February 1994
Pete Evans
Albania-First Impressions
Tirana had been on my list of places I would have to go, for a long time. But for one reason or another it never happened last year. The bank has had a representative, an Italian named Antonio, in Tirana for just under a year now. He has been living, with his wife and two young daughters, in one of Tirana's two dilapidated hotels. The office has been another hotel room in which Antonio and three local staff have managed to work. His situation had been in the back of my mind for sometime as he, unlike other offices in better conditions, had never complained about the lack of IT facilities. There is still no fixed date for the renovation of the villa which is to be the Bank's offices and Antonio's home, so I decided to get some IT kit out there and make his life a little easier. I shipped four systems and email bits, directly from London. It arrived safely and this trip was to get it all going.
As I am now living in Prague the trip was easy enough; there is a direct flight from Vienna. I flew on Tuesday on the morning 0935 to Vienna then the 1205 to Tirana. Time spent in Vienna looking at duty free stuff I am too tight-fisted to buy.
In the air again, off to a destination I have never visited before, the feeling of excitement returns. A feeling I never seem able to capture and savour later, clearing the mind like a tonic, leaving me very glad to be alive and where I am today.
Approaching Tirana from the NW, avoiding the warring countries of former Yugoslavia to the north, revealed a dramatic mountain range, snow capped and stark, under a stunningly clear blue sky. The terrain dotted with lakes and remote mountain villages, I day dreamed of cross country skiing and summer bike trips. As we got close to the city the mountains fell away to an agricultural plateau and the plane began a steep descent. Watching the unfamiliar landscape zoom-in below I re-called my scant knowledge of this intriguing country.
Albania once a part of the ottoman empire, ruled by feudal kings, was in fact the last area in Europe to be populated by tribal peoples. The last King, King Zog, ruled until the first two or three decades of this century. My memory of the details are vague but first Albania became a Stalinist communist country, then an independent communist state. Later they joined forces with the Chinese communists. The Chinese regarding Albania as their foot in Europe, ploughed a great deal of money into the country before they were also rejected. Albania has been away from the financial support of the communist state a lot longer than other Eastern bloc countries and the collapse of basic economic, transport and political infrastructure is more advanced than most.
Surprisingly, even under communist control, the government allowed Italian TV to be viewed by Albanians, therefore the people seem to have grown to emulate their neighbour, looking to them as a role model - a tantalising taste of capitalism. Italian is widely spoken and trade between the two has existed for a long time.
The native tongue is unique in origin, neither Slavic or Latin based, the name of the language escapes me. The alphabet is the same as English with the addition of an extra "e" with a couple dots over it.
My plane circled low and I could see hundreds of the pillbox fortifications of which there are some 70,000 all over the country. We thundered down the battered runway and rumbled to a stop beside the decaying control tower and tiny terminal building. I grabbed my luggage - hand luggage only thank you, and walked to the terminal. It was warm and sunny, about 12 degrees I would guess, customs was easy although a $5 fee was requested with no offer of a receipt. I paid without complaint. Out side I was mobbed by swarms of swarthy cab drivers all wanting to be my friend and take me to the city. I joined another chap from the World Bank and looked for my contact who had offered to meet me and another EBRD chap who I didn't know but was on the same flight from Vienna. I spotted him before long and we piled into a Merc with the World Bank guy in tow, and headed for town. The Albanian was Donald, a young chap who is an assistant to Antonio. I liked him immediately and decided that this office would be fun to get going as the people looked to be keen, bright and interested.
The drive into town was fast and involved a lot of dodgy overtaking and hooting of horns. Yes, its that kind of country. The city is a teeming mass of people. People on the pavement, people on the road, people everywhere. Un-employment at about 50%, a lot of time for socialising. I was amazed at the number of bicycles on the streets, the old sit-up-and-beg, Raleigh type with solid rod brakes. Proudly decorated with tassels, little gadgets and fixtures on the handlebars. The next thing that amazed me was the abundance of expensive cars, not the usual abundance of Eastern European Skodas, Ladas and Trabants, but big Mercs, Alfas, BMWs and even a few Porsches - some battered by the rough roads, held together with bits of string and abling wire - highly suspect. The country is chock full of stolen cars from all over Europe and Interpol have been snooping around here trying to get the authorities to get the problem under control.
