Toilet Paper, Peanut Butter, and Yarn

We had our first "technical" day today (I'm not sure if that's the right word). This means we had our first weekday respite from language classes. Consensus was that this was a good thing.

We had a team of Peace Corps associates visit our classroom for the entire day today. We received instruction on teaching language arts skills to Albanian students. It looked like this:

The presenter in green is named Kelli. She's from A19 (the 19th Peace Corps group assigned to Albania). I am in group A21. So Kelli is about a year into her PC service. I'm always heartened when I see volunteers who have been here in the country for months or years and seem to be healthy and functioning. When my hiking group found and explored a cemetery about 2 weeks ago, I joked that the cemetery's occupants were the members of A19 and A20. I'm glad to be proven wrong.

I'm gradually becoming more aware of some elements of Peace Corps culture. The PC presenters in training gave us each a roll of toilet paper today. Why? Just cuz.

(They knew we'd like it.)

At hub day in Elbasan last Monday, PC gave us each some little cups of peanut butter. You can find peanut butter here in Albania, but it is pricey so we don't get it very often. Here is Sarah's peanut butter, for reference:

They knew we'd like peanut butter, too. They know us so well.

In addition to learning of volunteers' widespread love of toilet paper and peanut butter, I've learned about the Peace Corps thread. It's a piece of yarn that volunteers tie to their suitcases or travel bags. It symbolizes the traveling that strings together volunteers across the world (it was explained to me more eloquently than that, but I hope my meaning is clear).

Here's the Peace Corps logo on my keychain. Më pëlqen. (I like it.)

I like the fact that, by joining Peace Corps, I'm connecting myself with something much larger than my previous experience. In its 56-year history, over 220,000 people have been PC volunteers. I eat up all the stuff I'm told about the history of Peace Corps: its founding by JFK, its mission and purpose, and so on. Many people have done more than one Peace Corps assignment in their lives. We have one such volunteer in my group in Kuqan, actually.

PROFILES IN A21: MICHELLE

Me: "Michelle, I want to be you when I grow up."

Michelle: "You want to be a warrior princess?"

Michelle is a bad ass. This is her second time doing the Peace Corps thing. About 25 years ago, Michelle did PC in Thailand. This was before Wi-Fi and email and other amenities. It sounds rougher than Albania, and Albania isn't easy. After Thailand, Michelle raised 7 kids in Nevada. She's taught at a university and kickboxed and used to be into bodybuilding. In short, she's the real deal and I'm so glad she's my motër (sister).