At the beginning of next week sometime there will be a team of 11 students arriving from Rome at the school.  To prepare for their arrival, some things had to get shifted around on the third floor of the school, where my room is.  Before today I was the sole occupant of a five-person dorm room.  Today we swapped a set of bunk beds for a single, and I became the fortunate recipient of constant company.  Miriam is the campus translator.  He speaks the Albanian, Italian, and English languages in their entirety.  He even has a British accent to his fluent anglisht, which to be honest makes him sound like more of an authority than he otherwise might.  

Miriam is able to say that something I might refer to as “cool” is “wicked,” and have me believe that he means it.

He is from Fusharrez which is a city of about 9,000, four hours to the north of Tirana.  Today the school was visited by Gazim, the Assemblies of God pastor in Durres.  Gazim speaks Albanian and Italian.  It would have been useful to have Miriam around.  I may have to split my time between learning Albanian and Italian.  Proximity to Italy has made Italian the second language of Albania, as far as I can tell.  Italian isn’t as close to Spanish as you might imagine, but it is easier to learn than Albanian by far.  Digression anyone?

The Plagenhoefs are set to arrive late tomorrow night, at which time I will be given an outline of my official duties in Fushekruje.  If things work out here, I would love to serve in Durres with pastor Gazim as well.  He is one of those men who is loved and respected by everyone; charismatic, intelligent, caring, warm and energetic.  I’ve only met him once before, but he seems to be equal-parts: fireplug, tornado, and brain.  He is just the type of person who you might imagine as being very effective in the spreading of God’s word.  

Good night.