When you do not expect much...
...the feel good reaction is much sweeter. Even if it is not exactly what you had in mind. I elaborate.
When I learnt that I was coming to Tirana I started reading all kind of true and false stories posted in the internet. Today, after a year and a half here, I would say that most of what I read back then was false.
This is a huge problem in Albania: its bad reputation and the lack of information about this country beyond its borders. Gangs, trafficking, drugs, blood feuds, bad infrastructure, corruption, underdevelopment, crime...you name it.
I am not going to say that none of this is true...but there are few articles giving credit to positive economic/political developments.
I just read a paper on Corruption and Organized Crime in Albania, from the IUE in Florence, written by an Italian that a)uses sources from 2002 and b)shows her ignorance on this country. Not to offend anybody, but as we Spaniards have many cliches on Latino America...Italians are extremely unfair with Albania. I know,I know, all generalizations are bad, each individual is different...but I believe there must be some truth at the macrolevel. This from a person fond of anything Italian, but I don't see much different between Albania and some parts of Southern Italy.
Allright, declared my antagonism toward Italian superiority feelings and simplistic papers...I would to explain how this country have taught me to appreciate things that I did not expect to have here. I have learnt to like a public not-really-clean swimming pool (Aquadrom) crowded with 14-year old screamy boys and too-fastly-grown up girls and a tennis court by the lake run by sticky Laci (any guide on Albania would tell you that there are no swimming pools or tennis courts in this country), half-a-kilo yoghurt containers (difficult to find Danones),tailors, dry-cleaners, shoe-repair services...terrific restaurants and wonderful Southern beaches where you'll eat fish as fresh as it can be...everything seems possible in Tirana (not always in Albania)
And this, those who critize Albania from what you read in stupid papers, you should appreciate it!
This blog makes no sense and I do not even understand my sudden anti-Italian rage. It might be the paper from IUE...it might be that I put 3 non-noticeable kilos on since I eat so much pasta...
Conclusion: all cliches are true. Don't people say that we Spaniards are passionate and impulsive? Well, here you have the proof confirming the cliche!!
Ciao caros. Buona notte.
When I learnt that I was coming to Tirana I started reading all kind of true and false stories posted in the internet. Today, after a year and a half here, I would say that most of what I read back then was false.
This is a huge problem in Albania: its bad reputation and the lack of information about this country beyond its borders. Gangs, trafficking, drugs, blood feuds, bad infrastructure, corruption, underdevelopment, crime...you name it.
I am not going to say that none of this is true...but there are few articles giving credit to positive economic/political developments.
I just read a paper on Corruption and Organized Crime in Albania, from the IUE in Florence, written by an Italian that a)uses sources from 2002 and b)shows her ignorance on this country. Not to offend anybody, but as we Spaniards have many cliches on Latino America...Italians are extremely unfair with Albania. I know,I know, all generalizations are bad, each individual is different...but I believe there must be some truth at the macrolevel. This from a person fond of anything Italian, but I don't see much different between Albania and some parts of Southern Italy.
Allright, declared my antagonism toward Italian superiority feelings and simplistic papers...I would to explain how this country have taught me to appreciate things that I did not expect to have here. I have learnt to like a public not-really-clean swimming pool (Aquadrom) crowded with 14-year old screamy boys and too-fastly-grown up girls and a tennis court by the lake run by sticky Laci (any guide on Albania would tell you that there are no swimming pools or tennis courts in this country), half-a-kilo yoghurt containers (difficult to find Danones),tailors, dry-cleaners, shoe-repair services...terrific restaurants and wonderful Southern beaches where you'll eat fish as fresh as it can be...everything seems possible in Tirana (not always in Albania)
And this, those who critize Albania from what you read in stupid papers, you should appreciate it!
This blog makes no sense and I do not even understand my sudden anti-Italian rage. It might be the paper from IUE...it might be that I put 3 non-noticeable kilos on since I eat so much pasta...
Conclusion: all cliches are true. Don't people say that we Spaniards are passionate and impulsive? Well, here you have the proof confirming the cliche!!
Ciao caros. Buona notte.
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