Last Tuesday I ran into a couple gangly 19-year-old missionaries who were more than happy to interact with someone who a) speaks English and b) actually wanted to talk to them. I’m totally a sucker for these guys because my little brother is one of them right now and I’d like to hope that some PCV in Guatemala would be nice to him too. I gave them my “why-on-earth-I’m-here” deal, which they could identify with as missionaries, and said I’d like to go to church while I’m still close to a branch at my training site. They took down my number and called this Saturday to give me directions to the chapel. Another Volunteer and our Albanian friend agreed to go with me.

On Saturday night I explained to my host family that I would be going to Elbasan (the second largest city in Albania, about 20 minutes west of…