Mudslide...road closed

A small town near Tirana, Ibe, that I travel through to visit one of the orphanages in Elbasan has suffered a serious mudslide. Actually, there is new road construction in the area and either the entire road collapsed, or the mountain was not shored up. Either way the road is closed.  I forgot to mention, this is our "torrential rain season in Albania"..for December the rainfall average is ~6".

The interesting part about all of this are the options that are in place to travel to Elbasan.

• The first option is to drive to the coast, and enter Elbasan through old, narrow highways from the east. It is 120km vs 45 km...google maps says 1 hour 40 minutes...add several hours to that figure.
• The second option is to take a small commuter van up to one side of the mudslide/debris...walk for about 5 minutes through the path that has been made, and get on another commuter van and continue to your destination.  I have a friend that was told..."this detour trip increased my prayer life."
• The third option....do not travel to Elbasan until the road is open...maybe sometime in January.  (the year was not specified).

Always an adventure....!

Miracle in Tirana....!

While I was in the US, I ordered some new long sleeve t-shirts to replace the 6 year old shirts I was using.  One color, a forrest/teal green, I splashed with grease...two huge spots right on the front.  I tried everything I could think of...to get the stains out.  This shirt had become a favorite...and now I had ruined it even before getting back home to Tirana.  I decided to take the shirt with me...I could still wear it under a sweater or if I had a really messy job to do...it was already stained. 

BUT....!

A friend from Portugal once told me that Fairy liquid dish soap gets every stain out.  Even if it left a white spot on my shirt...I had to try.

The stains are gone...completely. After 4-5 washings in the US with all the "best products"...the everyday dish soap, Fairy Liquid, did the job.

Now...I have my favorite shirt to wear again...!

IKEA..."meatballs' in Greece

Many times since I have moved to the mission field, I have heard about the shopping adventure at IKEA.  I have owned some furniture from IKEA...that comes apart and goes back together easily for moving...which is the nature of life on the mission field.  The only problem was...the stores were not located in Kosova or Albania. Recently, I was driving back to Tirana, and stopped at a new IKEA store in Ioannina, Greece.

Wow, it is a huge collection of "everything" you could ever imagine, and have never thought of before for your home. (and a lot of things you really can live without!) There are arrows to direct you through the store...so you have to experience and see every department...even if you are only looking for a few specific items.  I got lost a few times...the signs were in Greek, of course, but never felt like I would still be in the store come closing time.  IKEA workers were everywhere and very helpful.

Of course, before I went there, 2 different people on 2 different continents asked me about the IKEA meatballs.  I was looking for a down comforter and floor lamp...what are you talking about "meatballs?"  Some friends who frequent IKEA told me that the meatballs were in fact really good...be sure to get the sauce and the jam with them.  WHAT....?

So...after I finished shopping, put my purchases in my car...I went back in the store to experience the "meatballs"...complete with sauce and jam.  They were really good, sorry no photos of me enjoying the food.  I did however purchase 2 bags of frozen meatballs, some packages of sauce and a jar of jam to have when I returned home in Tirana.  I plan to invite a friend who had never been to IKEA, and thought the "meatballs" were only an urban legend...over for dinner.

Now I can mark this off of my "bucket list"....who would have thought that really yummy meatballs were in the same store with really cool home furnishings...?!

Automobile visa required in Greece...???

I was traveling to Corfu, Greece today, when I was met with a new and interesting requirement for international travel.  There was not a "visa stamp in my passport for my car".  Being an American citizen I did not require a "visa" stamp for myself, just a stamp for my car from when I visited Greece back in October 2013.  I had the international car registration papers, international insurance papers with me...but did not have a stamp in my passport for my "car" from my previous visit.  I was able to prove that I entered and exited Greece in 2013, but did not have any documents for my car.  I had never heard of this before. 

After 45 minutes of discussion and trying to understand the situation, I provided my Albanian residency documents and my business card from ABC Health Center, and the border police finally allowed me to enter Greece.  

Yes, I now have a document for my car, and I will make certain that I obtain the correct stamp when I return to Albania in 8 days.  

Each time I cross an international border, I am not sure what to expect...it is always an adventure!

