On tour with the Elections

It has been a longtime since my last post mainly due to commitments at work and also due to me being out of the country for prolonged periods. However I have been keeping one eye on the going ons in the land of the Eagles and the Great Ilirians, A.K.A Albania. I must say things have been quite eventful on the political front, but hey, when is it ever quiet on the political front in Albania, and now that we have the elections coming up it just adds more fuel to the fire, or in Albania it adds more music to the rallies. I find it interesting that opposition leader, Mr Rama, is touring the country with Rap/Hip Hop/Boy(man) band ‘West Side Family’ in what I think is an attempt to appeal to the young voters. Which in my opinion is a bit odd as he seems quite popular with the young voters that I have mingled with on occasions. The leader of governing democratic party and Prime Minister Berisha is on tour with the super hot silicon enhanced Ciljeta and Soni, and I must say for his age he could have done a lot worse. I mean if I new these two ladies were performing on a stage in my area I would go to watch (not listen) the show even if I had to be surrounded by youngish men waving US/Nato/Albanian flags.  So as the big day approaches and the temperatures rise I am hoping for some spontaneity from the candidates, I mean a break-dance from Mr Berisha or some dirty dancing from Mr Rama can only add to the spice of the current election tour.

I am also pleased to be in Albania when it can be enjoyed the most, summer. Long weekends away in the south is a must if you are in Albania during the summer and I hope to make the most of it, and this year a few of my friends will be coming and we will be enjoying the beaches and scenery in this beautiful country. So to all those sad case blog stalkers who wrote in telling me to get the hell out of your country and not to bring any of my ‘nigger’ or ‘chink’ friends here because you did not want them, I am sticking two fingers in your face and enjoying myself this summer. To see some of the comments go to Link.  For some reason these guys think I am American, its as if only Americans come to Albania for work.  I would like to comment more on this issue but some people cannot handle the truth and take no criticism, so there is no point really.

Have fun blogging.

Albania like the rest of Europe

I was out of the country for a while and came back just in time for the 8th of December celebrations here in Albania, which also coincided with the Muslim Eid al-Adha, also known as Bajram Kurbani in Albanian. The 8th of December is an important date for many Albanians because it marked the beginning of a student revolt/uprising against the then communist leader Ramiz Alia. It is a date that is celebrated annually to mark the beginning of the end of communism in Albania. The national TV stations were broadcasting special programmes to mark the occasion, and politicians of all parties were out and about giving speeches left right and centre as they love doing here in Albania. One thing that struck me in particular as I watched ‘Opinion’ on KlanTV as they showed videos of Qyteti Studenti (student city) with all the students gathered around in protest shouting “we want an Albania like the rest of Europe” was that generation of students was probably the last group of young Albanians that actually did something. Many of those student leaders are now in politics and some are and have been ministers. However for what ever reason I cannot see the students occupying the dorms and halls of Qyteti Studenti ever doing anything close to what was done on the 8th of December 1990. I am not even suggesting for the current students to get involved in politics or to demonstrate against the government, no, what I am implying is that the Albanian students today do not have the initiative to get involved in issues relating to them as students let alone more important issues affecting their country.

As I sat watching the archive images I saw students taking notes of what was being said, others were organising people, while now walking in Qyteti Studenti I would struggle to find one student carrying a book never-mind a bag. The intellectual class of a nation usually has its roots in the educational establishments of the country, sadly the last batch  of intellectuals to graduate from Albania’s universities were those who began the protests on the 8th of December 1990.

After Obama lets vote for Roma

While sitting in a cafe sipping the usual espresso with friends of mine talking about nothing, our attention was caught by a discussion on TV about the result of the US presidential election. We could not hear what was being said because the music was on and the TV volume was off, but it is interesting how the US election was followed here in Albania as it was in many other countries around the world. Followed not by the politicians alone but even by the people, many of whom had their own opinion of who they thought should have won and why. Many wanted McCain because of his history in supporting Kosovo and Albania’s NATO aspirations, others who were mainly opposition supporters were rooting for Obama because they thought the current government in Albania was too close to the republicans, so a change in the White house could lead to a change in Government here as well.

