Around the World

When Liridon told Sara, Vanessa, and I that we would be teaching seperately from now on, I was pretty scared. First of all, I didn't have a great connection with the students because we would just walk in, sit down, and read out of the book until the bell rang. Secondly, I wasn't sure how they would respond to me as someone completely different from them. However, the next day Liridon sat down with us and set up a schedule. Vanessa teaches the two eleventh grade classes, and Sara and I have the six tenth grade classes split between us.
I like all three of my classes, but my favorite is 10-2. Liridon is in charge of this class, which just means he's sort of like a homeroom teacher or advisor to them. There are about two people in this class of 34 who can speak English fairly well, but the rest...well. I can only hope for a miracle. Just kidding. I have a lot of fun with them because I plan things to do and what to teach, plus they like me. Or I think they do. Most of the time I think they think I'm ridiculous and they tolerate me because I laugh at them and they laugh at me. Last week, I taught them how to play Around the World.
Around the World is something I played in middle school and high school Spanish. Two people at a time stand up and compete to say the answer first, and then the winner moves on to the next person and the loser sits back down. I had to explain this a couple of times to my class, even with someone translating. After about ten minutes of a lot of people yelling and a lot of me trying to demonstrate the way to play, we finally started. I decided to play with ordinal numbers. For example: I would say "Your number is...62." and they would have to say "sixty-second". The hardest number for them was five because they would always try to say five-th. I even wrote it on the board and they still didn't quite get it.
I had to throw someone out of the room for a couple minutes, do some seat rearranging, and take toys away, but everyone had fun, even the girl in the back with the attitude problem. Each time I had to yell or discipline someone, I tried to remember what my teachers in school did.
At the end, everyone came up to me to say goodbye and I left school on a high. There wasn't a winner, but they did so well that I brought them a snack the next time we had class.
Yes, I will definitely miss my students when we leave.
-Jin

Visiting old friends in Albania

a camping trip in the gorge

eating Greek food, it was so good!

Easter Morning We had an outdoor worship service

we visited some poor families and brought them food and clothing





climbing mountains

The Internal Struggle

I sat in the curve of our large green paisely couch, cross legged. My elbows resting on my knees and the heels of my hands pressed into my eyes. Lately my head has just been swimming with mixed emotions and lots of questions and sometimes, time away and alone is the only thing that seems to help. After being away for about two and a half weeks, from our trip to Albania, our service week in the capital and then our week of vacation in Greece, coming back here felt a little like coming home. It felt good to walk the streets here and see familiar faces and to go back into the shops that we frequent and to pop our heads into one of ourclasses, just to say hello and let them know we were "home". Since returning, we have had a lot of changes. Our new teaching schedule has each of us teaching individualy instead of in groups. This has been an adjustment for all of us, some more than others. But also coming back brought a lot of mixed feelings. It brought a lot of excitement along with a lot of anxiety. I know that I am looking forward to going home but the thought of going home scares me. I cannot imagine going back to Pennsylvania and having my life be anything like it was before. How can I put all of this behind me
and move forward with college? Do I need to put it behind me? I wish I knew how I could somehow mix the two lives I have. The life I have come to lead and my life that I left behind to come here. It would be so easy for me to go home and pretend that none of this ever happened. I'm good at that. I could go home and fall back into a daily routine of family life, work, and friends. I know that I do not want that at all. I want to go back home and be a changed person. I want to go home on a "high". With only 3 weeks left here, time is rapidly coming to a close. It's going to be hard to say good-bye. Good-bye to our outreach coordinators, who we have come to know and see as family. Good-bye to our students who have become friends. Good-bye to a lot of other people who were in one way or another connected to us. Yes, it is going to be hard and there will most likely be some tears, but when I go back to America, I want to feel not like I left something behind, but that I'm leaving with a part of this culture deeply routed into my heart. These last 3 weeks here I want to do so much more than just teach English and settle back into the routine. I want to try to reach out even more to my students. I want to step
far outside of my comfort zone and challenge myself to be the person I always wanted to be. When I go home, I do not want to look back on this time and regret anything. I make it a point in my life to never regret. I cannot fill my mind with "what if's" and reliving the past or I can never be satisfied with the present. Things here in K-Land really are going well, and for the most part I think we are all in fairly good spirits. We each have our own set of opinions, fears, and points of excitement with being here and what I've said, sums up everything that I have been feeling recently. Mixed feelings have become something that I am oh too familiar with, but right now, it's ok because I know that it's for all the right reasons and they will all resolve themselves.
~*~ Lakyn Parks ~*~

