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Hannah (25 years old) left the USA to Albania
An English teacher, she works for a Cristian school in Tirana, Albania. Before going to Albania, she lived in the Mid-west, USA.
She first visited Albania when she was 21 years old, for 6 weeks, through an educational mission organization called “Teach beyond”, for an internship, while she was studying to become an English teacher. During that experience, Hanna became a passionate teacher and also fell in love with a person, so she decided to return to Albania, and married the man she had met. Hannah loves teaching kids and has a high appreciation about the Albanian culture.
During her interview, she declared: “I’m beyond thankful of being here and being in this culture and… I hope to learn more on Albanian people and Albanian culture. It is interesting being an American woman in Albanian culture, because it is different…Freedom and rights, civil rights, social rights and everything that has been discussed in America, now are being discussed here. The way that women are being treated in America is a little bit different from the way women are treated here, especially by an older generation of men, but it doesn’t impact my daily life, but is something I should be aware of. So if an older man says something to me or does something to me, where naturally I’d be defensive about, it causes me to take a deep breath and slow down and realize that I’m in a different culture, because it is not typically how I would be talked to or talked about in America where I’m from”.
She misses a lot the food from America (and parents of course), because, according to her, the food is associated with memories.
Interview conducted by Brunilda Zenelaga on 07 December 2023 in Albania (virtually)
To cite this interview, Zenelaga, Brunilda (07 December 2023). Interview of Hannah (from USA to Albania) (length: 3m08).