We have moved into our own apartment and while it means more work for us, we are enjoying many of the benefits of being in our own place.  One thing we have is high speed (for Albania) internet connection.  While it is not up to US speeds, it is adequate for Skype and posting to the web page.

 

The apartment is a 1+1, which means 1 bedroom and a living room.  In December, the owners are going to move furniture out of a second bedroom and we should have access to it at that time.  It has a bathroom, laundry room and kitchen.  The other nice thing is it located on the 3rd floor so we do not have to climb a lot of stairs.  It does not get any afternoon sun, but it does get morning sun on the balcony and Carol has been able to enjoy her morning coffee on the balcony before heading off to work.  Even Criss gets to enjoy the coffee-time on the weekends.

We are located centrally in Durres, about a 5-minute walk to Carol’s office and about 15 minutes to Criss’ office.  It is nice to be so close to our jobs.  We also go in the evening to walk the xhiro (gee-ro).  We have found it enjoyable to be able to get out of the house in the evening and walk.  We hope one day to become a common sight and not get quite so many stares.

Around the apartment are the ever-present shops for bread, fruit and vegetables and other commonly used items.  We have tried to spread our shopping around so the shop owners know us and give us the Albanian price instead of the foreigner price.  It seems we are buying something every other day, so it has not been hard to become a regular customer.  We also take the time to tell them who we are and how long we will be here as they are genuinely curious about our presence.  And they appreciate our making the effort to learn the language.  While they want to know why Criss speaks so poorly after being here so long (is he slow), even his fruitless efforts are acknowledged as they try to find an English speaker to help.

We are amazed at how much effort it is to get settled in.  Each week, we would make a list of things we need and then would spend most of the weekend trying to find them.  It is very difficult to shop here, products are not always available and pricing is variable.  So when we find something, we buy it, as it may not be available after that.  For example, the week before we move out, we found sour cream at a super-market.  Great, next week we will pick some up.  Nope, not available and we haven’t seen it anywhere.  One day browsing through the pots section of the market, Criss found a salad spinner, so now we have a way to dry our lettuce.  We have not seen another one in any store.  The other lesson we learned is to price shop some things.  For instance we paid $6.50 for a bottle of soy sauce and $4.50 for a bottle of Worcestershire sauce.  While we have not found the Worcestershire sauce anywhere, we have found soy for the steeply discounted price of $4.00 a bottle.  So we over paid by 5 coffees.  The other surprise find was anchovy paste which Carol uses in her Caesar Salad.  So, we are doing quite well for most food items.