Albania

Today we were on to country 2, Albania- our first European country. 

 Albania is coming around since it's communist days, and now you can go visit and enjoy some really nice beaches, and mountains worth a look, along with ruins that date back to prehistoric times. An interesting history, we learned about the bizarre King Zog who has the record of the leader who survived the most assassination attempts (and the only leader to pull out a gun and shoot one of those would-be assassins himself.) Kind of reminds me of that Andrew Jackson/assassin/cane incident, No?  On the other end of the spectrum, Mother Teresa was born in Albania, and she's the only Albanian to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Fun fact about the Albania language: it's unrelated to any other European language. And, it's kind of complicated. I mean, if there's more than a dozen ways to talk about mustaches, I think you've gone too far, but what do I know? The flag sports a pair of eagles, as Albania is known as the 'land of the eagle'. 

The boys took all their info they learned and made their Albania post cards. Peyton and Hayden's feature eagles. (You can't really tell but Hayden's people are wearing sweaters with the Albania flag, while Peyton's stick person is playing the gusle, a rather interesting musical instrument). Calib focused on the long coastline with some Albania's in a canoe (fun fact: He has them wearing Eagles Jersey, so that he would remember they are the land of the eagles.) 

Dinner tonight was Qofte Piqum, a bake of meatballs, red onion, potatoes and tomatoes. It was super easy to make, you just throw everything in the bubble and brown (the potatoes for a little longer), and ta da! Dinner. 

Salads in Albania are typically topped with tomatoes and red onions as well. (Tomatoes are big in Albania!) Feta cheese is also popular. 

Meals usually are accompanied with fresh bread (we, however, have never gotten down bread making, so we took some help from Publix), and for our fruit, we had figs. Albania's like their Rakia(grape brandy), so we had grape juice with dinner. 

This meal was MUCH better than last night, it got 5 spoons up from the Waterstrauts (well, forks tonight). We ate every last bit of it, with the exception of the figs. I was the only one that ate all of mine, and I did it mostly to set a good example. Calib claimed they were just giant raisins, and if you read last night's blog, you know how he felt abou tthat. 

We colored in our first European color. Again, Peyton did the honors, everyone else just claims they are going to mess it up. 

Albanians also like their evening walks, with a tradition called 'xhiro'. In the evenings, whole towns stroll down main roads, in many towns roads are closed to accommodate the evening walkers. Calib and Peyton had that activity covered with their 5K this morning. We were all going to go to cheer them on, and walk the 1K. But, did anyone else see those temperatures in Tampa this morning? It was literally in the 20s. Getting up at 6 am to go out in that was less than appealing. But, Calib and Asa stuck it out. Good job, guys! 

But, there was still an evening walk, because Ellie insists, no matter how cold it is. I love that Peyton took her in his onsie. Good part about having slip on sandals, you can walk your neighborhood in your onsie! 

2 down, 191 to go!

Next Up: Algeria