Back in NY

Have arrived back home safe and sound, via Austrian Airline, which is consistently performing impeccable services with great punctuality. This time I traveled on their new Boeing 777 aircraft, which has more comfortable seats, but lack even a small standing room area, usually located in the plane's mid section. Lufthansa much larger Airbuses instead, which I now normally use going Eastward, offer some standing spaces, especially in the toilets zone, which is located on a lower deck. One can usually stretch there, but a group of people that just want to stand up and chat are not allowed to congregate, due to new security on board regulations.

I had reached Tirana's airport in no time, at 2:30am, in a beautiful night breeze, and had the chance to notice the now enlarged and spacious airport terminal, better organized with Duty Free and coffee shops, and with double the amount of departing gates.

I could not help reminiscing about my first trip back to Albania in 1993, when there was only one room, one gate, no luggage carousel, but only one hole in a wall through which the arriving luggage was passed, individually, by hand. Throughout this recent past I've been privy to watch, on an yearly basis, the great changes and developments that have taken place in Albania, which now large numbers of tourist are discovering and appreciating.

As the first light of dawn was peeking from behind the surrounding mountains, the new Fokker plane operated by Austrian's partner, Tyrolean Air, lifted us off the ground at 4:25am, and in 1 1/2 hour we reached Vienna. After a layover of 4 hours we spent another 8 1/2 hours crossing Europe and the Atlantic, and landed at JFK, ahead of time, at 1:37pm.

The 777 craft was packed to full capacity; the service and food were excellent, and I enjoyed the company of a young, 9 year old, boy from Kosova, seated in the middle between me and an Austrian woman diplomat. He was accompanied by a friend of his father, who was seated 10 rows behind us.

The boy spoke fluent English, and, typical of his age, was fidgeting a lot, while being curious about everything that went on. Once he got hold of the remote control of his seat he had no problem perusing the on board entertainment programs. The trip was a reward from his father for a good school year, and his excitement about visiting relatives in the Bronx (NY) was obvious. He refused every meal that was offered, claiming of not being hungry, and drank only 4 glasses of cola during the entire trip. We chatted quite a bit, and, from time to time, he would give me a big smile, and affectionately stroke my arm when I would politely give him some hints about traveling etiquette. At one point ended up leaning on me for a short nap. Toward the end of the trip he finally broke down when he noticed that, by refusing the last snack, he had missed a delicious chocolate mousse, but he had no qualms politely asking the steward if he could get only that dessert.

Upon leaving JFK to head home in a rundown yellow cab I began to sweat in the very muggy afternoon of NY weather, and felt very uncomfortable, especially when, missing the great Mediterranean weather I left behind in Albania, I started thinking about what I had to cope with upon my return home.

Fortunately, within an hour or so, I was able to restore water and electrical facilities, as well as cable and Internet service, and to get hold of a carton of accumulated snail mail that will take a couple of days to sort out and dispose of. Within that same hour I returned some phone 'welcome home' messages, and also received a phone call from a friend in Tirana checking up that I was safely home.

On the road again

My time in Tirana is coming to an end, and I need to return to the States, where, I forecast, a busy summer is ahead for me.

While everyone is looking forward to time off and a good vacation, I need to catch up with what's accumulated during my absence from NY and plan the activities that will bring me back to Albania in the fall.

It’s hard to leave Tirana, where life is easy going and comfortable and where now I have many new friends.

Here I feel much better physically, probably due to the pretty steady barometric pressure. Notwithstanding the rapidly changing weather conditions, the Mediterranean climate apparently suits me well.

I feel good about the additional accomplishments during this trip, but there is plenty more to carry out here in the future.

Thus, so long Tirana, for a while, and NY here I come!

Sunday outing

Yesterday, at midday, I was picked up by some friends, who invited me to lunch in their new residence. They bought an apartment in a new complex of tall buildings erected in the past 3 years in one of the many, recently expanding areas of Tirana.

Does it not seem like a beehive the following view, seen in the distance from my balcony, of Tirana’s chaotic ongoing construction in some areas? These enormous clusters are all forever emerging out of nowhere in the suburbs of this capital!