Living out of a suitcase 101

Sorry about the lack of posts, our team has been doing quite a bit of travelling. Last Friday we left our dear little town and headed to Lezhe, Albania. There we visited with some families who we know. We spent three days climbing mountains, exploring an old castle, and strolling up and down the beach. It was a really refreshing time. I was especially excited. I spent eight months in Lezhe in 2003, so the streets and faces were all familiar to me. I was able to reconnect with some friends and my old host family. I have never before experienced the feeling of going back to a place that has meant so much to me, my heart was so full.
We left Lezhe on Monday, and got back home for one night to shower sleep and leave again. This time our destination was the capitol city, to join in a nation wide project. Every day this week we have gathered with about 35 to 150 people from all over the country to do some community service, things like picking up trash, and visiting the poor and elderly. It has been a really good week getting to know a lot of new people. I have been so thrilled to meet all these young people who are eager to make changes, and to see their brand new nation start off on the right foot. I can see that they truly value their freedom and Independence.
Tomorrow morning we are heading off for our third destination, Thessaloniki, Greece. I hope it will be a relaxing week. This is my first time planning a vacation, I don't feel so relaxed. Then after two and a half weeks on the road our travelling marathon will end and we will finally return to our own little town.
sara
ps we will post some pictures of our travels when we get back home.

I am the Loch Ness Monster

It's 1 o'clock pm and Lakyn and I gather up my big bag full of school books and walk a few steps down the alley beside our house to school. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday Lakyn and I teach some younger students, which happen to be, for the most part, my favorite part of being a teacher. New to being teachers Lakyn and I have been trying to come up with fun activities for the students to do. We've made dialogues about 50 cent (the rapper), going to buy groceries and plans for the weekend. I think I can speak for both of us when I say we've been relearning a lot English grammar that we've forgotten all about. (Plus Lakyn and I both have some kind of PA accent.This makes me rethink how I say some things). Lately though, we've run out of creative ideas. So, for the last few classes Lakyn and I had to read a story over and over again about the Loch Ness Monster. The classic tale of a monster and his problems with the evil scientist Mad Mick. I think that Lakyn has the first two paragraphs memorized. She can recite it on cue.

" I am the Loch Ness Monster. My nickname is Nessie and people have been
hunting me for generations. I'm nine-hundred and forty-seven years old
and I've lived in my grotto all of my life."

The funniest part of this story though is when the head teacher asks me to read it "solider style". I always dread those words. It means that I have to read one word and then the class repeats that one word and I do that for an entire paragraph. I feel and sound like a robot. This is usually just for the older classes though. The older classes that we teach are on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:45-3:00. Lakyn really enjoys teaching these students a lot more than I do. I also teach on Saturday with Sara from 8-2. Our day usually starts with teaching one class. This class goes until 9:30. 9:30 is a very significant time for Sara and I. We always eat lunch at that time. Yes, at 9:30 in the morning Sara and I bite into a nice huge doner. A doner is similar to pork BBQ sandwich. Instead of pork it's beef and sometimes it has carrots. It always comes with cabbage and some type of mayo blend with a drizzle of ketchup. It's an abnormally huge sandwich. We wash this honkin' huge sandwich down with a coke, followed up by a few strong energy drinks later in the day. After eating this sandwich I'm pretty much good until supper. Saturday's are always interesting between the early morning doners and the stories that we read out of the English curriculum. Last Saturday though, I had a singing solo in class, accompanied by Sara. I sang the ABC's in front of a bunch of 16 and 17 year old. I was a nice shade of pink when I hit "z". This is the week thus far.

