Community Service - Feel Good Day!

A finished project, look at those beautiful pillars supporting the outdoor play area roof; wait, oh, I got ahead of myself, uh here goes...

I awoke to a quiet Saturday morning in the University dormitory area in Tirana. The last few nights, with "football" and the Champion Cup tonight; well let's say the nights have been lively and somewhat entertaining on the streets below my apartment. I am excited about today as some of the ICITAP advisers and our Program Manager are going to do community service today. No kidding; the project to be accomplished today started one week ago with staff and the lead instigator (read Christine)at Bethany Christian Orphanage. Last Saturday in less than fun conditions, Andy, Martha, Gary and Christine started maintenance clean-up around the outdoor children's play area and replaced some of the pillars supporting the roof...we are determined to finish their work today!
Martha picks me up(actually parked and waiting for me..she's early!)and we head up the Elbasanit Road to the Orphanage. The Orphanage sits on property looking to the East with lots of room for the children. As we drive up to the front of the main building, Martha informs me she has to get her "baby fix" and hurries into the building. I follow of course and wow, a whole room of little people staring at you staring at them(I blinked first). Martha is through the gate and on the floor so fast I don't realize I'm looking at her in with the children. I speak to her and all of the children look at me; Martha tells me the children do not hear a male voice very often; putting me on the spot, so I start talking to a darling little girl who grabs my finger and won't let go...difficult position to find oneself so early in the morning. We are separated by language and connected by our eyes; a great way to communicate with a child as I think they see through you in their innocence. Martha is no help so I wait until water break for the children and leave to go back outside
to work on the play area. Martha would somehow get to go shopping for paint and additional materials; I think she got to take a "cat-nap" before returning.

Gary and Andy (Chief Construction Engineer on this project) are ready to get us going on the repairs. Andy is working on the pillars; shaping them by first cutting the pillars with a circular saw and then chipping away the cross cuts to shape the wood. Andy ever eager to share his talents with the working class, soon has Wally finishing the pillars with a hatchet. Wally comments that he remembers carving his first "canoe" with only his handy hatchet in order to paddle on the Chicago River to Lake Michigan...yeah, right!!!
We must use a hydraulic jack to lift the upper support off of the existing pillars to replace them. One by one we position the jack to lift the beams off the pillars in the front of the play area and on the sides.
Gary climbs up after removing a pillar to remove nails left behind from the old pillar. We must also clean out the metal holding brackets which do not have any drainage holes; thus leading to the posts rotting in place. We treat each one with a Marine Formula solution to prevent as much rotting as possible; the Orphanage will have maintenance drill holes in the brackets at a later date.
Additional measures are taken to protect the new wood for as long as possible. The new pillars are softwood laminates from Germany that really soak up the preservative applied by our "master painter" Alma and her assistant Martha. Notice the all important safety gloves worn by these two!!!
Gary and Andy have us working like a factory with responsibilities that maximize our talents; ok, I climbed a ladder and drilled a hole into the beams to set lag-bolts to anchor the pillars to the existing structure. This meant I was entrusted with a power tool; although I did notice Gary kept a close eye on me? I did complete my task including anchoring additional bracing identified by Andy to strengthen the integrity of the structure; not mention to the "style" added by Andy's idea.
The first photo displays all of the pillars and the fencing that must be replaced after the new pillars are installed. The new pillars are slightly larger than the original pillars resulting in modifications to the fencing.At first glance you would think you were looking at a Public Works project in the States; I count four(Andy,Bardi,Gary & Wally) supervisors and poor Artur doing the work.
The finished product looked great as you will see. The fence crew made numerous accommodations to ensure the fence would protect the children. The painting crew covered all of the new wood with preservative; additional support(we will return and add and additional couple of braces) was added under Andy's guidance and we even cleaned(read Gary) up after the dogs in the play area. Here's a picture of a group of "big" people who accomplished something special for special "little" people at Bethany Christian Orphanage.
Before leaving, we walk to the backyard behind the Orphanage to exam our next project...seems someone donated a lot of fencing that needs to be erected to create a play area for the children. I see Gary's finger counting the people present and for some reason,Tom Sawyer and the fence painting episode comes to mind.

