Nicole & Katie in Albania: Video Update 5

Do you know the difference between Coca-Cola and Cola Cola? What about the difference between a Souvlaki and Sufflaq? Watch this video to find out.

Eggs In A Bag and Milk In A Coke Bottle

Life here is different. For more reasons that one, but today I will highlight on difference: supermarkets/ grocery stores in the Kenet.

Going to the store is a daily affair. Thank God we have a store at the end of our street (100ish yards,) literally I am thanking God for this. This shop is the most convenient and we visit it frequently, however it is not the only one in our neighborhood. Stores are everywhere. If you want to sell something, open a shop, no problem. There are at least 10 shops (probably more) within 5-minute walk from our house.

There are no Super-Walmart's or Wegman's. Some shops are as small as the size of our bathroom in my house in the states. In the tiny shops, most common, you enter the shop and tell the shopkeeper what you are looking for and they fetch it for you. Much easier than walking up and down the 100 aisles of Wegmans or even 10 aisles of Aldi/ Dash’s.

Along with the size of the store, the selections are much smaller as well. This makes life much a million times easier for an indecisive person like me. You get what they have and you don’t have to decide between 92 types of cereal, 57 varieties of ketchup or 23 brands of toilet paper.

Eggs come in a bag and you can walk into the shop and specify the number of eggs you want. You can get 1 or 20+, you aren’t locked into multiples of 12.

Milk... there are many options for milk; none of which you regularly find in the U.S. You can buy powdered milk. You can buy a box of milk, 1.5l. Or you can order milk from the milk lady. In this case milk comes in a coke (or other soda) bottle. It is cheaper and supposedly tastes better if you get it from the milk lady. However if you choose this route you must boil it before use.

Cheese here is not creamy. It is crumbly like feta, heck maybe it is feta, beats me. It’s salty, has a strong flavor, and delicious. It doesn’t melt in grilled cheese sandwiches. Trust me, I know. We have grilled cheese about twice a week…the nights I am on dinner duty. I’m pretty sure my cooking skills make my mom and grandma proud ;-)

Pop comes in 1.5l bottles, not 2l. Fanta (a coke product) and Ivi (a Pepsi product) are popular here. Fanta Exotic and Ivi Peach are my favorites and should be bought by all if you can find either an/or both in the U.S. If you come for a visit I will treat you to both a Fanta Exotic and Ivi Peach (it’s a great incentive to come visit!)

Corn on the cob sold at the market is not “sweet corn”(?) You can’t just boil it and eat it. The only way to consume it is by grilling. We learned that lesson the hard way. That was a fun night.

Not everything is marked, price wise. Maybe people just know the prices. Maybe they change depending on the person and day? I’m not really sure. All I know is I don’t know the price until I get to the register- it’s always a surprise. Cash Registers and receipts are non-existent and credit/debit cards, what are those? A calculator is used to tally the prices and only cash is accepted.

If we don’t have enough money to purchase what we need, no problem. We can go back later that day or following week and pay off our debt (at the store we visit frequently.)

Men get served first. If you, a woman, are waiting in line and a man comes to the check out he gets priority. You wait.

Life is different, and I like it.

Nicole & Katie in Albania: Video Update 3

Live, or not so live, from Albania -Video Update 3.

Have questions that you would like addressed on one of our video updates, email me or send me a facebook message and we'll be sure to include them in a future video update!

Kafe

Now I know what you’re thinking... Nicole is in Albania. There are no Starbucks in Albania. How will she survive?  Valid question. But have no fear. I have found a solution that might even, dare I say, top Starbucks *gasp* … The solution: Turkish Coffee.

Mmm… so good.  Not only does it taste good, I know how to make it, it doesn’t cost a fortune, I don’t have to leave my house to drink it and did I mention how good it tastes.

I’ve never really been a coffee drinker.  It’s true. Vanilla latte drinker, now that’s a different story.  I much prefer a latte or mocha to a cup of coffee.  And the few occasions I would drink coffee I would fix it like a latte, a shot of coffee and the rest cream/milk, never did I add sugar to the mix though.