Well, there's tons of other stuff that happens in the course of our days spent here, but I'll have to save them for a later blog.

I really have been enjoying teaching English. It has opened the doors to a lot of new relationships and it's been a stretching experience to be a teacher when I feel completely unqualified.

-minda

Anything for a Sleepover

Before the actual events update, you need to know what amazing weather we are experiencing. I'm sitting on our balcony in a t-shirt and jeans while writing this, and I could wear shorts and still be comfortable. The whole town is taking advantage of these cloudless days by sitting outside at cafes along the streets (mostly just men do this), and venturing out instead of bundling up inside with a roaring fire in the woodstove.
Ok, now for more interesting topics.
On Friday, we went to one of the most dangerous cities in Europe for a sleepover. We took a bus to the neighboring city in order to take another bus (that's what the picture is of) to the dangerous city. We could have simply taken the bus to the next town, but then we would have had to wait along the road and flag down a bus, and we didn’t feel like taking any risks.
The three daughters of an American family invited us to their house for the night to do girly things and to get out of our little town. I had to keep reminding myself that the girls were only fifteen, eleven, and nine because they acted like they were around our ages. Once we got there, they took us on a tour to see a certain special bridge and to eat toast and ice cream. Toast here is really a sandwich that’s toasted like a Quizzno’s sub, and our ice cream sundaes beat Friendly’s classic Reese’s Pieces (only in style-not taste).
After seeing the riot police (don’t worry, they were just sitting around drinking Coca-Colas and talking to pedestrians), we went to a center that the family runs for teenagers. They meet once a week for a meeting and then hang out and play games. However, the kids and teenagers here don’t know about discipline and the concept that cheating is bad, so we ended up playing a simple, cheat-proof game we learned from our days of training. Afterwards, the five of us headed back to the house to make pizzas. We painted our nails, watched a movie, and stayed up until 4am.
The next day, there was a social for people like us who live in this country (mostly Americans showed up, but some English people came too.) I didn’t realize how many other workers are in our area of the world.
Thankfully, the two families we live near came to the social as well, and our ride home with them went smoothly.
-Jin

Urime Pavaresia

When I stop to think about the events of yesterday, I can hardly wrap my mind around it. This land is free! All of us had the opportunity to be here for a part of history. This land has been fighting for their independence for hundreds of years and now it is finally here. Yesterday the streets were buzzing with excitement. There was loud music in the center of town and plenty of dancing, along with free food and drinks along the streets. We all walked down to the center around twelve o’clock noon and joined in on the excitement. As we walked around, we became less of the “on display” Americans and more of a friend. We found plenty of people both waving or wearing Americans flags and others with their national flag or the flag for this new country. American flags could be seen flying side by side with national flags. There was a stage set up with flags on it and large speakers playing traditional music while young people dressed in traditional outfits danced on the stage. Most of the people found in the center could be seen wearing black and red in celebration. These people were all filled with joy and hope and it could be seen on their faces. Almost every person in the center had a smile on their face and would greet each other with kisses on the cheeks and hugs wishing each other a “Happy Independence!” Most restaurants, coffee shops, and grocery stores were closed for the celebration that lasted all afternoon and evening. Without hesitation, one could say that most of the town’s residents could be found in the center by five o’clock. Around nine o’clock in the evening, fireworks could be seen from the windows and balconies of just about any home in the town. It’s so hard to explain to the full extent of the events of yesterday because it was so much more than a party in the streets; it was an emotional high and a sensory overload. It just blows my mind when I stop and think about how I am now living in the world’s youngest country, a country that was born yesterday. I was here for the birth of a country. This is something that I will always remember and be able to tell my children and grandchildren about. This is something that will go down in the history books and I feel honored that I had the privilege of being here and sharing it with these people. We didn’t think that it was going to happen while we were here because the date of declaration has been pushed back so many times that it was hard to tell when it was going to happen for real. However, on Sunday February 17th at three o’clock in the afternoon, the declaration of independence was made. They are hoping for a quick recognition by other countries such as the United States, Italy and France on Monday the 18th during a meeting held by the UN and so we all await the outcome of these meetings. We are all hoping for the best and for what is right and in the best interest of this country.
~*~ Lakyn P. ~*~

