Love it!

This is a fantastic story - I think we could all use a cup of coffee

Meet Saimir Strati, an Albanian artist who recently entered the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the world's largest coffee bean mosaic.

"I wanted to give the message that sharing love over a cup of coffee brings us closer, a cup of coffee brings us more love than a G20 meeting," Saimiri stated.

He used 309 pounds of coffee beans to portray a Brazilian dancer, a Japanese drummer, a U.S. country music singer, a European accordionist and an African drummer. And he used one of my favorite brands of coffee Lori Kafe (I just love their commercials) to make the mosaic. The message he says: "One world, one family, over a cup of coffee."




**Credit for the photos to Reuters, Arben Celi**

Today...

I have discovered three things:

1. I officially like blogger more than wordpress
2. If you spend more than 2.5 hours trying to figure out a blog on wordpress and then learn how to do something easier on blogger, you really feel like you just wasted a lot of time
3. I never should have tried to abandon my original blog, so here I am, back in action because some blogging about Albania is long overdue


Though I'm still in the U.S. right now, I'm working on my dissertation proposal (about post-communism in Albania) and feel that I should start blogging again. This will be a first time to blog while away from the 'bania but I think I'll be able to share things here and there. Besides I think this form of writing will be helpful when organizing my thoughts for my proposal and comprehensive exams. So here it goes.

so where is he?

After Enver Hoxha, the former communist dictator of Albania, died in 1985, he was buried in a special cemetery "at the foot of mother Albania." The country was still under the communist regime and as a result, he received a very elaborate burial and memorial to his death. Well some years after the fall of communism, his body was exhumed and he was buried somewhere else. A couple of days ago, Teuta asked me if I knew where he was and after realizing that neither of us knew, we decided to go out on an adventure to find him. And so we did. And where is he? In Sharre, a small village right outside of Tirana with one of the biggest cemeteries I've seen in my life. And where was he inside the cemetery? Right with everyone else buried there, nothing elaborate at all. We found his grave and it had plastic flowers on top and around it. So there must be people that still mourn his death - this has added yet another shiny ball for me to probe.

So yep, I was kinda surprised but then again maybe people have decided that there's no need for a special burial for Enver Hoxha at all. Maybe some have thought that other things should have been done with his body. Teuta and I have both decided that we need to find out more.






**Of course this adventure of trying to find the former dictator's body included way more details than I'm writing here, including climbing hills through the cemetery, finding bunkers, and a crazy experience on a bus that concluded with a man sliding 5 meters on the sidewalk on his stomach. But due to the fact that some family members read this blog and would probably be REALLY concerned if I revealed the true details of this mission, I've decided to omit them. You can email me if you really wanna know!

Albanian expressions and sayings

This summer I informed my teacher that I wanted to learn more about Albanian expressions and proverbs. A few days later she arrived to our lesson with a list of expressions and then after that, she just started teaching me all kinds of things, stuff people say to congratulate on honors, or old expressions from her grandmother, Albanian proverbs, you name it. I've really enjoyed learning these all summer and in fact, whenever I'm with a group of Albanians they all get a kick outta me saying these things. This however can be bad at times when I'm with a family and they want me to keep saying things over and over again, almost puppet-like (the following are literal translations by the way, I'll explain) :

Albanian family: Chelsi, Chelsi what have you learned in your lessons?
Me: Oh we've been studying grammar, I've been reading the newspaper, and oh, Albanian expressions
Albanian family (very excitedly): Oh oh, tell us what you've learned
Me: Ummm, okay, "Don't fly with leeks up your but"
Albanian family: (laughing hysterically) ahhh hahahahaha, another one another
Me: Don't put off today's work until tomorrow because you can do it even the day after tomorrow
Albanian family: wooo hoo, woww, another, another
Me: I don't eat soap for cheese.
Albanian family: ahhhhh hahha, where do you get these? Another, another
Me: Do you think you're special, you make red eggs or something?
Albanian family: hahahaha

And this game can go on for hours. Now the thing is, as I said I really do enjoy learning expressions, sayings, etc, so now I'm writing below some of my other favorites, with the Albanian and English together.


- "Mos bie nga Kina" which means, "don't come from China." The meaning is somehow tied to, don't go all the way around the world when trying to explain something - in other words, be direct.

- "Kali kuqe ka nje huqe" which means, "even the red horse has it's flaw." The meaning is that even the pretty girl, nice girl has at least one flaw. One of the women from my language school has instructed me to say this to my Albanian female friends that smoke

- "Mos shit pordhe" which means, "don't sale farts" - you can say this to someone who is being a know-it-all or someone who thinks that he or she is all that

- Albanians love it when I say, "Per mua, shqipja eshte buke e djath" which means, for me, "Albanian language is like bread and cheese." English speakers would say, "like bread and butter." This is a big lie, but people laugh when I say it.

- "Te bashkohet toke me qiellen, ti nuk do te paguash per kafe!" I often have to say this to my friends when I'm trying to pay for coffee and put my foot down, the meaning is, "Even if the earth and sky were to meet, you cannot pay for this coffee!" Yep, paying for coffee can get this dramatic.

