Weekend

Due to the inclement weather everyone is staying indoors, and I also take advantage of it to rest, sleep, and work at my computer both Saturday and Sunday.

This afternoon, however, I was invited at someone’s home thanks to some friends of mine. It was again a pleasure to meet another very nice Albanian family. They reside on the 9th floor of one the new apartment buildings in the city and here they enjoy all the comforts of modern life. The grandparents are old enough to have known a member of my family in the 1930’s and have vivid memories of those days. One of their two daughters, married with two children of her own, is a dentist by profession and her husband owns a very successful photocopying business at the street level of the same building where they reside. Everyone in the family speaks 3 languages fluently and the young ones are delight to converse with. Among the usual goodies that are offered to guests, today I was introduced to a new delicacy: real tiny eggplants (the size and length of a finger), which, after an elaborate preparation, turn into candied fruit in heavy syrup and are stuffed with walnuts. Real yummy!

On the way back to my apartment, I am able to do some shopping for staples at a nearby supermarket. Some of these markets are packed with goods, including many imports and one can also always find fresh local vegetables and fresh bread at any hour of the day and well into the night.

Back to work, tomorrow!