drita's chronicle

Remembrance day

2012-01-27T12:16:00.000-05:00

The United Nations and the European Union designated January 27th as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is observed also in other dates in a variety of countries. In Italy, for instance, today is called 'Giornata della Memoria' (Memorial Day), but it has nothing to do with the 'Memorial Day' commemoration that takes place in the U.S. each year at the end of May.

Last night broadcast of the "Porta a Porta" TV series by RAI International dealt with today's anniversary of the Holocaust. It was a very compelling program not simply for the direct testimonies of some survivors present in the TV studio, and the different reactions in their lives' development after such traumatic experiences, but for the extremely interesting considerations and lessons learned by whomever has studied and continues to assemble documentation about this dreadful historical occurrence.

The commentaries furnished by the rest of the show participants that included a journalist, an historian, a psychologist, a politician, and the show host, all converged to similar conclusions: not enough has been done to really expose the atrocities in questions, it's insufficient to just remember them, and their assessment, as well as correct information, should provide instead the basis to educate toward the prevention of any future similar actions. A good example is demonstrated by a couple of interesting comments to today's article by the Orlando Sentinel related to this subject. It raises attention to the importance also of publishing correct information.

While listening to last evening program, which also brought up the fact that to date in Italy there is not yet a museum about the Holocaust, I remembered the fact that while visiting in the past the Historical Museum in Tirana, the absence of a good exhibit about the communist dictatorship and its atrocities, was quite obvious. Talking with some parents while in Albania, I found out that recent past history is not taught to the younger generations. Negating dreadful past is no solution for a better future. The opposite should be true.

As time goes by, we all tend to forget 'the bad' and just go on. History is the greatest teacher. We should keep in mind and learn from the past, instead of pushing it aside. This should be the goal of every individual because each and every of us can contribute to a better future.

Albanian Sommelier

2012-01-10T08:19:00.000-05:00

Announced online by Albania News with this article is that, among the winners of a competition of wine professionals that took place recently in Italy is, for the first time, a woman, and she is Albanian: Daniela Meçaj. She is is the recipient of the distinguished award "Il Tulipano d'Oro" ("The Golden Tulip"). Interesting field, and a new one, especially for an Albanian. Kudos for her!

Albania: intriguing east

2011-12-29T09:51:00.000-05:00

Albeit this article by TravelFY was written to market tourism, it has a very appropriate title and it provides an excellent description of the still unknown, but worth visiting, mountainous hinterland of Albania.

Visited long time ago also by such notables, as British poet Lord Byron and British traveler and writer Edith Durham, these areas can now be freely rediscovered after more than half a century of forced isolationism.

Visitors, enjoy!

Year End in NY

2011-12-24T11:30:00.000-05:00

After three busy months of planning and development work in Albania I am back home in NY, where now I am coping with a huge accumulation of paperwork that needs to be appropriately disposed of before year end.

The return trip from Tirana was smooth and uneventful, but tiring for me, as usual. Left my Tirana apartment at 3AM, in cool and drizzling weather. After a 9 1/2 hrs transatlantic flight, landed at JFK, on time, at 2PM, where the temperature was below zero centigrade.

The lengthy connection time to be spent at Vienna's airport is always quite comfy, though, due to the well organized and structured atmosphere there, followed by an excellent service on board the very efficiently run Austrian Airline. Arrival in NY can be shocking, however, due to the always enormously jam-packed and chaotic environment at the influx terminals. Thank goodness my taxi ride home was pretty speedy because it was Sunday afternoon and the vehicular traffic on the highway into town was light.

I still need to normalize my daily hours, get rid of the remaining jet lag, and catch up on much needed sleep, but, overall, so far, I have managed to put everything under control. Now I just want to add here the best of wishes for a wonderful holiday season to all my friends, relatives, and acquaintances living around the world.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!

GEZUAR FESTAT dhe VITIN e RI!

BUON NATALE e FELICE ANNO NUOVO!

A Christmas Story - Journey Of The Angels/Silent Night by Enya.wmv

2011-12-20T17:59:00.005-05:00

I normally don't do this, but this beautiful, very touching story, emailed to me by a friend, needs to be shared and watched to the end.

Street cleaning in Tirana

2011-12-08T12:18:00.002-05:00

Modernization in the capital of Albania has been and is evident on a daily basis. I have watched its progress for almost two decades now, as described from time to time in this blog, but I am still amazed by how certain city services are still conducted today. Street clean-up is one of the services I am referring to.

The garbage trucks are of European standard and the metal collection bins are emptied twice a day (at midday and at midnight). Other mechanized equipment includes also water spraying vehicles that wash down the streets every night,following the trash pickups. But,to my knowledge and observation, I believe that the city is not yet equipped with mechanical sweepers. At least, I have never seen any of them around.

As done traditionally, all street and parks cleaning is still done manually, and it is performed at all hours of the day and night. I suppose this should help unemployment, but, interestingly, the cleaning crews are largely formed by women.

With this week total sunny days are being replaced by mixed weather conditions that include loud, but short storms, alternating with sunny intervals throughout the day, with, at times, very strong, unusual winds. The wet season was very late this year; the color turning of the foliage was beautiful, however, but is not lasting very long because the winds made the golden glow of the leaves disappear quickly.

During the day the women collect the leaves, and then a truck comes by to pick up, while during the night I watched two lonely men, working under pouring rain, one collecting the leaves and the other loading them onto a metal bin on wheels that he pushed by hand along the boulevard…..By the morning the road was clean, but thanks to the wind the process had to be restarted a few hours later.

Celebrations

2011-12-02T12:56:00.000-05:00

Two days after successfully running a reception at work to celebrate the beginning of Albania's centenary, I received an invitation from friends to a birthday dinner at a local restaurant.

It was my first visit to this establishment, where, I found out, one would entertain foreign guests because of its ambience and good food. Upon arrival, I was impressed by its décor and atmosphere. The rustic setting has in its center a huge working fireplace used for cooking, and its light fixtures are covered with handmade linen covers, which are woven in the northern city of Shkoder, as well as their beautiful red tablecloths.

As the party gathered I realized I was the only ‘outside’ member, totally unrelated to the birthday person and his entire family, but I was honored to be considered by all part of their extended family, which I have known now for almost two decades.

The individual being celebrated is married to a vivacious and energetic wife (a psychologist), and they have two daughters.

There are now grandparents, so far from one daughter, of two beautiful grandchildren.

Various courses of foods (including some exceptionally delicious grilled meats) were served by an attentive and friendly staff.

The conversation was lively throughout the evening, and by the time the cake was served everyone also joined in singing and dancing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!

Busy weekends

2011-11-26T16:56:00.000-05:00

As per tradition the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend in NY sees the start of the holidays' sales. I just watched on TV the madness caused yesterday during this, so called, 'black Friday', and can report that something similar has happened today (Saturday) in Tirana.

Another 'super' megastore, named TEG (for Tirana East Gate) was inaugurated in this capital. From what I hear, it contains products and stores that represent more than 20 different foreign countries.

The police had to intervene to redirect the vehicular traffic that jammed one of the longest throuroughfares of this city leading to this mammoth complex, which registered more than 138,000 visitors in this first day of operation.

Just like in NY advertising brochures are slipped under apartments' doors every day by all sorts of businesses, including restaurants and food establishments that, however, in Tirana do deliveries by motor scooters and not by bicycles. TEG was no exception. Actually, since a week ago, it also anchored 2 large balloons with their logo on it, shaped as ducks, into the Lana canal that crosses the city. Today I noticed that some passing children had fun jumping onto them from the surrounding green areas bordering this waterway. Needless to say one of them eventually slipped and got himself soaked, but they were all having a great time!!

Health market in Tirana

2011-11-23T05:28:00.016-05:00

When in Tirana it is impossible not to notice the large number of medical facilities everywhere in town. Although it may seem an exaggeration, every couple of blocks one may find at least a dental clinic, and a pharmacy. This fact does not surprise me since it's no secret that for years some Europeans travel to Tirana for all their dental care, handled skillfully and inexpensively here.

Now there is also a fair number of foreign hospitals (Italian, Greek, Turkish, American) that have proliferated in the past few years in addition to the state medical institutions. Some of the latest methods of operations and health treatments are available here, for a fee of course, but they are performed by well known, foreign doctors, who offer their services in their own specialties by traveling to this capital on a regular basis.

I am making these statements from pure observation, but also from talks with the many friends I have here that, in the past, could afford to get treatments they felt comfortable with abroad, but now are happy to have choices in loco.

Personally, I have been fortunate enough in my travel and visits to Albania in the past 2 decades not to be in need of any of these medical services, and have done some shopping only a couple of times at local pharmacies, where I always found multilingual, competent, and extremely courteous personnel.

One such occasion happened the other day and wish to mention it since it involved the purchase of a prescription drug, needed due to an extended stay in town. This medication is quite expensive in the U.S., but I discovered that is part of the free market here.

Not only I did not need any medical prescription from a doctor to get it, but I calculated its cost to be 1/5th of what is charged in NY for same. BTW, this was not a substitute or a generic version, but the actual product, by the actual drug company, in its original package, sealed by its manufacturer. It was a real surprise for me, and this reality makes me wonder……

Albanian development

2011-11-17T05:08:00.000-05:00

For almost two decades now that I travel to Albania regularly, I have witnessed sweepingly great changes in all sorts of Albania life, most of which are still, though, concentrated in its capital, Tirana, where a large number of Albanians from the hinterland has been flowing into for better opportunities.

But, another flow of people has been slowly, but increasingly occurring in the country from abroad. They are foreign visitors, curious to get to know a nation mysteriously isolated for more than half a century, which is now a fully fledged member of NATO, and aspiring to become a European state in the near future.

Some of Albania’s natural beauty consists of inland (splendid, mountainous) areas that are slowly getting better discovered thanks to new access roads, while its very attractive coastline, spanning over two seas (Adriatic & Ionian), offers Mediterranean climate throughout the year.

Tourism, touted by local and foreign tourist agencies, continues to grow and is an important element of business development, as indicated in this article of Balkans.com.

Another area of development is publishing, proven by an annual book fair that, each year, now attracts more and more participants with a growth of interesting printed materials, as confirmed also by this article in The Economist.

Blessed climate

2011-11-13T06:04:00.000-05:00

Late last month, as I was leaving northern Italy, I left behind bad weather, only to hear and see that wintry conditions were also creating disasters in the U.S., but, here in Tirana, we are still blessed with a milder climate and wonderful sunny days.

The temperature has now dipped a bit at night, but during the day a light jacket is quite sufficient in walking around. On Friday, actually, someone came to meet me at my office, in short sleeves.

Last Sunday it was wonderful to still be able to eat lunch outdoors. It took place at a restaurant that has the shape of an airplane because is located just a few km away from Tirana’s International airport. The structure also houses a hotel and a bar.

It’s in the middle of the countryside, and offers interesting views of air traffic. The dining tables were scattered around the gardens, but the waiters moved around quickly, serving everyone in a quiet and efficient manner.

I could not but marvel about the beautiful display of violets in the surrounding garden and pool areas.

[the very old olive tree still thriving in the midst of flower beds]
The food was good as usual, and on the way back to town, a gorgeous sunset accompanied us home.

Italian visit – part 4 – ‘the old resting place’

2011-11-02T19:23:00.000-04:00

One of the first places I visited while in Ghemme was the village’s cemetery, which is a jewel of a place, for its architecture and layout.

Here I have the family plots that I wanted to spruce up for All Saints and Dead days on November 1st, and 2nd, since I would not be in town to share the annual commemorative ceremonies and traditional annual visits done at this time of the year.

It’s also a place where I usually like to spend an hour or so walking all along its peripheral arcades to view the tombs that carry names and pictures of people I used to know during my youth. It’s a peaceful and relaxing visit that brings back many memories.

The newest addition to this cemetery, is quite modern in style. Contrary to the old area where the internments are done in cemented chambers underground, here the single graves are situated above ground, stacked in drawer-like style.

The entire complex is kept spotless and full of flowers by daily visits of the town’s residents.

My family plots are kindly taken care of all year around by the same old school friend that organized the big annual luncheon I described in my previous post.

Here rest in peace my Italian ancestors, grandparents whom I lived with during WWII, aunts, uncles, and cousins. My mother is buried in NY, while my Father and his beloved brother, are interred in Tirana, after I was able to reunite their remains in 1995. My paternal ancestors and grandparents, instead, are buried in the mountain areas near Podgorica (Montenegro), where they lived and where, to date, I still have 4 generations of living cousins.

My Italian visit lasted only a few days, but, overall, I was able to cover a lot of ground while in the familiar areas of my youth and see all I could. Now am back in Tirana, for more work and other types of meetings.

Italian visit – part 3 – ‘with friends & relatives’

2011-10-30T18:36:00.000-04:00

I had scheduled a round of visits in the old village of my youth, while being hosted by one branch of cousins, who own food related industries in this area.

[my cousins' home]

[being restructred into a spa, friends' villa with a huge garden behind, where we played as kids]
My cousins' beautiful apartment is on the first floor of their huge building, while the 2nd floor contains a studio, and at least 3 bedrooms and related bathrooms facilities for guests.

They own a big German shepherd by the name of Ulisse, terribly protective of its lady owner; a powerful and fierce dog, who, eventually, accepted my presence in the household.

Its big eyes were constantly following my movements when I was doing something, especially in the kitchen, and ultimately would park himself on my side waiting for some goodie to be offered to him, as he is used to.

On Saturday night my cousins drove me to another town, where they planned to have dinner also with some other friends, with whom they play lots of golf together. I already knew one of the couples since I had hosted their daughter in NY years ago. The restaurant, owned by a Sicilian that moved north 20 years ago, is known for excellent fish dishes which we enjoyed thoroughly, followed by an exquisite dessert of meringue puffs covered with melted dark chocolate, and washed down by ‘ratafia`’, a sweet, but strong cherry liqueur!

