A little stuck

I hardly know what to post about since we've been doing so much the past few weeks - what would you like to hear more about? The kids? Our trips? Life in Tirana? My dissertation? My knitting? (Yes, I do have a project on the needles... suffering from second sock syndrome)

I will confess that I was in a bit of a doldrums since losing my wallet on the way to Vlora, but our time in Macedonia seems to have cured me - at least for the moment! Ohrid is absolutely beautiful, but at the same time being there reminded me of how much we've acclimated here in Tirana. It was disorienting to understand nothing of the language (Macedonian), and to have to keep calculating currency conversions in our heads. Every time we heard a snippet of Shqip in passing (apparently some 20% of Macedonians speak Albanian) it was like light bulbs going on - a sense of understanding and relief. In that sense it was nice to come home as well, at the end of our trip.