I'd rather dance with you

Last night was incredible.
I can't even begin to describe how alive and uninhibited I felt.
After taking pictures from the roof, Lib and I left the convent at around 7, only to find a festival close by where there was live music and so many fireworks being shot off of the top of a building. The dust and sparks were so close to all of our faces that we had to shield our eyes that burned and watered from the thick and hot air.
A new friend had asked the nuns if she could take us to a karaoke night at a bar close to where we live and promised to walk us back to our gate by 2am.

They said 'yes!' Miracles happen.

We crammed into a tiny car with 6 people all sitting like sardines and screaming the lyrics of eurotechno songs and speeding through the streets, arrived to the part of town that Lib and i walk to almost every day because it's so lovely. The Strada Pedonale, full of cafes and bars and a tourist shop and a few random stores. Benches and lightposts line the sidewalk, which, during the day is full of passerbys and ancient looking bicycles that people all ages ride. Never had we seen this part of town after dark because we've always been locked in. Women aren't supposed to go out alone without men to accompany them. That's what they tell us, atleast.

We parked the car in some abandoned lot full of debri from a building that is slowly being destroyed by time.

People kept showing up as we walked to the bar and by the time we arrived at the door, there were probably about 15 of us. Everyone was singing and shouting and so ready to enjoy life. I felt pretty and everyone looked so beautiful in skirts and shorts and high heeled shoes that made so many little clicking sounds against the cobblestone streets. The boys, tan from the sun and wearing slick jeans and tight shirts reminded me of being in Naples and I felt so at home.
We ate delicious pizza at a 'pizza al metro' close to the bar that had thin crusts and the most aromatic cheeses, meats and mushrooms mixed with strong garlic, tomato and olive oil that held the smoke and grilled flavor of fire and of the giant, stone oven they used to cook them in. my mouth waters just thinking about it.

When we got to the bar, I met more people and ordered vodka and peach which turned out to be pink vodka that had the scent of peach and the strength of a steel wall. Libby and I sang karaoke in english and everyone was dancing arm in arm, the boys with boys and girls with girls and then mixing it all up, shouting the words to all of the most well-known Albanian songs and standard American tunes. There was Italian music and a lot, a lot of euro-techno-electronica dance music.

The way people dance here was such a shock. In the US, dancing is often, incredibly sexual. I remember once, this guy told me that all I had to do if i wanted to be a good dancer was, "spell your name with your ass, in cursive and don't move your feet."

Here, everyone dances. Everyone dances really well.

The dancing looks like the types of rituals that birds do before they choose a mate. There's minimal touching and a lot of arm moving and clapping and walking in circles around the other. It's incredibly hot. The men look kind of funny, resembling that bent-legged, arms to the sky 'Fiddler On The Roof' sort of movement.. like something from the old country ;) The women move their bodies and their feet, clapping and lift their arms above their heads in pretty flowing pictures as if they were actually expressing their connection to the music.. it's a lot less sexual.

Libby said people in the States seem to dance as if they're testing out how someone will be in the bedroom. I don't know if it's because of the nature of this culture as being conservative as far as dating is concerned, but it's not like that at all. I love dancing and have nothing against the way we dance in the US, but it's interesting to see such a difference among people my own age.

The music became more traditional and suddenly everyone was holding hands in a circle and doing this old dance that they must have all learned from their relatives and older family members. so fun!! I didn't know how to do the steps but i tried to copy the others and if you're smiling, people look at your face and not your body, anyhow. The person at the front of the circle led the whole group around the bar and we were all singing and dancing and laughing and no one was smashed, and still able to have a conversation. A lot of the people at my table were drinking Red Bull instead of alcohol. I think that if the drinking laws are less rigid alcohol doesn't seem so mysterious and appealing. Maybe...

I met a lot of people that were so kind and there were these girls that told me to talk to Obama and tell him to let them into America. It hurt.

I met a boy named Claude who hadn't seen his mother or brother for 9 years because they were living in New York, his brother working as a carpenter and his mother living at home. He lives here with his dad. He was quiet and mysterious, the one who took a lot of pictures and didn't dance as much. Someone said.."He's been to America! Only for 2 steps though." I didn't understand.

Claude had gotten a ticket to New York to live with his mother and brother and to see them after 8 years, and when he got to customs, they didn't let him in. He took the next flight back to Albania.

he said: 'it's in the past now. it's ok'

We danced and sang and laughed. These people are so full of life.

At 2am, stumbling and red-faced, singing Albanian patriotic songs while Marco kept saying "everybody," the only english word he knew, we got back into the car. The streets were empty and with the music blasting out the windows, we arrived at the convent, said a hundred 'naten' kissed everyone on the cheek and returned to the other side of these walls.