One more thing:  my car was thoroughly searched again today as I was leaving Albania...everything taken out, all panels inspected, all compartments, every nook and cranny...but the guard never opened my suitcase. I so can't figure this out...why I am pulled aside to have my car searched...and the BMW and Mercedes go right on through...???  Am I being "profiled...?" 

Multi-cultural appliances...

I recently needed to replace one of my room fans...and to my surprise this fan had a lot of international connections.

As you can see, the brand name is German.

The box is in English.

Made in China.

Directions in Greek, all of them...except for the safety precautions...which were in English. (note: the safety precautions were not for this appliance...a fan, but were for use of an iron.  i.e. don't let children touch the iron when it is hot, etc)

Luckily, I have put this type of fan together before...and the pictures, well...pictures work in any language.

Going home from Vajta....

The Foundations conference ended on Friday, June 20th, and at 6am on Saturday morning the four of us, Lirak, Suela, Urim and I were once again on the road...headed back to Kosova.  (I would drive back to Tirana on Sunday...)  There was not one single "car search" at any border...in total, all 4 border crossings took a total of 45 minutes...combined.  Like wow...is that some kind of a record...???  Not one person even asked us if we had anything to declare.

I was very nervous as we approached the Gjilan, Kosova border crossing. A week earlier, Suela and I were not allowed into Serbia at this border...would they let us out of Serbia at this same crossing???  What if they separated us again...allowing the "boys" to cross and making Suela and I drive to Macedonia? I was too tired to add another 4 hours to our trip, Suela does not drive.

But GOD...!

We crossed without any incident...!  What a relief...!  

The return trip took us 13 hours total driving time...including borders and a sit down meal for about an hour.  We arrived at Lirak's apartment at 7pm.    

20 hours to get to Vajta...13 hours to get back home.  Hmmmm....???

I much prefer the shorter version. I can't really explain the 7 hour difference covering the same distance...but if you are driving in eastern Europe...don't count on the time that "google maps" tells you the trip will take...

Searched....! TWICE...!

On our way to Vajta, Hungary, to attend the Foundations conference at CCBCE, Suela and I had to cross into Serbia via the Macedonian border.  That was not in our plans.  Neither was the 40  minute, total car search by the 5 Macedonian border patrol men.  They pulled us out of the line to cross the border, and I thought why us?  Did Suela and I look suspicious?  Did they see an older model Toyota Yaris and think...."drug/gun smugglers"?  We drove into a special building that had a long pit, deep enough for men to stand under the car...it seemed too wide for my little car to drive over without falling in.

Everything was removed from the car...and every panel, every nook and cranny, even the gas tank was inspected. They used a small micro camera and looked into everything. They were nice...asked us where we were going, we showed them the map, they asked us about our faith...they joked around with my "mace spray" they found in the glove box.  We had the "boys" luggage with us, but they didn't seem concerned.  At one point I asked them, "why did you pull us out of line".  All I was told is that I ask too many questions...then another border guard told me that they had to search 15 cars a day.  They put everything back in place...and sent us on our way.  (We were leaving Macedonia when this search occurred...would we be searched again in 50 yards trying to go into Serbia)  Thankfully no...!  ;-)

Then, after crossing the entire length of Serbia, as we were leaving to cross the border into Hungary...we were once again pulled out of the line and the car was searched.  35 minutes by 4 border patrol. They were not so nice or careful...they kind of just threw our stuff around, and insisted that we watch what they were doing. Again, the gas tank was inspected...this seemed really strange to me.  

Later, as we were finally in Hungary, and back on the road to Vajta...after taking one full hour to get across the border after being searched...we talked about why my little Toyota was searched TWICE!  

It had Albanian license plates....and there has been a lot of drug trafficking from Albania...in fact the borders where we were searched have stopped many large shipments of drugs and guns.  

Now I know what "profiling" is all about.  I am thankful that these men are doing their jobs...and I was purposeful to thank tell them so...even though I was tired of being searched.  Lirak thought we should tell them that we had already been searched...and that would give us a "pass"....probably make them more determined to "detain us".  

It is always an adventure to drive through eastern Europe...you never know what will happen at the border crossings.