Welcome to Albania

We made it to Albania, and the only one who slept on the plane was Zeta. Taylor watched movies the whole time, and Dave and I took turns holding the dog. It has been a whirlwind since we arrived on Friday. We went immediately to our new home, and it was almost finished (no yard yet, but it's coming). Someone from the welcoming committee had a lasagna in the fridge, so we cooked that for dinner. Taylor loves her room, the house and Albania. We went to bed early, but Taylor and Dave got up again at 2:30 a.m. and had more pizza - Taylor reported that this was breakfast, and Dave had wine for breakfast. They stayed up a couple of hours, then went back to bed around 4:30. Zeta and I did NOT join them.

On Saturday, Dave and Taylor went to the grocery with Jen, another American mom down the street. That night, we went to dinner with my DOJ colleague, Melissa, at a really great place called Sofra Et Arint (or something like that). On Sunday, Dave and Taylor went to the Ambassador's residence for a cookout and easter egg hunt, while Melissa and I met with some U.S. agents who are here to do training of Albanian prosecutors this week. Then, we joined everyone at the Easter Egg hunt. In true Taylor fashion, she met a little girl named Liza, and went home with her that afternoon for a few hours to play. She came home and saw Albanian kids playing soccer in front of our house, so she joined them. She learned the Albanian words for ball, play and a couple of other things (I have no clue what they are). Then, we all went to a cocktail party at the home of a woman from Switzerland down the street - she was welcoming her German husband back after his having been working in another country for the past year.

Today, I went to work, and Dave went with Taylor to school. He said that his presence was not necessary since she immediately ditched him and went off to class. Dave and I had a security briefing this afternoon, and now have our new badges. Oh, and this morning at the training class of the new unit I'll be working with, the ambassador spoke, introduced me as the new Anti-Corruption Advisor, and shortly thereafter, I had a number of cameras in my face. Many of you know that I always refused TV interviews in Mississippi - although I wasn't interviewed, getting away from the cameras is not an option.

I'm writing this on a computer at the embassy - we don't have Internet access at home yet, but we will soon. Write to us at our gmail accounts - we'd love to hear from everyone.