"The Livin' Is Easy"

It’s summertime, and us TEFL volunteers are off until September. The first 1.5 weeks of summer were a rough patch. Experiencing my first free time in 6 months, my brain simply shut down. My language understanding crashed no matter how hard I tried. It felt as if my brain surrounded comprehension with a concrete wall against which Shqip could only futilely claw. I thus spent significant time reading in my room. Eventually, my brain had finished whatever processing it required, and my Shqip came back stronger than before. 

After that, I hiked Mt. Korab, the highest peak (2764 m a.s.l) in Albania and North Macedonia. I logged 13.8 miles, 36,206 steps, and some borderline emergency altitude sickness. The views were worth it. Beauty is pain, am I right? We saw cows, sheep, snow, rocks that I can only dream of climbing, and wildflowers of astonishingly vibrant colors. Additionally, my family loves the Durrës beach, so I’ve gone with them a couple times. One time, tons of crabs emerged from the sand! Everyone was scared of them, so I channeled my lowcountry heritage and picked some up for demonstration. 

Next, I volunteered three consecutive weeks at GLOW Code, a summer camp focused on coding and leadership skills. Currently, GLOW Code is for girls only and aims to remediate the gender disparity in coding, et cetera. Camp is conducted in English, so it provides excellent language practice for campers. As a TEFL volunteer, I was pleased to have three of my students attend and improve their English abilities. The first of the three weeks was GLOW Code Plus, a camp for girls who attended last year’s GLOW camp. The next two weeks were normal GLOW. 

For a cherry on top, Mom visited, and then we went to Rome! In Albania, she met my family and neighbors, learned traditional dances, enjoyed traditional foods made by my host mom, and toured Tirana. As a translator, I enjoyed some phenomenal language practice. In Rome, we walked an average of 9.3 miles a day. Some of my favorite things included the Vatican’s  “Peter’s Boat” sailboat (I love knots), the Vatican’s mosaic jewelry, and the architecture. While I sadly didn’t find much use for Shqip, it came in clutch twice to yell at people trying to grab and scam us. Shqip was shockingly effective, especially since the people probably expected English. While extremely enjoyable, travelling took a lot of energy. On the plane, bus, and furgon back home, I was fighting for my life to stay awake. Once at home, I conked out on the sofa bed from 5:00 PM until dinner at 9:45 PM. I promptly fell asleep again until 9:30 AM. The tales of my legendary evening nap spread far and wide. I apparently napped through everyone leaving for a coffee in the city. I also slept through an evening visit from the neighbors who apparently observed me from my doorway. By way of greeting the next day, the neighbors informed me that I had looked like a ballerina (or a whale - those two words in Albanian sound similar) sprawled on the sofa and then asked me “Did you sleep or die?” That gave me a really good laugh. I love my neighbors. 

Bonus points and eternal glory to anyone who knows the reference made by this blog's title.