One of my old school friends in Ghemme that had solicited my visit to Italy, annually plans a luncheon with the village people born in the same year, as per a tradition dating back to WWI. Wanting to include me this year, she planned it to take place on the Sunday that I was in town.

By 10:30am we gathered at the church to attend mass, during which time our presence was acknowledged and addressed by the officiating priest.

It was followed by a visit to the cemetery to remember those who passed away during the year, and in the past.

By 1pm our above group reached a nearby town where the luncheon was organized in a local restaurant, known for good food. There, we were joined by other natives that now live elsewhere, but return to the village for events such as this. The menu was extensive, beautifully served and the whole affair lasted 5 hours!

[sorbet served mid-meal before the grilled meats]

All sorts of goodies were enjoyed by everyone together with lots of conversation, catching up with family news and happenings, and ending up with old songs that one member that has a gorgeous voice usually delivers at the end of the gathering, supported by a cheering chorus!

At day's end, my friend and I drove home one of the attendees, who owns a big farm (known as a 'cascina' in Italian) in the outskirts of our village. Here, while sipping another espresso, we learned a few things about this farm's history and had an interesting visit of the grounds. Now they no longer have the big cows' stable of the past that produced milk and cheese, but rent some of their fields to a shepherd that brings his flock of sheep and goats down from from the mountains during the fall and winter seasons.

Italian visit - part 2 - 'the old village'

2011-10-30T06:42:00.080-04:00

The small community of Ghemme (current population: 4100) where I grew up during WWII, is famous since the 1300’s for his excellent red wine, which was served even to a few Popes. It’s a quiet little village located, in Italy’s north-west region of Piedmont, along the hills that are at the foot of the Italian Alps, on the other side of which is Switzerland.

[on main street, these buildings belonged to my ancestors]
Among its natives are my Mother and most of my maternal ancestors. A few of them were notable people, such a high level clergyman, a prominent medical doctor (my great-grandfather), and an English woman of noble descent (my grandmother’s aunt), who was ‘lady in waiting’ to Queen Victoria in London, and owner of the Isle of Caprera.

Ghemme is also the birthplace of a renowned architect: Alessandro Antonelli, who in the mid 1800’s planned the famous large cupola of the city of Turin, a landmark known as “La Mole Antonelliana”.

[the commemorative inscription at his birthplace]

[Turin's 'Mole']
He also designed the steeple of the main church in Ghemme, the size of which is equivalent to the one of a cathedral.

It’s a beautiful house of worship that dates back to the 1600’s, to which a crypt was added in memory of a teenager "Beata Panacea" that lived in the 1300’s. She was a pious shepherdess who was killed by her jealous stepmother, and was beatified for her miracles.

The traditional excellent wine of Ghemme is produced in the wine cellars ('cantine') located in the ancient, historical quarters of the village, dating back to medieval times. Here, each local wine producer (like it was my maternal grandfather) owns his own‘cantina’ where his product is stored.

This area, during harvest and production time is engulfed by the strong smell of crushed grapes, and the cantinas are open to visitors that can taste the varieties of wines, and enjoy some local cheese and breads for which Ghemme is also known, in addition to its production of honey.

Italian visit – part 1 - 'country travel'

2011-10-27T19:14:00.001-04:00

Flew BelleAir from Tirana to Milano, in early afternoon, leaving behind a splendid climate. Descended at Malpensa, one and a half hour later, through black clouds and found a cold and wintery scene in northern Italy. It was my first experience with this airline, one of dozen others servicing Albania, but, when at Rinas airport (now named Mother Teresa International),I noticed quite a few changes. All airport’s facilities are being expanded, a couple more hotels are being built in its vicinity, all flights from Tirana now use larger planes, which are always fully booked, and, as the friends that gave me a lift also pointed out, due to increased traffic of passengers and business with Italy, most Italian cities are now connected with Tirana on a daily basis.

Retrieving your luggage in Italy is an exercise of patience, and this time was no exception. It took one hour, but soon afterwards I was whisked away by one of my Italian cousins and traveled northwest toward the city of Biella, where I was able to do the purchases I had planned, in a brand new, huge shopping center.

While buying some sweets, which are typical of that town, we were offered by the shop owners a “marocchino” each at their bar. The name derives from a combination of black and white ingredients in a medium size glass cup: a delightful hot, thick espresso that engulfs a fairly good size portion of whipped cream that is then topped by dark chocolate sprinklers! A sinful, but perfect pickup while trekking around town!!

By early evening we finally reached my cousins’ country home, located further north at about 800 meters above sea level, only to drive back to Biella for a scheduled 8PM dinner with a couple, mutual friends of ours.

My cousin’s wife, unfortunately, due to a late medical appointment for a treatment of a very painful condition to her right shoulder that had occurred 24 hrs earlier, could not dine with us. The dinner took place at a local, old, well known establishment, serving delightful food. After assorted hot appetizers, and a special risotto (this place’s specialty), while imbibing an exceptionally good wine, I could only manage dessert!

Thank goodness there were no special plans the next day, so we all lingered around chatting and eating at home breakfast and lunch, followed by a restful afternoon spent outdoors in relatively warm sunshine and a light breeze.

[white grapes still on the vine]
Toward evening additional family members drove in from Milano so that we could dine together at another old restaurant located at a higher elevation (1100 m above sea level) which is part of a huge religious center, called ‘Santuario di Oropa’, famous for his black Madonna. I have been there in the past several times, and its restaurant has been frequented by many foreign dignitaries and even by more than one Pope.
Good, hardy mountain flood is served here, in several large rooms with fully functioning fireplaces…while the temperature outside was 3 degrees Centigrade.

The most typical dish is “polenta concia”, which is a corn meal soup with a load of melted butter and cheeses floating on top.

As a second course I opted not to eat meat, but to fully enjoy a dish of freshly picked ‘porcini’ mushrooms, cooked in 3 different versions. What a treat!!

Again local red wine washed down the food and the desserts were followed by a small glass of ‘limoncello’, known to help digestion…..

[mango sorbet with chocolate sticks]
This was my last evening in this area, and again we ended up in bed in the early hours of the morning. My next destination would be further down the valley, in another area of Piedmont, in the old village where I spent 12 years of my youth during WWII.

An Albanian Holiday

2011-10-18T05:46:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow, October 19th, is a National Holiday in Albania. It's Mother Teresa Day, and her name needs no introduction!

A short hop to Italy

2011-10-14T13:11:00.000-04:00

By the middle of next week I'll be in northern Italy, mainly in the north-west region of Piedmont, for a brief visit.

There, in the old village of my maternal origins, I took refuge during WWII, grew up and spent 12 years of my life under my Italian grandparents's roof. There I returned several times over the decades, after emigrating with my Mother to the USA.

It has been a while now since I revisited Italian relatives and friends, or have taken a vacation for that matter; thus, the decision to take a short break from my current work and hop to Milan. The flight from Tirana is only a little over 1 1/2 hour long, and from there will be driven toward the hills and mountain areas where I'll start my visiting.

I know some plans are in the works for grand dining and lots of conversation......! I intend to fully enjoy these few days without cell phone,laptop, or Internet, and I know that I'll be burning the midnight oil, but it's going to be great fun and pleasure!

By the seaside.....

2011-10-09T18:15:00.002-04:00

On my second Sunday in Albania I was driven to the port city of Durres, where some of my friends took me to lunch in a new restaurant, owned and run by a young Italian chef, who married an Albanian pianist, and they are now parents of a beautiful baby boy.

The weather couldn’t have been any better, although the clouds looked ominous early in the morning in Tirana.

After the hot days of last week, during which time another friend of mine went swimming into the sea in Durres, yesterday’s thunderstorm cleared the air. A pretty strong wind, kind of unusual for Tirana, brought in quite a dip in temperature of about 20F degrees within 24 hours: today’s 65F was a really delightful climate, for my taste!

After a short car ride along the new highway we arrived in the center of Durres, and, not too far from its port, we reached the restaurant on the 3rd floor of a new building along the sea coast. The ambience was lovely and it offered great views of the Adriatic on 3 sides of the large floor regardless of where one was seated.

In typical Italian style the owner, who knew my friends, came to our table to discuss everyone’s wish. No need for a menu - all we had to decide was whether to have meat or fish for the main course and which kind of wine. We all opted for meat and white wine, and warned the owner that we didn’t want big portions of any kind. He offered to provide a small assortment of antipasti, a taste of his home made ravioli with truffles, followed by a veal dish as the main entree.

[my hosts]
Each course was a surprise, beautifully presented, and very delicious. The raviolis (3 large ones for each portion) were served in a very delicate buttery-lemony sauce with tiny bits of tomatoes, sprinkled with abundant parmesan cheese, while the grilled, sliced filet of veal topped a fresh arugula salad with cherry tomatoes in balsamic vinegar dressing: every bite melted in the mouth! After a while a luscious dessert also appeared on the table: a ‘millefoglie’ puff pastry topped with extremely light whipped cream and assorted berries. An Italian espresso was a must after such delights!

Nearby many restaurants in Albania there are always some sort of playgrounds for children, and this was no exception.

We took a leisure walk along the sea coast promenade and ended up at a café known for its home made ice cream (‘gelato artigianale’). It was impossible to refuse a small taste of some of their varieties……

[hill top 1930's villa, still property of the royal family today]

[one of many cafes along the boardwalk]
By late afternoon we walked back to the car and rode back to Tirana, as the sun was beginning to set in the west and a full size moon was appearing on the east.

What a treat for me to spend a day in the outdoors, enjoying good company, conversation, food, and soaking in sunshine and a fresh marine breeze!

Sunday lunch

2011-10-05T10:23:00.000-04:00

My first Sunday in Tirana, during this trip, was spent with some friends, who invited me to have lunch in the countryside.

They wanted me to meet a new member of their family: the American fiancé of their son. He has done his studies in Italy and will deliver his thesis in Jurisprudence at La Sapienza of Rome before this year’s end. She is a beautiful young lady from Pennsylvania, who recently completed her studies at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, and has visited Albania previously. Last year she was also involved in an American archeological project that continues its diggings every summer at the Unesco site of Butrint, in southern Albania. This, however, is not the place where they met originally, which, if I not mistaken, was in Rome.

My friends decided to try a new place, this time, but always in the suburbs of the city, about 15km outside of Tirana, on the road to the city of Elbasan, more specifically in the zone of Petrelë, where there is a famous old castle offering spectacular views of the Erzen valley, olive groves, and the surrounding hills and mountains.

I visited this castle a few times before as per my previous entries into this blog. It dates back to the 5th century AD, and, as its name indicates, it was built on a rock. The legend goes that is was a favorite resting place of Albania’s national hero, Skanderbeg, and here also lived his sister. Now its tower houses a café and restaurant.

This, however, was not our destination, which was, instead, in the valley, and it looked grandiose. It is called ‘Iluminatum – Teatri i Dodonës’, and apparently takes its name, and part of its architectural design, from another archeological site further south near Jannina, Greece, where the old shrine of Dodona in old Epirus was an oracle devoted to a Mother Goddess. The food was excellent and the time flew in very pleasant conversation. Following are some of the pictures taken, while the one of our waiter was borrowed by me from their website. He is the same guy that served us.

We dined in the cool indoors to avoid the hot sun, but many were eating outside in a large area that surrounds the back of this complex and borders a river. By 6:30pm I was delivered back to my apartment, where I took a snooze due to my still felt jetlag….

Again in Albania

2011-09-30T15:44:00.000-04:00

Arrived safe and sound in Tirana, as per schedule. Left cloudy and muggy NYC, and found hot and dry weather in Tirana fifteen hours later, discounting the time difference.

It was a long 2 hours sitting on the tarmac at JFK, in a fully booked plane, before we could be airborne due to traffic congestion, but the rest of the trip went perfectly well thanks to the usual efficiency of Austrian airlines. The service and food was very good as usual, and I was even able to snooze for a couple of hours during the transatlantic flight.

In Vienna had plenty of time, as per schedule, to wait for the Tirana connection, but it was fascinating to watch the hundreds of passengers that were boarding at the nearby gates. Every half hour a new destination was posted, such as Moscow, Belgrade, Skopje, Istanbul, Krakow, Minsk, and even one I never heard about before: Chinisau (now I know is in Moldova). The flow of outgoing travelers of all shapes and ages were disappearing and re-appearing at each gate, on a continuing rotating interchange. The transfer buses, and special cars for assisted passengers, were magically coming and going with ease; the stream of operations was run with smoothness of action and clockwork precision. A pleasure to see!

The connecting flight from Vienna to Tirana was a surprise. It was quite an upgrade from preceding, rather small and old crafts I have taken in the past. It was a new Airbus 319, which was also fully booked with about ¾ of the passengers being foreigners, lots of them looking like business related travelers. Time for a quick drink and snacks and 1hr and 20 minutes later we landed at Rinas, actually named Mother Theresa International aiport.

My old driver was waiting for me and within one hour from deplaning I entered to my apartment in the city, where, to my great surprise, I found all sorts of goodies waiting for me.

Fresh flowers on the coffee table, a full basket of fruits on the side, fresh vegetables on the kitchen bin, bread, crackers, and breadstick on the table; the fridge stocked with cheese, cold cuts, eggs, milk, and other vegetables and fresh fruits (some of which, like sweet melon, was already peeled and cut, ready for me to eat!).

My kitchen and living room were inundated, as usual, by gorgeous sunshine, and my plants are all in good shape!

The hot water boilers were turned on in the kitchen and bathroom, so I was able to take a nice shower and go to bed for a couple of hours while counting my blessings!

Long traveling for a short visit

2011-09-22T23:47:00.001-04:00

During this past weekend I took a short trip to Michigan, where I visited relatives and friends, and did some planning to do a fundraiser next spring for the organization I am involved in, that deals with Albanian culture and education and I am helping on a volunteer basis.

