way to work, always off to work, and don’t stop to talk,” she told me. I responded, “You are totally right. We always think about work, but you take time for people. We need to learn from you.”

I Can Do It!

I needed to get a key copied, and I remembered seeing a place to do them in the city not too far away from the mission center. The "HAPUR" (open) sign showed through the window, but alas, the door was locked with no one inside. I checked the hours which indicated that the shop should have been open 15 minutes before. Oh, how typically Albanian! I thought. It seemed like a waste to go back home without my key copied, since it's a bit of a walk to get to the city.

Language Learning

Learning language by immersion is proving to be one of the most valuable experiences I could have chosen. I make tons of mistakes, but the more I talk with people the more I see how much they appreciate the fact that I try. My mess-ups bring lots of laughter, and it's a good thing I have learned to laugh at myself so I can join in when people crack up at my bad Albanian!

Every language has lots of words that are easy to mix up. In Albanian, the words for "boy" (pronounced "choon") and "dog" (pronounced "chun") sound very similar. So of course it was quite humorous when I mistakenly referred to some boys as "dogs" instead.