My Albania

(For those of you reading this post by e-mail, click here to view the video embedded above)

Albania released this promotional video yesterday in attempts to draw tourism here.

I just wrote on Facebook, "We leave for America in a little over 48 hours and this video already makes me homesick for Albania..."

We have been blessed to have visited nearly all of the places featured in the video (some more than others -- it is a very small country, but some places are harder to reach)!  We recognized Berat, Gjirokaster, Kruje, Valbona, Benje, Shkoder, to name a few (was that canyon Skrapari? We haven't been there yet)!  We love exploring this land though finding the time to do so seems more difficult than navigating the roads!

I love the kids in costume, and recognized some of the subtle differences based on origin/geography.   Nathan loves the children engaged in traditional games we see regularly played outside our windows.

Also, the first stone-arched bridge IS as scary to cross as it looks in the video, especially when you see rushing water below you!

In the beginning of the song, the girl sings about a lahuta (sp?), and briefly you see a toddler boy pulling a bow over an instrument, but you only get a glimpse of the top portion of it.  That was a lahuta.  It's an instrument of which I was unfamiliar until recently.  I can thank my daughter for introducing me to it this spring!  Ellie is interested in all stringed instruments, but particularly those indigenous to Albania.  She has acquired a çifteli, and then this spring, we purchased a lahute.  The instrument (not the one we purchased) dates back to Illyrian times (about 2000 years ago)!  If you see us this summer, Nathan hopes that we can have it displayed on our information table!  It's a gorgeous piece of craftsmanship, carved from a single piece of mulberry wood, that will likely spend more time hanging on a wall than sitting in Ellie's hands...

To be sure, not all of Albania is as picturesque as the video portrays, but she does have a beautiful people, stunning landscape, and unique culture.  Lately we have heard some Albanians express concern that the traditions and qualities that make Albania unique are slipping away.  I noticed how many of the kids were portrayed in activities like spinning wool, weaving carpets, churning butter, stacking hay, and drawing water,  Many of these activities continue today, albeit in more contemporary clothing than depicted in the video!  We are trying to soak up as much as we can about the land and people we are here to serve and feel blessed that Ellie and Reni get to know and appreciate their culture first hand. We hope they will grow up to be proud of their Albanian heritage!