More Aggressive Generosity

Ahhh, Sundays in Shirgjan (the name of the village where I live).

No official plans today. Last night my home entertained guests: my host sister, her husband, and her 2-year-old daughter, all from Tirana (the capital of Albania); and my sister's husband's parents from Berat, a mid-sized city to the south, about an hour's drive by car. I've read that Berat is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. I hope to make it there sometime.

But I digress. Last night was a prime opportunity for cultural exchange. In most ways, my host family resembles a common USA family. One difference, however, is that after we ate, my 8 dinner guests all broke out into song. I tried to follow along with the melody as best I could, but I sang the words "nuk e di" (Albanian for "I don't know") over and over again. My host sister thought I was funny. I like her.

Last night was tiring, so I was grateful for the chance to sleep in today. My host brother said that there is no expression for "sleeping in" in Albanian, but I think he caught my meaning.

So after a long night's sleep, I lazily wandered into the dining room around 10:30am. In the US on a morning like this one, I probably wouldn't have had any breakfast at all. But refusing food here is exhausting, so I was served this:

A coffee, an orange, a glass of milk, two pieces of salami, a piece of cheese, and three large slices of bread. Also some sweetened condensed milk to spread on the bread. I had not had sweetened condensed milk on bread until coming here, and I like it. I tried to learn the name for "sweetened consensed milk" in Albanian. But they just call it "Panda" (the brand name). So "Panda" it is.

More aggressive generosity this morning from my family. I tried to time it so that I used the rest of a can of Panda on my last slice of bread, such that the can would run out as I took my last bite of bread. I would have pulled it off, if not for my host mother. She spotted the empty can of Panda on the table before me, and she went to the kitchen for a new can. I saw what was happening. "Jo faleminderit" ("No thank you") didn't work. "U ngopa" ("I'm full") had no effect. I cried, "Mjaft! Mjafton!" (I think both mean the word "enough," but I'm not sure when to use each one), to no avail. I was out of tricks. So I was served a new can of Panda for my last slice of bread.

I made sure to drench the bread in Panda. It was sweet, soggy goodness.

I brought in to the dining room a copy of Panorama to read. Panorama, I've learned, is the main newspaper for the country. It looks like this:

Although I can decipher a few words here and there, most of Panorama is still impenetrable to me. But one day, I will be able to read this and know what the heck is going on in this country!

Later after breakfast, my host family went out to their barn, and I had a rare opportunity to take a photo of the dining area, where about 95% of our family time takes place. It looks like this:

Lastly, I found another memento in my stuff that I want to share. This slip of paper was a table topics idea submitted by Luke Roth of American Equity/Eagle Life Insurance. Once upon a time, it was used as a speaking prompt for a 1-2 minute extemporaneous speech during a Toastmasters meeting. After the TM meeting, it was on my desk at work for years, and now it is taped to my water filter in my bedroom. And now you get to read it.

"Bearded Majesty: Awarded to the person with the most luxurious, amazing beard. You know your beard is pretty cool, but it's nowhere near as awesome as Textor's."

:D