Albania's Greener Grass

It is often said that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. When we take saying and apply it to home-ownership, or dweller occupancy, it takes on a possibly literal interpretation. The paradox is supposed to be that no matter what side of the fence you’re on, the other side somehow seems to be better - greener. However, we can use our metacognitive powers to realize that if we were on the other side of the fence, then we are currently on the better side, the greener side. This mental perspective-switching is not a hard feat to pull off, and is really just a realignment of perceptions, where we place ourselves in a position to appreciate our current reality rather than covet thy neighbor’s yard - or whatever.

I bring our attention back to a literal interpretation of this saying, where my current apartment dwellership means that my (former) house back in Sacramento has the greener grass.  Even if there is no green grass and only weeds, it would win by default because my apartment is fully lacking the quality of any growing thing. It is lacking a yard all together and even direct sun in the winter since it faces North, so there’s probably no hope of adorning my living space with anything living besides myself. But, if I use those metacognitive powers and stray from the literal interpretation of the saying, there are some, and one particular, benefits to my current living situation - I can’t just write it out quickly though, I’ll have to explain it.

Front Yard - Mike's Sacrament House

When I had my house in Sacramento, it was at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in an inactive neighborhood filled with diverse neighbors and a bunch of old ladies.  When I first moved into my house, I was so comforted by the ambiance of the listless neighborhood and the out of the way nature of my house that I wouldn't even lock my truck door. I did have a motion light though, and more for exercise than concern, whenever the light went off due to a cat or blowing leaf, I would get up and peer out the window to see what’s-what. One time it was a man opening the door to my truck. Wisely, I opened my front door and give chase in house clothes and socks. As I chased after the man, I was informed that I was going to be stabbed, at which time I reevaluated what I would do if I caught this man and gave up my chase in favor of a cell phone with 911 access and a compensatingly large, big black Maglite.

Back Yard - Mike's Sacramento House

For the rest of my years in that house, whenever I would wake up in the night, I would perform what I called security checks.  Not really for any reason other than I was up, but also just to see if, on the off chance, I’d get lucky enough to stop someone from doing something that they shouldn’t.

Now I live in Albania in an apartment on the 6th floor.  I have an equivalent of the chain on my door like hotels use, so even when the maid has a key she can’t come in the room uninvited. Having this device on the front door to my apartment means I can hear loud noises, but that I never have the urge to get up and see what it is. There are no security checks for me in Albania because everything I have or is under my domain of responsibility is behind a door, which has security features that would take an amount of noise that would direct my attention to what was happening before it happened.

So that’s my greener grass for right now - metacognitive powers in play.  Maybe if I make it back to California, and the drought has run it’s course, I’ll be able to again have a yard filled with even greener grass that I will of course check on each night whenever I wake up and perform my security checks.

Visual Analysis - Teaching Peace: 50 Years of Hard Work

Commemorative Print - Shepard Fairey (2011)

Inspiration photo of PCV Catrin Martin, Senegal, 2009

Teaching Peace: 50 Years of Hard Work

By Michael D. Winans

On March first, 1961, John F. Kennedy signed “Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps” (1). 50 years later, Shepard Fairey would produce a print to commemorate that act, supporting 200,000 Peace Corps volunteers who have served in 139 countries - one of which was his sister who served in Togo ( Peace Corps, “50th Anniversary”). The commemorative print depicts a white Caitrin Martin, a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) who served in Senegal (Peace Corps, “Caitrin Martin”), and a black boy in the thick of crops looking deeply into a flower cupped by the PCV. The flower’s petals surround a peace sign, that radiates a yellow sunburst. The background contains three cultivated fields of crops before the eyes meet a tri-peaked mountain. The image is flanked on all sides by thick line of a muted orange, which at the bottom is also used to form the words “Peace Corps” separated by Peace Corps logo in yellow and muted black (Fairey). This image depicts that peace needs to be primary in our lives and be taught, understood, and accepted if we are to progress and attained mutual respect across cultures, races, and genders, and that Peace Corps is doing the hard work to further this idea in developing countries.

As the woman and boy are looking deep into a flower, the flower is radiating its yellow light onto everything that is living - the humans and the plants. In this way, peace is represented in place of the sun where it is a primary need in our lives, but unlike the sun that hangs in the sky, unconcerned with what is happening on earth, peace is represented by a flower.  It is delicate, and precious but can also create an environment where life can thrive.

