Easter is here and with it... winter. At least that's the joke here in Korce, where we had snow on the ground for a couple of days last week and have pulled out our winter coats again.
But snow or not, we had a great time in our Easter festivities this last week - movie days for both the women and the jr. high boys groups, a special program for the kids, a party for high schoolers, and bringing a couple of families to the church in Korce for the Easter service.
The weekend, of course, had a few bumps in the road... like a flat tire that left us waiting in a fugon (public van) for a while to get to the children's program. (The vans don't leave until they are full.) While there, I got to observe some of what traditional life is like here in Albania. Across from the furgon stand is the pazar (open market) and yesterday they were selling sheep - probably for Easter dinner. The Orthodox religion is about 20% in Albania, and higher in Korce.
We borrowed some speakers and microphones for an extra special children's program. Luke told me later that those speakers were brought to Albania in 2005, with the short term team from his college. That trip changed both our lives (though mine much much later), since it's what prompted Luke to come to Albania as a long term missionary after he graduated college. But enough about that, the kids had a great time singing and hearing a testimony from one of the believers in the village.
For the "youth" Easter party (high school and up, with special guests, the jr. high boys) we had lunch and some singing, a neat video, and then (of course!) dancing. Albania is a part of the world where a celebration just isn't a celebration without a little dancing! We did a sort of "musical chairs" style dance, where the leader is holding keys and starts dancing, then people join in and at some point the leader tosses the keys and everyone runs for a chair - because the last person standing has to pick up the keys and start the next dance. In this video (click here), the leader fooled everybody in the middle of the dance, but really still had the keys.
And with that, I wish you a Happy Easter! We are celebrating ours with a restful afternoon. And pizza. :-)
