Shopka

(This actually took place last September…found it in the archives!)

People often ask us, "What does a typical day look like for you?" I never know how to answer, because typical days don't really exist!

Let's look at yesterday, for example.

Here's what I expected the day to look like…

Morning: go to Korce to make arrangements with new apartment landlord and run other Korce errands.
Mid afternoon: swing by a birthday party just long enough to make a polite appearance.
Afternoon/evening: pack pack pack up the house for the upcoming move.

Here's what actually happened...

The owner called and canceled our appointment. Kind of a bummer but not really a problem. We had the morning free to watch cartoons, listen to a sermon, drink coffee and enjoy a relaxing Saturday morning.

At around noon, a youth from the church called to tell us she needed money for the party immediately. Steve left to go the church, and I got to packing up the house. About an hour later, Steve called to tell me the party had been bumped up an hour and that I needed to get to the church ASAP.

I was dressed to do grungy work around the house, t-shirt and jeans. So certain was I that I would be back to house packing soon, I didn't even bother to put on real shoes...I just slipped on my shopka (Albanian house shoes...ONLY worn in the house and appropriate for going to the corner store. NOT TO BE WORN at public functions.)



I got to the church to find, what was supposed to be just a small cocktail party, had turned into a full blown BBQ (which now obligated us to stay for the rest of the afternoon) The BBQ led into a round of Mafia, and one round of Mafia turned into 3 rounds of Mafia. Finally, around 8:30 pm, people FINALLY started to head home. One of the girls asked if I'd escort her. Naturally, I agreed. Thinking that she lived directly across the street, I didn't even bother to tell Steve where I was going because I knew I'd be back in a flash.

Wrong.

She lived about 10 minutes away, and once I got her to her door, she and her mother INSISTED I join them in the upstairs apartment to see a bride celebrating her wedding. They promised, just 5 minutes (Now, I have lived long enough in this country to know that 5 minutes DOES NOT ACTUALLY mean 5 minutes!! Shame on me for falling for THAT trick!!) Next thing I knew, I was (still dressed in my house-packing-scrubbies and shopka, mind you) dancing traditional Albanian “vale” around a tiny room with beautifully dressed strangers and posing for pictures with the bride (I didn’t even know her or her family...but they had to document the foreigner at their wedding!!!)

Wanting to escape the madness, I tried calling Steve to pick me up, because now it was late enough that I needed an escort home. Much to my chagrin, his phone had died. I was stuck at the wedding until he could get home, charge his phone, call me to figure out where I was, and then make the 15 minute walk to pick me up.

I'll spare you the rest of the details, but I finally got home around 11 p.m. Needless to say, my day did not turn out as planned...I guess that's what I get for wearing my shopka out of the house!

The Gossip Circle

Just about every night of the year, the neighborhood girls and women gather in a circle on the road, directly across from our house. They pull out carpets to sit on the road or squat (they never sit directly on the dirt!), and pass the evening away chatting and gossiping. Each night they take turns buying sunflower seeds and share them around the circle. I occasionally join them, knowing that if I don't, the evening's gossip will most likely be about me!

Last week, there was a quick and hard down pour of rain. Steve and I ran home in the rain, and laughed when we got to our gate. Six neighborhood girls, almost identically dressed, had sought dry refuge under our porch. So much for having our gate locked!

Apple Crisp

Yesterday, Steve came home with a huge bag of beautiful green apples. Immediately my mind jumped to my one of my favorite fall desserts. Apple cobbler.

I thought out loud,"Do we have oatmeal? Yep! Do we have brown sugar? Yep! Do we have nutmeg? Yep! (all special ingredients sent from the States) I'll make Apple Cobbler!"

...a sad pause...

"But wait, we don't have an oven!" (Our only oven is wood burning, and it's not cold enough yet!)

Well, since I can't have any, I thought you could. I love this recipe from Betty Crocker...it's quick, easy, and delicious!!

Apple Crisp

4 medium tart cooking apples, sliced
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I only use 1/4 tsp)

1. Heat oven to 375. Grease bottom and sides of pan.
2. Spread apples in pan. Mix remaining ingredients; sprinkle over apples.
3. Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender.

Ju befte mire!!

Volcanic Tomato Sauce

About one in every three bottles of tomato sauce I have bought in the village seems to have been a dud...expired and fermenting. None, however, have been as bad as this last one. I opened it up, set it down on the counter, turned my back to it, only to turn back around to see that it had done this...!!



I now buy tomato sauce in the city.

The Fried Cheddar Burger

Eating out in foreign countries is always an adventure! This past week, while dining at a fast food restaurant in Macedonia, we were thrilled to receive a menu in English! However, upon closer inspection, the English version of the menu didn't make much more sense than the Macedonian one. We tried asking the waitress a few questions, like, "what's the duble dog?" but her feeble English skills were not much help.

Excited to see something with "cheddar" on the menu, I decided to give it shot, thinking that my selection..."fried cheddar burger"...may not be as scary as it sounded. This is what a got...



Yes, a fried patty of cheese (NOT cheddar, mind you!)!!



Would you like a quadruple bi-pass with that?