The Generosity of the Albanian People

Since being here in Albania, my family and I have been met with countless acts of kindness and generosity, one after another. We took a taxi from the airport to our apartment—the taxi driver took money off our fare when we got to the apartment and made sure we didn't forget our daughter's sock that had fallen off!

We go to the same bakery every few days to get bread (which is delicious)—and as an aside, mass produced store bought bread that's prepackaged, etc., isn't really a thing here; you buy fresh bread from a local bakery and it tastes great. This will be one of the many things I will undoubtedly miss about Albania. Anyway, the baker frequently gives us an extra pastry for free for our daughter to munch on. 

Other instances of kindness include: people here on buses often stand up and let my wife sit down; breathless, they run out to us after leaving a place, and hand us something we forgot or remind us of something. 

The people of Albania are a kindhearted people and they are extremely receptive to new people; this has been one of many things that has made my family and I's stay here very enjoyable. They are willing to go to lengths to help you, like writing down the prices of things for you or always printing out receipts when you're buying something!

A New Intern; His Perspective on Albanian Food

Since arriving in Albania, I've encountered different food, I've struggled with the language barrier, and I've had to adjust to life in a larger city — but one thing I've not really had to deal with is culture shock. Life here in Albania is not so different from life elsewhere. People always ask me what the weirdest thing here is, ask me how foreign it is here — I always struggle with answering that question or giving them a response that would intrigue. I always settle with the response: "It's not that different in Albania; it's not that strange."

However, that's not to say there aren't differences between Albanian and, say, American culture. Of course there are. We live in a dynamic world with dynamic people after all and Albania and its culture is no exception. But the differences are not instrumentally huge. This first blog post will more or less consist of a list of things that have to do with food!

The restaurants here are amazing and really convenient. A lot of them have outdoor seating too, so it makes it quite simple to just pause while you're walk, decide you're hungry, and plop yourself down. There's usually someone watching the outside seating, so a server comes to you and gives you a menu fairly quickly. A common thing that people eat at these more casual restaurants is something called "qofte" (pronounced chofta), which are these nicely sized sausages, along with fries and a few other things. You can order a really good sized meal for two people for less than 10 dollars many times, making it actually cheaper a lot of the time to dine out! A dream come true!

Many of these restaurants have at least one person who speaks fairly good English, so ordering food has never been too much of a hassle. The times where they don't have someone who speaks English, we just shoot from the hip and point at a few things on the menu and hope they taste good! We haven't been disappointed yet with the food, even when we're not sure what we're ordering.

The baked goods in Tirana, Albania, are to die for! Truly, they're delicious. There's bakeries everywhere you go in Tirana and everywhere there's the smell coming from them. There's cakes, donuts, scones filled with every filling imaginable, and a lot more. In addition to the baked good being tasty, they're also inexplicably cheap, making them an affordable thing to snack on from time to time.

Lastly, there's these tiny markets that are no bigger than a smaller bedroom — they're just as, if not more, numerous as the bakeries. These are the places you should go to get your everyday groceries. Unlike in the U.S., these smaller places are cheaper and more convenient than the huge supermarkets. It's the opposite in Albanian, really, with the supermarkets being the more expensive out of the pairing. Although the markets do accept credit and debit cards, which is something the tinier markets do not do. 

Albania has been a fantastic experience thus far, with the amazing food being only a part of it! I'll continue this blog focusing on other parts of this great place, its culture, and any other aspect of this country I can think of. Thanks.

Youth Promote Albanian Culture

We have had the opportunity to do some traveling this past week and experience the culture even more. There were a few things that really stuck out. First, we saw people joining together doing their traditional dances. Now that might seem normal for some and maybe not even special, however,  what made this special was the fact that those dancing were all between the ages of 18 to 24. We were amazed to see the younger generation get together and outwardly show their appreciation for their culture. What made this even more memorable was that before the traditional dancing started there was modern music playing in an attempt to get everyone dancing and having a good time. However, it wasn’t until the traditional Albanian music started when everyone got up and started dancing.

If someone were to start playing traditional music back home we wouldn’t know what to do. Most would probably just wait to see what everyone else did, and odds are no one would know how to do the traditional dance. Even if there was one person that knew how to do the dance I doubt they would start dancing because it wouldn’t be the “cool” thing to do. It is sad to see parts of one’s culture die off; however, it is unlikely that the Albanians will ever let their culture die off. That is proven in the way the youth promote their own culture. 

Quality Food and Service in Tirane

In our time living in Tirane, we've had the wonderful opportunity to visit numerous restaurants, bakeries, and markets, each of which sport a wide range of freshly prepared, and very affordable, food. One universal feature here is the fact that no matter where you go to get food, you will always be treated with kindness and very efficient service.  Even at fast food restaurants, your food will be served to you directly by a waiter who will go out of his way to make sure you are treated properly. 