Back to the Cafe, where one of my friends suggested maybe it is time Albania had a Roma PM at which point the other two burst out laughing ” yes Edi Roma, ha ha ha ha”.  Once the joke was over we began thinking what it would take before we see a Roma in a leading governmental position. Policy, inclusion, education, equality, health, employment etc etc. Then we came to the conclusion that such a thought in the current climate is pure fantasy, as one of them said to me that “some Roma kids did not get the vote on the talent show ‘Ti Vlen’ how do you expect a Roma to get votes for political office?”

Back to the politicians, it was nice to see that Barak Obama received not 1 but at least 5 congratulations from Mr Topi the president hailing it a lesson in democracy, PM Berisha, Mrs Topali, Mr Rama of the PS, and G99 boy Erion who was filmed on more than one occasion wearing a Vote Obama T-shirt presumably to remind the few American Peace Corps here to vote for his favorite man Obama. So a big “well done” to the the Albanian leaders for doing something on time for a change. Now can you come and fix our damn road?????

At last!! 10 things I like about Albania

10. Size

Size does matter, and thank God Albania is small. There are many places to go and things to see in Albania and with the national road network still a work-in-progress it’s a huge advantage that many of the interesting places are not very far. Indeed once the motorways are fixed/built it will be even better. I remember when I first came to Albania, driving from Tirana to Vlora took between 3.5 to 4 hours depending on how many lorries or buses you got stuck behind. But now the journey time has been reduced significantly and there is still more work to do.

More importantly for someone who comes from a very big city, I love the fact that Tirana (as well as other cities) is so small. If you drive you can go from East to West in less than 10 minutes! This makes it very convenient when it comes to work, shopping, eating out etc etc. If you are a walker it’s not much different too, nearly everything is walking distance.

Finally if you get bored and want a change of scenery then you can just drive to one of the neighbouring countries, because it’s so near, and spend the weekend there.

These are the major pros of being in a relatively small country, you might not agree, but I like it and its getting the number 10 spot.

Money in the pocket

It seems Albania has something to celebrate, and the some of the local media were confused as to whether they should have seen this particular item of news as a positive or indeed a negative. Of course I am speaking about Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2008, and to the delight of many Albania has improved by achieving a score of 3.4 compared to 2.9 in 2007 (10 being very clean, and 0 very corrupt or dirty whichever you like). As you can see there is an improvement, but there is also a long way to go and many changes must be made and many laws must be imposed and most important of all some big heads have to roll. I personally found it very comical that PM Sali Berisha gave out his personal phone number in a televised add urging citizens to get in touch with him personally to inform him of corruption. So you can imagine what my first thoughts were when I came across an article entitled: EU grants Albania 245 million Euro in development aid.
Whose gonna get the money, I mean yes of course some of the money will go to agriculture, transport, energy etc etc, but the real question is which fat cat is gonna get fatter?

We all know in Albania there are quite a few fat cats, which brings me back to the Transparency Index. If a guy like me who has only been here for two years has this kind of impression, how many years will it take the few selected experts to change their view and thus improve Albania’s Corruption Perception index?

Tirana takes a shower

Over the weekend we got a good dose of thunder and rain, and I am not talking about a bit of lightning here and there accompanied by a rainy night. No, I am talking about lightning causing blackouts, thunder shaking the windows, and rain causing flash floods in my flat!

We had the whole drama in our flat on Saturday, which was hot and very humid, so I went to sleep with the windows open, next thing I know there is a massive bang and I can hear the rain pounding on the roof and coming in through the open window. So I got up and closed the window, went out and saw my flat mate checking to see if there are any other open windows. Once we were satisfied all windows were closed we were going to go back to sleep, or so we thought. At that point the roof began leaking in five different locations in three different rooms. Three leaks were basically water pouring from the wholes in the ceiling where the electrical light bulb cables come out from, when I say pouring I mean it was like an open tap. The other ones were just drips coming down through the plasterboard in the ceiling. This lasted more than an hour by which time half of the flat was flooded. I would just like to add that we moved into this flat 4 months ago and the building itself is no more than 3 years old (typical shoddy job in I have to say).

