Gëzuar 100 Vjetorin e Pavërsisë!!!

Today is Albania’s Independence day. But not just their Independence day but their 100th Anniversary! So a normally undercelebrated holiday has become quite festive! There are flags everywhere and people have been wearing Albanian colors for the past two weeks. However, there has been a big controversy.

The flags.

Apparently, there are 2 companies that printed the doubleheaded Eagle on everything (t-shirts, hats, coats, scarves, etc) in addition to making flags of all sizes.

One company, who also had the most stuff printed up, used the wrong eagle! It’s eagle has the wrong feet (they don’t have claws) and also the wrong mouth (it doesn’t have the tongue coming out of the middle of the mouth).

So everyone has been checking out everyone’s stuff saying if it’s right or wrong. Probably about half of the flags hanging around the city that we’ve seen are the wrong ones.

Right Flag

Wrong Flag

But no matter what flag you have, the celebrations continue!

The kids had a short day at school yesterday with no school today or tomorrow.

Nicole and I bought each of the families we live with a flag to put outside. They put it up right away and were so happy to have a flag to fly. (Can you tell if we got the right or wrong flag?)

Nicole and I bought ourselves and our language teacher Albanian tshirts to wear today. She didn’t have one either and was super excited to have one to wear too!

Most of the activities are in Tirana (the capital) or Vlore, a southern city where the flag was first raised. But we had our own fest today.

Arba’s mom cooked us a delicious Albanian breakfast that she shared with us.

I made some Turkish coffee.

Then we went to the roof to take some pictures.

Before long, the kids joined in. Nicole & I showed them how to jump in pictures. They got the hang of it in no time (individually)!

Then the girls did each other’s hair.

I even got an Albanian dancing lesson. My years of not dancing really showed.

This morning was full of unplanned activities and before we knew it, we had a party going on!

It’s been really nice to see the Albanians proud of their country and excited!

Last week, I asked the kids at Burime why they like Albania. Here are their answers in Albanian. You’ll have to wait for the English translations! Most of them say the same thing. Albania is a pretty place and is their home, where they were born and where they’ve grown up.

Gëzuar  100 Vjetorin e Pavërsisë Shqiperi!!! Jam shumë i lumtur të jetë jetoj ketu dhe se unë mund të thirrje Shqiperinë shtepia ime e tjera. (Happy 100 years of Indpendence Albania!!! I am very happy to be living here and that I can call Albania my other home.)