shaky hands

First of all I would like to apologize to all our faithful readers. We have not been posting every week as we should. I am sorry, we are without excuse. Now that all that is said and done, here is a little bit of what has been going on for the past two weeks.
If I could sum it all up in a sentence, it would be that we are teaching English and making friends, which is good because that is exactly what our job description is. We have been working with a young teacher; he is an amazing person. He teaches English in the local high school, and he also has a private school where he teaches English and German. Those are only his day jobs. He also owns and runs a CD and DVD shop and a grocery store. He is a very driven man, and a visionary. Along with foreign languages, he also teaches the students his life philosophies of hard work, perseverance and optimism. I have learned a lot from him. I love to meet people who seem to understand that they only have one chance at life, so they take it for all it's worth. Often during the day we have two or three coffee breaks with him where we just sit and talk about life. He is only one of the great people we are getting to know.
Every morning from eight until twelve Jin, Vanessa, and myself go to the public high school, and assist in classes. In the afternoon Minda and Lakyn spend three hours at a private school. Lakyn home-schools one of the Krebs' daughters in the mornings, and Minda tests milk fat content at "Jeta E Re", the milk collection center. Then on Saturdays Minda and I teach all day at the private school. It's just like any other job, some days we come home absolutaly exhausted, and some days we come home with fun stories and lots of energy. The great days make it so worth it. We have gotten the opportunity to visit three of our students homes, they fill our stomachs with lots of delicious albanian food, and we go out for coffee with them often. If you haven't figured it out, we drink a lot of coffee. Sometimes at the end of the day my hands are shaking so bad from all the caffine. I think that in the future HDC should bump up the two cups of coffee limit for the Balkans teams. They are going to need to start training their bodies for large amounts of caffine intake.
Besides the shakey hands, things have been going well. Thanks for reading this and thinking about us, We are so fortunate to have so many people behind us.
sara

Jeta Ime

...6 WEEKS AGO

......"What do you want to do?" "I don't know what do you want to do?" I don't know what do you want to do?"......

6 WEEKS LATER. JANUARY 21, 2008.

....Queasy, dizzy, nervous, anxious, nauseous, light headed and "what ifs" running through my mind. "What if this happens? What if they don't like me? What if.....". These were my thoughts and feelings that ran through my mind and body Monday morning as I got ready for school. First day of school jitters! Yikes!

My day to day life in K-land has definitely been altered from day one to now. I feel like a peaceful, untouched, content on a dusty shelf snow globe that has suddenly been knocked down, shaken and dusted off. My usual extroverted self was held back by a month of sitting at home reading books, cold and foggy weather and zero friends beyond the premises of our apartment building. But now the weather has changed from dull and dreary to sunny and warm with a clear blue sky to show off the snow capped mountains. I have began my position as an English teacher assistant and I have more friends than there are stray dogs!!! How exciting!!!

I know you can be underwhelmed and I know you can be overwhelmed but can you ever just be whelmed? The answer is.....well I really don't know?! From December 2ND till January 20Th I was was underwhelmed by all the nothingness, January 21st till the 25Th I was overwhelmed by the new experience of teaching English and now a new week has began and I'm feeling content. So, yes, maybe you can just be whelmed!