Here the ratio of coffee to milk to sugar is perfect. One spoon coffee, one spoon sugar, the rest milk. It is a creamy drink, not too sweet, and strong enough so you can taste the coffee flavor. Oh, and did I mention the cups we use to serve the Turkish coffee are the size of a tea cup you would use to have a tea party with a 4 year old... tiny. 

Here are a few things that you should know about Turkish Coffee:

The coffee itself is the texture of powdered sugar.

The pot you brew it in is small with a long handle on the stove.

Never drink the last sip. Unless for some reason you like drinking coffee grinds. 

Drinking coffee is huge here. Men go to the local coffee bars and sip coffee all day. Women stay at home and drink with friends and enjoy the fellowship in the home.  I’ve also heard that the cup of coffee you make will determine what kind of wife you will be and this skill is favored while choosing a woman for your son to marry. This is why I’ve started making it my second week here; hopefully I can prefect this art by the time I leave. Though I’m not so sure this skill will help me find a husband when I return to the states. But at the very least I’m sure I can add it to my resume: Master- Pro Turkish Coffee Maker.

making coffee

Smells delicious (this picture may have been posed.)

enjoying coffee on our balcony

mmm. mmm. good!

Nicole & Katie in Albania: Video Update 2

Are you enjoying the video updates? Here is the second in the series. Check back often for more videos. And if the videos are not your cup of tea I'll post a written update soon. I promise.

Nicole & Katie in Albania: Video Update 1

Here is a new video update from Katie and me. It is supposed to be funny so please don't take it too seriously. We use video journals to debrief our days.

Disclaimer: I do own more than one shirt, it just happened that this video was taken the same day as the house tour.

Welcome to Albania

I made it.

I'm here. In Albania. And it is good. It is hard to believe it's just approaching a week that we've been here.

Katie and I flew out on Monday morning. It was tough leaving the fam. but really it was just a see ya later, not goodbye.

God is good. When we got to the airport both our bags made the weight limit (they didn't even weigh Katie's bags) and we didn't have to pay the second bag fee. whhaatt?? We even called ahead to check on prices and weight before we got there so we were shocked to find we didn't have to pay. We had a 4 hour layover in Charlotte so I was able to meet Katie's family before heading out. And... we wee both able to get some sleep on our long flight to Germany. Dawn Bishop was waiting at the airport for us when we arrived in Albania and the rest is history....

It's summer. It's really hot but everything is new and exciting that we barely notice all the sweat dripping down our faces. Ok, that's a lie, we do notice but we try not to let it bother us. I don't know how to explain it, but being here is right. It just feels right.

Now I will take you on a video tour of our house-

Check back often for updates on life in Albania, new videos and how God is working over here.

See ya Later!

Thank you to all of you who came out to our send off service. Once again I am just totally overwhelmed by the support and encouragement of so many wonderful people in my life. It's such an awesome feeling to know that I will be covered in prayer, that no situation I face will be to big for God and that He has everything under control. I'm also thrilled that so many of you got the chance to meet Katie as well!

My bags are packed. I'm feeling good. Excited. I'm ready to take the next step in this journey.

It's been amazing watching the way God has been working in my life this past year and I'm so excited for the many surprises and adventures He has planned for the next two while I'm in Albania. I know it's going to be great. It might not always be easy, but it will be great.

Listed below (and to the left) is my mailing address. Just to kill any curiosity I should inform you that I do like mail...a lot. (Katie's address is the same, but would read: Katie Hawkins instead of Nicole Schara)

Nicole Schara

AEP Box 41

Kutia Postare 119

Tirana

Albania

Also for anyone interested, to the left, you can subscribe to my blog via email.  This just means anytime I update the blog you will receive an email informing you of the update. This way you don't have to keep checking... All you have to do is enter your email address in the box that says "follow my blog by email"

Welp... See ya later! 

Heaven and Earth will pass away...

This last week I have been re-doing my bedroom. My parents have decided to convert my bedroom into a guest room after I leave (hmm...what are they trying to tell me??) Therefore I had to transform MY bedroom into a room that would appeal to guests. If any of you have been in my room recently you know what a challenge this task was.

