July 14

Hello,
We are two weeks into our five week campaign and all is going well. Last night I had one study as Myfit had to help prepare for his cousin's wedding. After our studies at 7:00 we hosted a fellowship night. There were 36 total in attendance (11 Americans and 3 members of Alfred's family included). The main entertainment of the evening was the exciting game of Bunko! Alfred had written the rules on a white board and also gave verbal instructions at the beginning of the game. We had seven tables of players -- Helen, Alfred, and I didn't play. Hallie played with Jill and Quin played with one of our OC students. Alfred, Helen, and I circulated during the first round or two to make sure all was going smoothly. A time or two we had to correct some scoring misunderstandings, but by round 3 all players were experts. The room was pretty warm but not as hot as it could have been; otherwise it would have been brutally hot. Everybody seemed to enjoy playing Bunko and meeting new people (some of our guests were friends of our students who had not been involved with the English/Bible studies before). Adriana, Alfred's wife, brought a cake, our OC girls brought some other snacks, and the OC men brought drinks. We had just the right amount of food. Quin was a hoot as he starting blowing on the dice before throwing them. We greatly appreciate the patience of those at his table during the game.
A little after 9:00 the final round was completed. We had two Bunko winners, a winner for the most wins, and a loser prize -- Americans couldn't win prizes. Prizes were provided by Helen -- a Keepsake Candle, calendar, cool wraps, and magnets. The winning group started singing, "We are the Champions" after they were recognized. We hope our fellowship will encourage others to join our studies and worship services. After the fellowship most of the Americans and Alfred's family stayed to clean up. The OC girls went to Durres with one of their students. They visited a restaurant at a castle-like structure at the top of a hill overlooking Durres. All in all the fellowship was a huge success. We plan to have another fellowship in a week or two. The next time we may have more games to play or watch a movie.
This morning at 9:00 we departed in a 12-passenger van for Kruja. Kruja is a mountain city about an hour from Durres. Geographically, if you have your Albania map handy, it is northeast of Durres. We started out on the same hi-way that leads to Tirana -- this is a nice 4-lane hi-way with few potholes. About halfway to Tirana we turned off onto a two-lane hi-way that was in pretty good shape. We stayed on this road for about 10 minutes until we hit another town (can't remember the name). George W. Bush visited this town on his 7-hour visit to Albania. I imagine he visited this city as well as Tirana because it is close to the airport. Once we were through the town the road got quite rough for awhile as we started our ascent up the mountain. After about 3 miles the road's surface got smoother but the path became serpentine and steep. The road was surrounded by trees with occasional breaks to see the scenery. There were also some rock quarries along the way. After about 10 miles or so we arrived in the city of Kruja.
Kruja has a population of around 30,000. These inhabitants must be in good shape because they have to walk up and down many hills in there city. I did see one flat area that housed the town soccer field. We drove through most of the city until we arrived at the base of the Kruja castle and museum. The castle dates back to the 3-4th centuries. We paid $1.00 to enter the castle grounds. Souvenir vendors lined the walkway the main castle area. There ruins of the castle are actually just partial walls and such. We climbed the stairs up a short hill to the Skenderbeu Museum. (Remember, Skenderbeu is the national hero.) This museum was constructed in 1982 and is quite nice. Upon entering the museum (fee $2.00) we couldn't miss the massive concrete statue of Skenderbeu and his people. Our tour guide was a clean-cut young man who spoke English quite well. The museum is broken into several halls. At one point during the tour we found ourselves on a terrace that provided an excellent view of the city and landscape below. We could actually see to the Adriatic Sea and Tirana. (Supposedly from the top of the mountains behind Kruja -- some 3,000 feet -- one can see the lights of Bari, Italy. There is a way to climb to the top of the mountain but it would be quite a climb. Alfred said he and some buddies made the climb when he was 22 years old. This climb was not part of our tour today!) As we were signing the guest book at the museum we chatted with a young man from Houston, TX. He was with a campaign group that was hosting a youth camp in the south of Albania. Also during the tour we heard some more English being spoken -- a Canadian women was on the tour.
I didn't realize Skenderbeu was such a cool guy. (I should have paid more attention during world history class.) Anyway, I'm not going to give a history lesson now but I'd encourage the readers to grab a World Book -- or at least check out Wikipedia -- and read a bit about him.
After we left the museum we walked down to the entrance of a house dating back 243 years. The entryway to this house was a cobblestone walkway completely covered with grape vines. Rosemary and rose bushes lined the path. We waited about 15 minutes in this area for our guide -- a cute little man who repeated his memorized English tour speech with a lot of excitement and expressiveness. The house and its artifacts were the possession of the wealthiest family in Kruja back in the day. The house included a steam-bath (Turkish bath) and a room for the men of the family to sit, smoke tobacco, and make decisions. A loft looked down on this room. From the loft the women were to look through small circular windows to see if the men needed any more provisions during their meetings. If so, the women would give the food, wine, whatever, to a young man at the door who would then give it to the men. (I'm thinking of instituting this type of service at my house in Edmond. I think Jill will be on board.)
After our visit to the old house we walked out of the museum -- Hallie bought an Albania purse for $3.00. We walked down a cobblestone hill -- those cobblestones are slick -- to the closest restaurant we could find. We sat outside. Half of us had a great view of the countryside and Adriatic. The sky was clear with a slight breeze. The temperature was in the upper 70's -- very nice. We ate salad and pizza. I tried my first cappuccino -- I'm not a coffee drinker but enjoy a cappuccino every now and then. Alfred had an espresso.
Our last stop of the tour was a visit to the Turkish bazaar. This was just down from the restaurant and museum. The bazaar's walkway was cobblestone and not more than 10 feet across. I imagine there were at least 50 shops. The first shop on the left was a carpet store. Two women were using a loom and another woman was the salesperson. On the wall of this establishment was a picture of Laura Bush along with 3-4 other important people in this very same shop. I bought a small hand-woven Albanian flag at this shop for $5.00.
The store owners all along the Bazaar's path stood outside their stores and invited guests into their shops. Most of the stores were selling the same trinkets with a little variety in hand-made goods. Quin bought a small Albanian boxing glove key chain for a dollar and Amelia bought an Albanian purse similar to Hallie's. I think all the OC students bought souvenirs. One particularly eager owner coaxed me into her shop where I purchased a mug and Amelia's purse. I would have loved to have bought from every store owner -- they were all so eager.
At 3:30 we met at the van and headed back to Durres. On the way back down the mountain I had to really relax and focus because I was feeling a bit nauseous, but I made it down okay. Most of the Martin's took nap on the drive home. It had been a great trip.
Currently our girls are out shopping with the OC girls and Quin is on the computer behind us playing Thomas the Tank Engine with one of our OC men.
Mirupafshim (goodbye),
Darin