Monday, July 14, 2014

Kledia | Tirana, Albania | Week 8

This week we worked on some more promotion for the volunteering opportunity. We made posters explaining what the program is and we tried to contact different groups that we think would be able to send volunteers. One of the groups we contacted was the American Embassy here in Albania and they were very helpful and included our poster and information in their newsletter. This week we had a lot of translation work to do as well. The Ministry also releases a newsletter in the beginning of the month featuring a city or region in Albania and we translated the newsletter this week. We've also been helping out with organizing an event taking place in the coastal city of Vlora. A French ship is docking there and during its stay they are organizing activities including a day for children. Around 100 children from different orphanages are going to visit the ship and have a chance to learn about it. It's been pretty interesting doing new things.

This weekend we also got the chance to visit the UNESCO protected city Berat --  "a museum city." Berat is a 2000+ year old city that combines different epochs in Albanian history and it has very beautiful architecture. It was a very calm and peaceful weekend and a nice little break from the chaos of the capital. We also noticed a lot of tourists which was great because we are working at the Ministry of Tourism and trying to increase tourism so it was nice to see tourists in action -- even though we were domestic tourists ourselves. One bit of culture shock, I guess I would call it, is that finding a restaurant that serves breakfast is nearly impossible and the only place we found that served breakfast only had omelettes. I really miss big American breakfasts!














1 comment:

  1. Kledia,

    I'm glad that work is still going well. I don't know what they're going to do without you ladies! You seem to be doing a whole lot of really important work. Do you know if they always have English-speaking interns? The children having the opportunity to visit the ship is awesome. They will remember that for the rest of their lives.

    Berat sounds like a nice change of pace. Very fun. Funny you say that about breakfast because almost every other intern in other countries RAVE about the breakfasts there. You should go to I-HOP when you get back, for sure!

    You're more than halfway through. Keep going!

    Best,
    Tammy

    ReplyDelete