It's Tuesday - 5 Nov.

If I had to choose a day to be sick, I guess this is as good as any.  I think it basically has been raining all day - at least it was raining every time I was conscious... and raining hard, at least it sounded hard.

Yesterday, my throat got sorer and sorer.  I developed a dry cough, and my chest felt tight.  By the time I got home, I took a hot shower, had some hot tea, and went to bed.  This morning, or actually during the night, I woke up with a "sloppy" cold - stuffy/runny nose, tearing eyes, etc.  At least my chest felt better - I must admit that, being the only guest last night made me feel like, if I needed help during the night, it would be hard to find.

There are some things I have neglected to show you and here's one... breakfast for less than $5 - toast, coffee, water, two eggs and bacon.

Ismail Qemali

OK, spent the weekend with Alban and Dori in Vlora; what a beautiful city it is.  We walked and walked; the weather cooperated, and we found Vlora not as smoggy as Tirana.  It has about 80,000 people in the city (about 185,000 in the metropolitan area), sports a Mediterranean climate, and was the city in which the independence of Albania was declared on 28 Nov 1912 by Ismael Qemali Vlora, during the  First Balkan War  - remember?  Last year was the centennial.

Albania's
Betsy Ross - Marigo Posio

It was settled first by the Greeks as a colony along the Illyrian coast in the 6th century BC and was named Aulon (a name still used by Greeks for the city; the Italians call it Valona), and has been continuously inhabited since then... 26 centuries.  WOW!!  It is only 70 nautical miles from Bari, Italy - the closest port - and the mouth of the Bay of Vlora is guarded by the island of Sazan... a naval station at which Dori's father worked.  Sazan was an Italian and German submarine and naval base during WWII, so was extensively bombed by the Allies.  It was liberated by the Partisans under Enver Hoxha in 1944, and the base at Sazan was then leased to the Soviets.  When Albania cut ties with the USSR in 1961, Khrushchev threatened to occupy Vlora, but the Cuban missile crisis interrupted his plan.  However, after Khrushchev invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, Enver Hoxha realized how vulnerable Albania was, and built thousands of concrete bunkers from which to defend the country in case of an invasion by USSR - these bunkers still dot the Albanian countryside even today. 

Can you see Sazan in the distance?

Vlora is surrounded by mountains and forests, olive groves and orange orchards.  A chemical used in tanning (Vloronia) is named after the Italian name for the city - being found in the acorn caps from the forests surrounding the city.

Israelite pasticeri

Vlora became a haven for Sephardic Jews in the 16th century as

The old synagogue

they fled from Spain and Portugal.  There is a synagogue which still stands, but is now "re-purposed," since essentially all the Jews left and headed for Israel after Communism fell.  At least one family has returned, though, and opened a bakery!

The OLD walkway across the marsh

Confessionals in the monastery

Poling and dropping nets,

Grilled ngjala - actually quite good!

We explored an old monastery on an islet in the bay - walking over the marshy water on an rickety old wooden walkway.  It is beautiful - Orthodox, and still used for celebrations and holy days.  It had some icons left, but many had been pillaged.  In the marsh, there were fishermen, fishing for ngjala - eels.    They pole their canoes around the bay, dropping nets.  Then they slap the water and yell to scare the eels into the nets.  When we were finished at the monastery, we went for lunch, and enjoyed some of their catch!

We took afternoon naps, then ate dinner at Kolonet - the Albanian equivalent to McDonald's - you could get whatever you wanted... pizza, chicken wings, slovaki,  hamburgers.

The reception center where they gather at holidays

No prohibitions on images of people

See the money?

Kuzum Baba Vlora

An area to light candles

The next morning, Alban agreed to take me to the local Bektashi administrative building (new) as well as the shrine of the founder of the sect.  By the way, for some reason, green is the color of the Bektashi.  The Bektashi are a Sufist sect of Islam, mystics, and they are centered in Tirana.  It is common for the Sufists to visit the graves of their revered leaders for luck - and leave money or some remembrance.  It says on the entry to the administration center that Kuzum BabaVlora would live eternally as long as people remembered him.  It was especially interesting to me as I have been studying the sufist sects.

Sunni mosque

There is only one Sunni mosque in Vlora, essentially across the street from the synagogue.  It was hard to photograph as it is surrounded by trees.

Monument to the partisans

Every city I have visited also has a monument to the Partisans who died during WWII.  The Partisans fought against Italy and Germany, and were essentially led by Enver Hoxha who later became the Communist dictator.  Virtually every family has someone buried in the monuments - if not father or brother, then an uncle, grandfather or cousin.  So, on Patriots' Day, virtually the whole population goes to these monuments and leaves a memento, remembering the ones who fought the invaders.

All in all, it was a wonderful visit, and I learned a lot.  I enjoyed getting to know Dori's family a little better; how gracious they were to me!

After I returned on Sunday, I met with a couple of friends - as I return to Albania, relationships become deeper and I find my friends and me sharing about family, children, work and all those things that women discuss.  It has really been a blessing to get to know these wonderful ladies a little better - and share our lives with each other.  My friends are such an encouragement to me... they are such mature Christians, listening to our Abba, and I have a lot to learn from them!

Listening intently

The neediest received staples

Also had an opportunity to share again with the ladies, and challenged them to consider CHOOSING Christ, rather than passively accepting their family tradition of Islam/Orthodox/Catholic.  This was the monthly meeting, and there was also a speaker who shared about hypertension.  Afterwards, the neediest received a bag of staples.  One thing that happened, is that I found a Bible study for them from Australia which has been translated into Albanian by a new friend, Teuta.

We've started a new project, which hopefully it will be completed by the time I leave - at least, I hope so!  The women here are eager to work... they just need something to do.  So, let's see what we can do about that.  There may be a Christmas panair (fair, bazaar) here in their future, so you can pray about that.  They only have one month to prepare, but I have some ideas for them.

OK, I'm going to go and take another hot shower - hoping that my plan to visit Durres with one of my friends will not be upset by this blasted virus!!! 

Pafshim!