Another beautiful sunrise greeted the land of Sauk this morning. It will get light here about an hour-and-a-half before the sun finally shows from behind the nearby, low-lying alps. Like every place on earth, Albania has beauty to spare daily.
I had the day entirely to myself. All but two of the students returned home for the weekend, and our visiting professor flew back to Italy this morning. I intentionally stayed in and knocked out most of a list of home-related tasks. Around 4PM I decided to go to TEG to get my groceries. Carrefour is the most American style supermarket there is in Albania. They sell muslix in bulk so I end up going there once every three weeks or so for another 2 kilogram bag of my morning fiber fiber fiber. While at TEG I sat down to study a little Shqip. The waiter at the coffee shop brought me a sweet cup of chocolate pudding to go with my dopio espresso. I found myself doing more people watching than study, so I walked around and found the bookstore. I purchased an alphabetical, picture book with the words for things in four languages.
Once I got back to the school I found that Hector, one of the new students, was here alone. Hector loves to play guitar and sing and so it was no wonder that he was feeling lonely. Loneliness can bring the mind to plague, so I decided to join him in the common area just outside of the kitchen. He and I began talking at each-other, but we were conversing before long. His English is not as good as my Albanian so we had to agree to have grace and to lean toward understanding when the other option was frustration. We cooked dinner together and had potatoes and spaghetti about an hour before midnight. Hector is my brother and we are learning each other. Soon we will know the friendship God intends for us.
albaniacalling 