Observation of life in Albania

Observations of Albania

After spending a few weeks here these are some of the things we see that describe what life is like in Albania. Daily life for many (especially the men) seems to be spending a lot of time in one of the numerous sidewalk cafes sitting and talking while drinking coffee. One popular past times of the older men is to gather in a local park to play dominos or chess. Groups of people stand around watching the action. In the evenings it is a time when people like to stroll in their neighborhoods talking and visiting with neighbors and watching the girls go by! People (both men and women) walk down the street arm in arm. Each neighborhood has small shops for groceries, fruit and vegetable markets, ice cream, barbers, hairdressers and other small shops. So most people can get the things they need very close to home. Most apartments have clotheslines outside a window or balcony to hang out their laundry. Many of the apartment buildings are rather plain five story buildings built during the communist era. To change them from their drab appearance a large number of them have been painted bright colors and designs. It does brighten up the neighborhoods. Bright flowers often sit on the windowsills. Sometimes when we hear what sounds like someone doing construction in the neighborhood it is really someone beating their carpet with an old fashioned carpet beater while it is hanging over a railing. Shopkeepers are always mopping the sidewalks in front of their shops or watering down the road or sidewalk to keep down the dust. They close their stores each day between 1:30 until 4:30 ( nap time)but reopen in the evenings. Little local grocery shops are open early and keep very long hours staying open until late at night. In contrast here in the city there are a few very modern shopping centers that surprise us complete with food courts. Anyone for AFC (fried chicken)? They have numerous clothing stores and shoe stores that we find it hard to believe many people can afford to shop in. There are other sharp contrasts where old meets new. When driving along the major roads we see very modern cars and passing someone perched on top a large pile of hay or straw in a wagon drawn by a rather forlorn looking horse with an old fashioned horse collar. Driving is crazy and many love to double park on narrow streets causing traffic problems. Cutting off other drivers at intersections is very common. Hot summer weather is beginning and many women use Chinese umbrellas to keep off the hot sun. It has been over +31 C a few days last week. All in all it is an interesting and enjoyable place to be.