When I landed at Washington's National airport where I had to make a connection, I noticed a large crowd surrounding a full size orchestra playing national hymns at a nearby gate.

With time to spare I approached the group that continuously kept pace with the music by clapping hands, and realized that they were greeting wars' veterans disembarking from another plane. It was quite moving to see the reactions of complete strangers that so enthusiastically were saluting and shaking hands with former members of the military that were exiting the plane and congregating in a nearby area. Lots of them were in wheels chairs, but all of them had broad smiles on their faces!

The continuation of my travel went well, and I thoroughly enjoyed the four, full days spent in the Detroit area with meetings of all sorts, albeit the lack of sleep. I was reprimanded by my relatives because I didn't allow them to host me at their homes, as per Albanian tradition, but the Hampton Inn I chose to stay at, in a central location of the city, surprisingly turned out to be an exceptionally good lodging that actually pampered their guests in many a way.

The return home was a different story. The small plane from Detroit to Washington was full, and on time.

only 50 passengers

above Lake Michigan

traveling toward rainy Washington

hazy Washington and the Pentagon

quiet Potomac

landing at National
But ended getting back home late because the shuttle aircraft I was booked on had mechanical problems, and we had to be transferred to a larger plane to finally reach LaGuardia airport in NYC.

Remembering......

2011-09-11T12:06:00.001-04:00

Ten years ago I was undergoing a routine medical test when the incredible happened. It was just about 9AM when I exited the totally enclosed (no windows) lab room and walked into a waiting area that was overlooking a usually quiet cross-town street in midtown Manhattan. There, I was supposed to be met by a friend, who was scheduled to accompany me home, as recommended by the laboratory.

It took just seconds to notice the large number of people scurrying outside, while someone inside was blabbering that a plane had hit the Twin Towers. Was it an accident? How did it happen? What was going on?

The questions began to fly around the room as additional news were being received and spread around, including, at a certain point, the order to evacuate the premises I was in because the building was being shut down. Meantime, a hurried doctor had shared with me the good results of my test. Although still a bit light headed, I stepped outside and decided to just wait for my friend to arrive in front of the building, as the stream of people was rushing by, seemingly with no sense of direction. I began to realize the extent of the event when I, and my friend, headed toward my apartment, further uptown.

The flux of humanity in the streets and avenues kept on growing, while the public transport was coming to a halt. It was impossible to even think of taking a bus, so we walked. That day I was also supposed to vote in a primary election, but the voting place was shut down by the time I got to my neighborhood, and the local supermarket turned out to be a place of pure bedlam.

Although I did not suffer a direct, personal loss that day, what I still distinctly remember is the terrible smell of the smoldering ruins that permeated the entire city, and kept on seeping into open windows for a long time, while the stench of death that surrounded the city morgue, saturated the nearby streets for months, due to the make up tents set up to hold thousands of remains.

While I reacted calmly on 9/11, I actually felt the brunt of this event the day after, when, for the first time in my life, and quite abruptly, I had a weird, stirring sensation in my chest that made me rush to my doctor's office, who performed an EKG. It turned out to be just an awful, disturbing experience.

To date, and especially throughout this past week of intense replays of recorded experiences, 9/11 resurfaces to evoke great emotions not only in the ones personally involved, but continues to have vast resonance throughout the entire world.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the ones who have endured and still suffer the consequences of this destructive event, while I wish that sense of harmony and togetherness could persist among people without having to set in only during times of catastrophes.

Stormy weekend

2011-09-01T01:55:00.001-04:00

Irene's fury passed over NYC on Sunday morning.

It found a city completely shut down thanks to a well implemented disaster plan, and moved northward all the way to Canada.

From the cozy inside of my apartment I took some shots and the above videos, while listening to radio and tv broadcasts that kept the population continually abreast of developments all along the Eastern Coast of the U.S.

The concerns in Manhattan proper were obviously related to highrise dwellings that could produce falling glass, stoppage of elevators, and emergency equipment due to electrical and water outages. All buildings located at the tip of this island were evacuated also due to floods from the high tide coincidence of our rivers and water bay. Luckily, I live on the upper end of this borough, and thus was spared such dire forecast.

The real damages are felt only now all around us with still 900,000 people without electricity, on Long Island, and north and west of the city, even in the state of New Jersey, where many large areas have been totally submerged by cresting rivers.
The damages are calculated in millions, and the water is not expected to recede until the end of this week.

Meantime, the meteorologists are already closely following the development of other upcoming hurricanes, named Katia in the Atlantic and Lee in the Pacific. Thus, more bad weather is coming by next weekend, the traditional end of summer Labor Day week.

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-27T14:32:00.000-04:00

Since noon today NYC has shut all its activities in an unprecedented disaster planning, and is anchoring down to face the threat of upcoming hurricane Irene, expected to hit us tonight and lasting until tomorrow evening.The city preparations are impressive and started since the beginning of the week, when our Mayor was already addressing NYC population about the earthquake that was also felt quite well by the residents of the 'rock'.

This latest news has reached the world, and I have received phone calls from friends and relatives in Italy and Albania, where, by the way, they are coping with what they call 'African' temperatures, and extensive forest fires.

More than a million people in our areas have followed the advice to evacuate their homes, and several dozen shelters are ready in the city's 5 boroughs, including some for pet care alone. More than 7000 people have been relocated out of hospitals and care centers, 200 metropolitan trains and thousands of buses are being secured into protective areas, most stores have closed for the weekend, and the few still open have run out of all sorts of staples, and basic emergency necessities, such as water, and batteries.

The plans that have been ongoing now for the past 5 days seem to have covered anything thinkable. They range from turning upside down more than 25,000 city garbage pails, to minimize them from being blown by the high winds, to the deployment throughout the city of the National Guards.

The beaches are not the only worries because our area has also rivers and inland water channels that will be greatly affected during this storm since we also expect normal high tides. The highrises are bracing to face winds of more than 112 mph above the 10 floor level, with possible glass breaks falling onto the surrounding streets, without counting the extirpation of trees in parks and along streets, where thousands of cars are normally parked.

By this evening Manhattan is in effect a real island, totally isolated from the rest of the city because the dozen of bridges and tunnels, leading into and out of this borough, will be closed and all ferries will not run. Although New York and its residents are used to, and can overcome all kinds of crises, in the next 24 hours they will truly have an extraordinary and unparalleled experience, this time thanks to Mother Nature!

Ancient treasures

2011-08-21T11:37:00.000-04:00

Archeological discoveries in Albania, in addition to the ones already exposed on its territory, are now expanding under water, as per this press release from BalkanInsight. More and more of this country's history is 'coming to the surface' and boosting interest on the part of foreigners. Albania with its beautiful, long coast spanning along two seas (Adriatic and Ionian), now is attracting not only tourists (43% increase this year alone), but also explorers and researchers.

Albanian prices

2011-08-13T11:34:00.000-04:00

From Balkans.com two entries with current information about inflation and wages in Albania, the tiny country that emerged into the free world only 20 years ago and is holding his own status pretty well in these turbulent days.

Albanian economy

2011-08-09T10:58:00.000-04:00

A current article in the Wall Street Journal depicts a good prospective for Albania in the global market. Sounds too good to be true in these bleak days of economic woes?

Predictions

2011-07-24T15:12:00.000-04:00

I like to share here with my friends a very interesting article that has come to my attention as a member of the World Future Society. This first part of future predictions is fascinating, and now I can't wait for part 2 to show up!

'Hot' news

2011-07-21T17:03:00.000-04:00

This week we are literally sizzling in NYC with temperatures reaching 100F (and feeling like 107F!), and we are not alone. Most of the United States, except for the Northwest corner of the country, are experiencing the same scorching heat. The electrical company's crews are out day and night practically all over this city trying to maintain and repair old transmission lines and avoid possible meltdowns.

Across the Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea, Albania is enjoying less intense temperature, but the 'hot' news there is that tourism is dramatically increasing every year. I have read somewhere that during the first 4 months of 2011 one and a half million people have already visited the country! This does not cover the summer influx that sees many Albanians living abroad returning to see their families, and the European tourists, especially Kosovars, vacationing along Albania's great coastline and beaches.

Summer in NY

2011-07-11T17:24:00.010-04:00

Back to the indoor pool for some needed exercise and reinvigorating coolness during these muggy and stifling days.

I am a member of this facility that also offers quite a number of special classes, but I don't take much advantage of it, except for some aqua aerobics and cardiovascular sessions when I am in town!

The picture shows only half of this Olympic size swimming pool and was taken a while back during non peak time. Today I was told that about 10,000 people (they range in age from a few months old babies to a variety of able and disabled octogenarians) use this resource on a daily basis!

Back in NY

2011-06-30T14:45:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-27T04:07:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-20T17:19:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-06-18T11:48:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-16T05:54:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-12T13:32:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-05T06:53:00.000-04:00

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?

2011-06-01T18:07:00.000-04:00

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.

Albanian bargains

2011-05-25T13:05:00.013-04:00

After a quiet weekend during which I was nursing an upcoming cold, Monday was a busy day with meetings that I had scheduled at the office. Today, Tuesday, I had to run around quite a bit with other tasks on my to-do list, but thanks to my trusted driver I was able to accomplish more chores in pretty good time.

The setup of facilities at the office is proceeding well. Two technicians came to install 2 HVAC units, which are going to be a blessing during the summer or winter. Tomorrow I expect an electrician to place additional outlets around the rooms to accomodate future electrical needs.

While my assistant was supervising the HVAC workers I was able to go to the cemetery to visit the family plot taking advantage of the good morning weather. The sun has been shining bright every morning since my arrival, and the midday hours are already very hot here, but in late afternoon storms fly in from behind the Dajti mountain chain with roaring thunders and give the city a good soak for a couple of hours. This change refreshes and clears the air for the night.

My excellent driver, a mature man whom I have known now for years now, is also a dependable handy man. He always makes himself and his car available to me anytime I need him, and has offered to install some shelving units we planned for the office. Thus, today I also went shopping with him to the Casa Italia center, where there is a well furnished store that, naturally, sells a variety of Italian made goods.

As we were looking around my driver was appalled by the posted prices and suggested that I go with him to a local carpentry shop. There he knew the owner, who, within 20 minutes, cut to measure and refinished the shelves I needed at the incredible price of 1/10th of what the cost would have been at the Italian store!

Tomorrow, my driver, who charges me about $6.00/hr, will pick me up and, after we purchase the necessary brackets, again at another local place he knows, plans to complete the job at the office.

I am really blessed to know such good people here in Tirana, and the same can be said for the many friends that I also have in this city. BTW, what's also great is that every service and every deal here is always furnished with a smile!

New band

2011-05-21T06:01:00.000-04:00

While in Tirana a young cousin of mine, named Julian, whom I have watched grow up for almost two decades of my traveling to Albania, came visiting when he heard I was in town.

He is an author of music and songs, which he also sings himself when participating in national and international presentations. Although fully employed in an office, he continues to pursue the musical career that has always been his dream.

Yesterday he confirmed that he recently converted the family garage into a musical studio, which is now well equipped and functional. He has had his own website for a while, and now, with other friends, he formed the 'Unix Band'. They have just produced their own first official musical video, entitled "Jeta Ime" that is now on YouTube. Next month he'll be in Turkey for a week to be part of another round of Eurovision musical presentations for this year.

Unfortunately, this week's political predicament is not yet settled in Tirana where the final vote counting has not yet been declared, due a number of contested ballots. The situation is very fragile, in the midst of endless debates and confrontations, but most people go about their business and the young people I talk with are busy with their own goals. May all their dreams for the future come true for them!

Waiting results

2011-05-15T08:33:00.002-04:00

Yesterday's chaotic, and supercharged situation that ended, after a full week, the completion of vote counting in Tirana, was followed by an outburst of jubiliation carried out by the followers of both major parties.

The extremely close margin in the final counting (10 votes!), however, is being scrutinized, as required by law, by the Central Electoral Commission, which will give its verdict, hopefully, within the next 48 hours. This is the forecast to allow the re-tabulation of figures from all districts.

Meantime, the city is very quiet today and it is basking in a gorgeous, and hot, sunny day.

Albanian elections

2011-05-14T05:46:00.000-04:00

Voting for Administrative elections was completed in Albania last weekend, but final results are not yet available. The counting of votes remains incomplete to date only in one zone of the capital, which is located nearby to where I lodge. The battle to win the Mayoral race of Tirana is fierce between the incumbent Socialist Rama and the Democratic, ex Minister of Interior, Basha. At this writing there are only about 600 votes apart.

The voting process went on relatively well throughout the country, but the counting, although conducted very transparently, has been marred by distrust and wrangling in some areas, and has led to bitter exchanges among the political rows in the Central Election Commission, especially in the last few hours.

The remaining problematic, unfinished key zone, which is critical in the mayoral race of Tirana proper is still ongoing. As of this morning the content of only 8 more boxes remains to be counted, and the monitoring process in this particular voting area is being overseen personally by the US and European Ambassadors during the past few days.

Let’s hope that the stalemate is overcome soon, and that final results will be acceptable by the two major parties, whatever the outcome.

Being present in the country it’s impossible not to watch the local TV programs that transmit ‘live’ updates 24 hours a day. Frankly speaking I never been so much glued to a TV set as I am now, while in Albania.

On the move

2011-05-12T00:14:00.000-04:00

Here I am in Tirana again, after another excellent trip operated by Lufthansa Airline. Each time I travel there are new experiences, as usual. This time I really understood why passengers are asked to show up at the airport at least 3 hours before departure. I never saw such crowds in my life!

Terminal 1 at JFK airport is usually busy since it handles at least 5 foreign airlines, but, now some of them are using the new, huge Airbus 380 crafts that house almost 400 passengers each. I came to realize this after I spoke with someone at the gate where I arrived this time just a while before they started boarding.

