Sunday outing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More goodies!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greetings

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

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

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

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

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

Some quiet time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tirana's weather

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

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

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

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

Rules of the road?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Albanian bargains

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

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

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

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

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

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!

Today's extraordinary events

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

From New York, now in full blooming cycle.

PASSOVER GREETINGS and HAPPY EASTER to one and all!

National Volunteer Week

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

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

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

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!