We arrived back in Albania on Sep 1 to an apartment with no electricity or water. Woof. It was a hot one. I had a new teacher social event for school so I left Mark in charge of figuring everything out. Thankfully, by the time I got home everything was in order. Our first week flew by and on Friday we were off to the lovely Shengjin, a beach town about an hour and a half from Tirana. It was an event organized through my school, and 19 of us ended up attending. The bus arrived in Shengjin a little after 6pm and everyone got checked into their accommodations (most of the staff stayed in shared apartments through Paul and Nadia's landlord, however there wasn't enough space for everyone so Erin, Mark and I shared a room at Twin Towers hotel). We all met at Ara, a restaurant on the beach, for a late dinner. The food just kept coming and coming and coming. I was stuffed, and yet, there was more. It was all really delicious. They made especially good fried cheese and seafood with pasta. We also got to try a beer called puka, which I'd never had before.
People broke up about 11, but Mark, Erin, Kristin and I stayed for another beer that our server treated us to (he was a super nice guy and did a great job serving our big group) Then we wandered along the beach in hopes of making it back in time for the carnival that was going on outside of our hotel. Unfortunately we were too late, so we settled for a beer and some snacks from one of the beach pop up kiosks. There were smirnoff ices in the kiosk fridge so obviously we had to put one to good use. Mark distracted Kristin while I put the bottle on the ground between her legs. Ice, ice baby. Chug. Chug. Chug. She laughed and vowed to get us back but since it was 3 vs. 1 we bet her that we'd get her three more times before she got us. Wish us luck :)
People broke up about 11, but Mark, Erin, Kristin and I stayed for another beer that our server treated us to (he was a super nice guy and did a great job serving our big group) Then we wandered along the beach in hopes of making it back in time for the carnival that was going on outside of our hotel. Unfortunately we were too late, so we settled for a beer and some snacks from one of the beach pop up kiosks. There were smirnoff ices in the kiosk fridge so obviously we had to put one to good use. Mark distracted Kristin while I put the bottle on the ground between her legs. Ice, ice baby. Chug. Chug. Chug. She laughed and vowed to get us back but since it was 3 vs. 1 we bet her that we'd get her three more times before she got us. Wish us luck :)
The next morning we had breakfast at our hotel and then climbed to the roof where we got a great view of Shengjin.
We walked along the beach, had some beach donuts (yum!) and sat with Marty and his wife for awhile. We continued along the beach to an area that was much less congested and settled for some chairs in the shade near the water. Not before hunting high and low for one more smirnoff. After, swimming, napping and relaxing, we all grabbed lunch at a bar along the beach. It was good but definitely not as good as Ara. After lunch we went to the carnival (since we were too late the night before) and rode bumper cars.
Our bus to Tirana was leaving at 6 so we hopped on board but not before putting the smirnoff in Kristin's bag, located in the back of the van. When Mark and I got home we put a pizza in the oven and some netflix on the tv. It was really nice to have Saturday night at our place and even nicer waking up well rested in our own beds on Sunday. Did I mention Kristin found her smirnoff ice? We got a lovely picture once she opened her bag to unpack 😂
Iwork with a lot of great people and I'm so excited for more adventures with them throughout the year. Cheers to a great first weekend in Albania 🍻and hopefully many more to come!
Iwork with a lot of great people and I'm so excited for more adventures with them throughout the year. Cheers to a great first weekend in Albania 🍻and hopefully many more to come!
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