While the check-in procedure is always very efficient and speedy notwithstanding the line of waiting passengers, the problem this time came when I almost couldn't find the end of the line to go through security. It was spanning the entire length of the terminal although there were just 6 flights due to depart in a 2 hour time frame. As usual, not to rush, I allow myself plenty of time, and end up having to spend quite a bit of waiting at the gate before boarding. This was not the case this time around.

While I stood on line for 1 1/2 hour to reach the security point I watched many frantic passengers being selected from the waiting line by some roaming security staff who had the situation under control. They whisked away the late passengers through a special line so that would not miss their departing flights, while pushing the rest through several check points.

Overall it was a slow and agonizing process to finally reach the gate. This time I, at the airport 3 hours ahead of time, only had about 15 minutes to spare before getting a priority boarding. The flight was fully booked, but it left the gate on time. We arrived in Munich 1/2 hour ahead of time.

On board the service was good as usual, although somehow I always manage to be on the side that has the slowest steward. This time it was a tall blond German woman, who, evidently still in training, was, however, kindly supported by her more senior and experienced colleagues. The food was ok although very definitely of an exotic type. Interestingly, the meat was pre-cut. Although Lufthansa furnished real silverware and not plastic, it's always a hassle to maneuver the eating process when there is practically no elbow room in economy class and the flights are packed.

Several young families were traveling with small children, for which no special facilities were available. One couple with their very active son was seated across the raw from me. They lovingly put up with his antics for a couple of hours as he was jumping on their laps and pulling the hair of the woman sitting in front of him, but never slept themselves. When he finally went asleep on one of their 2 seats they gave themselves turns using the remaining one.

I received, as usual, very efficient service in Munich and was shuttled to the connecting gate for Tirana in no time. Many were the elderly and disabled that needed assistance on this flight, but Munich airport was ready for them all at arrival. The flight to Tirana was operated this time by Augsburg Airline, an affiliate of Lufthansa with newer and greater capacity aircraft and was also fully booked.

At Tirana's airport is always interesting to watch the lines at passport control. This time there was an even number of passengers split between local Albanians and foreign visitors, who were given a thorough screening.

To my surprise I didn't find the friend I was expecting to pick me up, but, unbeknown to me, had send an employee to take care of me since he was himself outside of Albania on business. As I was making some phone calls before heading for a taxi, I was approached by a very courteous gentleman, who spoke fluent English and Italian and made me an offer since he operates a private car service. In less than 1/2 hour I was delivered by his chauffeur to my apartment, while he stayed at the airport to drum up more business. The driver, with whom I carried on an interesting conversation, actually knew the city very well. As we approached Tirana and the traffic was getting heavier, he took side roads and helped me with my luggage all the way into my building.

Meantime, my friend, finding out that his man didn't meet me at the airport, called me from abroad and instructed him to come to my apartment and be at my disposal for other errands, if needed. I took advantage of it and, although quite tired, had he drive me to renew my TV and Internet service and I also did some shopping for food at my favorite Italian market. In less than an hour I had everything done and was able to unpack and settle in my apartment, which was previously cleaned and ready for my arrival.

After installing several updates on my computer that remained unused for 4 months, answering a few emails and making a couple of phone calls, I succumbed and slept on and off for a while. Am still trying to cope with the jetlag and getting ready for the work and meetings that are on my to-do list during my stay here.

Futuristic Tirana

2011-05-07T16:36:00.000-04:00

Big architectural plans are ahead, apparently, for the capital of Albania. The large Skanderbeg square has been undergoing changes and repaving since last year, and now the latest news is that that area will house a huge cultural center designed by a Danish Architectural firm.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

2011-05-06T22:00:00.000-04:00

Today's extraordinary events

2011-04-29T15:06:00.000-04:00

There are major news today that cover the whole range of bad and good on both sides of the Atlantic ocean.

The unrelenting tornadoes in the south of the United states have created havoc for several days and the devastation is incredible. The death count is raising daily into the hundreds, and entire areas have been pulverized. One of the states mostly affected is Alabama with more than 200 lives lost.

The last launch of NASA shuttle Endeavours, scheduled for today in the presence also of Pres. Obama, was postponed a few days due to a mechanical glitch. The delay must have been quite a disappointment for Gabrielle Gifford, the Arizona Congresswoman who, although still recuperating from a gunshot wound to her head last January, was flown to the Space center in Florida to watch the launch, as the wife of one of the astronauts on board.

Across the Atlantic instead the Royal wedding of Queen Elizabeth's grandchild William to Kate Middleton took place among great fanfare, which was watched, according to estimates, by over 2 billion people around the world.

Joyous Holidays

2011-04-21T17:59:00.015-04:00

From New York, now in full blooming cycle.

PASSOVER GREETINGS and HAPPY EASTER to one and all!

National Volunteer Week

2011-04-16T18:17:00.001-04:00

By Monday, April 18th, in the U.S. we are celebrating National Volunteer Week, therefore, special thanks should be broadcast to volunteers all around the world!

A volunteer myself for a cause very dear to my heart, I wish to publicly acknowledge the help of others that have supported, and continue to support the projects I have embarked upon, which, hopefully, will benefit young people in the country of my origin: Albania. They work with me in virtual mode ,and are spread in more than one state, and nation.

Since I cannot physically celebrate with them progress and accomplishments, and verbalize in person my appreciation for their valuable contributions, I use this communication media to express : A BIG THANK YOU TO YOU ALL (and you know who you are!) for sharing with me the work toward these goals.

As per VolunteerMatch blog: it's all about relationships.....

Much can be accomplished when working as a team; thus, onward we go and together we look to the future!!

Springtime in NY

2011-04-14T12:57:00.000-04:00

Finally here! Even the last sprinkle of snow earlier this month is forgotten......

Lots of activities are ongoing here, but it's time to finalize travel plans for the next trip to Albania, where meetings, and projects are expecting me there!

Advertising

2011-04-06T14:54:00.000-04:00

Somehow, someone in Albania got hold of one of my email ids and must have spread it around because for the past few months I have been receiving unsolicited advertisements of all sorts. This fact has prompted me to make a couple of observations.

The first is that Albanians are very much up-to-date in using online facilities, which is really no news to me, but now I notice that even Albania's Council of Ministers is on board blogging in view of the upcoming elections that will take place in the country on May 8th.

As it happens in Albania, and, I might add from my experience, also in Italy, official rules are not usually strictly followed, if you get my drift. Thus, unsolicited messages do not show at the bottom the sophisticated netiquette standard of giving the receiver choices, such as 'opting out' or 'managing preferences'. In their simplicity, however, as marketing virtual pages that are similar to their equals in printed form in magazines or flyers, they attract attention for their creativeness.

The variety of ads is also quite interesting to me. I have received ads from companies dealing with tv/media, communications, constructions, travel, auto/vehicles, furniture, clothing, electronics, education, medical/hospitals, web and financial services, as well as restaurants and supermarkets, and so on. One authorized reseller of Apple, without infringing any copyrights, even named their company "Molla", which is the Albanian word for an apple.

The latest marketing message, received today, really got my attention due to its address, which is located around the corner from my apartment when I am in Tirana. It's a place that prepares and delivers complete 'healthy' meals at home. It offers a variety of plans including one for meals delivered six days a week for a total amount of about $250.00 per month! It's something to think about!!

New family member

2011-04-01T20:39:00.000-04:00

This is the latest arrival in my cousins' family in Montenegro......

A big welcome to ELIZA depicted here in the arms of mom Nora and daddy Vilson on the day of her christening, and best wishes to the whole family!

Italy's 150th birthday

2011-03-26T18:27:00.001-04:00

There are many celebrations taking place throughout Italy this year because it is the 150th anniversary of its unity, which, ironically, is being challenged at times these days by some of its internal political parties. However, it is a pleasure for me to watch some of the special programs transmitted by Italian TV for this occasion, and also some movies about the valiant history and the political intrigues of those days.

The central figure instrumental in creating the unification of what is known today as Italy, was Giuseppe Garibaldi, a charismatic hero with a long, adventurous life that traveled to and fought also in the American continents, but made the Isle of Caprera, located near Sardinia, his home for many years until death.

This latter fact brings to mind that the maternal side of my family dealt directly with this great Army General, also known as "Hero of the Two Worlds" , who purchased from one of my ancestors the land where he built his house in Caprera.

When I lived as a child in northern Italy, I remember well seeing in my household two mementos of Garibaldi's life, which unfortunately got lost when I moved to the U.S. They were the remnant of a cream medication (in a tube) that Garibaldi used to heal the leg wound he received during the famously fierce battle of Aspromonte, and an iron ring worn by the 'Carbonari" legion, the secret revolutionary society that he belonged to, and sought the creation of a liberal, unified Italy.

Back to Caprera though, I can say that the largest owner of land in that tiny island in those days, was a certain Lady Collins, who was Lady in Waiting to Queen Victoria in England. She was the aunt of my maternal grandmother, who became her heir in the early 1900's, and, in turn, I feel honored to be still the proud caretaker of several of the items that belonged to her. Two of them that I cherish are pictured below.

An English Naval eyeglass and her fan (made of white ostrich feathers on ivory bases)

Eurovision Song contest & Albania's flag

2011-03-23T11:30:00.000-04:00

From BBC News here is a 3 minute video about Albania's song entered into the Eurovision 2011 contest currently taking place in Germany. English title is "Feel the Passion", sung by Aurela Gaçe.

For the foreign friends I might clarify that the parallelism with the soaring bird is that Albania's name in its native version is "Shqiponia" = Eagle, which is represented in black in the center of the red background of the Albanian flag.

While the red color signifies bravery, strength, and valor, the double headed eagle emblem derives from the Coat of Arms of Gjergj Kastrioti, the National hero, known in history as Skanderbeg, who led the Albanian revolt against the Ottoman Empire that resulted in the country's brief independence from 1443 to 1468 (time of his death).

Albania - U.S. relationship

2011-03-16T14:16:00.000-04:00

From the U.S. Department of State on the:

20th Anniversary of Reestablishment of Relations between the United States and Albania

Press Statement

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

March 15, 2011

On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I send my best wishes to the people of Albania as our two nations mark twenty years of renewed diplomatic relations on March 15. After a break of 52 years, 1991 was truly a new beginning – not only for our bilateral relations, but also for Albania’s development as a democratic country and international partner. This anniversary commemorates our partnership, reminds us of the progress made, and underscores the promise of Albania's future, especially as you take the necessary steps to achieve the goal of membership in the European Union.

Even during the darkest years of the Cold War, Albanians and Americans did not forget the deep bonds of friendship between our two countries. And after 1991, the United States supported Albania as it began the path of integration into the Euro-Atlantic community. Now a NATO member, Albania has shown a deep commitment to the Alliance, with one of the highest per capita contributions to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Albania’s commitment to stability in its own neighborhood has been demonstrated through its support for the young nation of Kosovo and its contributions toward reconciliation in the Western Balkans.

The United States continues to support Albania’s integration into the European Union. We welcomed the decision in late 2010 to allow Albanians to travel visa-free throughout the European Union. Albanians have accomplished much already, but more work remains on the path to the EU -- and this year will be pivotal. Albanians must work together to ensure their country moves forward and maintains its momentum. We urge Albania’s political leadership, whether in government or opposition, to lead with accountability and transparency, and to respect and strengthen the rule of law and human rights. That is the best way to demonstrate their commitment to building the secure and prosperous future the Albanian people want and deserve.

I wish all the people of Albania the very best as we continue to work together, another twenty years and beyond.

Spring chores

2011-03-13T17:01:00.000-04:00

Thaw is finally ongoing although it produces flood disasters in many areas after all the snow we got this winter.

I have completed and mailed all tax returns due for last year for both myself and the organization I work with. It's a boring and painstaking process that requires, however, strict attention because the tax offices do make changes in forms and instructions, which are not very user friendly to gather from their online sites.

Some spring cleaning and some equipment annual maintenance has started at home, and all clocks have been reset to the new daylight savings time today. My annual medical checkups are also ongoing and so far all results are quite satisfactory.

Now it's time to review, reorganize, and re-prioritize the remaining to-do list, expand future plans, and develop related projects.

Although not officially here yet, I want to wish everyone a Happy Spring!

International Woman's Day

2011-03-08T09:12:00.000-05:00

Celebrating its 100th anniversary!

GREETINGS TO ALL WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD!

Albanian Art

2011-03-06T17:06:00.001-05:00

Gjelosh Gjokaj is a well known, multilingual, Albanian painter from Montenegro, who is a personal acquaintance of mine, and a good friend of my Montenegrin relatives.

One of them is among the people interviewed in a YouTube presentation that advocates the setup of the artistic gallery in Tuz, Montenegro. Cousin Gjoka is the very articulate, lovely white hair guy that, with painter Gjelosh, can be heard around the midpoint of this film (after the first 4 minutes).

Last month some of Gjelosh's works were exhibited also at the National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania, as per this video.

Kudos to Albanian artists, wherever they may be!

Albanian violinist

2011-03-05T11:36:00.000-05:00

As per the Dover Post's article another Albanian musical talent is making himself known, this time in the states of Delaware and Pennsylvania. The strict education of the old days, coupled by self determination, have eventually paid off in the land of opportunity.

Paying Taxes

2011-02-28T10:51:00.001-05:00

It's tax time in the U.S.! I have already filed my personal ones for last year, but still have to do the ones regarding the organization I work with.

By pure coincidence I just came across this site that I thought of sharing since it offers interesting insights and comparisons about tax payments in all the countries of the world.

Momentary traffic delay....