Some of these structures are not yet completed; others are still being developed, and most of them are still unoccupied.

My friends’ 4th floor apartment is very comfortable and cozy and has two great balconies.

Father and daughter drove me to it, while mother was busy cooking up a storm.

She included a couple of eggplant dishes knowing that I adore this type of vegetable. It was a very substantial meal with two types of meat, rice, vegetables, salad, two varieties of Albanian “byrek” , plus the “tree lecher”, rich dessert, which is very similar to a ‘tiramisu`. A very good Italian red wine was followed by some Italian ‘spumante’, which I provided nice and cold, and perfectly washed down all these delicacies.

We survived the very hot afternoon comfortably relaxing in their air conditioned living room, and around 6:30pm, the family decided to take me out for coffee. This is usually the time when entire families go out for a stroll in the evenings.

The daughter is an excellent driver and wanted me to enjoy the outdoors a bit; thus, she drove us to the suburbs. She took an old road that is now in need of repair, but it was quite trafficked. As we rode through very agricultural territory with many fields of corn, large extensions of greenhouses full of vegetables, the father was recounting episode of the past in these areas that to date, are still the cradle of the red, left wing political parties.

The surrounding, rolling countryside displayed gorgeous shades of green, and several people were working their fields, while cows, chickens, and donkeys were freely sprawled around feeding themselves. Along the road quite a variety of fruit trees full of plums, dates, apples, pears, and all sorts of wild flowers.

A real pastoral setting, with some farms houses in the background, here and there. What I found interesting was that along this entirely side road the city had furnished the typical metal bins for garbage collection, similar to the ones within the capital itself. This obviously cuts down any burning of trash in the fields; here the air is clear, fresh, and in spots smelling of cut grass and hay.

Along the way, in the middle of the countryside, with nothing else in sight except what I just described, a couple elegant new bar/café`/restaurants have opened up for business, and they had customers!

We also stopped in one of them and sat in the peaceful outdoor terrace chatting for a couple of hours, while tasting some of the local cheeses with local breads and fresh vegetables that the daughter insisted I should also experience. I managed a couple of bites, but the so called snacks all disappeared by the time we left and headed home.

It was a relaxing day, in good company and excellent food everywhere, but I never expected to be out for so many hours. I was delivered back to my apartment by 10:15pm.

More goodies!

Some friends that were out of town, and others that I had not seeing since my arrival because one of them was recuperating from a surgical intervention, came visiting the day after my birthday, and brought more sweets, flowers, and loads of fresh fruits.

It’s really hard for them to understand that it’s not easy for me cope with all these gifts. A simple wish and an enjoyable visit would be sufficient, but one must adapt somehow to local customs.

When you go visiting here and try to decline the food and drink offers, you get a deaf ear. Refusing what the host serves is considered an offense in this part of the world, thus, even if one feels full from a meal, or previous intake of food, one must comply by at least taking a small bite and a tiny sip of whatever is served. I should add that what they dish up is not usually an item alone. Last evening, for instance, I was served excellent fruit juice accompanied first by a deliciously fresh fruit salad ('macedonia di frutta'), which, later on, was followed by a huge portion of an extraordinarily light, soft ice cream made with mixed berries.

Last year, when dining at some friend’s apartment, I enjoyed a very refreshing dessert that my hostess claimed being very simple to prepare, without any cooking involved. She vowed to teach me one day how to make it, and, sure enough, this year she showed up at my apartment with all the ingredients (yogurt, condensed milk, lemons, a few hard biscuits and chopped nuts) and assembled this recipe right under my nose within 10 minutes! It’s really very cool and delicious!

From local bakeries that serve hot,fresh bread of all sorts until the wee hours of the night, one can buy a phyllo dough pocket for a mere 40 cents generously stuffed with apples, raisins, and cinnamon.

It is the equivalent of an american apple turnover; however, its content is twice the amount, is not very sweet, and it's very, very good.

Mini plums (the size of cherries) come free for me by just grabbing them off one of the trees outside my office's window.

Notwithstanding all these goodies, I am happy to report that I've lost a couple of pounds lately!

