Time For Some Time

I often times have to curb the voice of my inner-American when conversing with my friends and coworkers here in Albania.  Last Saturday I was having a conversation on the telephone with Pastor Alban when he said “after this Sunday we will not have church for the next two weeks.  Many people are taking vacation in Albania right now.”

“Ridiculous,” muttered the red, white, and blue cloaked, cloven-footed angel on my shoulder “you don’t cancel church.”

“OK,” I said, “you are the pastor and you know what is best.”  And of course he did know.  August is the vacation month in Albania and the entire nation, it seems, takes a two week holiday at the minimum before the kids head back to school in September.  My crew will not be working next week, and without a Sunday service to prepare for, I don’t have any duties to perform here.  Tomorrow morning I will be taking a 6AM bus to Montenegro, and from there, who knows?  I like the freedom of knowing when I need to be back, but not having restrictions to my travel other than that.

We left the job site a few steps closer to completion today.  The most important pieces left for us are the completion of the gabina (back up generator shed) and the mur (wall around the property).  The gabina has a foundation and the slab-on-grade as well as the surrounding sidewalks, now we just need walls and a roof.  The mur was poorly built about four years ago and as a result has begun to tip toward our neighbor’s knee-high, weed covered property.  We have a design in mind to shore it up and give it a finish which will make people only notice how sturdy it looks.

The crew needs some time, I think, and so do I.  The heat, coupled with the addition of another crew on the job site over the past few weeks has made everyone a little cranky.  My cloven footed angel mutters more often than he should; sometimes so loud it is as if he is speaking with my voice.  Visiting some cities which are hailed as timeless coastal treasures and swimming in their seas should put out my angel’s flaming pitchfork, and return him to a more relaxed, patient demeanor.