Our office is to be in a villa close to the centre of town, previously used by the Italian government but since fallen into a terrible state of repair. The four staff had moved from the hotel and were camped in one room. A big pile of computer kit greeted me from one corner. Antonio seemed a pleasant chap and the two ladies in the office were very friendly and spoke good English.
I spent the remainder of the day getting everything un-packed and set out. With the help of Donald, the young Albanian, Iris the younger of the two women watched with great interest. They were very keen to get their hands on the new kit, having managed with one laptop between four, for about a year. Later Donald took me to the flat they had got for my stay. There are only two usable hotels, as I said, and one of them is in the process of being renovated, thus closed. Accommodation is scarce and private flats are rented out to foreigners, earning more than most jobs could. I paid $30, considering a civil servant earns about $35 per ,month that is good money for these people.
The flat was spartan but clean, the owner showed me around, with Donald to translate. I then offered Donald a beer and some dinner as I was new in town and it would be fun to see some of the town and not have to navigate on my own; a chance to talk and learn something about the place. We cruised around in his Merc for a while before heading to a small local restaurant for dinner. The place was in mid power cut, a regular inconvenience, but it didn't seem to affect the service at all. I had some soup and a couple of kebabs washed down with a reasonable Albanian white wine. As we ate we talked about our lives and I tried to get a picture of what it must have been like. Short haircuts mandatory and no rock music allowed. Now he is into Bryan Adams, Chris Rea, and stuff like that, blasting from a powerful stereo in the Merc. I cheekily asked whether the Merc was nicked too, but he laughed and assured me that, of course, his was not. Donald has never been out of Albania but somehow, due to TV and media, has managed to gain a very worldly manner and general knowledge. He is a civil engineer but has not had the opportunity to practice his trade as yet. A career with the Bank definitely is the best option at the moment.
Had an early night in my little flat. Awoke to bright sunlight and the sounds of bustling people and hooting horns coming from the street below. The place has a that buzz normally associated with the likes of Singapore. I shaved with a view of the mountains and had a cold shower because the water heater, an amazing feat of engineering, like many amazing feats of engineering, failed to do what it was so cleverly designed to do. I really didn't mind much. Donald picked me up and I spent the day doing what I came to do. Had lunch in a restaurant Antonio recommended; food poisoning is common here but mainly in the heat of the summer. However, my lunch was OK and the waiter was friendly and spoke good English.
Went out in the evening with Antonio and a guy from HQ, the chap who was also on my flight from Vienna. The other guy is a banker out from London to check on projects. Quite straight laced and very interested that I was a consultant, seemed to think I made far too much money because of my consultancy status. I didn't satisfy his curiosity on that one. He wasn't very happy to see a live lobster flapping around a silver tray in the restaurant, living proof of fresh lobster. He said you would be put in jail for that in Austria. I didn't feel too sorry for the creature, I was more interested in having it on my plate - cooked a little more if you please! Conversation involved too much banking and a few beers blur the rest.
Pretty early to bed and up to another bright day and another cold shower. The owner of the flat arrived at 0800 to pick up the rental fee and the keys. He spoke a few words of English, not many, and told me he is an architect. I gestured I had been looking at his technical books on the shelf and to my horror he immediately pressed one into my hand, as a gift. He was so keen to give me something from the flat that I accepted a present of a small wooden ashtray and little tobacco pipe which was sitting on the mantle. Bags in hand, I walked to work in the morning sunshine, stopping enroute at a hotel on the main drag for breakfast. Finished my installation and spent the last hour giving the staff what training I had time for before dashing off to the airport for my flight out.
So ends my first trip to Albania, I am sitting in a very bumpy Fokker 50, heading from Vienna to Prague, due to arrive at around 10pm. I look forward to my next visit, in the summer, it will be a longer trip to setup a proper network system so perhaps I will be there over a weekend and can persuade Donald to go off on a trip out of Tirana if I pick up the bills. That would be fun!
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