At first I was overwhelmed. I was at a point where I forgot the color of my carpet because I hadn't seen it in so long. After I cleared some stuff out I then became sad and upset. I didn't want to take my pictures down, paint the mismatched walls, get rid of a lot of stuff I've accumulated and peel the glow-in-the-dark stars off the ceiling. I felt that by doing this my room would lose the "Nicki" touch that I've worked so hard to create.

The last 2 things to come down before the paint job were the glow-in-the-dark stars from my ceiling and my world map. It actually took a few days before I could bring myself to take them down and even then the stars came down over the course of a few days. It was too much, emotionally, to do all at once. It's pretty silly, I know. Everything else had come down in stages throughout the year and was either sold, given away, or a few things have been stored for safe keeping awaiting my return (I can't get rid of everything!)

As I was removing the stars and pulling the map off my wall Matthew 24:35 kept popping into my head: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." I found comfort in this verse and the sadness quickly vanished. It's true. What am I living for? The material possessions I've accumulated are not what matters - they will pass with this world. Changing my room doesn't change who I am. It doesn't change my identity or the fact that I'm a child of God. My heart should not be torn up about what my room looks like, how it's decorated, or what possessions I have in it. There are too many other things in this world for my heart to be torn over.

100% X 2

I am 100% funded for my two year term in Albania! Even better than that, Katie is 100% funded as well. God is awesome!

We are both funded, the plane tickets are booked, and will depart together. And when I say together I literally mean together. Mark your calendars... Katie will be visiting Buffalo before we fly out together on Monday, July, 11. Find out how you can meet her below. 

Mind-blowing

God blows my mind. The depth of His love. The complex ways in which He works. I can't even begin to comprehend a fraction of it. God is God. He is big and powerful- this is something that I've grown up knowing and believing. But in the last few weeks He has revealed to me some new ways of how incredibly huge and loving He is:

• English is my heart language. I know it, I can speak it, I understand it.... most of the time at least. I took Spanish for 8 years. I can speak it a little, and understand it a little more. Currently I'm learning Albanian. I'm getting better day by day, but thoughts are usually a mix of Albanian, Spanish and English. I can speak a few sentences and can just barely understand a few additional sentences. So that's three languages that I'm semi-familiar with. I'd say that's about average. In America, it might be a little above average; around the world, it might be a little below average. Here's the point I'm trying to get at though: God doesn't just speak or understand one language. He is gazillion-lingual. Every single language that is, or ever was, is God's heart language. He hears it. He understands it. He speaks it. He knows it.

• I am amazed at the ways God is at work in my life. Every single day He's up to something. Sometimes it's weeks or months before I can identify ways He's working but that doesn't mean He's not at work. Other times it's minute by minute, I can just see His work unfold in front of my eyes. I love it. It keeps me on my toes. It makes me feel special that God is working in my life. It's so hard for me to believe that I'm not the only one! Perhaps that last sentence is a tad narcissistic, but sadly it's true. The incredible detail and complex intertwining of life events is not just happening in my life. He's constantly at work in the lives of every person. Every single day! WOW!

• I think of my life and the people in my life. I can't think of one person who has been with me every single day of my life. But God is. He has always been and always will be. He is the same God yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews. 13:8). The same God that was there in the garden with Adam and Eve, or on the Ark with Noah, walking with Jesus, is the same God that I have a personal relationship with. I have a personal relationship with the same God that Eve knew. This is unbelievable to me.

• I've done a fair share of traveling. I've been to some really cool places in this world. A variety of continents, landscapes, climates, landmarks, etc. Everything that my eyes have seen, (or any mans eyes have seen) so have Gods. God created it ALL. He knows every nook and cranny. He knows all of the popular destinations and all of the secret hiding places in the WORLD! And it's not just places here on earth that man can see or physically travel to. He been down to the deepest depth of the ocean. He knows every inch of the galaxy. No matter how hard I try, I will never be able to out travel God.

God is bigger than anything I can imagine. Ever. These few thoughts that I composed here are by no means an all inclusive list of how BIG God is. I take confidence in knowing whatever will happen in my life God can handle it!