To be fair, what turned into pneumonia was really good at disguising itself, initially, as no more than a common chest cold, a mere kennel cough I had heard barking its way through most of my expat comrades. When I…
Sometimes, Vientiane, Sometimes You Really Shine
Vientiane often tries me. Vientiane often bores me. Vientiane often makes me ache for so many other places I’d rather be, and I often wonder where that rather would specifically be if things had worked out differently. But, sometimes? Sometimes,…
And So This is Christmas, and I Keep Forgetting
All of my lessons for the next week are planned, so I’m taking advantage of a rare opportunity for solitude at work by grading upstairs in our classroom. Well, I mean clearly I am not grading in this exact moment;…
Winter in Tirana: I’ll Dry My Clothes in the Spring
Winter in Tirana means this: it took four days for my clothes to kind-of-but-not-really dry. Each day I would inspect them, grasping and pinching and smoothing the fabric between my hands, checking for dampness. It was always there. The windows…
Let’s Meet Up in Albania and Do Too Much to Write About
I had extraordinary amounts of fun last week. It doesn’t seem right to be that happy. Maybe someday I’ll blog* about it. Narrator’s Note September 2020: Dear reader, no, I never blogged about it. But I have all the notes…
Coming to Albania, or, The 100 Year Independence Celebration
I’m singing the title of this blog post in my head to the tune of James Brown’s “Living in America”, which is two layers relevant, since my friends, who live in America, are coming to Albania. Layers of relevant- mmmm,…