2011-02-26T16:08:00.003-05:00

......in southern Albania, as reported by MailOnline - News:

Road hog! Sow stops to feed her eight little piggies in the middle of the road

Albanian tradition on film

2011-02-22T15:37:00.010-05:00

One entry at this year's Berlin Film festival by award winning filmmaker Joshua Marston, entitled "The Forgiveness of Blood", deals with an old tradition that unfortunately still lingers on in today's Albanian world.

It was reported by Reuters as a ".... familiar tale of territorial rights and family honor but it is told well and the film features appealingly natural performances by non-professionals."

Today's news is that the film has won the 'Silver Bear' award for 'Best Script' by Californian Joshua Marston and Albanian Andamion Murataj.

One day I'll take time to tell a similar story that belongs to my ancestors, which, however, I've learned about only a decade ago!

Temperamental mouse...and cat!

2011-02-19T13:48:00.009-05:00

The other day I finally had to give in to my capricious computer mouse! It had been bothering me for a few days since it wasn't responding quickly to my commands, and it would freeze once in a while. I cleaned it again and again, then I substitute it with another one I forgot I had at home, but the results didn't satisfy me.

I was in the midst of a lot of computer related work, but decided not to waste any more time, and go crazy troubleshooting. I dropped everything and went out to buy a new mouse. For other reasons related to my present computer, already loaded with additional USB attached peripherals, I knew I couldn't purchase a wireless one. I was surprised when I got to the store where I found only 2 brand names to choose from in the optical type, corded category, while the shelves displayed loads of other wireless units.

Speaking of wireless, this brings to mind a funny accident recently related to me by a dear neighbor of mine, who purchased a computer and learned to manage its use and email at the good age of 85.

One day she noticed that her cat was playing with something, but she didn't pay much attention to it. When she decided to use her computer, however, she came to realize that her mouse was gone! Embarrassed, as she told me, she had to engage some help not only to find the mouse that was abandoned by her cat underneath a piece of furniture, but also to make it functional again. Displacement of a wireless gadget is something that one would never think about it, right?

Emotions

2011-02-14T10:40:00.018-05:00

Modern technology never seizes to amaze. Just learned that one can visit several museums around the world without even getting up from the chair one is using while surfing the net.

Here, as an example, very a pro-po of today's festivity, is a brief view of works by Jean-Honore` Fragonard, entitled "The Progress of Love", which are displayed at The Frick Collection in NYC:

This great art project, powered by Google, offers incredible zoom levels of the works, and includes audio commentaries
Happy St. Valentine's Day everyone!

Webinars

2011-02-10T18:13:00.014-05:00

Noticing a proliferation of offers of online presentations of all sorts, recently I decided to take advantage of some of them, especially the free ones, regarding subjects of my interest and mostly related to my work.

They are usually about one hour long and one has to register in advance to participate, when scheduled. They are not interactive, but one can submit written questions, via a chat format, to a moderator that will then address them for a proper answer from the speaker(s). Although I realize that such offers are done to attract customers, the ones I participated in so far have been surprisingly worth while, and very informative; thus, the good experience I realized from them has overcome my initial skepticism of possibly being involved only in advertising.

What I also appreciate is that if one cannot participate, once registered, the audio and visual presentations are made available later on, online, coupled by email offers of answering additional questions, if necessary, and soliciting feedback evaluations.

Last night I had an even more pleasurable experience of this type from Roots Magic, the software that I use to maintain my family data base. I cannot dedicate much time to my hobby of genealogy, but, once in a blue moon, I add more data to the large collection I started a few years ago, when this software was supplied by Family Origins. They share the same author, who changed the package name when he greatly expanded this application that now offers quite a few sophisticated features.

Yesterday I decided to reload this software that I had registered in the past, but lost last year when my computer system was restructured. At the supplier's site I discovered that the author started, since this January, to conduct regular online presentations about his product. Therefore, I further decided to refresh my knowledge about its use by viewing the first introductory webinar.

It was the best 75 minutes spent (re)learning something I thought I knew, and was flabbergasted by the in-depth and thorough coverage of all the basic features, with step by step visual examples and explanations! Wish that some bigger suppliers of hardware and/or software could learn to imitate what this smaller company is doing in the field of online presentations. Kudos to Roots Magic and its author!

Offline

2011-02-06T14:30:00.004-05:00

Yesterday morning I had the unpleasant surprise not to be able to be online. The cable company that also furnishes TV in our building, went kaput, due to damages to their outside equipment, which required special intervention and replacement of ruined connecting parts.

For several months now our entire neighborhood has been affected, one way or another, by continuous underground work on the part of different city agencies furnishing water, electricity, telephone, etc. The multiple snow falls during the past one and a half month, on top of all the digging done by the above, have added additional discomfort in walking around these obstacle courses!

I watch TV only in the evenings, but I do use the internet cable connection all day long, and being without it for more about 40 hours seemed like an eternity!!

Thank goodness, we came back online by midday today.

Messy, messy, messy!

2011-02-04T22:18:00.007-05:00

Just restocked the fridge in view of tomorrow's forecast: more precipitation expected!

A ray of hope?

2011-02-02T17:56:00.016-05:00

Another huge snow blizzard has just swept across the US again,and, here in NY, the streets are now also completely covered with ice since the temperature continues to be subzero. The storm's path has extended from the north all the way down into Texas and Mexico, which is a very unusual pattern.

Over 10,000 flights were canceled since yesterday around the country, house roofs are buckling under the weight of multiple layers of precipitation, power lines downfalls have put thousands of people in the dark and cold, hundreds of cars got stuck for hours with motorists inside (200 automobiles in one major highway in Chicago alone!), thousands of emergency calls asked for help, and now even pieces of ice are falling onto streets from skyscrapers. There does not seem to be an end to all this mess, and, as I am writing, the weatherman is tracking the 9th storm that should be upon us by Saturday!

Meantime today, at the Staten Island Zoo, as per tradition, the well known groundhog "Chuck" has emerged from his 'lodging' under the scrutinizing eyes of children and was hailed by our Mayor because he did not see his shadow! It's said that this means we can expect an early spring! As per statistics his record is 80% correct. Should we believe him?

[pictures from the Staten Island Advance]

Almost at the end....

2011-01-27T08:46:00.022-05:00

of the 7th storm of this month, here are some fascinating sights and treacherous conditions today, with blue sky in the background and the sun's attempts to brighten up the view at 7:30am.
Airports, schools, public transportation are all affected, and the tail of this storm is still to come tomorrow, just to complete the week.

The next wave of bad weather is supposed to hit us again by next Tuesday!!

Jury Duty - final

2011-01-26T15:40:00.018-05:00

My jury duty has come to an end, but not the snow falling in NYC. At a pretty steady clip of 2 storms per week, we are unable to unbury ourselves from snow, slush, and, most of all, dangerously slippery conditions on all roads.

On Monday we experienced the coldest temperature in about six years with 6F, without even counting the wind factor. It snowed yesterday, and again this morning, but the balance of the current storm is expected during this evening and night. Thank goodness I don't have to travel anymore downtown. My refrigerator has been restocked and I can work from home. All other, non urgent appointments will follow when there is a respite from bad weather.

The civil case I was on was relatively uncomplicated, involving an unfortunate accident, but the plaintiff's lawyer, notwithstanding his self assurance, failed to demonstrate the burden of proof on the part of the defense; consequently, according to the law, the financial rewards hoped to be gained from the lawsuit did not materialize.

With this case concluded, the jury was discharged and dismissed from serving again for another six years. To complete my posts about this experience, I like, however, to add a couple of remarks.

While cameras and picture taking were obviously not allowed inside the court building, very few were the prospective jurors that did not have a cell phone in their hands, or a portable computer on their lap. On a pleasant side, it was surprising to receive, once inside a jury room, a continuous supply of a large amount of miscellaneous wrapped candies that a police officer would deliver every day, and to watch how quickly this supply would disappeared. On the last day, when we were expected to start our deliberation, the court also ordered and paid for lunches of our choice from a nearby deli.

It took us only a couple of hours to reach a decision that was acceptable to the court, with 5 out of 6 jurors agreeing. To be fair with the 6th juror that attempted to sway others from their conviction, the rest of the group requested the re-reading of several portions of the testimonies from both sides, at the end of which the discordant juror gave up and remained on record as the only one that did not agree on the outcome.

As it happened in past jury duty experiences of mine, I was hoping to be able to make a couple of comments to the judge at the end of the process, but this time it was not possible. What I wanted to convey was the lack of a microphone in the courtroom, which the judge could have used since she had laryngitis, and it could have helped the recording clerk when she proceeded to re-read the testimonies we ask for. She did this from a laptop, while turning her back to the jury!

Oh, well.....above duty performed, now I can turn my full attention to the rather long list of other outstanding things to do that faces me on my desk!!

Statistics by flag

2011-01-22T11:47:00.012-05:00

After more than six years of blogging, last fall I included a counter showing the number of people accessing my site, which I saw steadily growing over the past 3 months, but the total of which really does not mean very much. Earlier this week, however, out of curiosity, I installed a flag counter in this blog, and lo and behold, I am getting some interesting statistical results.

I started this public diary to share, with friends and relatives, some of my travel experiences and information about my country of origin, knowing that it would also be read by perfect strangers. I never imagined, though, that these individuals would span over so many countries. In about 5 days, people from 15 different nations have accessed my blog.

Due to the nature of my entries, the largest percentage of individuals, obviously, is from the U.S., followed by Albania, which has a large diaspora that lives in surroundings areas such as Montenegro, Macedonia, Greece, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc. But there is also a good percentage of readers from other countries, such as Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, followed by smaller ones from the Netherlands, Romania, and even as far away as from Brazil.

These are the real wonders of today's global society!

Jury Duty - part 2

2011-01-20T14:15:00.015-05:00

What a relief yesterday to be able to go back to Jury Duty without having to contend with bad weather! The sidewalks had cleared a bit and I was able to take public transportation to reach the downtown situated court building.

The reporting hour was set a bit later, but this meant that I would encounter the busiest commuting time in NYC, and so it was, for both the bus taken first and the subway ride that followed. Nonetheless, I reached the JD pool room in perfect time, and settled down waiting to be called. As mentioned, the majority of the people summoned this week are quite young. They all came armed with their super slick laptops that could easily be put online thanks to the Wi-Fi facility provided by the city in the waiting rooms. Mobile phones and related gadgetry were also allowed to be used, but they had to be put into vibrating mode to receive calls.

I decided to only carry my cell phone and to give myself a bit of rest from being online. Cameras had to be deposited at the front desk since no pictures can be taken inside a court building. For a while I enjoyed instead looking around and watching people's behavior and body language, in some cases interesting indeed!

By mid morning my name was called again, but this time it was for a civil lawsuit, which is conducted quite differently from a criminal case. Interviewing prospective jurors is handled by the plaintiff's and defense's lawyers in smaller 'impanelling' rooms,s and not in front of a judge. The typical jury for these cases consists of only 6 jurors, with 2 alternates. Compared to a few years ago current procedures are much more efficient, thus providing much less loss of idle time for everyone.

For civil cases in NY there is now a questionnaire to be filled out that allows the lawyers to quickly gather a bird-eye-view of each juror without having to repeat a preset list of questions, and, instead, to spend their time zeroing in the specifics they are interested in for each individual.

By lunch time yesterday they had picked half of the needed jury team, and by 3pm the entire process was completed. I received my confirmation of inclusion by the duty clerk, who congratulated me in his own office, because the lawyers, after discussing among themselves the results of their interviews, would not reveal publicly their choices.

With a big smile the duty clerk then handed the whole team a slip of paper indicating when we are to report back for the trial. With a day off today, discussion of the case in front of a judge will begin on Friday morning.

Incredibly, NYC is expecting another wave of snow during the night, sooo.....now I have to brace myself to meet more than one challenge tomorrow!!

Jury Duty - part 1

2011-01-18T16:51:00.033-05:00

After a quiet Martin Luther King Day holiday on Monday, business resumed Tuesday accompanied by intimidating weather warnings of expected more snow and sleet. And this was the day I had to start my jury duty!?!

After a hiatus of six (6) years, I was summoned again to be a juror last year, but I had to postpone it because of my travel and extensive stay in Albania that took place in the fall. The phone recorded message of the court system instructed prospective jurors to show up early on the first day to allow time for security screening. I also know from experience that commuting from my residence to downtown Manhattan, where most Federal and Court buildings are located, is a long trek requiring lots of time and more than one type of transport.

It was therefore with great apprehension that I walked out of my apartment building when it was still dark, on Tuesday morning, and found that the weather forecast was right on target. It had snowed throughout the night. Another layer of fresh snow covered the old one and the icy spots that formed everywhere due to subzero temperatures that persisted throughout more than 2 weeks. A cold drizzle was also drowning everything on site! What a dreadful sight, and a frightful feeling having to walk very slowly; pausing every few steps to catch a breath against the wind and to figure out where to find a navigable path!!

Very few were the pedestrians venturing out. I soon realized that I would have great difficulty in walking some distance, in boarding buses with obstructed sidewalks, descending and ascending subway's stairs, which, at that hour, remained uncleaned and dangerously icy. Only the vehicular traffic in the middle lanes of the avenues had an edge. While ice, rain and slush covered the sidewalks, all roads' sides were lined with insurmountable piles of previously accumulated stuff and streets intersections were drowning in large pools of water that could not find appropriate drainage.

I quickly decided that my only chance of surviving this mess was to hop a cab, which I was fortunate to find thanks to the early morning hour. I had a good driver, who brought me to destination safe and sound, in less time than expected. I was the first person to arrive in front of the huge court building, but was soon joined by other walk-ins. Unfortunately, we had to wait a bit of time facing rain and wind before we were admitted in the lobby, when the building entrance was opened to the public.

The jury pool room gradually filled up with about 200 individuals, with a rough percentage of 95% young, and 5% mature and seniors. This was on a 3rd floor location, but similar on-goings were also happening on the 11th floor of the same building, and in many other court venues throughout NYC. According to statistics more than 600,000 people serve yearly in this area.

