Hard work does pay off!!!

Big Congrats to the Shallas crew for on the success of their all girls volleyball tournament.  After 6 weeks of practicing with the girls and planning the big tournament day, everything went off without a hitch!  Stephanie and I made 100+ snickerdoodles (they all came out.  I have redeemed myself), lots of volunteers came from other sites to support, the mayor's of Shallas and Elbasan both came, and the girls had a great time, they didn't want to stop!  Way to go guys!!!

Nothing Beats a Bar-B-Que

Thanks to our group 10 PCV's, we had a great cookout on Friday complete with real hamburgers and hot dogs!  We even had Lays potato chips! It was great.  Everyone got to the hang out and we all unrolled our sleeping bags and slept on the floor of our training managers home in Elbasan.  It was awesome to have a little taste of home.

Cookie Disaster

Since my last baking exercise went so well, I had great confidence in making my host sister a treat from America for her birthday, May 8th.  I got all the ingredients out and went to town creating the delicious treats.  It was a surprise for her, so I wouldn't let Artemisa help me.  I got the cookie balls all rolled up and placed them in the oven.  Things were going great!  About three minutes into baking, Artemisa looks at me with a worried look.  I peak into the oven, and...DISASTER!!!!  My cookies are just melting in the oven.  I pull them out, but there is nothing that I could do at that point.  The "cookies" that I had intended to create where nothing but one big wad of cooked sugar-butter mixture.  I later realized that I need more flour, but my confidence is already shot.  It will be a while before I try my hand in the kitchen again!

Cinco de Mayo

Although our Tirana group was exhausted from our weekend trip in to the "big city", we had a great time at the Cinco de Mayo Party.  Our host did a wonderful job with the food...it was great to have something with spices!  We had mexican rice, mashed potatoes, spicy fajita chicken, rice pudding, beans and corn, and salsa!  The weather was great and we had a huge turnout from the group...most everyone made it.