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
Hey Chelsi ~ This blog was particularly good! I laughed alot.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are having an awesome summer!
Amy
i always spot the meat shops , furniture shops and car wash...planty of them on sides of rruge :) oh so funny and good posts ...love the blog
ReplyDelete