Fast December Fades Away...

In late November we took a day off and, with Susan and R.Q. Shupe, visited Apollonia, an ancient seaside city founded by the Greeks in 588 BC and later inhabited and built up by the Romans after the city sided with Julius Caesar in the war with Pompey. It was once a thriving city of 50,000 inhabitants, but an earthquake in the 3rd Century AD rerouted a river and led to the city's decline. The dog in the picture adopted us at the entry point and followed us throughout the extensive ruins, keeping a respectable distance, but seeming to be there to keep an eye on us or protect us.

The large bunker that we saw on the drive is not so ancient, but unfortunately was built to last. We liked the graffiti on the bunker.

My camera ran out of battery so I did not get pictures, but we also visited the large amphitheater in Durrës, which is the largest ancient amphitheater in the Balkans. It is said to have seated up to 20,000 people and was used for gladiator combat. It is only one third excavated, and there are houses built over part of it. Sadly, there are many ruins in Albania that, for lack of interest or money, have not been excavated and are disintegrating beyond repair. Many that have been partially excavated are unavailable for visiting (mosaics covered over with sand, for example) or are not preserved. Many have been looted or razed for development. The communist dictator Hoxha had no interest in preserving historical sites and, in fact, destroyed many beautiful places of interest. Fortunately, the southern city of Butrint was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been excavated and is a fascinating place to visit.

One of our December activities was caroling in the Qendër (Center) of Tirana with all the Tirana missionaries and a few members. It was very cold and a light rain threatened and eventually shut us down, but we were able to sing for 35 minutes. This year Lindita Grimci arranged for us to be "legal"--she obtained permission from the city for us to sing (last year we just met and sang)--and arranged for amplification so we could be heard above the traffic and the mosque's call to prayer. Later while downloading the pictures from our camera, I noticed the ironic juxtaposition of our missionaries singing songs of the birth of Christ under a huge communist-era mural. The light, once restrained, is now shining on this wonderful country!

A huge City Park Mall has opened a few miles outside of Tirana, bringing new shopping possibilities for us. It's very fancy for Albania--and for us! Marty likes the Food Court with an AFC--Albania Fried Chicken--patterned very much after our KFC in the U.S., but not nearly as tasty.
Cookies. I made a LOT of cutout cookies in December. I made five large batches of dough, and Sister Shupe and I rolled, cut, and baked 75 cookie trees and stars for the Young Adult Christmas Party. The youth had never frosted and decorated sugar cookies, and they really enjoyed it--especially the eating part. We decorated the trees with M&M's, which are available here (made in Turkey).

I joined TWIG (Tirana Women's International Group), a group of expat women who get together for companionship and cultural events. Every year TWIG hosts a holiday bazaar in the shopping court of the Sheraton to raise funds for activities and to benefit an orphanage. I attended a few craft mornings with some women from the group to help make items for the bazaar and have enjoyed getting to know women from several different countries who are all here with their husbands who are working for their various embassies, or as consultants for the military or businesses. I baked and decorated four dozen gingerbread men and women with candy canes, and three dozen sugar cookie Christmas trees and put each cookie in it's own cellophane bag. I also donated three of my Christmas ornament creche balls that I made just for the event. I did not stay for the bazaar as it was on a Sunday, but I was told later that the cookies were a huge hit, sold out early, and people kept coming back to the baked goods table looking for them. They sold each cookie for a little more than $2.00 each (200 Leke)! By the way, the molasses for the gingerbread cookies was sent to me by my sister Nancy. She emptied out a large plastic Karo Syrup bottle, refilled it with molasses, taped it up really well, and sealed it in vacuum seal bag. It arrived without spilling a drop, and believe me, is much prized!

Elder Kushlan left us on Dec. 20, as he needed to get home to attend university in early January. He was scheduled to finish his mission Jan. 6 and didn't want to leave quite this early, but it was the only day a flight was available for him. This IS Albania, after all. There are not many flights in or out of the country.

Christmas Day we hosted 12 missionaries from Tirana in our apt. for feasting, carol singing, and exchanging of white elephant gifts. The three other LDS missionary couples hosted missionaries, and in some outlying cities, the missionaries got together and created their own feast. Pictured above are six of the missionaries singing their version of the "12 Days of Christmas" Albanian style. The Bairds, LDS family at the U.S. Embassy, gave us a frozen honey ham and it was soooo delicious with au gratin potatoes, orange rolls, peas, fresh pineapple and mandarin salad, with mint brownies for dessert. We had a great time. One of our white elephant gifts was a "missionary banana".