Short update

Time flies while in Albania, while daily life here seems to crawl most of the time…..what I mean is that while in this country my days run out quickly for me, at the end of each day I feel that I have not accomplished as much as I wanted to.  Used, as I am for decades in the States, to plan and carry out projects in a pretty speedy way, I have to ‘put on brakes’ here, and ‘go with the local flow’, which is a more relaxed way of living, but less efficient in fulfilling plans.   

  

I have been pretty busy since my arrival to meet some immediate, strict deadlines, while, as usual, trying to shake off jet lag, re-adjust daily life to European style, and cope with a drastic change in climate. Left 11C degrees in NY, and found myself dumped into 32C a day later, after the lengthy and laborious travel described in the my previous post. 

Tirana continues to be a very busy city, bustling with activities around the clock, and its traffic is maddening! Just like in NY, now one must allow more time to move around the city, reach destinations,  and then have the headache of figuring out where to park a car. They are everywhere, on sidewalks, on curbs, double lining the streets and boulevards, leaving free just one lane for traveling.  

The city seems to quiet down a bit only on weekends , when everyone seems to hit the countryside and the beach areas, easily reachable in a country of such a small size as this.

The tourist traffic continues to increase yearly, as also described in the following couple of recent articles that I am sharing with you here: 

-       - from Travel – Mail Online “Europe last corner:beaches and beauty in Albania, the hidden bargain of the Balkans”

-       - from the Huff Post Travel “One Insane Day inAlbania” 

I hope to be able to also enjoy a bit of leisure time during the upcoming few weekends here, meantime, work plans are waiting for me now at the office……