Friday night

Hello everyone!
I'm sorry that due to a late night (and early morning tomorrow), we're not going to have time to post photos. I will still give a quick recap of today.

We were to be making a trip to the airport early this afternoon, but plans changed when we learned that Nathan's parents itinerary was undergoing major changes. We were a bit in limbo, waiting for a phone call to see how the day would unfold so we found a place for Nathan to get his hair cut (he got first rate treatment and his new 'do looks great). Then we set out to find Altin's law office as he might be helping us with our appearance before the judge on Wednesday. It's not necessary that we have an attorney, but we value his experience and feel that his presence might be helpful for some of the requests we want to make regarding our timeline. We couldn't reach him by phone but we had a general idea where it might be. It felt a little bit like the Amazing Race as we entered office buildings and searched directories (if the building had one) for his name. We were quite pleased for ourselves when we did find it, even though he wasn't in.

We had "coffee" at a cafe` to cool off after our walking and then came back home for lunch and a little bit of housekeeping. Nathan and I eventually made it back to Altin's to deliver our documents for his review. On our way back we picked up a watermelon and stopped by an artist's gallery to look at some paintings of Albania. The prices are more than we can afford, but it was still fun. It makes me appreciate the painting I bought here in 2003 at 10% of today's prices!

When we came home we made an impulsive decision to walk over to the cinema at the Sheraton Hotel. When I say "cinema" it's more like two private movie galleries each with about 20 velvet reclinders in small rooms. It was very cool to say the least. Unfortunately within a few short minutes we realized that the film wasn't appropriate for Ellie, so we didn't stay, but it was still neat to see something else to do here in the neighborhood. We just need to see if they have a website with their films and movie times so we can plan ahead better!

We stopped at a restaurant near the park for pizza and then swung by Vera's shop to say "hi". She was across the street at a cafe having 'coffee' with her friend and they invited us to join. Ellie was in a good mood eagerly learning some new Albanian words that Vera wanted to teach her and Vera's friend was very nice and spoke English so we enjoyed visiting with her too.

Now we're back on the 4th floor (Mom's place) and find ourselves without a cord to dump photos from our camera. It's too hot to run downstairs and back up so we're going to post this quick word, then jump in the showers and head to bed. According to the inside thermometer, it is 90 degrees sitting here at the computer even though it is 9:15PM. We are waiting for a technician to call us back to get the wireless router working, and then we will be able to do this from an airconditioned room!

Tomorrow morning we have an early departure for the village. We have an appointment at Demir's and Fatmira's home and I can't wait for them to meet Ellie.

Nathan's parents weren't able to make it into Tirana tonight, so we will be picking them up tomorrow night. We can't wait to show them around Tirana after church on Sunday, and for them to meet DR on Monday!

Pictures soon we promise!