Tomorrow is December! Can that be possible we are nearing the end of 2020? The year no one could have imagined...?
To focus on the positive, here are some memories from this past month via my camera phone...
Earlier this month (obviously, Reni's not wearing a jacket!) -- Reni is playing Connect 4 with one of our neighbor friends. I include this photo because part of changing perspectives is breaking down barriers -- in this case, the perspective of someone living in a chair. Nathan often leaves this chair out and the neighborhood kids (ours included) have taken to sitting in it for fun. Hopefully they learn that chairs are not scary...
Speaking of chairs, the students of VT Albania started meeting in the new building this month! Their first day was quite a celebration for us. It's been a LOT of work to get the building ready. We couldn't do it without the help of dedicated colleagues and friends (who gave up their Sunday afternoon to help us sweep, mop, wash windows, and remove construction debris before Monday's classes)!
Below, you can see one of the students using the elevator for the first time! (In fact, the elevator is so new, the wrapper is still on the walls, as you can see).
What a joy it was to see them navigate the building completely independently! That's something you and I may take for granted... From our dining room window we could see students come up and sit in the sunshine on the rooftop terrace during breaks. What joy! And THANK YOU to everyone who gave to the campaign for the elevator. It's beyond words. What a gift.
VT Albania relies on donations to operate and some of those funds are generated locally at events like quiz nights. We invited some friends to join us for their first quiz night. We thought diversifying our team might help us finish a little higher on the leader board... Not so lucky this time, but we think we might have a better strategy for preparing when quiz nights can resume again (this was before the gathering ban). Not pictured are the Wiersma's who constituted the rest of our team!
Another celebration worthy of note was the arrival of my Mom and sister, Hannah! They are our first guests since Covid arrived in Albania in March. What a sweet infusion of "home" their visit brought! There are no words. I'm pleased to say they arrived and departed and remain healthy!
Grandma brings treats! Those are cereal marshmallows...
Reni is marking his special cereal boxes with his name (so his sister doesn't eat them).
Grandma time means baking!
It also means work! She met with contractors, gave us some needed input on choices for finishing elements, and most importantly, meeting with the staff.
I felt badly that their visit was so packed we ran out of time to celebrate Mom's birthday (her visits are never long enough!), but we did get to go out for lunch one day with the staff, and that was really nice.
We were so pleased that mom and Hannah got to meet the students at VT and give them a personal welcome.
We had hoped that we could have a dedication for the building while Mom was here, but we didn't feel like the timing was right for a variety of reasons. We did invite parents whose children are part of kids club to come for a tour of the building. We took them through in small groups to maintain social distancing.
As the daylight hours have shrunk, it's been so nice to have space inside for recreation! As long as we have ten or less, the ping pong table has been a popular congregation spot.
Mom and Hannah brought their Chosen merch and we got a photo of the matching shirts together. If you haven't seen
The Chosen yet -- or if you're just curious about the phrase "Get used to different" (a quote from episode 7), go check it out! Season 2 is halfway through filming and we can't wait to see what Dallas has got for us next!
What do they say, "All good things must come to an end?" So strange to wait outside the airport for check-in to open! We were just thankful it wasn't raining! And that their flights were not changed or canceled!
On Thanksgiving morning I had a meeting downtown, so Nathan and the kids waited for me in the square. Evidence that 2021 can't get here soon enough for some folks -- the city of Tirana put up their tree before Albanian Independence day (November 28)!
If you have to wear a mask, you might as well express yourself... including your interest in puns.
Her mask reads, "These are difficult times" and contains images of some rather unusual key signatures.
We didn't get any photos with our holiday lunch guests (Pam and Tiffany), but we did manage this one before bed on Thanksgiving...
On the day after Thanksgiving, we met up at the big park in Tirana and walked around the lake for our first 5K. We were pleased to have some friends join us! This was another fundraiser for VT. Check out the hashtag #VTWalkRunRoll for more fun pics from the virtual event!
Reni chose his outfit for the occasion several days in advance.
He also was the first Waggoner to reach the end of the course... one of the reasons being that Ellie and her buddy got sidetracked and slipped away to play at a playground midway 'for a rest.' Her dad and I didn't appreciate the delay and extra steps to backtrack and locate them, ha ha. But we were glad they were fine. This enthusiastic start (below) might be part of the reason why they got tired mid-race. :-)
Afterwards, Reni talked his way into a brownie and ice cream. :-)
So our conversion of the 'old center' into a space for hosting volunteers and guests primarily consisted of splitting the former meeting room into two bedrooms (pretty straight forward). But we felt we also needed a second bathroom. We split the former bathroom in half and now have two toilets and two showers with a narrow hallway and sink in between. For the sake of space we decided that sliding doors were the best option. When the estimate for the doors came back with an alarmingly high price, Nathan insisted he could build them cheaper himself. So far, they are about a quarter of the price had we paid to have them made for us.
I was skeptical that Nathan could make something I would be happy with given the materials available, but he's proving me wrong! They are just taking a lot longer to complete given our schedule... and our need to make return trips to the hardware store for extras like more paint and caulk. We are thankful for Luli's help (above)! In the mean time, we continue to use shower curtains for privacy. If you are coming to visit us, I promise these doors will be finished before you arrive! lol
When the government instituted another ban on gatherings on November 16, we decided to take our children's program to the kids rather than go on indefinite hiatus! The lack of home internet for most of them means that video lessons are not very practical. I enjoyed going with Eda to deliver our weekly activity packets with the lesson, questions and an activity! We also bring packaged treats and prizes for those who turn in their completed worksheet! It's a bit confusing to interpret the rules since schools continue to meet in person (and have classrooms with more than ten students gathered), but we're trying to obey the law as it is written. The fine is 1000 euro plus 30 euro per person.
Here, we stop at a home and V proudly shows off her completed lesson.
Soon, no more walking over boards and plywood to enter the new building! Saturday they poured the sidewalks!
Check that out (below)! NO STEPS! :-) I can't even begin to explain how unusual that is here... May we never take it for granted.
Finally, the kids were thrilled to pull out the Christmas decorations over the weekend. Thankful for the hope and beauty of Christmas. What a comfort...
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