And to your left, some sort of old thing

I now can speak two words of Albanian, two of the most useless words imaginable: monkey and juggler.

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Seventeen Albanian women came to my work on Friday. They are members of women’s groups and came to exchange ideas with us. Some of us joined them for dinner (where, after listening to them sing beautifully, JW and I sang ‘This Land is Your Land’).

I also served as their turistički vodić on Saturday morning, leading them through Kalemegdan and to some shopping areas nearby. We watched street performers for a bit (hence my new Albanian vocabulary). Fun and interesting and a bit ridiculous. It was a good, but strange feeling to be their guide to this town (a task that fell to me because the no other English speakers were available—and I am trying to be more hospitable), sharing history and other insights about this place. I spend so much time feeling like an outsider (even though the nice lady at the natural food store asked if I was an American who was born in Serbia or a ‘real American,’ the first time I’ve received such an endorsement of my language skills [months ago, K in Bosnia told me that people said that to her and I was so jealous.]). It’s interesting to realize that there are others who are more ‘out’ than me.

And I even managed to add to my list of foreign-language equivalents of “it’s Greek to me.” The Albanians say, “you are departing from China.” The Swedes say, “that’s Greek” or “that’s Chinese.”