Albania - Hurray!

I've definitely been off my blogging game in the past couple months, but for good reason!  That reason would be getting all organized and packed up for our move to Albania.  After a year and a half of waiting, the day has finally arrived.  While getting ready for this move, people kept asking if we were nervous, or excited, or any number of other emotions.  Well, we were excited then, and we are even more excited now.  It's been only a couple of days, but we are really happy to be here and are ready to start this new chapter in our lives.  And we have a house!!!  Woohoo!  We have room to spread out and live!

We had a relatively uneventful trip out here.  We were in New York for a couple days while Sean did some training.  Since we had time, we went to see some sites that we wouldn't have normally seen otherwise.  The first day we got there, we went up in the Empire State building.  Now before I go on, this picture below was pretty much how Asher was the entire two days we were there :)  Poor guy, I think he was feeling all the changes that were going on around him and this was just him reacting to them.

Ok, so picture this.  We get through the line to go to up to the Empire State building, pay the $25 per person, and then head up in the elevator.  At this time Asher is starting to get a little more fussy.  We try to calm him down, the people around him provide some entertainment, and then we make it to the top.  All the real views are outside, so we head out onto the balcony part.  It's crowded, Sean has Asher's stroller trying to get around the people, I have Asher who by this point is crying, and we really can't see much because there are no big gaps to fit us.  We then round the third side of the building with a frustrated dad because of the stupid stroller, a crying Asher, and me who is just not happy with the whole situation, and WHAM we are blasted with a incredibly strong wind that literally takes our breath away.  Cue Asher who starts screaming his head off.   And we are done.  50 dollars, barely 5 minutes at the top, and no pictures, we head back down trying to console our little boy.  This was day one in NY.

 

Asher asleep in Time Square on our way to the Empire State building!

 
Day two was not much better, hahaha.  Sean had really wanted to get to Ellis Island.  The only way to get there is to get the cruise ticket that includes the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  That sounds like fun, and Asher might like the boat ride... Who were we kidding :)

The crying started while we stood in the security line, and then continued on the boat for a bit.  Then he was good, and then we got off the boat at Liberty island, and the crying started again.  But we had a lull, and took some great pictures.  We had tickets to go up into the pedestal of the statue, but well, Asher wasn't having it and we didn't go in.  This was a good thing though because we would have missed the last boat to Ellis Island if we had stayed.  Thanks Asher for that bit of good luck.


Our boat ride to the Statue of Liberty

  

Liberty Island



Asher balancing the Statue of Liberty on his head
Way to go Asher!

         

He fell asleep on the way over to Ellis Island, so we had a good little while to enjoy the museum, and it was actually pretty great.  We really enjoyed it and wished we could have stayed longer, but Asher woke up and there wasn't a changing table in the bathroom.  I had to change him on the gross floor, and he kept wanting to roll off the changing pad. He wasn't thrilled that I kept putting him in the center of the pad and wouldn't let him turn over, and he voiced his displeasure over this - very loudly.  But we finally made it to the hotel and stayed there until we left for the airport the next day.



Ellis Island Museum

 

He finally crashed after two long days :)

Small miracles took place from then on out.  Both stays in the airport, 5 hours in JFK, 5 hours in Milan, were great!  Asher was content and happy most of the time.  And his "fussing" wasn't anything to worry about.  At one point he had been awake for 4 hours and happy pretty much the whole time...unheard of!!  We even made new friends because of Asher.  While sitting in JFK, a little girl, about 8 years old, came up and started talking and playing with Asher.  It wasn't until a good fifteen to twenty minutes later that her mother and grandmother came back from getting food to find her there :)  Instead of taking her away, they sat and joined in.  They were a very nice family from Iran visiting the east coast.  The girl told me all about a big party she had in Persia when she was last there.

We also made a friend with a little boy in the Milan airport.  He came up to us and started speaking to us in English, though it was not his first language.  After hearing our English, he brought his bag of toys over to us.  He then proceeded to take out each toy and had me name the action hero, car, or animal.  If I got it correct he told me what a good job I did and encouraged me through body language to name the next toy.  I'm assuming this is what his parents did when he was being taught English.  It was very cute and kept Asher entertained for a good 30 minutes.

There was only one small problem at the airport when we checked in.  Apparently, they sell infant tickets for the airline that was taking us fron Italy to Albania, and the government had purchased three adult tickets.  They wanted to give us money back cause infant tickets are less, and then there was something said that implied there wasn't enough room and he would have to sit on our lap... Finally, after 30 minutes of discussion, and after everyone else was loaded on the plane, they let us on.  And the plane was only about a quarter full... Really people? Really?

So here we are.  Safe and sound in beautiful Albania.  We have a lovely, spacious home, working plumbing,  lots of windows that let light into our home, and the people are kind and welcoming.  Sure we have to get our drinkable water from a filtered water tank in the garage, but can we really complain if that's our one "problem"?

We have lots more posts already in the process, so enjoy our adventures and thoughts from Albania!