Albania - Day Two

ALBANIA - DAY TWO - MON

 photo credit: Andrea Anastasakis

We made it to Elbasan!  Today we were all dealing with jet lag.  Mrs. M and Essie were up most of the night. I didn't fall asleep until 3:30 and got up at 7ish. The Watanabe's drove us to Elbasan.  

Road to Elbasan

We had to take the long way – 2.5 hours instead of 45min.  It was fine, though, because we got to see a lot.  

A lot of buildings here are painted different colors. When communism fell, the Prime Minister had the buildings painted bright colors because they were all a dull gray. I tried to capture some on my camera but it was a very rainy and wet day so most of the pictures didn't turn out so well :( 

It did snow when we made it to Elbasan, and it has been pretty chilly.  Our new apartment is much more Albanian then the first :)  We had issues with the heaters and electricity. We can't have the heaters and electric stove on at the same time because it causes a short and the electricity goes out.  We have single pane windows so when we don't have the heater on it gets very very cold very quickly!  
When we got to our apartment the Shackelford's met us with the key.  They helped find us the apartment. They showed us up to our room, and showed us around.  After a bit, the Watanabe's walked with Mr. and Mrs. M to the orphanage. They were told that it was nap time and that they wouldn't get to see baby M, but that they could meet the nuns and Mother Superior.  

So, I was left with three very energetic girls at the apartment (because of the heavy Turkish doors, I feel very safe!) 

We had some lunch - beef jerky, apples, bananas, and toast.

We haven't really done much shopping yet, so hopefully tomorrow we can do some.  After lunch the girls got their beds ready. There are 3 rooms in this apartment, but only two have heaters. So we moved one bed into the room that already has 3, and we now have 4 beds tucked into one room.  I will have to send you a picture!  After the beds were made, everyone just laid in their bed, we told stories and after about 3 minutes Hannah was OUT!!

When Mr. and Mrs. M came home, they told us that they had gotten to meet baby M!  We looked at some pictures and the girls are very anxious to meet him. I have to admit that I am too!  He seemed very happy and content, they even got pictures of him smiling :)  Hopefully we will get to meet him on Wednesday!


Mrs. M bought some pasta - got a pot full of water to boil and turned the stove on. Soon after, the power when out, which meant no lights and no heater!  Thankfully there is a gas heater. We cracked a window, turned on the heater, and closed the door to the living room/kitchen. We all got some blankets, too.  After about 30 minutes Mr. M realized that the lights going out was our doing!  Thankfully he got them all back on.  Apparently, we can't have too many electrical things on at once!

That evening we went to dinner with the Shackelford's.  We ate at a nice pizza place.  The prices were really good.  We figured 1 Leke = 1 cent. So the pizza was about 350 Leke which is $3.50 in US currency!

The Shackelfords are a very sweet family originally from the states. They adopted a 6 year old while they were in the US. They then lived in China for several years, and now they are in Albania.  They helped start an English school here, and their oldest daughter teaches there.

The Shackelfords told me what it is like to live in Albania - they love it!  They said that even though it is a Muslim country, 98% of the Muslims don't follow the "rules". There is a saying here, something like, "You should treat your friends as well as Albanian's treat Americans!"  They love Americans!

They say people here are really nice. Friendship is really important.  They focus a lot on relationships.  If you are walking to the store and you pass a friend, you go out to coffee for and hour and then go on with your day!  Life is slow!  

I enjoyed getting to know their second oldest daughter, B.  She goes with her mom once a week to the orphanage to help with some of the kids physical therapy. So they know already know baby M!

B is looking into attending New Life Midwifery in the Philippines, which is a program that I looked into awhile back. The program has a 3 month summer program/internship which is something I would be interested in exploring again.

It was a wonderful evening!


Mr and Mrs. M will go back to the orphanage tomorrow in the morning, and then back again around 3pm.  The Nuns wake all the kids at 5:30am and then have them all in bed by 6pm!!

Should we implement this at home? :)


I have decided if at all possible I would love to adopt internationally! Maybe even Albania.  I love it here so far! It really is a grand adventure:)

I can't wait to get to know the culture more!  Maybe I am called to be one to take care of the orphans while I am single? I don't know, but I feel in just 2 days that God is showing me some direction of what to do with my life.  Maybe it isn't in Albania, who knows, maybe it is in Africa somewhere.  Who knows? Oh yeah, God does! :)

Much love from Albania,
Kaleo:)