While you were sleeping...

I think I experienced the most hilarious/ frustrating/ embarrassing/ disappointing/ completely fitting (considering my awful habit of getting myself into ridiculous situations) morning. Today I was supposed to get on a bus and go up to the mountains nearby to help do some work at a friend's camp there. I talked with them last night about possibly coming and sent a text message this morning saying I was coming but I needed someone to pick me up from the stop once I got up there, because the bus doesn't go the entire way up to the camp (nor do I know how to get there!). So, I'm not sure if the text went through or not, because I was sending it from one provider to another, using a special code to send it and sometimes I have heard that the text messages don't always go through...

So I was up and at 'em this morning at 6am. I left the house at 6:40 and trucked my way to the bus stop because I didn't even know which bus to get on, though I knew it was a smaller blue van looking thing. I got to the station and after talking to 2 random people, another random dude (who told me that there was no bus that goes to the mountains, only taxis... he was misinformed...), and a taxi driver who finally told me where to go. After about 5 minutes, the blue van that goes up to the mountains showed up and I piled on it with everyone else. There were many differences between me and them, but the main ones were that 1) They speak Albanian, and 2) They probably knew where they were going. I, on the other hand, was just getting on the bus to the mountains hoping that my text message had gone through and that someone would be waiting for me at a bus stop. It only occurred to me as I was on this bus full of people whom I could not communicate with, that I would be completely SOL should no one be waiting for me... so I pr*yed and kind of laughed at the situation, hoping for the best. wishful thinking...

Well, as we rode up the mountain, people would get off at random stops that didn't really look like stops and so I figured, "Surely I'm not supposed to get off here... I'll wait." So we were almost up to the end of the road, almost to where our camps will be this summer, when the last of the passengers got off. The lady had tried to communicate with me to see where I needed to go, but seeing as how I didn't speak Albanian or German, I just said I needed to go to the camp with the Americans that were around there. The driver then drove me a little further up where the road splits and the van doesn't drive anymore. We were out of the van, trying to understand each other; he was drawing me a map telling me to walk either 4km or 8km either way and I was saying, "I need a telephone!" Obviously my phone here isn't Verizon with it's "more places" slogan...

So because I didn't want to be stranded in the mountains with no phone and no idea where I was going, and because the driver thought the word camp ("kampi") meant that I was looking for a Hotel, I got back in the van and he drove me about half way back down and we stopped at "Hotel Kamp" (Of course.... my luck that the hotel would be called that, hahahaha) in search of a phone. We found some lady there (who had been smoking WAY too many cigarettes) and she got this Albanian guy to go wake up his buddy because he speaks a little English. Well, I was so thankful for that, but still no one could help me, because I couldn't get in contact with the people at the camp, and I didn't know where the camp WAS. So... we drove back down the mountain to the city.

A guy had gotten back in the van at "Hotel Kamp" and had a 044 phone (mine is a different provider that doesn't work in the mountains), and so I used it to call the people at the camp. Turns out, my stop had been almost all the way up the mountain where the driver had tried to draw me a map of other hotels to find. haha, SO... if you're one of those people who likes to skip the details and read the ending, here it is: I am now writing this blog post at 10am at my apartment. Looks like the Big Guy upstairs had other plans for me today. (I just wish He had told me that earlier because I'm running off of 4.5 hours of sleep!) hahaha "C'est la vie." Such is life! (or at least MINE, that is!)

What I've learned: I need to be more like my parents and make sure every detail is planned out before embarking on a journey. (I KNOW Dad... I know...) I need to practice my Albanian or apparently I need to learn German, because I think everyone on that bus spoke German as well! English and Spanish can only get me so far in Ks... and apparently the "kampi" is too far a distance! :)

Have a wonderful day! I am going to take a nap, and enjoy the rest of mine! :)