Within an hour all the preliminary instructions, articulated by the clerk in charge and preceded by a short documentary about the history of the judicial system in the U.S., were efficiency taken care of, and everybody settled down waiting to be called according to the needs of each court case.

I only waited half an hour for my name to be summoned. With other 59 individuals I was accompanied by a policeman to another floor in a real court room in front of a woman judge and prosecuting and defense attorneys. Their mere presence indicated that this was a criminal case.

Here again names were picked out of a rotating box, 20 at a time; each juror assigned a seat in the jury box, and interrogated by the judge and the lawyers of both parties. This procedure repeated itself several times, as jurors that were not chosen would be replaced by newly picked names. By 3pm the entire jury of 12 people plus 2 alternates, was chosen and confirmed, and the ones that did not have to get involved in this case, like me, were then returned for recycling to the pool room.

Thus, the first day of Jury Duty came to an end and I was lucky again to find a taxi to return home. The driver, who felt very sure of himself, made me, however, quite nervous with his erratic driving, and distractions. He pushed his way into the maddening traffic and bad road conditions, switching lanes continuously, and getting upset by slower drivers ahead of him. During stops he would read some papers and clean up the front seat next to him. I was really relieved when I finally made it home.

What a day!! What to expect next?

Albanian National Historic Museum

2011-01-14T10:34:00.008-05:00

A welcome news appears today online regarding the plans of the National Historic Museum in Tirana.

Some of my friends and relatives that have visited this interesting museum with me during their travels to Albania in the past few years were surprised not to find the ex Communist era represented in it. This article from BalkanInsight gives them an answer and the hope that in their future visits they can explore also exhibits from this dark past that needs to be shown and dealt with in the new democratic society.

This photo was taken by me a while back. Now the museum front is completely covered by scaffolding since it's being renovated inside out.

Concurrent with this work is the extensive digging taking place in the huge Skanderbeg square that the museum faces, where some city plans are being carried out. Although they were advertised for a while last year, the general public is uncertain of what the final outcome of these changes will be; meantime, Tirana's population must cope in that area with restricted vehicular traffic, rerouting of public transportation, and inconveniences to pedestrians.

Views from indoor living

2011-01-09T15:16:00.028-05:00

The winter in NYC, which started early this season with a terrific snow blizzard on December 26th, continues to maintain subzero temperatures. Storms that follow their patterns from west to east show up alternatively every few days with additional snow falls that are not so heavy, but add more layers to the already frozen surfaces and do not allow better cleaning of streets and complete garbage pickup.

The vehicular traffic that is already impaired by ongoing large city projects that require digging the streets for maintenance of underground facilities, was brought to a stand still during these periods of bad weather condition. The vehemence of the December blizzard forced many people to abandon their cars in the middle of roads and that created havoc and impossible salt spreading and snow plowing.

Fortunately I don't have to go out since I can work indoors in my cozy and well heated apartment, where I can also enjoy the sunshine that shows up in between the storms......

Here, in NY, my apartment has a south-western exposure and is extremely quiet since it is positioned in the back of the building and overlooking a small garden area. In Tirana, instead, my lodging has a couple of balconies and can be noisy at times, but offers excellent open views (even during bad weather) of the city and its suburbs since it's on a much higher floor.

Through the small kitchen window that has allowed me to take the snow pictures above in NY, in the evening of the same day I could see an interesting rising moon beside the lit apartments in the high rise a block away.

As I am writing this I hear from my friends in Albania that today they had a real spring day of 63F and had to take their jackets off during midday, while our range in NY is between 30 to 20F, and a new storm is forthcoming by the middle of next week. Better stock up more food in the fridge!

Greetings 2011!

2011-01-01T08:09:00.010-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

GEZUAR VITIN E RI!

BUON ANNO!

While New York tries to bail itself out of the blizzard that has buried the city on December 26th, I am doing the same with respect to the mountain of snail mail and paperwork that has accumulated during my long absence from home, to be ready to tackle the challenges of the new year!

Blizzard in New York

2010-12-27T09:54:00.016-05:00

Have returned to New York last evening and was very lucky to have made it all the way home, notwithstanding the bad winter blizzard that has paralyzed the city and all its transportation.

I was apprehensive in leaving Tirana, which was enjoying 60F temperature, although soaked by torrential rain, because I was concerned about my plane connections in Vienna and Frankfurt. Most of Europe has been badly affected by an unusually early, cold, and snowy winter, but, I did not expect a worst situation upon returning to New York.

The departure from Germany was only delayed 40 minutes to perform the de-icing of the plane, and the transatlantic flight was very smooth until we reached NY, where we had to reduce speed and circle around JFK airport for an hour.

After landing safely in zero visibility, the problem was to get from the airport to the city. Transportation was lacking and the line of passengers waiting for the occasional taxi that would show up, was extremely long. It was cold to stand on the covered sidewalk, where the wind blowing at 50 miles per hour was engulfing everyone in swirling snow.

I cannot believe how lucky I was to hitch a ride in a private van with a couple other foreigners, and not to get hurt when I skidded getting out of the car and...landed sitting on 2 feet of snow in front of my building! From the plane arrival to my home it took about 4 hours!

NY airports were closed last night and the trains also stopped running. This morning some people here in the city are still stuck inside public transportation since last evening.

New York City has been completely silent for over 12 hours, and only now the noise of snow blowers is being heard......I have seen similar bad storms in this city a few times over past decades, but this was the first time that I was experiencing one in the midst of traveling home from abroad.

Happy New Year everyone!

Holiday Greetings!

2010-12-18T06:32:00.007-05:00

I wish you
a Merry Christmas
and
a Happy and Healthy New Year 2011!

Ju huron
Gezuar Krishtlindje dhe
Vitin e Ri 2011!

Snow everywhere

2010-12-17T05:27:00.015-05:00

This winter has come in in full force and the snow has appeared in the most unusual places.

Here are a couple of pictures from today's Corriere della Sera:

Can you believe snow in Rome?

And even in the heel of Italy?

When I heard the Italian meteo forecast yesterday for southern Italy, I knew that Albania would be hit next.

Sure enough this morning it was no surprise to see snow that is sticking to the ground in Tirana, although this is quite unusual for this city.

Nothing stops the street vendor who puts his ware on display on the little bridge, but the begging woman that shows up every morning in the same spot is nowhere to be seen today.

Current weather condition in Tirana will not last long, but, for a while even this city takes on a winter wonderland look.....

Winter is here

2010-12-13T05:35:00.031-05:00

After the rains of a week ago Tirana was inundated by gorgeous sunshine for a couple of days and throughout the weekend.

On Wednesday, the 8th, Albania celebrated another national holiday: it was the 20th anniversary of the student upraising that challenged and eventually initiated the crumbling of the old dictatorial regime in 1990.

For those of you that might be interested in history, I refer you to a short article by a young foreign author, whom I met over a decade ago, that describes the events of those days. Lots of interesting historical videos of this happening have now surfaced and are also available on YouTube.

On Friday, the temperature suddendly dipped about 20F degrees within 24 hours. The crisp air was rushed in by unually strong wind, and people that nornally stroll around, have stepped up their walking pace, bundled up in heavy coats, scarves, and gloves.

Now, this week is giving us a first look at sprinkles of snow on the mountain tops surrounding this capital.

The early morning rain and cold did not stop the beggar mother that every day shows up on the nearby bridge over the Lana canal, with her young girl. Regardless of weather, and without any cover, she squat downs for a few hours on a blanket and awaits handouts, while chatting with local streeet vendors, who also park themselves on this narrow passage way to sell their ware.

It's sad to think that the homeless situation that, unfortunately, exists in every country, continually produces loss of lives. Provided shelters where alcohol is not allowed are avoided by the lost souls that remain in danger on the streets to maintain their addiction to drinking.

In most cases here and throughout Europe begging is done by women and children, who maintain their male partners' bad habits with their quests, otherwise, unfortunately, they would suffer their abuses.

As soon as the weather clears a bit Tirana's municipal street cleaners in their green uniforms are out, as usual, to perform their duties, which include raking fallen leaves in the parks and the green areas, such as the one along the canal below my apartment.

Nasty weather

2010-12-03T06:17:00.017-05:00

Although the temperature remains mild here in Tirana, currently having 57F degrees, the rain does not want to stop. It has been steadily ongoing for 2 weeks now.

The flooding in northern Albania has created critical situations; thousands of people had to be evacuated from over 1500 homes. The city of Shkodra and its surrounding towns have been inundated by their overflowing lake.....

[pictures from Gazeta Shqiptare]
All of northern Europe, including northern Italy, is under a heavy blanket of snow, and exceptional freezing temperatures. Even Russia, accustomed to cold weather, is experiencing unusual winter conditions.

Most international airports have been greatly affected, such as London's Gateway that had to be closed for 2 days, and I am beginning to wonder what I'll have to face when returning to NY, via Germany, later this month!

Albania's Anniversary

2010-11-27T03:06:00.013-05:00

From the U.S.Department of State in Washington, D.C.:

Albania's National Day

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
November 26, 2010

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Albania as you celebrate your Independence Day on November 28. The history of friendship and shared interests between Albania and the United States was cemented at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where President Woodrow Wilson strongly supported Albania’s independence.

Since then, Albania has made many valuable contributions to promote peace and security in the Western Balkans. As a NATO partner and an advisor to other Balkan countries aspiring to join NATO, Albania plays a crucial and proactive role advancing regional integration and stability. The United States also honors Albania’s commitment to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, and its dedication to protecting peace around the world.

Our support for Albania’s entrance to the European Union remains firm. The EU visa waiver Albania recently received is a strong indication of the progress your country continues to make toward full membership in the Euro-Atlantic community. I look forward to continuing our partnership with Albania on issues of regional and global importance as we work together toward a democratic, secure, and prosperous future for both our people.

I wish all the people of Albania a safe and happy Independence Day celebration.

The American Holiday

2010-11-26T05:52:00.021-05:00

In honor of Thanksgiving Day last evening I held a small party for a few of my Albanian friends, who were eager to learn the origin of this celebratory day in the U.S.

The buffet included an ethnic trio of dishes: from Albanian byrek to Italian specialties, and the American turkey could not be missing either (I didn't roast one personally, but found a delicious, freshly cut, substitute for it).

Although there was a brief rainstorm in the morning the sun peeked through the clouds around sunset, creating an interesting light effect on the mountainous areas surrounding Tirana.

The gathering went well and it was a good occasion for me to give thanks to the participants for the help, care, and kindness they have extented to me in the past, and for their continued support toward the the goals I've set in my work in favor of Albanian youth.

Thinking of all those I left behind in the U.S., I hope and wish that they also had a good day.

A toast to all with some 'spumante' ended the evening.

Rain, rain, and more rain!

2010-11-23T04:13:00.024-05:00

Meteo news show that rain all over Europe continues to be in the forecast. Northwestern Italy has been devastated by overflowing rivers and the damages are huge.

After some gorgeous days here in Tirana, where, however, the temperature remains mild, we are also hit by daily storms, while in the north there are critical flood damages in many mountain villages that are difficult to reach even by the military emergency units.

One of the borders with Montenegro was temporarily closed, and in the south the Lllogara pass in the national park was also blocked by dangerous icy conditions last week.

It is quite a sight to see the quick changes from my 12th story high apartment.

When I got up this morning the sun was shining, but it quickly disappeared as it did the Dajti mountain chain around Tirana, enwrapped in fog for a while.

The swelling, and rushing waters of the Lana canal look ominous. Fortunately, its green sloping sides do not allow overflowing onto the boulevards, but the poor drainage in some streets greatly affects the vehicular traffic.

We have to resign ourselves and cope with mother nature that looks like it is going to be stingy with sunshine during the upcoming big holidays of this weekend: the American Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, and the national Albanian Flag and Liberation days on Sunday and Monday.

Thanksgiving Greetings!

2010-11-22T17:26:00.007-05:00

Another digital scrapbooking design by Smilebox

NB: give it a couple of minutes to get a full download and then see it in full screen format

Care to visit?

2010-11-16T09:00:00.012-05:00

Again, another good article appears today online about how Albania is coming up in the world among the more interesting and newest places to visit, especially for aventurous travelers.

It's intriguing to me that it is written by an independent travel company, BootsnAll, which is located on the opposite side of world, the Pacific North West of the United states!

BTW, today it's a national holiday in the country, especially evidenced by the slower traffic in Tirana. Thus greetings should go to the majority of the population: "Urimet per Bairam!"

Meantime, the shorter, but sunny days are finally displaying their fall foliage along the boulevards......

Progress to be proven

2010-11-13T05:27:00.014-05:00

Almost every evening there are fireworks bursting, here and there, in Tirana, where any excuse is good to use these displays, apparently easily available even to the general public.

This may happen after a soccer match, or during a political demonstration, and this week because Albania is achieving visa-free status for its citizens to travel in Europe.

The reality of Albania's current state of affairs is succintly described in an article of SouthEast European Times that appears today online.

Let's hope that Albania makes a judicious use of this additional achievement in the use of freedom so that it may become a worth European ally.

Rain, or sunshine.....

2010-11-11T05:11:00.025-05:00

In a corner of a little park across the street from my apartment building some elderly people gather every day to play some games.

They seem to be there all the time for a couple of hours in the morning, and then they reapppear again for another two hours in the early afternoon. Their outings seem to be on a pretty steady schedule, even now that the daylight time is shorter. They show up even if it rains on and off since these type of days are quite predictable here. The rain comes for a while, followed by sunshine, and then the rain reappears, and so on....

The ladies employed by city hall to clean the lawns in the parks and along the boulevards (recognizable by their green overcoats), are also present regardless of weather conditions. They pop in and out of a couple of shacks, where they gather during a downpour, otherwise, armed with large plastic bags and rakes they walk along and gather the fallen leaves during the fall or the fresh grass cut by a group of men during the other seasons.