- "Djali pa vellai eshte si zog pa krah" which means, "A boy without a brother is like a bird without a wing." This is just a saying that I find intriguing

- "Bej syte kater" which means, "Make four eyes." My teacher likes to tell this to me, it means, be careful! I think we in the States would talk about eyes in the back of our head but here, it's just better to make four eyes

back but soon heading out

Hey y'all, took a break for a while. Did some traveling, some chilling out and been having those last few coffees before heading out on Monday, at which point I'm back in the States. The summer's gone by really fast and I can't say that I'm exactly ready to begin classes again in the fall, but I can say that I'm excited about getting back to Austin and eating queso.
Anyhow, I've decided to post a few things since I've been gone for a while - these are just some things that I've been thinking about, starting with hugs. In my experience Albanians do not really hug people as much as they kiss them. Kissing here is very important, and you must know who you're supposed to greet with a kiss (versus a handshake), when it's time to give a 2-cheek kiss, versus a 4-cheek kiss, or even a 3-cheek kiss if you're in Kosovë (warning, could be confusing if you're expected the 4th and the other person isn't!). There have even been times when I watched someone kiss another person 8 or so times on the side of the road as we waited for her to board the furgon. I thought that since they kissed 8 times she must be headed out for a long long journey but I learned that she was just going away for the week! One time a woman that I didn't know just came up to me in the rruge, greeted me with a good morning, and kissed me twice as though we had been old friends - that was just her way of saying hi.
Anyhow, I digress, the point is you must learn the rules of kissing once you arrive. Well I've always thought that Americans, well let me say Mississippians, are really big on hugs. Handshakes too, but hugs, I mean we give long, solid hugs but rarely outside of family members do people exchange kisses. Going back to Albanians, some people hug when they give kisses but for the most part, hugs are not as important - that is until you run across those few people who like to give the kind of embrace that puts you in a choke hold. I wrote all of that just to share this picture below - just trust me, this man had a grip!

the rruge

nope that's not a pet dog...it's a bear - yep this was in the rruge, not too much more i can say

In the Rruge

Rruge or Rruga is the Albanian word for road and lately I've been putting a lot of Albanian and English together (or shqiplish as we refer to it) and one of my favorite things to say is, "oh yeah it happened in the rruge." Well I've decided to dedicate this post to things that happen "in the rruge"

In the rruge I oftentimes get hungry and one of my favorite things to eat is a doner. The original doner is a Turkish sandwich made with lamb meat and comes with things like tomatoes, cucumbers and yogurt sauce. Albanians have kind of remixed the doner and even add french fries to it. I personally like the chicken doner. And the best chicken doner of course is at Mr. Chicken. One day though I went by another place that is right across the street from Mr. Chicken to order a doner and ever since the two places are in somewhat of a war over me, as to where I'm supposed to eat. Mr. Chicken does in fact have good chicken but the owner of Gjiro Kamara now lives in Boston and ever since he found out that I too was an American, he says I need to eat at his restaurant out of respect. Everyone there wants to speak English with me though, whereas at Mr. Chicken I can practice my Albanian - oh decisions, decisions...




One day in the rruge I noticed a building that looked as if it had recently caught on fire. Further inquiry confirmed that there had indeed been a fire but my question is (and has been for quite some time), where is the fire station here in Tirana??? I've been looking now for a while



The city is now doing construction in the city center at Skanderbeg Square. Those of you who followed my blog last year know that this was my favorite place to write, I could spend 3 or 4 hours just writing on the steps near the opera house. Well now when I walk by I just get upset about this particular rruge because I haven't found a new place to write that gives me the same feeling. I hope they hurry up with this "rruge improvement"



About a month ago in the rruge I noticed that Tirana has gotten new city buses, whoop whoop. They have air conditioning and digital writing on the front. Someone told me that they are from China but I have yet to confirm this. Check 'em out:



Albanians are always very concerned if someone is upset or tired, in fact I could write all day about how people are worried that I might be worried, sad or take part in an activity that would tire me out. One way of greeting people is to ask, "you tired?" Anyhow, one thing that does concern people is if you carry items in your hand without a bag, in particular without a plastic bag. So one night some friends and I were headed to a party and I was wearing flip flops while carrying my heals in my hand. And would you know a man from one of the cafes in the rruge stopped me, took my shoes, put them in a plastic bag and then gave them back to me.



One night while walking in the rruge we came across former communist statues that were hidden behind the art gallery, and would you know it but there was a statue of Stalin just kind of hanging out in the rruge. Of course I got a picture.



Cows also like to chill in the rruge



Whenever it's nighttime and I'm in the rruge alone, I never look for cafes, familiar people, or even for an open store. In fact there's only one place I look for and that's the funeral home. I know, sounds weird right? Well in fact in Albania, and in particular in Tirana, there are many funeral offices and they are always, repeat always, open 24 hrs a day. There is always someone inside and on the Lana Road, one of the main roads in Tirana, I have already memorized where each funeral shop is located, because if I ever have a problem in the rruge and there aren't many people around, I can always count on the fact that I can find someone here





Stay tuned for more from the rruge...this might become the new name of my blog, "in the rruge" because now that I think about it, this is where a lot of my research takes place