After the drama came the calm by which time the sun was out, I went on to the balcony to assess the damage and all around I could see people shifting water from balconies or on roofs trying to patch up damaged areas. Looking around I noticed how clean the air was, I could see buildings in the far distance that only yesterday I could not see due to the dust in the air. The Dajti looked so clean and so close, and the whole of Tirana’s skyline looked clean. All the dusty buildings had been thoroughly washed and hey stood their clean and proud showing off their bright colours.

This kind of rain occurs four or five times a year in Tirana and I usually welcome it,  in my previous flat there were no roof leaks.

The next night was kind of the same but we had the buckets ready, and I ventured out to the balcony and took a few shots and clips of the lightning, notice how in a split second night turns into day and the whole of Tirana is lit up.

These are two squences of lightning shown frame by frame:

The sky lights up

In the next one try and spot the car driving down the road

I have to tell you that standing their and filming this is quite scary.

The car drives along in the night, notice how from the first photo till the last the car has not travelled.

Darkness takes over again

Back Inside Albania

I am back after spending just over a couple of weeks in Iraq. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and things seemed to be better than what we see in the news. There were things I believe Iraq can learn from Albania and vice versa but I shall come write more about that when I have given it a bit more thought.

I was very pleased to see the Blue Eye or Syri Kaltër written about quite positively like most of Albania’s natural beauties. I have to confess that I have yet to visit the Blue eye, so if any of you have been there before please give me tips on where to go and what to do there and where is the best place to eat. All your recommendations are welcome, and hopefully you will convince me to go there very soon.

Another interesting piece of news which if true is a definite step in the right direction concerns wind generated electricity. The article states that Albania plans to become a ‘major’ wind energy producer, and aims to sell some of the energy to Italy. I like the idea, I mean dont get me wrong I am not one of these Green freaks but its clean, and Albania really doesn’t need more pollution. Its also obvious that Albania has some energy problems, and why not utilise wind to produce some clean energy as well as that nuclear power plant that they are planning to build in Vlora. Now that I am completely against, only because I cant trust them to run it safely. So wind is good guys, I just hope they deliver a wind farm instead of pocketing the money and giving us a windmill.

Finally a shout goes out to the National football team, good result against the Swedes, more of the same and you never know………………….

From Tirana to Baghdad

I just wanted to inform you that I will be going to Iraq for around 2 weeks. If I get the opportunity I will let you know how I am doing there and post some photos. They say its very hot there now but hopefully there will be electricity to power the air-cons.

So take and hopefully you will be hearing from me soon.

Albania, the new Croatia?…..maybe

The summer provides glorious sunshine and weather to Albania, and in return Albania has plenty to offer in the summer and there is good potential for the winter as well. I was pleased to come across a review on Albania the other day, and after I finished reading it I began thinking about the direction which Albania will take with regards to tourism and the impression it will leave on those visiting it. 

I began by asking myself what Albania has to offer in terms of tourism, and after giving it some thought I realised that this small country is indeed full of things to see and do.

The coast stretches from north to south and the majority of it is untouched by developers and concrete. Then you have small lakes which are dotted around everywhere, and three huge lakes one of which, Ohrid, is the oldest in Europe. Rivers are also plentiful, and if you know where to go they can be mesmerising. I mentioned these first because I love swimming in the summer, and so far with the exception of Durres I have been very impressed. 

Then there is the cultural, historical, and ancient side of Albania that I believe is not very well advertised. You find countries that have one or two Roman columns still standing and they go on and on about it in their tourist brochures. Well Albania is dotted with ancient sites, and historical castles and forts from north to south, so much so that you can produce a whole brochure just about them. 

The other thing which you can never get away from in Albania is the mountains. These can be small-medium sized mountains to proper year round snow capped alps. Some of the mountains that I have driven past are absolutely majestic, and if you ever see them at their harshest during winter you will be at awe. For climbers and winter sports enthusiasts its a paradise. 

