Life at a different pace

My first week in Albania has gone by quickly between business appointments and leisure meetings with friends and acquaintances.

Life in this country is still conditioned by lack of electricity and/or water for a few hours every day, but people are used to it and adapt their routines accordingly, and so do I when I come here.

The first couple of evenings I was visited by friends that came to say hello. Another evening I was a dinner guest at an acquaintance’s home. I met the hosts four years ago and we always ate out during my previous trips here. Recently, they moved their family into an apartment in one of the newest hi-raisers of Tirana, where they enjoy many comforts: good viewof the city from their front balcony, very large living/dining room area, modern kitchen and bathroom, several bedrooms, and even a special extra small room (accessed thru the balcony) where they grill or fry foods without affecting the apartment with unpleasant odors.

Remembering the state of Tirana when I saw it way back in 1993, it’s impressive to see it today, especially at night. The shops, all lit up at night, are open late, the boulevards, newly repaved, are beautified by green lawns and long lines of picturesque street lamps. The city parks have been freed of all the illegal constructions of the 1990’s that were along their borders and now offer an unobtrusive view and a fresh green respite to its citizens. The city continues to expand (its population almost reaching 1 million), the vehicular traffic is incredible, and construction is ongoing everywhere, with the unfortunate consequence of a high degree of smog and unhealthy air!

Innumerable Albanian hotels, reconstructed and modernized, in addition to the foreign built ones (such as Sheraton, Rogner), offer lodging and facilities for all sorts of pockets. It’s impossible to estimate the number of cafés in the city. They are always open and busy, day and night.

The meal I enjoyed as a guest was exceptionally tasty, extremely fresh and very healthy! A variety of cooked vegetables, in additional to the traditional green and tomato salad, were served with lemon wedges (widely used on all sorts of foods here) and virgin olive oil that each person can use at their discretion. A variety of fresh fish was grilled to perfection and even the ice cream served with the desserts was hand made. White and red Albanian wines were excellent (everywhere I go I enjoy a different brand from a different region of the country), and this meal was actually even topped by a well chilled champagne at the end!

The hosts had invited other friends of theirs, who were very enjoyable and interesting to talk to. They were couples that manage their own successful businesses (ie: construction and interior decorating) and shared their concerns as modern parents of teenagers, some of whom are studying abroad. The evening was a great learning experience for me!