Don't count your chickens...

I am an animal lover, and it's a good thing. I live in the capital city of a European nation, and yet I have more farm animal experiences here than I had while I was living in a rural community in Tennessee! Today I saw six dead chickens on the way to school. While that does win the how-many-animals-did-you-see-on-the-way-to-work-this-morning contest, it does not represent the true range of animals I encounter. My favorite is a donkey that pulss a cart driven by a man who looks like a farmer, but must live in the same community as the GDQ School. Moat mornings I see him as I gaze out my thrid story classroom window. Last week, he passed me as I was late getting to school. The clip-clop of the donkey's hooves behind me caused me to turn around and smile. I'm sure the man thought I was crazy for smiling at a donkey, as he drove a medieval cart down Don Bosko Avenue in the midst of modern traffic. I've seen vomiting dogs, cats scrounging through garbage, and a few days ago I saw a mouse crossing the street the same way the Albanians do it- at an all-out run. It was actually kind of cute. The unfortuante ones are the chickens. They are tonight's dinner. Nearly every day I see a man carrying two dead chickens by their feet in his left hand. They hang there, feathers still attached, wings akimbo. One day he had a turkey in his right hand as well. That must have been a special occasion. I'd rather see the befeathered postmortem poultry than the skinned goats hanging out of garbage bags zooming by on mopeds driven by young Ilyrian couriers. On a stranger note, I did see a monkey last Saturday when I was catching the bus to QTU. He was on a leash, climbing all over his owner and up a lamp post. I'm waiting to see a bear on a chain. Not an unusual request in Tirana.

Yesterday on the way home from school I stopped by the grocery store. I bought a box of cereal, 2 yogurts, some cherry juice and a gatorade. It was the first time I'd seen gatorade at this store so I was quite excited. On my short walk home, a littel Roma boy, probably about 3 years old, spotted my grocery bag and grabbed at it, them muimble something and began to walk alongside me. The other people on the street were ignoring him. There were no Roma adults around. He had been dropped off by someone to beg for the day. They would pick him up sometime in the evening. What could I do? I reached inside the bag and handed him the gatorade. He happily put his little hand around it and looked at it for a minute. I'm sure he shared it with his older sister (maybe 6?) and baby brother I had seen further up the street. I felt completely useless to do any more than that. And that's what life is like sometimes. You're just useless. And that's when you realize you've always been useless. Only God can change things. Sometimes He uses us, and that's when we're lucky. ONly God could make use of a useless thing.

Shqiperia!

It's 10:00 a.m. in Albania, but most of the people I know are still in bed- because it's only 4 a.m. for them! I'm six hours ahead of the world I'm used to (or the world is 6 hours behind me now?) I'm in a land where bread is freshly baked every day, where seasonal vegetables are always available in the street-side markets, where the call to prayer can be heard above the city traffic. I'm in Albania!
In the Albanian language, the name of the country is Shqiperia. Don't worry, all you teachers of phonics who may be reading this blog- q is not followed by u in this language. In fact, q makes the /ch/ sound! The language in only one of the fascinating aspects of Albanian culture. The people are very pro-American. As I type this, I'm looking out my window at my neighbor's American flag, waving in the breeze above his grape vines. The even have a street named Rruga George Bush!
I hope that you will be praying for the Albanian people. As I sit in church and look at the older members of the congregation, I can't help but think about the events they have lived through- communism, Enver Hoxha claiming Albania to be the world's first atheist nation, riots, revolutions, coups... and still they are faithful to God. Would I have had the same strength? At the same time, the church is full of young people, teenagers and young adults who will be the leaders in the near future. Pray that they would become mature in their faith and grow closer to Christ every day.
Also be in prayer for the missionaries who work here. There are many difficulties they face. Pray especially for those who are working with the Roma Gypsy people. These are the "lowest of the low" in society. Many morning on my way to school I see Roma children and adults digging through the dumpsters. The children do not attend school. Many mothers sit on the sidewalks holding their infant children, begging for a lek. The weather is getting colder. I hate to think of what the winter will be like for them.
It is a sight my eyes are not accustomed to. I will write more about this precious and very troubled people group later.
Thank you for praying for me. Sometimes I get bored and wish I could go to Mimi's cafe with my friends, but that never lasts too long. There is always something to be done here, even if it is just in my own home (I don't have a dishwasher... I am the dishwasher!)

Till next time,
Shelly in Albania :)