Today the weather has turned for the worst. A real and heavy storm is creating havoc in traffic, as I can see through my glass wall, and an unusual fog is obliterating the view of the Dajti mountain that towers over Tirana.

Undeterred, the street vendor that shows up every day on the narrow bridge of the Lana canal is present with his ware, and stands tall under his umbrella, and above the rushing and swelling waters below. Their level is visibly rising.....

I have the luxury of being able to work from home, but now it's time for a warm soup lunch!

Food lessons

2010-11-08T07:31:00.052-05:00

Yesterday I was a guest for lunch at some friends' apartment where, with the delicious dishes expertly cooked by the lady of the house, I also enjoyed learning a lot more than I ever thought of about food shopping and preparation.

BTW, these friends I have known for a dozen years have a very talented son, who was a gifted painter since age 7. He earned several honors for his early works, and now is pursuing a degree as an architect.

When I arrived the father was out shopping, while his wife had ready on the stove the vegetable soup, made from scratch with chicken stock, and the potatoes and chicken were roasting in the oven. Upon his return he personally wanted to prepare a 'little' appetizer, as he called it.

He had bought freshly baked white corn bread, which he topped with feta cheese, crushed garlic, pitted olives, fresh parsley, and finally drizzled some extra virgin olive oil upon it.

After a few minutes in the oven this was a delightful beginning of a very good meal that included a carrot mixture that was served in addition to the never lacking (on albanian tables) tomatoes and cucumber salad, and some small byreks filled with cheese.

The light and lemony tasting dessert, topped with crushed walnuts, was also made from scratch. I was astonished to learn that one of its ingredients was "panda's" milk (yes, the milk from the real animal!).
This is another product that I am surprised is available in Tirana, where nothing is lacking anymore, imported from anywhere in the world, as long as one can afford it.

When I questioned the husband about his shopping habits I had quite a lesson and learned a lot about how to choose food. We were talking about fresh foods that Albanians buy on a daily basis and that come directly from local suppliers.

The mandarins that are extremely sweet and grow in a lot of backyards, are deliberately picked with their stem and a couple of leaves attached to them. From their cut one can determine the freshness of the fruit. The leaves of mine below look shriveled since they have been stored in the fridge, but Albanians usually buy daily what they consume within the next 24 hours.

In addition to the fresh vegetables and fruits that come to street markets within a couple hours of being picked, the large supermarkets also stack packaged foods, imported especially from Greece and Italy, which are of excellent quality. One example I came across recently is about a series of Italian soups contained in pouches, such as the one pictured below, made of a variety of beans that takes 3 minutes to serve and it's delicious.

I also think that the frozen foods, of which there is a great variety here, are much better prepared and tastier (probably due to fresher basic ingredients) than the ones in NY stores.

My friend also talked about how to distinguish meats, from organically or not fed animals, from their color and smell. Lamb, pork, veal, beef are excellent here and very tasty everywhere they are served. After all, most animals are still raised in free ranges, and the chickens like the one I ate yesterday can be picked personally from a suburbian farm.

Thus, yesterday afternoon turned out to be pleasurable from both a culinary and educational point of view. Of great help in furnishing most of the detailed explanations to me was also another member of my host family (the wife's sister), who joined us for lunch, and spoke fluent English. She and I will also meet again soon since, I discovered, she resides not too far from my apartment.

What is surprising to me is that all this information comes from people that do not operate or have been educated in the food field, but have gained personal experiences from their families, who are also well versed in old fashioned house remedies. I might add that most persons I deal with, including some laborers, have quite a knowledge of what we consider today as good eating habits, and I believe that this is probably their secret for keeping fit and prolonging longevity.

Security issues

2010-11-04T03:30:00.038-04:00

In the last couple of days a few references appear online about Albania being picked by Lonely Planet as one of the Top 10 places for tourism in 2011.

This country is already doing a booming business in this field with a vast numbers of hostels, motels, hotels, and apartments, accomodating more than 300.000 visitors a year in the south alone. In addition to many young people, armed with backpacks, who like to explore the unknown, rugged, inland mountainous areas, a large influx of summer tourists come from the Albanian populations living outside Albania's borders. They don't have access to sea coasts of their own and now can enjoy Albania's long shore extending from the Adriatic to the Ionic-Mediterranean waters. (BTW, this week temperature in Tirana is still in the low 70's F during midday)

Building of necessary infrastructures needed to support this industry, such as new roads and modern servicing conveniences even in the most remote, and once inaccesible areas, are also intensified by both the governmental and private sectors.

Today another piece of news is also the re-opening of underground caves in the Dajti mountain chain bordering the capital city of Tirana, which were built by the ex dictatorship as an hideout in case of a political crisis.

The outcome of this precaution is now described as another folly of that isolationist regime when thousands of bunkers were also constructed around the entire Albanian territory to safeguard the country against foreign invasions. As some of these mushroom-shaped, reinforced cement structures are now being used mainly as tourist attractions, and in some cases, also converted as guests accomodations, today's article questions the possibile future use of these newly accessible hidden mountain places.

One thing that comes immediately to my mind is that of the "Iron Mountain" type of concept, very useful and fully functional in the United States.

As known, in Utah the Mormon Church has preserved, in environmentally setup caves, archival and historic records of generations of Americans that can trace their ancestries electronically from them. In other states businesses such as "Iron Mountain" provide storage-as-a-service facility for data recuperation, maintenance, and archiving for thousands and all sorts for companies, financial, and governmental institutions that have established very specific plans for disaster recovery from all sorts of destructive events, including natural calamities.

Let's hope that Albania makes a good use of these natural resources, among the many others that it is endowed with, and not only for tourism, but for more peaceful preservation of its history and its modern development.

A bit more about the Arbëresh...

2010-10-31T05:17:00.006-04:00

In my post of October 13th I had mentioned the Arbëresh, the Albanian communities that settled in southern Italy and Sicily centuries ago.

For my friends who might be interested in learning more about this subject, I refer you to another blog entry, by ‘The Expresso Break’, which gives you a good background of this historic shift in the Albanian past.

Another interesting bit of input along this line comes from a 2006 entry in ‘Metafilter.com’ confirming what I had learned long ago: that the mother of the noted American TV personality Regis Philbin, originates from Arbëresh people.

All is well that ends well

2010-10-30T08:00:00.067-04:00

Yesterday morning, while my housekeeper was cleaning my apartment, I decided to use my reliable car service to go shopping at one of the new, large complexes in the suburbs of Tirana.

Although I've a valid license, I would never drive in Albania, and never did in Italy either, for that matter. I prefer to let the locals handle their own unruly traffic, and, at times, unconventional vehicular behavior. My chaffeur in Tirana is an elderly gentleman, who has worked as a driver for 55 years across most of Europe, and I've been one of his steady customers for the past 10 years when in Albania.

I had quite a few to-do's and purchases on my list and I know I could count on him, as usual, for promptness and help in handling bags and packages. In less than than 1 1/2 hour I accomplished a lot with him, and was serviced expeditiously at all stores with typical European courteusness by the sales people that are always willing and ready to help here. Upon my return home, however, I had to face an unexpected, and unpleasant surprise.

As I entered the lobby of my apartment building I noticed quite a bit of water on the floors and stairs, both elevators out of order, and my floor neighbor, who was also loaded with 3 shopping bags, discussing with other people what had just happened. The problem originated on the 6th floor, where the bursting of a water pipe flooded the elevator shafts, and the administrator shut both water and elevator service off for safety, while waiting for a technician to arrrive.

While he and a couple of men were shuttling back and forth between floors, my neighbor grabbed a couple of folded chairs from the small office cubicle in the lobby and, with unraffled demeanor and resigned manner, invited me to join her in sitting down, surrounded by our purchases. I am not fluent in speaking Albanian, but understand it pretty well and can get along with any native without a problem. The two of us had some small chat while I was thinking that, in the worst of cases, for lunch we could have had some of the ice pops I had just bought.....:-)))!

Notwithstanding the inconvenience, most people accepted the situation clamly, and even the most elderly slowly tackled the stairs to get to their respective apartments. For years Albanians have been used to and had to deal with much more than this!

My neighbor and I were the only ones loaded with stuff to carry all the way to the 12th floor, thus we decided to remain in the narrow lobby, monitor the situation, and hope for the best soon. Thanks to the cell phones, which we both carried, we were able to call out. She reached her husband at work, and I my housekeper, who meantime, not knowing what was happening downstairs, was trying to complete her cleaning by using the reserve water we all keep inside the apartments for emergencies like this.

When the technician, who was summoned while attending a funeral, arrived about an hour later, he put one of the elevators back to work. My neighbor and I, plus my housekeeper, who, meantime, had descended via the stairs, quickly grabbed the ride upward, without a second thought, and safely reached our 12th floor with all our merchandise and a big sigh of relief! What an adventure!

For the afternoon I had a prearranged appointment with a couple of my friends, who wanted, at the end of their work day, to take me out for a late lunch in the country. After hearing what happened, they arrived earlier than expected, and eventually we drove off for one of our favorite places: a restaurant located a few miles out of the city, which I've described here previously. It's always very crowded because of its excellent food. Our lunch was no exception and we enjoyed a variety of their typical specialties.

Usually, we prefer to have the classic espresso at the end of the meal somewhere else, so that we can visit and experience other establishments on the way back home.

Yesterday, we deviated briefly to a side road and reached the sleepy village of Petrela, with its towering castle, which I've visited a couple of years ago.

It's quite a climb to go up there by foot, and we had no intention to do so, especially after a full meal, and also due to the lateness of day.

Later on we stopped at a new, neat looking restaurant/bar that was along the winding road back. It attracked our attention for the interesting style of its windows and the lovely display of flowers along its balcony.

We sipped coffee indoors, prompted by the owner whose place was comfortably warmed up, and watched a beautiful sunset through the glass walls overlooking the surrounding valleys.

Back in town, we stopped for a while at my office to drop some of my earlier purchases, destined to it. Afterwards we enjoyed the first roasted chestnuts of the season that we picked up just before getting back to my apartment where we shared some drinks and chatted some more before retiring for the evening.

The old saying is really true: all is well that ends well!

Blessed sun!

2010-10-24T06:02:00.030-04:00

After almost 10 days of on and off, and, at times, heavy rain, which swelled the Lana, Tirana's water canal that crosses the city, full sunshine is finally with us again for a few days.

The million trees that now line up almost every street in this city shed a lot of their autumn colors, but, amazingly, after all the above soak the shade of green is back, especially in the ground areas.

Wish I had more time to just sit on my balcony to absorb some vitamin D, but I did manage a few minutes of it in the past couple of days. What I lack is a nice lounge chair, which would be perfect for an idle exercise of this type once in a while!

A propo of this, the other evening, after dinner with a friend in a wonderful fish restaurant, located just behind my apartment building, a good looking glass frontispice of a business facing the restaurant attracked my attention.

How could I have missed this place, named 'Master Gym", before? It was 10pm and the place was about to close for the day, but my friend and I decided to pop into it for a look. A very friendly and vivacious young lady eagerly gave us a tour of the premises, their flyers and their costs.

They are well equipped to offer fitness programs, aerobics and yoga classes, shower and sauna facilities, and even massages, all for very reasonable fees (ie: 8 session per month for $40.-). Being so conveniently located this is certainly a place to keep in mind for me.

Today is a gorgeous Sunday and I decided to take it easy, after a busy week, but I had to interrupt briefly this writing to catch the view I have from my desk....

The sky above me is crissed crossed by several planes flying south....

I wonder...where are they going?

Guided visit of Tirana

2010-10-13T11:29:00.102-04:00

As forecasted the rain began to soak Tirana on Monday, and the city traffic became impossible to handle. The bad weather, unfortunately, continues and may not end soon!

A friend, who lives in NY, made a short trip last week to the northern Albanian city of Shkodra, where she has relatives, and, on her way back home, we agreed to meet in Tirana. I invited her to stay with me and she readily accepted when I suggested to arrive here at least on Monday night, since she had to fly out of Albania on Wednesday morning.

She visited Shkodra repeatedly since 2006, but had not yet had the chance to really get acquainted with the capital.

After her arrival on Monday night we had a late dinner at an Italian restaurant, located just one block away from my apartment. The plans we made on how to spend her only full day in this capital went out of the window the next morning, when we had a leisure breakfast. Somehow, however, we ended up doing a lot during the rest of the day, and by the end of it we were both exhausted.

As we went along, we laughingly kept on telling each other that this was really a typical Albanian way of living. Without rushing, we were able to move around and see several things and places, and also tour the National Albanian Historic Museum in the center of the famously large Skanderbeg square. This city center area is now really messy and difficult to navigate for both cars and pedestrians because, according to an ambitious urban plan, it's being reconstructed and completely repaved.

We managed to have an aperitiv at one of the hundreds outdoor bars of Tirana with another American woman, widow of an Albanian. She resides in California, but at the tender age of 80, spends about 6 months a year in this city, where she rents an apartment, goes to a gym twice a week, and even teaches journalism at a local private school.

Afterwards, we had a satisfying lunch at one of my favorite places in town. Their, so called, salad bar offers a large variety of very tasty vegetarian dishes, in addition to meatballs in tomato sauce, and the typical 'bykek' (the appetizing phyllo dough that comes stuffed with spinach, or ham, and cheese).

Although normally one cannot take pictures inside a museum, I opted to copy what another tourist (part of a visiting German group with a guide) was doing. The museum staff never stopped us, thus we merrily went along and walked all 3 large floors for a couple of hours.

