Mashed Potatoes and Hunting for Petulla

Albanian countryside.

We've made it to PST Week 4! Despite the stresses of daily life, I love the Peace Corps experience that I've had. One of the best parts is definitely my fellow volunteers. They are kind, interesting, fun people.

I have also greatly enjoyed learning Albania's language, Shqip. Language classes are M, W, Th, F from 8:00 - 1:00 PM. I hear some Shqip at home too, and my host family speaks some English. We've had a couple humorous miscommunications. The latest was cooking related. My host dad let me help cook something out of potato (patate) and pepper (spec). He told me to brown the patate and then add about 4 cups of water (uje). I had no idea what he was making. He then went to work, so I was left in charge of dinner, whatever that was. Eventually, I deduced it must be mashed potatoes, so I let all the water boil out. When he returned, he was less than thrilled and said we could not eat it. The realization hit me that he was making soup. I tried to convince him it was now just mashed potatoes, something we eat all the time in the US, but I ended up eating most of those mashed potatoes.

On Tuesdays, we observe English classes at local schools and learn how to teach. We have so far visited two different schools. The English skills of students in this area are quite good.

Two of us volunteers at a school observing English classes. It was an early morning.

After our classes finish, us volunteers usually go for walks. We see historical monuments and shops (dyqan). The culture here is centered around coffee (kafe) and coffee shops (lokal/bar), so we frequent those as well. If you are like me and do not drink coffee, the chamomile tea is a pleasant alternative.

A volunteer took this photo of me in a lokal. Many, such as this one, have outside and inside seating. This town also has many dentist offices as seen in the background.

A plant pot outside a lokal.

We learned how to make Turkish coffee in PST culture class one day. People make this kind at home; turkish coffee is not popular at bars.

Allow me to introduce Petulla, a beignet-like bake. People eat them for breakfast lathered with honey and/or cheese. I had no idea what these were until other volunteers began raving about them. The lore built up, and I felt the need to experience what had so obviously changed my peers' lives. Thus, my Petulla hunt began. For days I searched the many bakeries and Furre Bukes in the area. Eventually, the desperation caught up to me - I caved and asked my host parents if we could make them. My host mom cooked them for me, and I am so thankful. I was at last satiated, and my spirit laid at rest.

Petulla with honey (sans cheese)! My host dad's parents have a hive, and this is their honey.

I also tried Tulumba. This is sold in bakeries. Tulumba is like a churro soaked in sugary lemon syrup. This package came with about 12 Tulumba and was 300 Leke, or roughly 3 USD.

Tulumba from a bakery.

The markets here are also super neat, but that is for another post.

Lastly, on a unrelated note, the largest known underground thermal lake was discovered in southern Albania this week! See this article: https://euronews.al/en/how-the-worlds-largest-underground-thermal-lake-was-discovered-in-leskovik/.