A litle bit more...

Here’s a couple of photo’s of some of the craft items we took with us to Albania. There was a whole suitcase full of items and thankfully Esther didn’t have duplicates when we got there. It is possible to get some craft items in Albania, but the choice isn’t as varied as it is here and what is available is quite expensive, so this suitcase load was a real blessing.

Unfortunately, due to our time schedule I was unable to join the ladies on the craft day so I didn’t get to see what they used or made but I know all the items will get put to good use!

There’s also photo’s of a place called Berat. This is the place we usually visit and Esther was able to drive us there. The people there work very hard – life is a hive of activity by 5.30am with people having set up market stalls and the shops are open and customers are busy buying fresh bread!

The market stalls can sell anything from clothes, homewear, trainers, etc all neatly laid out on tables, but a ‘stall’ can also be a sheet laid out on the pavement with someone selling the odd packet of tissues, a comb and maybe even some cigarettes. If it can be sold then it will be and people need to do this to survive. There is a lot of poverty with 80% unemployment and many of the young men in a family chose to go to Greece for work and send money home, which is a shame because it splits families.

However, the families do seem to be quite loyal to each other. I could be wrong here, but from my observation the men seem to go out most of the day – walking; meeting other men; playing chess or drinking coffee. Some men have a small grill by the side of the road and grill sweetcorn to sell – very tasty it is too. And others have a ‘Shoe Shine’ layout. Mike had his shoes cleaned and they were sparkling!!!

The women mostly stay home and cook and clean. Esther teaches English and as I was a “real live English lady” her class interviewed me so they could practice their speech. When I explained, in response to their questions, that I only clean my house once a week and that I am also older than my husband there were squeals of shock.
To clean my house once a week is dreadful (I feel I have to clarify here that I do ‘top and tail’ each day, but only do a major clean on a Saturday!!) and the women were really shocked as they do theirs thoroughly every day!! The nice thing about going into an Albanian house is that it is spotless – the people may not have much at all (some don’t even have running water or a bathroom/toilet) but there is not a speck of dust to be seen and nothing is out of place. When we visited people there we were made so welcome – we felt just like royalty.
Then I am older than Mike. Oooooooo. That caused lots of gasps and giggles!!

We had a great time as we always do when we go to Albania. The Lord blessed us enormously while we were there and we were able to meet up with old friends and find new ones as well. The sky was blue every day, we were woken up by the sound of chickens busy running round their keep, the cat chasing the mice and also able to watch the man from ‘up the road’ take his 8 sheep for a walk twice a day, every day. It was great.