A lovely outdoor lunch on the terrace of the Paradise Beach Hotel in Oricum (south of Vlora)
Posted by Hello
Sunday, October 31, 2004
This historic place in Vlora is where the Albanian flag was raised for the first time when the country became a nation in November 1912
Posted by Hello
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Change of scenery
In less than a week, here I am in another European country: tiny Albania with its rugged mountains and extremely sunny weather. Left cold and foggy Milan and was greeted in Tirana by a perfectly blue sky, hot sun, and 80F temperature. The flight was full, as usual, but no more lunch served on board!
The old Rinas airport, now also named “Mother Theresa”, continues to be renovated and presents itself like a peaceful oasis with its small tower, its manicured lawns, a variety of flowers and palm trees. Its project of modernization, recently won by Lockheed through a bid system, will continue for a few more years.
Currently, notwithstanding the traffic of a dozen foreign airlines that service Tirana daily, the place is calm, and the service personnel unhurried, including the passport agents. They are mostly young women in uniform, who carefully check the incoming passengers, enter their data into personal computer at each booth, and offer you a smile.
The feeling I get every time I am about to land in the country of my origin never fails to be one of “getting home” somehow. This tiny country, known for its hospitality, offers an additional surprise upon arrival. Foreign citizen of Albanian origin are exempt from paying the entry fee, and are whisked through. Most of them, coming back to visit their families, are happy to pick up their loads and meet their dear ones that outside are anxiously waiting for them behind a barricade. Welcome (mire se vini) home!
The old Rinas airport, now also named “Mother Theresa”, continues to be renovated and presents itself like a peaceful oasis with its small tower, its manicured lawns, a variety of flowers and palm trees. Its project of modernization, recently won by Lockheed through a bid system, will continue for a few more years.
Currently, notwithstanding the traffic of a dozen foreign airlines that service Tirana daily, the place is calm, and the service personnel unhurried, including the passport agents. They are mostly young women in uniform, who carefully check the incoming passengers, enter their data into personal computer at each booth, and offer you a smile.
The feeling I get every time I am about to land in the country of my origin never fails to be one of “getting home” somehow. This tiny country, known for its hospitality, offers an additional surprise upon arrival. Foreign citizen of Albanian origin are exempt from paying the entry fee, and are whisked through. Most of them, coming back to visit their families, are happy to pick up their loads and meet their dear ones that outside are anxiously waiting for them behind a barricade. Welcome (mire se vini) home!
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Start of a fall European odyssey
This fall’s trip to Europe covers a tight and hectic schedule: two months of planned activities and projects, which will hopefully result in positive outcomes.
Two days after returning home from a planned fundraising event Michigan, I flew to Milan, Italy, where I found cold weather (47F / 7C) and fog. Less than 24 hours later I reached, by train, Bologna, where I wanted to attend an international conference regarding “Building networks of cooperation and dialogue between civil society and public administrations in the enlarged Europe”. An unexpected high number of participants from 25 different European countries attended the 2 day affair, conducted in 2 languages: Italian and English.
I was one of a large number of women attendees, mostly from the youngest European member countries of Slovenia, Czek Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, but the only one from the US (however, representing an Albanian Foundation) that did not need any equipment for the simultaneous translation.
This conference was the first attempt (on the part of the Emilia/Romagna region of Italy in partnership with the European Citizen Action Service of Belgium) to launch a cooperation project aiming at promoting civil society and national administrations, as well as European socio-economic development by exchanging models of multilevel democratic governance, where the actors are the public, private and third sector (NGO’s) in the new Europe.
My reaction (shared with the organizers that solicited my input) was that it’s a good start, but the program included too many reports and not enough time to really do workshops, as it was planned. The speakers (mostly Italians) had very little time at their disposal to elaborate about the many problems they alluded to in their presentations, and no time at all to get reactions. Some moderators were more interested in giving a speech themselves rather than summarize what was accomplished in the respective workshops. The results, therefore, were not very conclusive, but everyone hoped that next year organizers will plan the follow up conference in Turin, by learning from the experiences of this one.
What was accomplished in this occasion was the launching of a new web site “cooperate”. Everyone recognized, however, that it takes much more to develop and understand what can be done to offset the lack of information about what’s available, the need to share experiences not to reinvent wheels, and to create procedures and cooperation for a just sharing of what’s legally established and available (including financial help) from the European Union. This was the key to planning this conference, but the only presentation on this subject was given by a top official who flew from Brussel toward the end of the works. He gave an interesting 30 minutes overview of how the European Budget is established and modified, and took the next plane out within the hour.
Personally I met a couple of interesting people, who promised to keep in touch in the future.
Two days after returning home from a planned fundraising event Michigan, I flew to Milan, Italy, where I found cold weather (47F / 7C) and fog. Less than 24 hours later I reached, by train, Bologna, where I wanted to attend an international conference regarding “Building networks of cooperation and dialogue between civil society and public administrations in the enlarged Europe”. An unexpected high number of participants from 25 different European countries attended the 2 day affair, conducted in 2 languages: Italian and English.
I was one of a large number of women attendees, mostly from the youngest European member countries of Slovenia, Czek Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, but the only one from the US (however, representing an Albanian Foundation) that did not need any equipment for the simultaneous translation.