What I have mentioned above are the areas which I believe a tourism industry can be built on. Looking at the official Albanian tourism website it is evident that they ministry sees it that way too. However, I am very worried for the future of tourism in Albania especially if things continue the way they are. For what ever reasons it seems developments get the go ahead no matter what the cost is to the surrounding scenery and environment, Durres is a prime example of this. A major problem is that these developments are taking place without the local infrastructure being present.

Tourism can boost the Albanian economy, but for it to be sustained and long term, it must be done according to a well thought plan. Currently it seems everything is done for the here and now, make a quick buck and you’re sorted. If this attitude continues for the next 5 years, tourism in Albania will be dead before it has started. This cannot be put solely in the hands of the money men and developers, the ministers in charge of these matters need to pull their fingers out and do something about it now. 

Although deep inside I sadly believe that not much will change, and some of the natural beauty will be ruined. But there is so much here that most of it will remain untouched, and if (this is a very very BIG IF) a we get a government that chooses to protect Albania-rather than exploit it-then there is nothing to stop Albania becoming the tourist hot-spot that Montenegro and Croatia have become.

So there you have it, its funny how reading something makes you want to write.

Hospitality, what hospitality?

This is a rant so to all those who might get offended or look at Albania through rose tinted glasses you have been warned.

Most visitors to Albania always comment on how hospitable and friendly the people are here, and they would be right in making that assertion based on their experiences. Well I beg to differ about these observations because I believe them to be somewhat biased.

Please don’t get me wrong I am not saying that all Albanian people are unfriendly and inhospitable, all I am saying is that it in my humble opinion Albanians are not as friendly as described by most visitors, and I will explain myself.

You see Albanians are predominantly white with a minority of Roma people who are of a darker complexion. Most foreigners who live in Albania are here for work or they are married to someone who is working here. The majority of those coming to work and live here are also white, and usually from western countries within the EU or from the US. As a result the feedback you get from visitors to Albania mainly comes from these people.

Now my question to you is, have you ever considered what it is like to be a black/brown/Asian foreigner in Albania?

I am not of white European origin but I blend in pretty well MOST of the time, but I recently had two friends from home coming to visit me for two weeks because they had seen photos of the beaches here and I told them who nice and beautiful the country is. One of my friends is black while the other is of Asian background, and let me tell you, walking in the street and going out with them was a new experience for me here in Albania. The rudeness and the utter ignorance of the people makes my blood boil, and I think what made it worse was the fact that I understand some Albanian.

When we walked the streets people just stared at us as if we were some creatures that had just landed from Mars, and when we walked into cafes or restaurants heads would turn. People would stop conversation just to look at us, and I don’t mean take a quick look, no, they gaze into our eyes until it gets very uncomfortable.

The thing that made it worse was that I understand a bit of Albanian, so I could not avoid hearing ‘zezak’, ‘majmun’ or ‘kinez’ almost everywhere we went, let alone the ‘ching chang chong’ and monkey noises some youths were saying while we walked past them in the streets.

There is one observation I made when my friends were here, and that is most of this came from the young (below 40) generation, which would rule out ignorance because this generation has seen American films, they listen to rap music, they like Thierry Henry and Beyonce. So apart from pure racism I cannot find a reason for such behaviour. The older generation on the other hand was more pleasant and just took one look at the two aliens walking with me and turned away.

I ask all ex-pats reading this, have you walked in the streets here with a non-white person? Or maybe you are not white, how do you find walking in the streets of Tirana? And if you are an Albanian reading this, please tell me if I am being harsh?

I know many of you will say ‘well things were just as bad in our countries back in the 60s, 70’s or 80’s (some are till this day), I would agree, but we were not being described as hospitable and friendly, we were rightly being called Right-wing, racists, and xenophobic.

So there you have it, next time when I hear an American/British/French/German/Scandinavian white person tell me that Albanians are friendly and hospitable, my response would be: ‘of course they are, you are the right colour, just thank God you are white’.

By the way, my friends liked Albania, but they will not come back here soon.

Note from Author 07/09/2008

I strongly recommend you read the comment posted by Mina, I am very interested to know your views especially if you are Albanian.