Pyrana

Oct 1, 2019

So this blog post is a shout out to my hubby. We came to Tirana a little over a year ago and in that time he's been able to rent an office space, hire on 10 employees and work on multiple tech projects. He's also dedicated some time on the side to starting a meet up group for techies. He hosted his first Pyrana (python + tirana) meeting tonight and 65 people showed up! Two technical talks were given, one in Albanian and one in English, and two prizes were auctioned off to attendees. I'm so proud of his success. He's already had multiple programmers contact him regarding hosting the November meetup which means I get a night to myself on the couch :) Love you Markie Mark. 💖

4 flights in 4 days

September 26-30, 2019

We got up in the middle of the night on Wednesday (or really early Thursday morning, depending how you look at it) to make it to the airport. We were scheduled to fly from Tirana to Vienna to Chicago. Fortunately, we had a four hour layover in the Vienna airport which has couches. I took a nice long nap before boarding our flight to Chicago. We were well rested and ready to board when Mark got pulled through an extra security check. I waited at the gate for over half an hour. I wasn't panicking because there were two other people whose SOs had also been pulled for a random check. However, when both of them returned but Mark didn't I started to worry. Would they really hold the flight? Luckily for us, Mark arrived soon after and we were able to board the flight (at the time we were supposed to be taking off!) We got seats in the emergency exit row- WIN! and stretched out for the next 9 plus hours.

 We arrived in Chicago about 2:30 Thursday afternoon (ahh the beauty of time zones). We had amazon primed costumes for Oktoberfest and clothes for Africa to the house so our arrival felt like Christmas morning.

 We ran some errands, spent some time with family, enjoyed Mexican for dinner and Oberweis for dessert. Friday morning we got up early and made the three plus hour drive to Michigan for Mark and Nicole's wedding. Although it rained almost the entire way there we did stop for 5 Guys which was a definite win. Mark and Nicole were getting married in Marshall, MI on a farm. They had arranged for all of the wedding party to stay in the farmhouse on the grounds which was so convenient. We arrived just in time for the outdoor wedding rehearsal (it was cold and wet but that didn't stop us) and then we enjoyed a dinner of burgers and hot dogs at the farmhouse (I went 2 for 2 on hot dogs for the day and Mark went 2 for 2 on burgers 😂) After dinner we played a fun team game that put all the couples' knowledge of one another to the test. On Saturday we were up early. Since all the girls were getting their hair and makeup done I went out and picked up dress tape and Starbucks for everyone. When I got back I got to work at hanging the flower arrangements on the shepherd hooks that would be lining the aisle. It was chilly and damp but I managed to get them all done without getting too wet.

 I
headed inside for a quick lunch (leftover burgers and dogs-- 3 for 3-- score!) and then got ready. Even though the clouds looked ominous the rain stayed away throughout the ceremony and the reception. The bride was absolutely gorgeous and the groom was beaming from ear to ear when she started down the aisle.

 During the reception they had a dollar dance which I'd never heard of. Apparently it's a big thing in Michigan, because the entire bridal party couldn't believe I didn't know what it was. The maid of honor is in charge of collecting money on behalf of the bridge and the best man is in charge of collecting for the groom. Guests pledge "dollars" to dance with the bride or groom but only get to dance until the next person in line makes their pledge. At the end they announce who received more dollars, the bride or groom. Maybe we'll bring this Michigan tradition to Chicago for a try.

We danced away the rest of the night.

Sunday morning we helped clean up the barn and then got back on the road to Chicago (in the pouring rain) We had McDonalds (burgers again!) before heading to the airport. Although we didn't get an emergency exit row on this flight we did get an empty seat between the two of us which I was able to sleep in pretty much the whole way. Unfortunately the time zones are not in our favor on the way back to Tirana, so even though we left Sunday, we didn't arrive until late Monday afternoon. Overall, it was totally worth it and we were so happy to have been able to celebrate Mark and Nicole's special day with them. 💕

crossing off a bucket list item that was never on your bucket list in the first place

Sep 21, 2019

Mark and I were hanging out on the couch. Our agenda for the day was trip planning. We had successfully booked flights to Munich for Oktoberfest and we had also managed to book our flights for Christmas: Tirana to Amsterdam for Christmas, then to Nairobi for a safari through the Kenyan jungle and onto Mombasa for the beach, finally to Frankfurt for a few days before heading back to Tirana just in time for the start of school. We were feeling pretty accomplished roundabout 3:30 when all of a sudden there was this noise and then shaking. Lots and lots of shaking. Initially I didn't know what was happening. Then I felt the couch moving under me and noticed the walls swaying. I knew something was happening, but I wasn't quite sure what. I hopped up off the couch. Mark said "come stand in the doorway, come stand in the doorway." We were there for 10 or so seconds before it stopped. Mark immediately started moving around the apartment saying "aftershock. we need to leave now in case of an aftershock." I didn't understand why we had to leave. Wasn't it over? I threw on jeans and a t-shirt with flip flops before Mark dragged me outside. We made it quickly down the four flights of stairs and when we got outside it felt surreal. The street was filled with people. It seemed like everyone had come out of their apartments. Mark didn't stop to stare and was ten paces in front of me before I caught up with him. Why did we have to leave our apartment? What was an aftershock? Where were we going? Mark finally slowed his pace near the bottom of our hill and as we walked toward the park, he began to answer some of my questions. We had to leave our apartment in case of an aftershock. An after shock is another earthquake that has the potential to be of a greater magnitude than the first. It may do damage to our building so we don't want to be inside. We stood in the doorway because usually doorways are doubly reinforced and therefore stand a greater chance of keeping us safe. (I have since looked this up and it is false-- do not stand in a doorway, rather get on the ground and take cover under a sturdy table). It was my first ever earthquake and there was a lot I didn't know. One thing I do know- I'm really glad Mark was there with me. We kept walking and finally stopped at an outdoor cafe for donuts and coffees (we deserved them after all!)

While there we found out  that the epicenter of the quake was in Durres, a beach town about 32 kilometers from Tirana. The quaking lasted for about 30 seconds and was registered as a 5.6 on the richter scale. We stayed outside for three and a half or four hours, around which time I started to get cold and wanted to head back. If Mark had gotten his way he would've kept us out for the duration of the night, but I wanted to be home. Upon inspection of our apartment there were only two casualties- the pictures sitting on the wall shelving had all fallen and a glass shelf above our bathroom sink had tipped, causing all of the items on it to fall and shatter in our porcelain sink.

 Our building did not seem to have any damage, however friends' buildings sustained damage to the outer concrete layers.

 Overall I felt really lucky, but conflicted at the same time. I couldn't possibly know when another earthquake would happen, or what the magnitude would be, so I had to stop thinking about it. Yet, there was this looming feeling. Would there be another one? Where would we be? What if it were bigger? That evening I fell asleep on the couch. There was one more smaller quake that we could feel that Mark woke me up for.  It didn't last nearly as long and the shaking was much, much less severe. Sunday came and went. Around 11:30 Sunday night I received a message stating we would not return to school until Wednesday as per the ministry of education. Score! I'd take two earthquake days. I was a little hesitant being in the apartment by myself when Mark left for work, but I decided to make the most of my day and went for a walk around the lake

(before it started pouring rain!) then I met Mark and friends for lunch at Duff in the afternoon. Once we found out we had the two days off I invited the staff to our apartment for a games night, however, midday on Monday we found out that we would be heading back to school Tuesday. Lame. So we rainchecked game night. I'm not hopeful for any more earthquake days, but I'll still cross my fingers so maybe this winter we'll have a snow day!