Why all the hype about futbol this month? Well, we wrapped up a spring training season for KF Jeta, Albania qualified for the EuroCup for only the second time in history, a photo of Reni in Albania's soccer jersey went viral (and was reposted by a handful of members from Albania's national team), and we hosted an Argentine youth futbol coach from St. Louis! Read on...
Week 1
I pulled out the umbrella lights and photographed members of the team, including this guy -- my favorite! :-)
Below, we had coffee with these teammates before they headed to S. America for the summer...
Below, I took a walk with some friends one June morning before the summer heat really turned up! It was a great time in a new-to-me neighborhood!
Our cooking club made lava cake!!
Nathan, Luli, Reni and Luis drove down to Permet and fulfilled Luli's long-time desire to whitewater raft the Vjosa River. They had a great time!
Celebrating one of many birthdays with the ladies from the gym!
Week 2
We celebrated two kids' birthdays with a hike to a waterfall and lunch in a new-to-us village behind Mt. Dajti. The countryside was lush and full of beautiful flowering plants!
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| the village of Shenmari (St. Mary) |
We were pleased to host Emily and Brittany for a week from PA!
They were great sports, playing with the village kids, helping out where needed.
Below, the Handwork family returned to Albania for the summer!
So many people coming... others going. Including our long-time colleague, Tiffany. The ladies from the gym class threw her a party after her last work-out class. We danced on the rooftop terrace and enjoyed sweet treats.
The Handworks moved into a village rental house, which was lacking a few necessities. Below, the boys chill while Mom shops.
Then Ellie turned 19!! Unbelievable!
We celebrated with a birthday breakfast of waffles.
Below, Nathan prays a blessing over Ellie.
Later that day we treated her to her favorite dessert place in Tirana. This was next door...
After church on Friday evening the Vlashaj women went to eat supper to celebrate Tiffany. It was a beautiful dinner at a newish restaurant near our village.
The antipasta platter below included kos (yogurt), olives, cornbread, spinach byrek, fresh cheese, and fergese (ricotta cheese with pickled peppers and tomatoes).
Week 3
On Sunday we got to welcome long-awaited visitors, Adriel and Noe!
We ALSO had a very brief visit from our dear friends, the George family, who came through Albania after visiting Kosova! SO sweet to have friends like these and pick up from our last visit with them in GA, where they now minister!
Monday afternoon: soccer school! Adriel had fun new drills!
Tuesday we did a "field trip" to some historic sites in Shkoder with local peers the same age as our guest, Noe. It was part of a "cultural exchange" project.
Their visit included the former interrogation and imprisonment site of religious leaders under the former system.
While Nathan was hosting the middle-school 'field trip', I chauffered some of the VT Students for a day trip to a local shopping mall! You wouldn't imagine how entertaining it could be to window shop! We ended our browsing with ice cream cones!
Albania played Italy, Croatia, and Spain in the Euro Cup so of course we watched the games at Jeta! Albania did quite well, keeping their opponents' scores low, and holding their own!
Thursday we had an "Olympics" theme day at VT... We had so many photos from this day, but I'll just include this one action shot. We also had boxing, soccer, archery, sharpshooting (with Nerf), and track and field!
Complete with a medals ceremony!
Of course, Nathan was happy to provide snow cone treats to celebrate that all of us are victors!
Friday morning cultural learning continued when we took our visitors to a MASSIVE underground bunker system built for the former government. On a hot day, traversing tunnels under the earth is one way to avoid the heat!
This photo below describes well how we feel going anywhere in the summertime. All the traffic makes moving slow.
We stopped for lunch at the stadium where the national team plays and Reni could not resist purchasing this limited edition Euro-cup warm-up jersey worn by the Albanian team. As soon as he stepped outside, he immediately changed into it!
Little did we know what would happen as a result of wearing this shirt! A few minutes later, his image would be captured by a journalist. It was seen and shared on a news satire site with the caption "The Most Beautiful Fan in the World." Then shared again (I liked the caption of this one -- though how they learned these details about the subject, we don't know). And then... it went viral.
Another post (click here) has more than 60,000 likes and 350 comments! The comments are mostly positive and evoked similar reactions -- that like Reni, the Albanian futbol team could overcome difficult odds and inspire those around them.
Saturday, after a morning of kids ministry and an afternoon of soccer scrimmages for the futbol students, the Artonis treated all of us to an evening meal of pizza and empanadas (Adriel himself is Argentinian). I love that we can just pull the furniture outside and eat
Week 4
After an exciting weekend that included hearing from Albanian friends scattered around the globe who had seen Reni's photo on various social media sites, we got to meet the journalist who first captured his image. It was interesting to learn that he hails from the border of Kosova and many of the folks he grew up with had lost limbs from IEDs planted by the Serbs along the border.
On the 27th we welcomed Hannah back to Albania for 5 weeks with us in the village! And we promptly put her to work prepping Jeta for two weeks of camp and VBS!
We are blessed with a super artistic team of individuals who helped transform the front of the sanctuary into a super-cool Rocky Mountain railway station!
By the end of the evening, the set was mostly complete. We would later add a roof to the ticket booth and luggage to disguise the base of various set props.
Snacks on the first day were lumps of coal (which were really just oreos, marshmallows and chocolate rice cereal).
All in all, June was a great month! Little did we know the heat that July would hold...
