July 11

Hello,
It is Wednesday afternoon here in Durres. We did not get rain on Tuesday night. On Tuesday evening I had 2 studies. One with Myfit (pronounced moo-fyit) and the other with Alexander. Myfit is one of my two non-Christian students. He is very puntual and maintains regular attendance. He understands written English quite well. He struggles a bit with speaking and understanding spoken English (or it may just be me he struggles to understand). He looks a lot like a young Arther Fonzerili ("Fonzy" for you Happy Days fans). I'm praying that the truth will connect with him. Alexander is a young Christian, very bright, and speaks excellent English. I am impressed with his Bible knowledge. Lord willing, he will continue to grow in his faith. n Monday, Wed., and Fri. I study with another student instead of Alexander. (Jill's Tuesday evening student had to cancel on account of a sore throat.)
Jill, Amelia, Hallie, Quin, Helen, and Quinton went to Durres city by bus on Tuesday evening while I was at the church building. They saw some of the sights of Durres and the kids enjoyed some of the kiddie activities by the coast. One of the activities was a trampoline. Albanians seem to love their coffee, music, water, and trampoline jumping. The trampolines in the touristy areas are composed of four smaller trampolines separated by padding. Some experienced jumpers and jump and flip from one tramp to another -- the Martin children are not in this elite group.
Following my studies I too went by bus to Durres with the OC students. This was my first ride of the public bus. Here one can actually hale a bus as one would a taxi in other cities. There are bus stops and the drivers appreciate the passengers boarding at the stops. When one gets on the bus at another location it is a little more risky because the bus doesn't exactly stop. We had to jump on as the bus slowed to about 2-3 mph. ( kind of felt like Luke Duke jumping in the General Lee.) The bus was crowded but not absolutely packed. The windows were open and the breeze felt nice. The body oder wasn't that bad either -- yeah! The ride to Durres takes about 12-15 minutes. We got off at the final stop in Durres and then had to walk about a third of a mile to the church building. Here I met my family and the OCers met the AIM team. Our family headed to the Volga -- not the famous river but a walking area in downtown Durres. (If you already didn't know, Albanians are big walkers. In the evening this otherwise busy traffic thoroughfare is bereft of cars but loaded with pedestrians. I took a minuted to break out my video camera and video the action on the Volga. It is really a nice area to walk with a nice wide street, lights above and IN the street, shops, and restaurants. People of all ages walk and enjoy the coolness of the evening. We walked down the Volga to a restaurant by the Adriatec.
The Piazza was one of the nicest restaurants we have visited in Albania. It is mostly a seafood restaurant but chicken, beef, and lamb were also on the menu. As a freebie, the restaurant brought out two plates of steamed muscles. I'm not a big seafood eater but I ventured to try the muscles and actually enjoyed them. I don't think our kids joined the muscle bandwagon however. Quin wanted to order octopus but we had to squelch this idea. Our family actually split three entrees and made it out of the restaurant for under $20.00. Had this been an American restaurant I imagine the bill would have been upwards of $60.00. We also enjoyed a complimentary dessert of ice cream and fruit. Good stuff.
After supper we walked back up the Volga and to the bus stop -- a walk of at least a mile. By this time of night Quin needed to be carried so we all took a turn carrying the little nipper but Papa (Quinton) did most of the work. We finally arrived back at our apartment around 10:15. It had been a nice evening.
This morning we had our devotional again at 9:00. We tried out the newly acquired projector as well. Scott Young from Memorial Road had e-mailed me over 500 PowerPoint pages of songs; so we displayed the words to several songs as we sang. We read from Romans chapter 6, prayed, and chatted about our studies and some upcoming events. (One thing we want to do is better serve the Christians in this area. We are going to have Alfred inquire to see what needs are present and if we can be of assistance.)
Our apartment and Helen and Quinton's are the only ones with washing machines. These are tiny but mighty washers. We have recently been doing some of the OC student's laundry. We're keeping up with the wash load just fine; finding room to hang all the wet clothes is a little more challenging. We have a drying rack on our balcony and I have strung a drying line in one of our bathrooms. Clothes dry quite quickly out on the balcony.
I'll inform you a little bit more about the Albanian people. From my experience in other Eastern European countries, I have found most to be lovers of beer. This is not true for the Albanians -- at least not the ones I'm associated with nor the ones in the Durres beach area. I have not seen one intoxicated Albanian nor individuals walking down the street drinking beer. This is a nice blessing. Alcohol is readily available in stores and restaurants and some do partake but not on the scale I've seen other places. Most Albanians don't have sweat glands -- or at least they don't use them. During my studies I lose about a quart of sweat per hour. I fan myself, wipe sweat from my brow, and drink fluids. Myfit, for example, wears long pants, avoids the fans in the room, and doesn't even glisten. From my observations, Albanians are generally reserved and quite individuals. They don't like to bring a lot of attention on themselves and are certainly not boastful. They are very courteous and hospitable. During my excursion with a couple of my students I was treated royally. The front passenger door was opened for me and I was treated to Fanta at a coastal restaurant. Albanians love to drink coffee morning, noon, and night. Tiny espresso cups are as common here as Sonic drive in cups. It is an insult to try to drink decaf as well. The night light is hopping in our area primarily -- in my opinion -- to the amount of caffeine running through the locals' blood.
That's it for now. Please pray that God will give us more opportunities to study the Word with our Albanian friends.
Later,
Darin