This conference was the first attempt (on the part of the Emilia/Romagna region of Italy in partnership with the European Citizen Action Service of Belgium) to launch a cooperation project aiming at promoting civil society and national administrations, as well as European socio-economic development by exchanging models of multilevel democratic governance, where the actors are the public, private and third sector (NGO’s) in the new Europe.
My reaction (shared with the organizers that solicited my input) was that it’s a good start, but the program included too many reports and not enough time to really do workshops, as it was planned. The speakers (mostly Italians) had very little time at their disposal to elaborate about the many problems they alluded to in their presentations, and no time at all to get reactions. Some moderators were more interested in giving a speech themselves rather than summarize what was accomplished in the respective workshops. The results, therefore, were not very conclusive, but everyone hoped that next year organizers will plan the follow up conference in Turin, by learning from the experiences of this one.
What was accomplished in this occasion was the launching of a new web site “cooperate”. Everyone recognized, however, that it takes much more to develop and understand what can be done to offset the lack of information about what’s available, the need to share experiences not to reinvent wheels, and to create procedures and cooperation for a just sharing of what’s legally established and available (including financial help) from the European Union. This was the key to planning this conference, but the only presentation on this subject was given by a top official who flew from Brussel toward the end of the works. He gave an interesting 30 minutes overview of how the European Budget is established and modified, and took the next plane out within the hour.
Personally I met a couple of interesting people, who promised to keep in touch in the future.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
More travels
Had a pleasant and successful business trip to Michigan, where I was greeted by friends and long distant relatives living there. Also made new friends and met some interesting people, who know more about me and my family than I know of them. Will eventually post a news release on the Foundation's site about this trip; now, however, I have to prepare for another, long one that will take me to Italy, Albania, and possibly Montenegro.
Will attempt to keep up this diary as I travel, although in some places I will be without online connection for some days at a time.
Will attempt to keep up this diary as I travel, although in some places I will be without online connection for some days at a time.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
A couple of thoughts for the day.......
I read that October 23rd is "Make a Difference Day", a national day of helping others. It's an annual event, now in its 13th year, when the spirit of volunteerism can be rallied into a year-round committment to make a difference in our communities. Anyone can take part in volunteer projects, and I am (coincidentally with the above) a living proof of it for the past 13 years.
Through this virtual format, I thus wish to recognize the volunteer help of so many of my friends, who have lent me their hand and continue to do so in my efforts to develop better facilities and opportunities for the young generation of Albanians within their own country.
F.Y.I. : as I update this blog, I also noticed that my added remarks may not immediately appear on this diary format. The reason is that if you access this log through the address that you may have 'bookmarked', it may not display the most recent version because your 'cache memory' has not been cleared. Further action is thus needed on your part....to keep up with me!
Through this virtual format, I thus wish to recognize the volunteer help of so many of my friends, who have lent me their hand and continue to do so in my efforts to develop better facilities and opportunities for the young generation of Albanians within their own country.
F.Y.I. : as I update this blog, I also noticed that my added remarks may not immediately appear on this diary format. The reason is that if you access this log through the address that you may have 'bookmarked', it may not display the most recent version because your 'cache memory' has not been cleared. Further action is thus needed on your part....to keep up with me!
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Hints
I am still in the process of familiarizing myself and some friends about this method of sharing news, which is already used by millions of other people for almost 5 years now. Like everything else though, it takes getting used to.
I know some individuals who put their resume online this way. Now I also read that several companies have put this technology to good use for hiring staff by advertising open positions and getting feedback this way. So here is the first clue for employment searchers: Google some company name and you may find that their blog is among the first listed references!
Personally, I feel that this could be a good tool for small group of people to work on small projects together, don't you think? The only drawback, however, is that this interchange may be accessed by anyone; even if the blog is not advertised, the knowledgeable 'bloggers' out there are always roaming around and can read whatever one writes. The other feature is that anyone can easily post comments, as you can see below, by just creating a login id to access this facility.
For the 'uninitiated' blogger like me, the only advice so far: just keep reading (just intesting stuff, of course!), don't disclose any secrets, be careful in your comments, and enjoy the facility for what it's worth it!
BTW: disregard the menus on the left hand side of the screen (of my blog anyway); this is just like a simple diary, that you can read sequentially, and not a web site where you can jump around back and forth. The more recent postings are always on top.
I know some individuals who put their resume online this way. Now I also read that several companies have put this technology to good use for hiring staff by advertising open positions and getting feedback this way. So here is the first clue for employment searchers: Google some company name and you may find that their blog is among the first listed references!
Personally, I feel that this could be a good tool for small group of people to work on small projects together, don't you think? The only drawback, however, is that this interchange may be accessed by anyone; even if the blog is not advertised, the knowledgeable 'bloggers' out there are always roaming around and can read whatever one writes. The other feature is that anyone can easily post comments, as you can see below, by just creating a login id to access this facility.
For the 'uninitiated' blogger like me, the only advice so far: just keep reading (just intesting stuff, of course!), don't disclose any secrets, be careful in your comments, and enjoy the facility for what it's worth it!
BTW: disregard the menus on the left hand side of the screen (of my blog anyway); this is just like a simple diary, that you can read sequentially, and not a web site where you can jump around back and forth. The more recent postings are always on top.
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