Ohrid in the Spring

The decision has been made, for Madlyn's last weekend in Albania, a road trip to Lake Ohrid in Macedonia for pearls! This time we go on a Saturday, having learned our preferred jeweler is closed on Sundays. Martha and Mike bravely agree to journey with us on the two-lane highway to Elbasan; I believe this road was designed to dissuade travel in Albania.
We don't get too far before an early morning cappuccino is in order for Madlyn and Coke Zero for me. We stop at a cafe that sits overlooking a valley with a view of a waterfall to the Northeast.It is really lush, with terraced hills and a small town built into the hills.
Now, our last two trips to Ohrid have been in a snowstorm with sleet and rain; and a cold, wet windy day that limited our walking around to a minimum...we are due a "sunny-spring day".
Somehow, someway, we end up in a directional course error(read missed turn) on our adventures and true to form we do it today. Miss the roundabout to the border crossing and begin a series of turns down a newly graded road and a view of the Lake! The ensuing conversation results in a u-turn(everyone should try a u-turn on an Albanian road), back up the hill and to the right and just over the hill past our bunkers (what is a road trip in Albania without bunkers?) sits the border station.
Over the border and we are in Macedonia and the weather is looking good; Mike is thankful as he chose to only bring a long sleeved shirt(I can only do so much with him!). The shimmer off Lake Ohrid has us all excited for this visit; no clouds in the sky and the sun is warm...maybe Mike was right??
Madlyn and Martha are on a mission and head straight for the Family Talevi Jewelry store on the main promenade in Ohrid. Mike and I can barely keep up with them as they are engaged in a strategy discussion on the purchase of pearls.
Now, I must admit I enjoy talking with the "Maestro" (Mr. Talevi, son of the founder) and learning from him his craft. He is quite animated and loves to share his work with you even if you do not purchase(no worry with this crowd!) anything from his store. Madlyn selects gifts for family and friends and Martha is right in the mix adding to her collection and also gifts for her family and friends. Mike quietly stands by and reminds me I owe him beer for this latest torture session...little did I know.
Martha and Madlyn finally clean out the inventory and we head towards the Belvedere Restaurant just across the park from Lake Ohrid; home to excellent cuisine and cold beer...thumbs up here!! We are not disappointed with our lunch, and so, with full stomach we launch our trek around Ohrid.

I am not sure what the girls were doing in the folding process; it was the first traditional dress we had seen in Ohrid.
Ohrid at one time was home to 365 churches, yep, one for every day(we only counted 362!) of the year. The churches vary in size to small almost individual chapels to large basilicas and very large structures.
The Orthodox/Byzantine architecture dominates the skyline of Ohrid; the red brick design common to this area can be seen around most any corner of the city.The city "feels" very peaceful as we climb the hills that surround the lake.
We follow Martha through the neighborhoods,as she has climbed to the top of the city to Samoils' Fortress on prior visits. On one street we come to a printers shop where there is a sign explaining that the shop makes its' own paper and uses a Gutenberg Press. Into the shop we pile and right into a tour group; not much room to move, however it is fascinating to us; and we talk about art class in school and block printing we remember doing!
Martha and Mike purchase wine gift bags made from the handmade paper and Madlyn buys a print made using the Gutenberg Press. I hope to take my friends, Cliff & Dodie here for a day when they visit me this summer.
Our walk continues "up" through the city into a small plaza that is surrounded by residential dwellings, boutique hotels and a large church; oh, yes a cafe/bar for a short stop. Mike settles into a chair and appears to be relaxing nicely with help from Madlyn and Martha!
The views of the city are stunning as we climb very old stairs leading us towards the Fortress and the ruins that contain an ancient basilica and the city that spread out from the Fortress towards Lake Ohrid.
Along the way, Mike finds another "fixer-upper" project; I just can't see him pulling this behind his refurbished Mercedes! Another thing, how do we get this past customs?
Finally, we are at the top of the hill; closer to Lake Ohrid overlooking a massive archaeological project(4th Century church) with a relatively new(2002) Plaosnik; rebuilt to the original Byzantine architectural design.
Above us almost dead center rises Samoils' Fortress with a commanding view of the lake and surrounding countryside.Between the ruins and the Fortress is a large pine forest, somehow I do not think this forest existed during the time of the Fortress.
It is time to climb the rocks and explore the Fortress;look out over the the ramparts; survey Samoil's kingdom and admire the workmanship of the Fortress builders.
The Fortress has been rebuilt/restored by the Macedonians to accommodate tourists and to preserve this national treasure; a real photographers dream from every angle.
The height of the walls allow the defenders to the see a 360 degree view across the valley and the lake.
The slight admission fee is worth the walk around the perimeter walls for the view.The inside of the Fortress has been partially excavated revealing an old well and several foundations from internal buildings. You can rest undisturbed on ancient stairs or walls inside the Fortress.
We get the word from the gate that the Fortress closes in 10 minutes so we have to hustle down the stairs to the main gate and yep, the gate is locked by the time I arrive. I am released by the staff of the Fortress and we head towards one of the old city gates.
Down the hill, around a few corners and past a carved wooden gate into the courtyard of a beautiful Orthodox Church.
The courtyard is full of college aged tourists from Serbia(bright and friendly).They share with us, that they are in Ohrid for a conference and have plans to venture into Albania. We tell them about our adventures we have had in Albania; and explain where we all are from in the United States.I think they find these "old" Americans amusing as much as we find them to delightful.
It is rapidly getting dark in Ohrid and we have a long drive back to Tirana. Madlyn and Martha are happy with their purchases, however, they are shut down at the Macedonian market when they try to buy wine after 7:00 PM. Seems the store cannot sell alcohol after 7:00 PM; who knew???
One last shot of Samoils' Fortress before we hit the road.It is nice when a plan comes together, especially since it is the last road trip with Madlyn until September. Next stop...heading South.