"The Window On The West"

The problem with blogs is that if you get behind, it seems impossible to catch up!  So much has happened in this last week that I hardly know where to begin!

I'm settled in at the school now; the effects of jet lag have passed.  The school more or less feels like home now.

I share a dorm room with three other girls.  One is Canadian and two are Albanian, though one knows wonderfully good English!  Our windows face to the west.  There is a stunningly beautiful mountain ridge in that direction.  On my first (jet lagged and sleepless) morning here, I captured it in three photos, and I am so happy with how the panorama turned out.

The view out my dorm room window.

So, what has filled my last week or so?
- Frequent trips to the coffee shop for ice cream, Fanta, or iced tea
- A hike up Gramozi (more on that another time!)
- Quite a bit of reading
- Canoeing (with great games!)
- An overwhelming amount of listening to another language and struggling to start speaking
- Believe it or not, a lot of volleyball!  I'm not great, but the great part about that is that I can only get better, and I have!
- Playing my pan in the beautiful outdoors
- A surprise chance to hear a traditional wedding band
- A church service and a Bible study at the church
- 8 hours of sleep every night and three meals a day
- To market, to market.... 
- A football (soccer) game with all the students
- Getting to know the other 14 students
- Cracking open some fresh walnuts and slacklining at the walnut grove
- And.... even some classes!

More details on some of these things to come, but for now, I thought you would all enjoy some more pictures!

My home away from home

        Volleyball and the old cheese factory, now property of the school.  Wish I could bottle up the smell and share it with all of you at home! 

A typical sight (and sound!)

Walnuts

Heading home.  My favourite time of day.

At the summit of Gramozi. The border between Greece and Albania follows this ridge.

Me and Andrea at the summit.

        

And finally, a couple of fun facts:
- Erseke is one of the highest towns in Albania.  It is roughly the size of Sundre.
- The elevation is 1050m (2m higher than Calgary!  Sundre is 1097m.)
- Erseke means "windy city".  From one to another.  Go figure.