Tirana evening

My friends the Spieckers are gone in Greece for a couple of weeks on a camping trip, and although I’ve moved to a different apartment, they have given me free run of their place (just three blocks away), for which I’m very thankful!  The temps have been nearly 100 all week, and humid – and in my new little apartment, where there is no A/C, well, it’s just hot.  It’s a simple, very clean and well-kept place, on the third floor of a building that’s located on a busy street.  Some have asked for pictures of my new place, so I’ll include some here, but I should also (next time) take some pics of the view from my apartment.  Lots of hustle and bustle and activity.

Right now, though, I’m sitting on the balcony on the 8^th floor of the Spieckers’ building; the balcony itself wraps around three sides of the building and affords a wonderful view of the city.  I’m watching the hazy, orange sunset with distant mountains on one side, the closer Dajti Mountain on the other; colorful high-rise apartment buildings and smaller red-tile roofed multiple-family houses all around.  A nearby Catholic church has a white, lit-up cross on its roof; its glow against the darkening sky is comforting to me.  A peaceful Mediterranean evening with the distant sounds of traffic, occasional honks and tire squeals down below.  Things will pick up later – Rruga Qemal Stafa, adjacent to the building, is a “main drag” for drag racing, teenaged motorcyclists that seem to wake up around 10:00 p.m.  Cafés remain open until late – before I went to bed last night around 11:00, I peered down from my lofty perch and could observe people, old and young, out and about; small groups of women or men sitting in doorways, drinking coffee and smoking at cafes; adolescent boys hanging around… snatches of conversation and bursts of laughter float up through the night air… the people of Tirana coming to life in the coolness of the night.

Enough of reflection – I need to catch you up on the past week!  First, though, I want to show you some pictures – these ones are of a door/window at the Spieckers’. It’s a style that I also saw at the hotel in Greece, so it must be common all over in Southern Europe. 

The window can open as a door, and it can open at an angle just for ventilation.  Lastly, all windows have these heavy blinds that can be pulled down all the way or just part-way.  They are great at blocking the sun while still allowing some flow of air through tiny holes in between the slats.  I just love these windows.

Next, you’ll see some pics of my new place (I got some requests to see pictures of it).  It is an older apartment building (unlike the Spieckers’, which was built just six years ago).  It feels very Russian in some ways.  It’s a two-bedroom and has a living room as well. 

 

The kitchen is narrow; the front entry area is the only place where the washing machine can fit.  The bathroom doesn’t have a traditional shower (or tub); you’ll notice a shower head hanging over the sink, and a drain at the foot of the toilet; you just take a shower standing right in the middle of the bathroom floor and then use a squeegee to help the water find its way to the drain afterwards.  You’ll also notice a tan-colored pipe on the floor in the lower right part of the picture; this pipe extends from the washing machine and when you’re doing laundry, you just put the pipe in the toilet for the washing machine water to drain.  It’s all quite functional!

As I’m typing, some fireworks are going off in the distance!  I have been told that Albanians love fireworks and they often go off in Tirana.  New Year’s is the big fireworks time, and the whole month of December preceding the new year, fireworks go off here and there all the time.  Since I’ve been here, I’ve seen small displays several times – tonight they were some big “chrysanthemum” type bursts in red & white… I wonder if it was because today is Bastille Day, the French independence day…?