Starting from the main floor upward, the exhibits cover prehistoric periods that lead to the Illyrians (Albanians' ancestors), then, throught a variety of beautiful maps, display also the many foreign invasions that took place over the centuries (from Roman times to the Ottoman 500 year occupation of the balkan territories), and so on.

the model of the 3500 years old southern citadel of Berat

representation of the Congress of Lezhë of 1444
The above northern city today houses the grave of the national hero Skanderbeg. Here he had formed a league of Albanian princes to fight the Ottoman empire.

costumes of the Arbëreshë
These are ethnic Albanian communities still living today in southern Italy and Sicily, where they maintain their own distinct culture and identities. They migrated there since the 15th century when Skanderbeg helped militarily both King Alfonso V of Aragon and King Ferdinand of Naples and received from them land as compensation.

collection of old rifles with carved silver handles
The League of Prizren was an Albanian political organization founded in Kosovo in 1878, which aimed to unify all Albanians.

November 28, 1912 - Albanian Declaration of Independence lead by Ismail Qemali, who was the 1st Head of State of modern Albania.

Sami, Naim, and Abdyl Frasheri: 3 brothers, and prominent figures of the National Renaissance movement in Albania in the late 1800's.

The most interesting floor displays for me are on the 3rd and top floor of this museum. They represent the more current history of modern Albania, with the Fascist occupation of 1939, the resistence movement during WWII, and the formation of the Communist totalitarian dictatorship that lasted for more than half a century.

Thanks to some friends of mine, my guest and I concluded the tour of Tirana by riding in they comfortable car when they picked us up in the late afternoon, after work. With them we were able to observe the immense number of constructions that is ongoing in the outskirts, and hilly areas of this capital, which includes also another mega shopping center - the 6th of this kind in this city.

Finally, we rode upward toward the Dajti mountain and had drinks at a cafe` that overlooks the city. It was already dark, but the view of Tirana could still be detected in the distance.

After a quiet dinner, again in a restaurant within the condo complex where I lodge, my guest could not even tackle packing. We both hit the sack, totally pooped!

Weather watch

2010-10-11T12:11:00.032-04:00

The weather forecast for Albania, although available on local news and TV, is also observed through the Italian TV channels that most Albanians follow on a daily basis.

They have done this for years, even during the communist dictatorship, when watching foreign programs was strictly forbitten (but that's is also how most of them understand the Italian language)!

This reminds me of when I was a child in Italy, during WWII and the fascist era, when it was also forbitten to hear Radio London, which broadcasted every evening a program destined to Italian audiences. Everyone would listen to it, on a queue tee, in complete silence and with ears close to the radio to keep the volume at the lowest possible level.

Getting back to the weather forecast, everyone here knows that when southern Italy experiences clouds and precipitation, Albania can can expect the same within the next 24 hrs.

This past weekend was really gorgeous and the sunsets worthy of being transposed into paintings. Fascinated by the clear lines of Tirana's surrounding hills and their coloring as the sun was disappearing prompted me to snap the couple of pictures below.

The scene below also struck me for its chaotic look. Myriad of buildings keep on spreading toward the hills of the capital, and from my balcony it all looks like an untidy behive!

On Saturday I took advantage of the good weather to go shopping for food and other necessities, while on Sunday I had lunch along the beach area of Golem on the Adriatic with a couple of friends, who invited me there.

I was told that most Albanians hit the beaches mostly during the months of July and August, but who could resists this beautiful sunny, Sunday afternoon in October?

Several were the families with children playing, and street vendors, who also displayed kytes that easily flew around in the nice sea breeze. Some even ventured swimming, while some speed boats drove, dangerously for my taste, too close to the coast line.

In the distance some merchant ships were anchored in the bay waiting to discharge their cargo in the port of Durres.

Daily life in this city

2010-10-07T05:06:00.027-04:00

Good weather turned ominous for about 24 hours earlier this week.

To avoid an expected downpour I went out on Tuesday to do food shopping at one of my Italian favorite stores, and came home loaded. Now, of course, it means more cooking has to follow...

I made it home just before the storm, which lasted throughout the night and the next day.

Here the clouds seem so close, especially from my apartment, perched up on the 12th floor along one of the main boulevards of Tirana.

Just like in NY mother nature can create havoc in city traffic during and after a storm, and Tirana is no exception, as seen below.

So far, on alternative days, I go to my old premises, which remain for now in deplorable conditions, and are in need of huge repairs.

However, in a separate wing of it, I continue to set up, as started last spring, some rooms destined for office use in the future. Some areas are beginning to take shape, and the telecommunication facilities are fully functioning.

Have also began to unpacked some of the stuff shipped from the States, which arrived here during the summer.

Except for a small refrigerator, which will be purchased soon, there is even a budding kitchen corner....

where a coffee machine would also, eventually, find an appropriatey place. It's a must in the Albanian society where everything takes place over a cup of coffee, whether prepared in turkish style, or with an expresso machine.

Autumn in Tirana

2010-10-02T08:07:00.029-04:00

October has started and the trees are beginning to show their fall foliage in this capital.

The weather has been very good since my arrival, alternating cloudy days with a bit of rain, with full, splendid sunshine like today.

Online I read that the US Eastern coast continues to experience wild weather changes with high winds and plenty of rainfall due to the very active storm season, and consequently is suffering power cuts, floodings, damages, and scattered evacuations.

Here in Tirana we currently have temperatures that range from 76F in midday to 55F during the night. One can still sweat at noontime and have beautiful cool nights for sleeping.

As usual, having a washing machine at my disposal inside my apartment is a blessing. Thanks to this gorgeous weather, my wash this morning dried in no time.

No wonder here no one owns, or uses a drying machine, and the same can be said for in Italy. That's why in these countries quite a variety of laundry is always seen hanging inside or even, perilously, outside balconies or windows.

My housekeeper took care of my apartment during my absence from town, and even transplanted into larger pots a couple of plants that are growing in it, and yesterday, she presented me with a lovely doily that she crocheted for me during the summer!

What can I say? I am blessed to have such good, friendly service and wished I had something similar in NY....meantime, I am getting spoiled by it!!

Back in Albania

2010-09-27T06:32:00.032-04:00

Here I am back in Tirana, where I arrived, safe and sound, less than 24 hours ago. The trip, via Lufthansa, was excellent as usual, and the Airbus used for the transatlantic flight was packed, as it was JFK airport when I left New York.

During this trip I met some interesting people. Next to me sat an ex CBS reporter, now a mother of 3 kids, who did some reportage from Albania in the late 1990's. She had planned to go through a stack of papework while traveling, but, after a few glasses of red wine she slept all the way to Germany.

During this first leg of the trip, I had a long chat with an Italian maritime inspector from Naples, who was returning home with his wife and 3 grown up children after spending 24 days on a cruise along northern Europe, then across the Atlantic to the Caribbean area, and finally to the US. He spent quite a bit of time telling me why he did not like, and would not return to NY in the future.

In Munich I had a longer than usual waiting time for the Tirana connection because the flight from NY was much shorter than the normal 8 hours thanks to strong tail winds and a more northern route taken by the pilot.

The efficiency of this airport always amazes me, and I took the time to enjoy the comings and goings while sipping a delicious capppuccino at a bar that was doing a booming business serving large breakfasts to lots of travelers. The display of food was incredibly big, varied, and enticing, but the dinner and breakfast served on board within the space of 6 hours did me in.

I refused also the sandwich and sweets offered on the smaller aircraft that Lufthansa operates between Munich and Tirana, while I had a nice conversation with an instructor from North Carolina, who was on a field trip in the company of two of his students . The 2 teenager girls were eager to discover Albania, which they had to research before leaving, as part of their currriculum. Next year they both will graduate in Hotel Management, and their instructor has given a one week course on tourism several times previously in Albania. He told me, in fact, that this was his 10th trip to the country, and was thrilled to have with him now 2 of his students.

One of the girls had never travelled by plane before and looked tired and tense. She had not slept at all during the night and would not even look out of the window, but her companion kept snapping pictures, and being very exited about the whole trip and its expected unknown. She and the instructor kept teasing the other, and talked about their plans in the next 2 weeks, to be spent mostly in the northern city of Shkodra, with a couple days in Tirana at the end.

The trio was going to be picked up by the Director of the University in Shkodra, and being driven there upon arrival. The girls expected to be housed within the University dormitories, while the instructor was booked at a hotel. Their overseas flight was also by Lufthansa, but direct from Charlotte, NC to Germany.

Another American gentleman from Texas, still young, but needing a walker and a portable oxygen machine, was also returning to Tirana, where he indicated having been several times in the past 15 years. I believe he was originally connected with a missionary unit (one of the many still operating in the country today) and he is now running some courses on how to fight corruption.

As usual, I was met at Tirana's aiport. In less than half hour I was in town, where the air was visibly clear after some earlier rain. My friends insisted in taking me to lunch, nothwithstanding my refusal attempts, and then delivered me to my apartment.

It was so nice to find the apartment cleaned by my usual housekeeper, and have the electrical and water connection all setup upon arrival.

My friends also stacked my fridge with all sorts of food and staples, with the big basket overflowing of fruit, and even some flowers on my dining table.

They strongly suggested that I stay awake as much as possible to diminish the effect of jetlag, and I did so by unpacking and getting settled, while enjoying the beautiful strong breeze that was coming through my opened balconies. The nights are quite cool in Tirana.

My Internet connection was re-established this morning after I renewed my contract with the local provider.The temperature today is 23C degrees (~ 78F).

Visiting

2010-09-19T14:02:00.023-04:00

Yesterday I ventured outside Manhattan to visit relatives that reside in suburbia to catch up with family news and see how quickly the younger generation is growing.

I use the word ventured because, notwithstanding my many decades in New York I must confess of not being really very familiar with the other four boroughs that make up this city (sorry..... no offense meant, suburbanites!!). Transportation from and to the main island of Manhattan has improved greatly over the years, and it is now serviced extremely well by express, and very comfortable buses that speed along our avenues day and night at pretty frequent intervals. Thus, it was no hassle at all to board the bus in midtown that delivered me northward, to destination, in no time!

In the morning I left a quiet Madison Avenue, where, however, several tourists were strolling and shopping in some of the most luxurious stores and boutiques in town, and 45 minutes later I landed in the hustle and bustles of a very busy, and lively community of the Bronx, which is located close to the huge, most famous NY zoo. The heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic whizzed by incessantly along the wide avenues that criss-cross this very green area that also houses New York's Botanical garden.

The Bronx is also the area of NY mostly populated by Albanians and Kossovars, and locally houses many ethnic, mama and papa stores and restaurants, as well as enormous supermarkets. Here everyone seems to know everyone else, and, I am told that when you shop, store owners that know you will give you credit if you happen to forget your wallet at home!

At home, young Marcel was happy in his grandfather's arms, or on mama's lap, while his dad was in the garage fixing his car that was recently involved in an accident.

After a deliciously home cooked meal and lots of conversation, especially with the father of the household who is currently visiting from Montenegro, we made plans to be visiting each other abroad, since I'll be back in Tirana soon.

By late afternoon I returned to Manhattan, which turned out to be also very trafficked in midtown.

Tokens of remembrance

2010-09-16T10:35:00.007-04:00

Thanks to a current article in The Economist's blog, entitled "Postcards from Albania", I was able to enjoy the brief video mentioned in it and to connect to the interesting site of OBC, mostly written in Italian language.

The above reminded me that I should also dust off my family's old files, where I know I have quite a few similar postcards, and many letters and stamped envelopes of the 1930's and 40's.

So many things to do, and so little time to do them......but now am preparing for my next travel to Albania, where I'll be for a few weeks. More to come about it soon.

International Literacy Day

2010-09-12T13:47:00.050-04:00

On Wednesday, September 8th, I attended a symposium held at the United Nations NY headquarters on the occasion of the annual International Literacy Day.

[a similar composition used to be also in the middle of the World Towers complex before its destruction 9 years ago]
For this symposium more than 600 people filled one of the huge conference rooms that have been recently built in an annex building to the UN Secretariat (partial view of it is on the right in picture below).

This new UN wing, erected on what used to be a beautiful green lawn along the East River, has a very insignificant, outside look with its white wash color on a structure that resembles very much an hangar.

Walking inside it, however, it reveals quite a different aspect, with huge, long hallways, draped with sculptures, tapestries, exhibits from different world countries, and computerized boards similar to the ones one may find at airports, that display the various ongoing activities within the complex.

[foreign children's paintings]
This new building contains many enormous, high ceiling,and stark looking conference rooms that are equipped, however, with high-tech facilities.

Comfortable sitting and table arrangements have communication equipment available for each attendee, in addition to several computers and projecting units, mammoth screens, and even a special platform for the disabled to access the staging area.

This event was moderated by Bryon Pitts, CBS News Chief National Correspondent and author, and focused on different areas of literacy (digital, emotional, women's, etc.) and creative partnerships (government, civil society, social innovation, etc.).

The keynote opening address was delivered by ex First Lady, Laura Bush, advocating cooperation at all levels for successful implementation of literacy, followed by two moderated panel discussions re: "Literacy for Empowerment" and "Accelerating Progress through Creative Partnerships".

An emotional ending was provided by the keynote closing address of a Sudanese young man, Jacob Atem. He described his life from his humble beginnings as a herder like his father in his native country, later lucky to have been exposed to literacy that allowed him to pursue studies and even earn a degree in the US. He is the Founder of the Home at Southern Sudan Health Care and a former "Lost Boy" of Sudan.

The UN complex is a busy place and, notwithstanding heavy security checks, is always full of visitors. Many are the tours offered in different languages, such as the one I saw below as I was entering the main building on Wednesday. Personally I accompanied there many guests over a period of years, and I also had the privilege once to be included in a special (professional) group for which an evening tour was conducted after the general public access had ended.

[pictures of UN General Secretaries]
Before leaving the place this time I went to one of its shops in the basement to purchase some small flags that needed to be replaced at home. They represents the triangle of the stages of my life in 3 different countries.