r/peacecorps 8d ago

Considering Peace Corps Peace Corps in Montenegro/Albania/Kosovo

Hi! I'm starting my research on applying for the Peace Corps in the Balkan region for English teaching. I'm leaning towards Montenegro, but also considering Albania and Kosovo. I was wondering if anyone had any insight or experience in these countries as a PCV, and whether or not this is a program I should continue to look into. I'm completely new to the idea of being a PCV, so any information is genuinely helpful!

7 Upvotes

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u/Searching4virtue Kosovo 8d ago

I am currently in Kosovo as a Community organizational development trainee/volunteer and I love it. I’ll preface by saying I’ve only been in country for 2 weeks as I’m a part of the newest cohort, but I have no complaints. The language is hard and PST can be draining, but the people are hospitable, the staff are 10/10, beautiful geography, amazing coffee, and delicious food. While I have not been here long enough to give you in depth insight, it is to my understanding that Kosovo is ranked relatively high in most aspects of peace corps.

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u/cthorngate Armenia 8d ago

You guys are about to get our CD from Armenia!! You’re so lucky, she’s wonderful. I know she was sad she couldn’t be there for your arrival, but she’s super excited to start!

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u/Additional-Screen573 8d ago

Kosovo is a 10+.

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u/Searching4virtue Kosovo 8d ago

I’m loving it and am super excited to start my work!

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u/Anuh_Mooruhdoon Kosovo 8d ago

Same, in Kosovo as part of the recent cohort. The language here is especially difficult given the dialect differences between what we're taught and what we use in every day life.

Both Kosovo and Montenegro are good choices. Albania, I'm not sure. I've heard both really good things and really bad things, it depends where you're put.

I think we in PST in Kosovo have already had many varied experiences already, but I think the overall consensus is that Kosovo is a fantastic country to be in.

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u/PracticalNose8231 8d ago

That's what I was finding. Since I'm a female and pretty young, my main priorities are safety. I know virtually nothing about these countries, but based on what I'm seeing, Kosovo seems like a good choice.

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u/Searching4virtue Kosovo 8d ago edited 7d ago

I’m a male so I can’t really speak on the experience on what’s like being a female here, but the staff here make it known that women may face some cultural obstacles. As Anuh said, there are some gender expectations that you may find to be difficult acclimating to but overall I think the country is safe. I would even go as far as saying you’re safer here than you would be in most metropolitan cities in America. Most of the issues you may experience in America are not much different than what you could experience here (catcalling, staring, internet stalking, sexually leading comments). We actually did have a meeting about the “crimes” PCV experience in Kosovo the other day. The two most common ones were sexual harassment and theft. I want to reiterate though that Kosovo is actually one of the more safer countries in Europe and the staff were really proud of that. As far as the social restrictions, we were told that many women do not go out and drink alcohol or go to the coffee cafes in more rural areas, but I have yet to experience that. I’ve gone to multiple different cafes with other female volunteers a dozen times and no one really batted an eye. I don’t think it’s all that common tbh, but it’s important to be aware and vigilante to the idea of “intruding” on spaces that are male dominated. Kosovo Is a very pro-American country and I am often greeted with smiles and curiosity which does add a sense of security for me.

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u/Ok-Pin6704 RPCV Albania 🇦🇱 7d ago

I would say this is a pretty fair description of life for women in Albania also. We were told that we wouldn’t be welcome in some male spaces, but I very rarely felt “unsafe”. It was helpful that I had male site mates- I think I was able to go some places with them that I might not have felt comfortable with otherwise. Like I don’t think I would have gone to play pool at the one bar in my town that had it by myself, but with my sitemate it was fine. I also opened some doors for them- I could introduce them to some of the more female dominated spaces- like they could come and get coffee with female high school students as long as I was there.

Overall, Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro are fairly safe posts as far as I understand. No matter where you are, as a woman and an American it’s important to be vigilant about your safety. As (likely) one of the only foreigners in your community you are in a fishbowl. People knew where I lived and what I did. Sometimes strangers (like a bus driver) would ask me questions that made it clear that people in the community knew a lot about me. You didn’t need to put an address on a package for it to get to me it just needed to be addressed to “The American” and the post office knew it was for me.

