lovely lushnje...

Ya never know what’s going to happen with your furgon (van-taxi) driver.
We have driver that we use frequently. He’s good and doesn’t drive like a mad man, nor does he stop to pick up a load of tomatoes or pack the van with 13 people. He even will wait for us in the morning and pick us up when our day is done. Oh and he’s a relative of my family somehow. I think his brother is married to the sister of my host mother. Got it? Don’t worry, you get used to it.
Yesterday as he was dropping us off, he asked if we wanted to go to a nearby town for a “xhiro” which is where you just walk around town and hang out in the evening. At first we didn’t realize that he meant right then and there (well i did but that’s just cuz i’m smart like that ). We asked how long we would be. He said an hour or hour and a half. Yeah right.
We hopped back in the van and we were on our way. First though his wife and two daughters joined us in the van. We went through the town and passed all the stuff where we thought we might stop but we just kept going. It turns out we were dropping off the family members at the wife’s brother’s house.
We then we back to the edge of town and took a short but winding road up the hillside to a hotel and restaurant. We thought we were just going for the view and then back home we would go. Silly Americans. That’s not how Albanians work. Of course we were having a coffee too. About half way through, a the brother of the wife showed up and joined us. Then he left. Shortly after that, we left. We then headed to pick up the wife and daughters. When we pulled into the driveway, the brother came out and insisted that we have a coffee with him in his house. He said it would only take five minutes. Yeah right. We had coffee and then met all the family living in the house. The son showed us his computer program that he uses to study English. We talked about where were all from and where we going to work in Albania. We had only a few moments of awkward silence and a few more moments of lack of language comprehension.
After the coffees and the chatting we finally headed home. We said goodbye to the grandmother, the grandfather, the two young sons, the mother and father, and i think a friend was thrown into the mix as well.
We arrived home not an hour and a half later but rather THREE and a half hours later  Good times. I love the spontaneity.