You can call me Mr. Hollywood…

Ok. Maybe not Mr. Hollywood but I was on TV. Actually I’ve been on TV twice now since being in Albania. The first was for the local news/station here in Berat. We did a little march down Main Street with posters to raise public awareness about the environment. My poster read something like The Osum River is not a public toilet! How awesome is that. My counter-part organized the whole thing so I got to pick out which sign I carried. I think I chose well.
Don’t worry mom, my appearance on the national news was a little more respectable. The President of Albania and U.S. Ambassador spoke at our Swearing-in Ceremony. As the President was leaving the stage, he shook the hands of the people in the front row. Luckily I was in the front row and the last one he greeted. Though I am sure my Hollywood good looks helped me land on TV but it might have something to do with the orange dress shirt and tie combo. Those Albanians love their bright colors. In fact they think that we dress is too serious or boring. We’re not flashy enough.
I stand by my previous idea that training was like university. After the ceremony, everyone was crazy with the camera. We were all a little sad because we were leaving each other and heading to our permanent sites and to our jobs. It was like we were heading into the “real world.” Yeah, the real world in cities and towns throughout Albania, does that count?