Several binaries exist in the image since binaries are a simplified representation of social thinking. These binaries help to show our starting point, and then hard work needs to work, to progress, away from this point and attain mutual respect across cultures, races, and genders in pursuit of development. The first obvious binary is male-female, with the female in the traditional role of teacher. There is also the binary with the white volunteer who is showing the flower to the black boy who has his hand on his chin, depicting genuine interest. This racial binary is built atop perceived cultural and developmental differences: North-South gap, first-third world, developed-undeveloped, or even civilised-uncivilised.  It seems, in an effort to move past neo-colonialism, we are sending our men and women out to these developing countries to help them and teach them about this novel new concept of peace. Lastly, it invokes the us-them binary, one seems to support the Peace Corps’ model and may become a new starting point for progress in the future.

The image tries to show that education is also key to the Peace Corps. The PCV is showing the boy something, he is genuinely interested in what she is saying. It seems that despite contradictions of the Peace Corps, their mission and volunteers are on the ground doing the hard work of educating about development with a message of peace. These two people are in a field, learning together in isolation. In the role of teacher, she is educating the boy, not just about development, but also about herself because the boy has to first respect her and her situation before he is willing to be engaged and taught. She is also wearing a bandana which is used functionally to keep the sweat from your eye during, and representative of, hard work. Bandana on, like Rosie the Riveter before her, she is ready to do the hard work required to get the job done.  Teaching peace and development so that it is understood and accepted and the global community can progress together.

This image is very powerful in the way it represents so many important themes for the Peace Corps.  The yellow that is depicted as a sunburst from the center of a flower represents peace as a life-sustaining need. The powerful binaries that contrast difference also work to represent the point from which progress is moving. Finally, education is key. It is only when we understand that peace is primary in life, that we are able to mutually respect one-another and value our differences. Education can be the catalyst for this understanding and the Peace Corps’ 200,000 volunteers have been on the ground in 139 countries, bandanas on, ready to do this hard work.

Works Cited

Fairey, Shepard. 50 Years of the Peace Corps. 2011. Silk-screened print on French Cream

Speckletone paper.

Kennedy, John. “Establishment of the Peace Corps.” Executive Order 10924 of March 1, 1961.

Print.

Peace Corps. Peace Corps Releases 50th Anniversary Commemorative Print. 2011. Web.

http://www.peacecorps.gov/media/forpress/press/1729/  

Peace Corps. Caitrin Martin in Senegal. 2009. Digital Photography.

I've Been Teaching + Apt. Photos

This key hurts in the pocket.

So we're on a five-week break from the monotony of training, and we'll go back to a two-week super-session where the PC volunteers will get all they need to know to be successful for the next two years.  During this five-week break, we're to figure out what we would like to do where we're placed, and I wanna teach.  As if those of you who know me would think any differently.  Teaching is draining and you spend many hours away from the classroom grading - sometimes spending seemingly more time grading or giving feedback that the student originally put into whatever you're looking at.  That said, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I just want to teach.

I quit my teaching job at California State University, Sacramento, so that I could join the Peace Corps and teach. So, during this five-week period where we're supposed to integrate and develop relationships with our counterparts and other community members, I'm teaching. I have taught seven classes so far and it's really been a good time.  The students are interested and mostly engaged - there's a gender break-down in engagement here in Albania where women make up the vast majority of attendees at the university.

I just realized, this blog post has not been cohesive. I would demand (from a student) revision and some idea logical flow of ideas - how is this a good text? With that said, here are some pictures of my apartment and more views from my balcony!

Serving in Times of Hardship

Me with my host gma and gpa in Elbasan

What good is a blog that is never updated… I ask myself as each day passes, and my blog becomes more of an artifact than a living document that portrays my journey through the Peace Corps.  However, here I sit in the same apartment, at the same desk, and at the same computer (hopefully) which will serve as my physical setting for the next two years as I update this blog.

Since I do not have access to the Internet at the moment, I have to try and remember what my last blog post was about and have so far been unsuccessful. But, I can tell you what has been new and exciting that I don’t remember posting yet - Reader’s Digest version.

I have finished my language assessment and have met the minimum standards, which is Intermediate-low.  Now that I’m here with just the selected remnants of the original group - namely Bill and John - I hope to have real opportunities to develop my Shqip (the Albanian language, pronounced Ship or Sheep - I think).

Peace Corps Albania - Group 18 Swear-in.  Elbasan, Albania

I have sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. We almost all made it, except one.  That was Monday, Tuesday we went to the coast, Durres, where we stayed at a half-decent resort where only the bravest, including me, jumped into the pool despite the cool temperatures and wind.  None though as brave as me, who jumped in with my phone, which I’m sorry to say didn’t make it.  

