Peter & Melodye Bowers blog for updates, family tidbits, all the usual stuff that goes in a blog...
Peter & Melodye work in Albania since 1998. They have 3 boys: Christopher (5/99), Joshua (10/00), and Jonathan (9/03).
The only place for my workbench & tools is outside in the back of our house. That leaves them open to the elements, dust, etc. So I've just put up a rope&pulley& tarp contraption that covers them when I'm not working. Pretty? NO! But it works.
For those of you unfortunate enough to not have Albanian exposure, here's a quick "glossary of names". Each of the names are typical Albanian names, but each has a special meaning. Alban="The Albanian", Shpresa="Hope", Kreshnik="Warrior", Gezim="Joy", Bekim="Blessing". I won't be any more obvious than that... :-) Once upon a time there were 5 friends. They were born in the same town in the same year, grew up together, went to school together, played on football team together, got in trouble together. They were inseparable; you almost never saw one without the others. After they finished high school they found various honest jobs around town and soon one of them, Alban, fell in love with a young lady named Shpresa. Soon they were engaged and Alban was hard at work building another story on his parents’ home in preparation for the wedding. But then one day the unthinkable happened. Alban had been wo...
IF YOU USE AIRBNB OUTSIDE THE USA YOU WILL WANT TO READ THIS! --- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Every time you use airbnb to rent a place where the price is given in a currency other than your "home currency" Airbnb will take more than 3% that, by agreement with Visa, they are not allowed to take. I'd like to get a bunch of people contacting Visa and Airbnb to get pressure on airbnb to allow the option (which is already required by the agreement with visa) of charging in the currency of the customer's choice. Here's a link to a form you can fill out and send to vcf@visa.com --- Have you ever found a great deal on airbnb, saw just the price you were looking for, and then been dismayed that airbnb charged you in a different currency, at THEIR (worse) currency exchange rate, and (to add insult to injury) added a 3% exchange fee on top of that? In my personal experience I just lost over $50 making reservations for a conference - lost it by airbnb charging m...
The exci tement of the trip, buying new items, thinking through what might be needed, arriving early to avoid the traffic, carrying suitcases and boxes and crates, watching and talking while he organizes things. And then the excitement ends. Not slowly and gently but suddenly and loudly, like the sound of a guillotine slamming home. A last meal. A last prayer with a tight voice and a quavering chin. And then there were four. A long, quiet drive home, a growing pile of tissues on the floorboards of the car. Periodic conversation gambits fumbled in the haze of sorrow. This morning I got up as usual before the rest of the family. Usually I have to be careful which light I turn on because Christopher's room is a little day-room that looks into the kitchen. This morning I didn't have to be careful. No snarled sheets, no bed-head on that pillow. Oops. Not "Christopher's room is" but "Christopher's room was"... Words hurt. Even the tense of a...
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I am very happy you've chosen to leave a comment here. If it's not too much trouble I would really appreciate it if you would either sign in somehow or else identify yourself in your comments so I know who you are... (Not required but appreciated.) Thanks! -Peter