Life is wonderful! Fun filled days! Walking, talking, drinking coffee, laughing, singing, dancing, going to friends houses, phase 10, jump rope and volleyball with all ages, running to the convenient store for a late night snack, taking crazy pictures, and sitting outside in the sunlight chatting with friends! :D

~Vanessa Goertzen~

haven't seen the mountains for days

This morning I got out of bed, and made my way downstairs to start the fire and make my coffee. Like every morning i took a peek out our little kitchen window. Usually this is a breathtaking sight, huge snow capped mountains brightened against a clear blue sky, but not this morning. like every morning this week all I could see were the dreary buildings, muddy streets and thick layers of grey clouds and fog covering the mountains from base to peak. I stepped away let out a sigh and thought, wow my sad little view is such a picture of how I feel.
I am going to be honest I'm sure this country has it's times and seasons of beauty, but right now it is just down right cold and dreary. Sometimes the mountains are the only redeeming part of the scenery. It has been a hard couple of days for myself and for the rest of the team. We are currently in our last week of language study, which has been our focus for the past month and a half. We have been feeling rather cooped up, and we are ready to put our hands to something. Getting out and making friends has proved to be harder than we thought it would be, due to different cultural and seasonal circumstances. I have found myself searching for ways to fill my days with things that will entertain me and make me feel not quite so dreary. But the Lord hasn't brought me here so that I can pass the time away and move on to the next thing. This is the next thing. He has so much purpose and so many plans for each day if I will just choose to push through the clouds and search it out. I think it is easy to forget that God is already at work here and it is our privilege to join him. Our prayer request as a team is this, for eyes to see the kingdom of God all around us, and for willing selfless hearts. I hope this weather clears up, even if it doesn't I will lift my eyes up whether I can see the mountains or not.
sara

Who says Mennonites can't dance???

It was the afternoon before New Years and all I could think about was what was going to happen in the upcoming hours. I'd heard rumors of dancing, loud music and lots of fireworks. The fireworks I looked forward to, but the dancing, that was where I got a little jittery. That evening our team was invited to two parties. We went to the first house around 7 o'clock, watched some music videos and just enjoyed talking to with the family. The house was warm, decorated with balloons and had two coffee tables full of little snacks. This is the second time our team had been to this apartment and this visit just confirmed that this family was so similar to my own. All the siblings were joking around, laughing and picking on each other (in the most loving of way). It was a relaxed atmosphere, which made everything just feel comfortable. It got to be about 11 pm and we were soon getting our stuff together to head out to our next destination, our landlords apartment. But before we left a few of the kids showed us the traditional Albanian dance. They made it look so easy. I watched them intently, taking any type of mental note that could help me if I was brought into a similar "dance situation." We said our goodbyes "mireupafshims" with hopes of meeting up with a few members of the family later. Off we went and as we walked down the street I started to hear some loud music. As we got closer and closer to our apartment I realized it was coming from our landlords house. Right there and then I knew that this was going to be a very different experience. We walked in and were quickly greeted by the family. I sat down on the couch, had a pretzel, then was coaxed onto the dance floor. Oh my, I've never felt so out of my comfort zone then I did in that very moment. All of us joined hands and did a kind of 4 step move around in the circle. The first person led the line and they held tissue or napkin and twirled it around. I can't quite describe it without actually doing it. So, we danced and danced and danced, and with the occasional 'OPPAH' the clock struck 12. We all ran out to the balcony and began to set off fireworks mostly just little firecrackers. Once the fireworks from our house ended we put on our shoes and sweatshirts and headed out of the center street where tons of larger fireworks were being set off. Everything happened so fast. Fireworks were set off in every directions, little firecrackers blew up on the snow covered ground right next to our feet. It was exciting and scary all at the same time. 12 am turned into 2 and New Years was still going strong. It was a late night, but I don't regret the loss of sleep because it was all worth having great food, fun music and wonderful time spent with our new friends. During this time the team got to really connect with the youth at both houses and I felt like they really helped us to experience a New Years in the Balkans. I'm still not the best dancer but I'm quickly learning some new moves.

Prayer Requests:
Continued prayer for our language classes, our physical health and for building strong and healthy relationships.

-minda