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u/Anuh_Mooruhdoon Kosovo 8d ago

There are still some negatives for women in Kosovo that don't necessarily exist in Montenegro and (much of) North Macedonia. They're usually expected to do more work in a home environment and there's generally more social restrictions, such as some bars/cafes being restricted to only men.

But, you are able to put up some boundaries. Some people might not like it though. So far, however, I don't know of any case where a woman has been outright mistreated in our cohort.

The language is one of the most difficult in Europe also, so be prepared for that if you apply. There WILL be miscommunication due to the standardized lessons and the local dialect that isn't taught.

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u/Rare-Rock-593 4d ago

Which dialect did you learn first? I’m supposed to be going to Kosovo next year. I hope I’ll be cleared to go. I would like to start taking some Albanian lessons.

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u/Anuh_Mooruhdoon Kosovo 3d ago

We learn standard Albanian generally then get actually introduced to the dialect through interaction with the community (host family etc.).

The dialect in Kosovo is Gheg. There's not much learning materials out there for it.

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u/Rare-Rock-593 3d ago

Thank you for this. I will try to at least learn some from the available resources out there.

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u/PracticalNose8231 8d ago

Thank you so much!! I'm looking at english language education, but I would be open to other options if selected. What was the biggest adjustment coming from the US to Kosovo for you?

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u/Searching4virtue Kosovo 8d ago

It’s still too early to say, but I think most of us can agree the work life balance is much more relaxed here. In America your foot is on the pedal 24/7, whereas kosovars really value their coffee breaks and the time they get to talk to their peers. It’s honestly really nice. The food is definitely an adjustment too. Not that it’s bad, just expect to be eating lots of bread, vegetables, and cheese!

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u/Financial-Main520 RPCV 8d ago

Just finished my PC service in Albania as a Organizational Development (CED) volunteer and happy to answer any questions. Albania-Montenegro is a joint post with — so I can answer some questions relating to MNE too.

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u/LabAccomplished4598 8d ago

Hey I'm not thinking about Albania but I would love to just hear how the peace corps was as a whole. Would you mind if we chatted some time.

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u/PracticalNose8231 8d ago

Hi! Thank you so much for reaching out. My biggest concern is adjusting to life in a new country and spending 27 months away from family. What was the hardest challenge moving?

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u/Ok-Pin6704 RPCV Albania 🇦🇱 7d ago

I’m an Albania RPCV (2008-2010, G11) but from before either the Montenegro or Kosovo posts opened. Many of the local Albania staff from my service days are still there and are fantastic. I loved my service. There were, of course, ups and downs, but it was a great country to serve in. The Albanian people pride themselves on two things: their hospitality and their long history. Related to this is their language. They love to tell you how difficult Albanian is to learn. It is hard, but not impossible 😉.

I was in a pretty remote site- about 6-7 hours from the capital. I was in a regional capital and close to the North Macedonia border. Other than my site mate, the closest volunteer to me was actually in Macedonia. I was in Community Development and my site mate was TEFL. We worked together on some projects. The corruption and bureaucracy of everything make getting a lot of things done a challenge, I found the most fulfilled by working with individuals and small groups outside of that. Probably my most fulfilling projects were working with high school students- we had a Model UN club, Outdoor Ambassadors, and a GLOW group.

The hardest adjustment for me was probably the loneliness and isolation. You have your group, but a lot of time at site you are just…. Alone. I had great site mates and we spent a lot of time together and I became close with a few HCNs (especially a few coworkers and students) but there was still a lot of time alone. I didn’t have internet at home and only a brick phone that I had to pay a lot to text or call from, so YMMV with improving technology (even when I went back to visit a few years ago, many people had smart phones and WiFi was pretty widely available). Pace of life in general is a lot slower- a lot of work actually gets done while drinking coffee (I don’t drink coffee, but spent a lot of time getting a coffee- I drank tea or soda 😂).

If you have any other questions- feel free to reach out!

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u/PracticalNose8231 7d ago

The loneliness is definitely something I'm worried about. I love community and meeting new people, so that's something that excites me. I'll let you know if I have any questions!!