General Sentiments

My host family is what saves me every day when I am frustrated, am tired, or wake up slightly homesick.
Babsadiu (Babai Sadik - aka Father Sadik) greets every morning when I leave, welcomes me home every night, walks beside me with his arms folded behind his back so that we can observe the progress of the grape vines together.
My gysha (grandmother - Fatime) has a headache every day, thanks to high blood pressure, but she always hugs me, strokes my back, frames my face with her hands, ask me how my day went, and tells me that I look prettier today than I did the day before.
Nete, who I will now call my host sister (she's more my peer than my mother) talks with me about her children; about international music (which she loves); about her frustrations, hopes, dreams; how much she loves to fold fresh laundry; how much she wants to visit other countries; how much she wishes good things for family, for her children, for their future; what we should make for dinner. Nete is wonderful. She keeps her pains to herself, she always accommodates others, she has a wicked sense of humor, is very patient with my language-learning pace, and is stellar at language-learning herself. She speaks Italian, a great deal of English, some German, some Greek, and she understands a few other Balkan languages.
Dafina is always a little tired, but she is playful and is always interested in discussing how evolving state policies play out at the local level. We've talked about health care, the school systems, and rights for divorced mothers. She is a major practical joker and loves her son infinitely. She badly wants to relocate from Albania to a country where single mothers have more opportunity.
The younger children... that's a whole additional blog post.
I still wake up every day unsure exactly where I am. Is this my bed? Then my ears work out the cotton wool and I hear the cow bellowing and the roosters yodeling up to the rising sun, and I know that I am in Albania.

Upcoming...
Eating walnuts on the kitchen floor
Making Turkish coffee
Albanian weddings
Sleep-walking cousins
and more!