Greetings

On my birthday, yesterday, I received online several greetings (in 3 different languages) from friends and relatives in the States and Italy, while here, in Tirana, I had surprise visits of some friends bearing gifts.

A couple of them came as late as 10pm, after they closed their businesses, at the end of their work day.

We had a good time chatting, while sipping some Spumante, with the sweets. I had chilled a bottle of it in the fridge in view of another occasion, thus it came very handy.

Meantime, a toal lunar eclipse was taking place, so, from time to time, we peeked at its progress while enjoying a beautiful cool breeze that was coming through the open doors of my balcony.

Eventually, restoring its luminous white, full face, the moon began to play hide and seek amidst the clouds.

Some quiet time

I spent last week in a frenzy of physical activities at the office where new installations and unpacking of lots of stuff took place. During the first three days the temperature was rather high, and the newly installed air conditioning units were used at full force.

On Friday, however, I looked forward to a quiet day since I had no appointments on my calendar and no workers scheduled. And so it was!

An added bonus was great weather that turned milder (only in the mid 70's C), with no rain for a change.

Upon arrival I opened all windows and I could not get over how beautiful it was to enjoy the slight breeze of the natural cross ventilation. Since the office is recessed from the road, there is no traffic noise and the birds nesting in the neighboring trees were keeping me company with their chirping sounds.

The kitchenette corner was finally completed with the addition of a medium size, Italian made, refrigerator, and I was able for the first time to also have a peaceful lunch at the office.

Outside one of our windows there are some fruit trees and one of them is currently loaded with its strangely small plums, the size of which is similar to that of small cherry tomatoes.

Albanians sell them on the street when they are still quite green and enjoy them for their sourness, but the ones I could grab off the tree from the office window are now ripe and sweet.

It was delightful for a day to do desk work without interruptions and in such a pleasurable atmosphere!

Tirana's weather

Albania is in the Mediterranean zone, but, this year, the locals are calling its incredibly variable daily weather: tropical.

Since my arrival almost a month ago the early and midday sun beats down with vengeance, and a hat or parasol become a necessity when walking. Punctually, however, by late afternoon dark clouds blow into the city from behind the Dajti mountain chain, and the skies begin to rumble.

About half an hour of thunder and lightning are followed by a good downpour that clears and refreshes the polluted air, and provides a wonderful shower for all the greenery in the city parks and along all boulevards, which is thriving beautifully.

The wet occurrence usually ends before the evening sets in, and, after a short rainbow show, sunset displays its wonderful late day colors.

Rules of the road?

As everyone knows the rules of the road are not strictly observed everytime, by everybody, almost everywhere.

During my travels in Italy I have noticed many infringments and consistently read about complains regarding excessive speed on roads, lack of precedence to pedestrians at crosswalks, illegal parking in designated areas for handicapped people, and also on narrow sidewalks, thus impeding pedestrian traffic.
Occasionally, I notice similar behavior on the part of drivers also in NY, where it seems these bad habits are becoming more frequent than they used to be.

Albania is no exception, with some additional other odd practices.....

Along the long boulevards and main roads, Tirana has provided, like other modern cities, slanted passages at corners to facilitate access to the sidewalks by the disables, but some people do not pay any attention to them. BTW, in Tirana a disable person using a wheel chair is in fact a rare sight. People in general, and especially seniors have been and continue to be good walkers and are in pretty good shape.

Many small cars are now part of Tirana's immense and chaotic traffic and they are positioned everywhere by their drivers. Some shops, restaurants, or cafes 'reserve themselves' a space or two in front of their entrance by positioning a chair or a plant along the sidewalk. Their owners or their help will hurriedly remove these obstacles to favor an incoming possible client.

Some drivers will enter a 'no entry' street in order to shorten their way to destination or cut thru the traffic, but the street police is now out in full force, and is cracking down on them and on double parking, which is permeating the city.

I remember just a few years ago when in Tirana there were no street lights, very few cops at some crossroads, and very old cars everywhere. The city now is a bustling metropolis with a population of 800,000, and about 250,000 new cars, of all shapes, colors, and brands, and life gets better, although still a lot remains to be done.