The food itself is some of  the finest we've ever had. There is a wide array of food types to choose from. Anything ranging from Italian to Arabic can be found in copious amounts throughout the city (there are even a few Mexican restaurants near the U.S. Embassy). No matter where you go, the food you order will almost always be prepared from materials fresh from the local markets.   

In the time we've spent out and about, neither of us have yet to go to a restaurant that has had poor food or service. We have always been treated with extreme kindness by the locals, and the language barrier has hardly been an issue. It's been very surprising for us to have such high quality food  so widely available and for very affordable prices. In the U.S., the same quality of food would cost a great deal more and would certainly not be as fresh nor as widely available as it is here in Tirane. We're definitely going to miss it when we return home. 

Act of Kindness

These past few weeks we have been able to go around getting to know the area. We don't take any buses or taxis because we enjoy walking outside here. Spring has begun and all of the trees and flowers are blossoming as everything starts to get greener. Looking up at the mountains that surround Tirana allow us not to feel overwhelmed in a city, but rather comfortable and relaxed. Not only is it absolutely beautiful here this time of the year, the people are very kind and easygoing. Just last week we went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants and as we were about to leave the owner comes over to us and expresses his gratitude for our business and then goes on to say that the check was on the house. Personally, no one has ever done that for me, I was shocked and very grateful at the same time. We will definitely be returning to give them more business, not to mention their food is amazing. 

Shkodra and Rozafat Castle

Shkodra is a large city in northern Albania. It is a strategic economically important city having easy access to the Adriatic Sea. Various writers and poets like Pashko Vasa originate from this city. The city and region is known for its cultural and musical aspects. On my visit to this city I climbed up to the Rozafat Castle.

Rozafat Castle is rooted in legend and folklore. The story is that three brothers were trying to build a castle but with every effort the walls would fall and they had no success. An old man approaches them and tells them in order to successfully build the castle they must burry alive one of their wives within the castle walls or it will never be constructed. Upon hearing this the men are grieved because they do not wish that they should lose their wives. Two of the brothers told their wives of the plan so that they would not suffer the horrible fate. The youngest brother on the other hand did not tell his wife.

The next day the wives of the older brothers did not bring them lunch as to avoid the fate. The youngest wife willingly went to provide the men their food. Upon arriving the youngest son, seeing his wife screamed in agony for he knew her fate. The other brothers explained that she would be built into the walls of the castle. She bravely said, "I have only one request, leave the right side of my body outside the wall. With my right eye I will watch over my son, with my right breast I will nurse him, with my right arm I will care for him, and my right leg will rock him."

And so she was walled in. Today it is believed that the castle walls are damp with her tears. Throughout the castle there is white residue believed to be her breast milk flowing throughout the castle walls.

Albania is rich in folklore and stories of brave men and women who always put either their family or their people first.

 

It is said that in some regions of the Balkans there was a tradition that human sacrifices were required in order to construct great buildings. There are stories of bridges also with people built into them. Perhaps the Rozafat Castle is an expression of such traditions.

Story source: 

Robert Elsie

http://www.albanianliterature.net/oral_lit3/OL3-06.html

Albanian Ethnicity

To be Albanian does not necessarily mean belonging to the nation-state of Albania. It is very much an ethnicity; a nation within many states. Albanians are descendants from an Illyrian tribe that is believed to have arrived to the Illyrian Peninsula even before the Greeks. The Region of Albania has been inhabited by the Albanians throughout the Greek, Roman, and Ottoman Empires. The region of Albania, Kosovo, part of Greece, part of Macedonia, and part of Montenegro were all claimed to be part of Albania. in 1912 however the current borders were decided with its independence. Today there are many Albanians who live in these other countries but declare themselves Albanian. There are other Albanian diasporas in various countries around Europe, Egypt, and the U.S. 

Throughout History Albanians have always resisted the rule of any Empire; but in time the Byzantines would conquer the region bringing Orthodox Christianity with them. Later Catholicism would enter in the region. Then the Ottomans came and filled the region with Islam.  Soon the region would lack unity and struggle with its identity between conflicting religion, culture, and ethnicities. The communist regime in the 20th century would prove to unify Albania under one national identity.

Albania and ethnic Albanians today are extremely proud of their identity and ethnicity. When the Albanian national soccer team plays ethnic Albanians everywhere outside of the country will be seen cheering and roaring for their team. Just the other day I had the opportunity to witness some sport/patriotic spirit. After the game with Albania against Armenia with an Albanian win I heard the chants,

 "ALBANIAN ETHNICITY!"