Feeling at home when it is not home...
I love Albania. I feel great here. I wake up full of energy, the sunlight, the noise in the street from people drinking coffees non-stop. Indeed, sometimes they are drinking 'raki' at 8.00 am, the regional high-voltage spirit.
My walk from home to the office is just 5 minutes, enough to find stories to write about. Good and bad ones. Like the sweaty guy that passed by me and had the wonderful idea of splashing me with the sweat from his face...mmmm...nyamie..or the bunch of 15-year old 'ragazzi' that say something in Albanian (I hope a compliment) and make me feel like the hottest chick in town, which, believe me, I am NOT.
I could describe to you how women are over here; most of my single male friends will feel like visiting me during the following summer months ('summer' meaning 'less-clothes-than-usual' in Albania). Women are...how can I put this...hot, sexy...slim (this really pisses me off, because they eat 'byrek', the local sort of greasy cheesy pizza, and drink 'dal'...which is nothing but whole-fat yoghurt with water and salt...and I DO NOT)
"Te pido que todos los dias sean de sol, te pido que todo los viernes sean de fiesta" says Shakira. "Yo se que no he sido un santo, pero lo puedo arreglar", says Alejandro Sanz. Which song? My summer song, 'La Tortura'. Listen to it and feel like summer! Albanians are also very musical, being the Latino/Reggaeton/Rubbish music the last sensation. Their reaction when I say that I come from Spain it is quite sincere, artless...first, a huge smile from ear to ear and then a 'xum mir' (which means something close to 'awesome, great'). Tambien se oye la musica basura de 'Los Canyos', 'Enrique Iglesias' (que en absoluto es basura)...etc. No hay nada que pueda acabar con la fiesta en Tirana. Yo no soy parte de ello pero lo veo, lo oigo, observo.
En fin, this is a place to observe and to be observed.
"Te pido que todos los dias sean de sol"..."ay amor, fue una tortura, perderte", "solo de errores se aprende"...y a quien no le gusta, que no la escuche.
En fin, feeling like home without being my home. I guess what I am missing is mama and let's not forget that in exactly 1 month I will turn 27. Oh boy, I am getting old. Where are my childhood summers with no worries, no work, playing with my cousins in the pueblo, having 4 meriendas (one in each of my aunties' houses)?
My walk from home to the office is just 5 minutes, enough to find stories to write about. Good and bad ones. Like the sweaty guy that passed by me and had the wonderful idea of splashing me with the sweat from his face...mmmm...nyamie..or the bunch of 15-year old 'ragazzi' that say something in Albanian (I hope a compliment) and make me feel like the hottest chick in town, which, believe me, I am NOT.
I could describe to you how women are over here; most of my single male friends will feel like visiting me during the following summer months ('summer' meaning 'less-clothes-than-usual' in Albania). Women are...how can I put this...hot, sexy...slim (this really pisses me off, because they eat 'byrek', the local sort of greasy cheesy pizza, and drink 'dal'...which is nothing but whole-fat yoghurt with water and salt...and I DO NOT)
"Te pido que todos los dias sean de sol, te pido que todo los viernes sean de fiesta" says Shakira. "Yo se que no he sido un santo, pero lo puedo arreglar", says Alejandro Sanz. Which song? My summer song, 'La Tortura'. Listen to it and feel like summer! Albanians are also very musical, being the Latino/Reggaeton/Rubbish music the last sensation. Their reaction when I say that I come from Spain it is quite sincere, artless...first, a huge smile from ear to ear and then a 'xum mir' (which means something close to 'awesome, great'). Tambien se oye la musica basura de 'Los Canyos', 'Enrique Iglesias' (que en absoluto es basura)...etc. No hay nada que pueda acabar con la fiesta en Tirana. Yo no soy parte de ello pero lo veo, lo oigo, observo.
En fin, this is a place to observe and to be observed.
"Te pido que todos los dias sean de sol"..."ay amor, fue una tortura, perderte", "solo de errores se aprende"...y a quien no le gusta, que no la escuche.
En fin, feeling like home without being my home. I guess what I am missing is mama and let's not forget that in exactly 1 month I will turn 27. Oh boy, I am getting old. Where are my childhood summers with no worries, no work, playing with my cousins in the pueblo, having 4 meriendas (one in each of my aunties' houses)?
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