Blogs from Albania, Europe - page 29

That was my first go at speaking Albanian. I tried to say 'Yes', and inevitably started speaking Spanish again, since the non-English foreign language programming in my brain always comes up with Spanish. I then proceeded to say 'jo', which I usually say when I want to say 'yes' in German, but then realized that it means 'no' in Albanian. So finally I managed to find the right word: 'Po'! Great success! During the ten days that I stayed in Albania, I had very good intentions, but ended up learning only maybe three more words/phrases: falum nderit - thank you; sa kushton - how much is it; pa mish - without meat. Of course it didn't help at all that the Albanian language is related to absolutely no other language, since it is presumably of Illyrian ... read more

This morning, my boss strolled into my room and told me this: "Good morning...how are you doing? *beat* Well, I was thinking a little bit about going to Albania today..." I think you already know how this story ends. But God, you wouldn't believe what happened in-between! Although the Albanian border was only a good 30 km away, there was something that stood in our way... It was Tuzi, this tiny-ass, podunk little town only a few kilometers from the border -- land of the forgotten boasting a cow and goat population that was twice as large as the people who actually lived there. Nonetheless, we were surprised to find not only a functional ATM, but a supermarket and a post office to boot! Words cannot express how humbled we were, :P. Main street was still ... read more

At the end of December 2008 just after Christmas my friend Jilly and I drove 4000 miles on a return journey to Albania. We will never be able to forget the suffering and misery of the animals in this country that we saw during our brief stay. We saw stray dog after stray dog living on slum sights, horses and ponies tied on short ropes alone with hardly a blade of grass in sight for them to eat, live turkeys with their legs tied being sold at the side of the road, sheep with foot rot and other untreated health problems and donkeys pulling carts. The amount of litter was horrendous, it was everywhere, people obviously just dumped their waste in the streets and fields. Jilly and I fed every animal that we saw but some ... read more

We are in an Albanian internet cafe right now, hoping to catch a bus or furgon (minibus that follows a mysterious route around the country and leaves when full) back to Gjirokastra to our Peace Corps host. Peace Corps does all the couchsurfing in Albania! We've been lucky to enter their network; there is at least one in every city and if they like you they will send you to their friend in the next city. We spent the day in Butrint, an ancient settlement. There are mosaics and fountains from 800 and 400 BC, and early Christian ruins on top of that. I had no idea we would see so many Roman ruins! We have spent the past 2 nights in Gjirokastra, birthplace of Enver Hoxha, Communist ruler of Albania who shut it from the ... read more

At dinner last night I was told by the waiter that i have to move back my watch tonight before going to bed, daylight sdavings time occurs on last weekend of october. So i have extra hour of sleep. Woke up had my quick breakfast and said my goodbyes to Cathy and Keith and off i went to the bus station. Found the bus for Saranda quite easily, the driver simply asked me Saranda? and I said yeah he took my backpack and put it under the carriage. Half an hour later we left. It stops every so often to towns even on the road to pick passengers up or unload them. It took us almost 6 1/2 hours to get to Saranda, fell asleep and when i woke up I saw this beautiful scenery of ... read more