Photo of Elbasan - in front of Castle

Around noon on Tuesday, John and I headed back to Elbasan, and John’s counterpart showed me where my apartment building is located.  Let me just preface my whole experience here in Albania, and the following description of my apartment, by stating one of the core expectations of Peace Corps: Serve in times of hardship. To which I say, accepted!

View from my apartment - night

View from my apartment - day

My apartment is on the 6th floor of a newly constructed high rise building.  I don’t have much here, but I do have a two-bedroom place with a balcony that overlooks all of Elbasan out to the cliffs and mountains. It came with a sparse selection of dishes - 3 bowls, 2 forks, 2 glasses, 1 knife, and 3 spoons. I have a queen-size bed in my room and two twin-beds in the spare bedroom. I have a bathroom with a western style toilet, bidet, and hot water heater.  There is also a washer in-unit.  Now for the hardships, my fridge is rather loud and woke me up twice last night. There’s no shower curtain. The elevator is slow. The water supply to the washer leaks (but there’s a drain, so I don’t have to do anything about it). But again, I agreed to serve in times of hardship, so I’m going to get the landlord to fix these things and move on to the good work of the Peace Corps.  

Site Assignments

This week site announcements came out.  I will be (stuck) with Bill (his blog) for the next two years in Elbasan. Also, John will also be here with us for the next two years (See the picture of the three of us below). Elbasan is the city that I've been in since I arrived in Albania, and so I already know that it's a wonderful city, in a bright green cultivated valley, surrounded by terraced hills and mountains.

They kept everybody wait for some time the day these announcements were handed out. They decided to hand them out in the afternoon. They had stacks of white envelops with our names and sites.  They called you up to pick up your envelope, and you knew then and there were you were going to live for the next two years.  In your envelope, there was a description of your position and the contact information for your counterpart.

I will be a University English Professor at Aleksander Xhuvani University. I will get the opportunity to teach several subjects:

-American Studies
-American Literature
-SLA Research
-Composition
-Reading
-Listening and Speaking
-Presentation & Pronunciation
-Sociolinguistics

I am looking forward to building my CV and enjoying the recursive processes of teaching and learning.

The Up-side to Two Showers a Week

So there is an up-side to taking only two showers a week.  I wouldn’t at first think this is the case since a am a shower-everyday kind of guy, but after three weeks and six showers, I have found something out.  When I realized that there was this hidden up-side, I thought about what the obvious up-side would be, and I came up with saving money on soap. Yes!  It is true; you do save money on soap. In fact, the only brand I know that is available in Albania is Dove and it’s only 50 cents a bar (and not that super-hetero, grey box manly Dove either).  On a side note, I also use Dove antiperspirant (women’s) since they only really have a selection of spray and pump deodorants. And NO! You do not save money on soap because you are spending that money that would have gone to soap on baby-wipes since this is what you use to clean yourself on non-shower days.

So what then is the up-side? It is that you feel incredible, deep-down clean after a shower.  It’s the feeling that every part of you is clean and there is that baby power smell that reminds you that you’ve been reduced to wipey-showers.  So pure and clean - that’s the up-side to two showers a week.

Also, here's a pile of 50 chicken heads - ENJOY!

A Day at the Beach, is a Beach.

Currently I'm in PST - which is pre-service training, so there aren't many fun and interesting things to write about. This weekend however, we set off to different locations around the country to meet with a current PCV.  I went to Durres, which is an ancient port city, aka the beach.  It really isn't warm enough to go to the beach, but it's the 2nd largest city in Albania, and I was looking forward to getting out of the small town for a bit and into a big city.

It has rained almost non-stop since we've gotten here.  The first day we went on a tour of the archaeological museum, which was filled with artifacts that have been found here in Durres.  We also saw the ruins of a marketplace in the center of town and and amphitheater, which is proposed to be the most endangered ancient site.

The next day we went out for Pizza - my first of many in Albania, I'm told.  We then went to a really fancy coffee place where the prices were 3x the normal.  Normal is 50 Leke, and these were 150 Leke - at 130 Leke to $1, that's highway robbery.  I didn't get a drink, just took some photos of the others and theirs.

After that we went to watch a Roma band play some classical music - they were practicing for their performance at the Model UN, which will be held in Durres next week.  They were quite good.

Then we made our ways back to the same place we had lunch to have dinner with some other volunteers and their visitors from my group. While we were in the restaurant, the brute force of the storm that had been peeing down on us all day hit with force. The down pours were peppered (or salted) with pea-sized hail and continued until we gave up on it giving up and left in the flooded streets.  The streets continued to flood even more the closer we got to my hosts apartment, except one random dry street, and we hit water that was at times knee deep on the sidewalk. It was not fun, but the worst experiences are the best stories.