2nd world country

When I first applied to a job in Albania I was given a very brief explanation of what I was signing onto. It was explained to me that this country was still developing. What exactly that meant, I hadn't a clue. I knew there was power, fairly clean water, internet and all the basic necessities I needed for survival. But if it wasn't a 3rd world country, and wasn't yet developed, what was it?

"2nd world country" isn't a term we hear about much, so I'm going to attempt to write a blog post in which I describe what it is, at least in the terms of Albania.

The Power:  The power in Albania is pretty good, especially in the newer buildings. Since moving to my current apartment I have had the power go out 4 times, but all times it was restored with in the hour, and didn't affect me much. While we visited Saranda we had almost a whole day with our power out. This was a bit more difficult because we had no running water, (it runs on pumps controlled by electricity) no way of charging our electrical items (still not a big deal, )and no working lights. Luckily phones here come with what we refer to as "the albanian special." Flashlights installed on the end of them allowing you to make your way to the bathroom as needed. We also quickly purchased some cheap candles and created an evening of romance including wine and reading. My biggest complaint about the power shortages would be when I'm teaching. My school is lucky enough to have active boards (basic version of smart boards.) However when the power goes off we have no boards at all. This makes it very hard to teach math, and spelling. I've found myself being very flexible in my teaching, which is actually quite an awesome quality to have as a teacher. Especially considering it was my main weakness during my year of student teaching. Another major concern is the powerlines. Not only do they dangle down forcing me to duck to avoid being severely injured, they are also mangled together in an extremely crowded jumble on poles.

This isn't even close to the worst power line. 

The traffic: Everyone here owns a car. It's not a second world country thing, it's a communism thing. People weren't allowed to own cars until 20 years ago. It's a symbol of freedom. Tirana is a small "big city." You can easily walk around the whole city in a few hours. So fitting a car for everyone who wants to exercise their freedom is nearly impossible. The second world problem is that there are hardly any government regulations on them. Most of the people who drive have never been to driving school. They fail to stop at stoplights, they park on sidewalks meant for pedestrians, motorcycles drive on the sidewalks, and they certainly don't follow the speed limit, or yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. They also can't understand that sometimes traffic has to stop, and whenever they are stopped they honk an excessive number of times. What happens if you break the law? A police officer will flag you down using a pole with a circle on the end (at least in our experience.) If you don't stop for him nothing gets done. As you can imagine there is basically no reason to follow the law.

Don't fall in now....

Renting an Apartment: The apartments in my building aren't all owned by the same landlord. Each apartment has a different landlord. Thus if something in my apartment is wrong (the toilet is broken) I call my landlord and he basically does nothing about it. No seriously. Nothing. My toilet has been broken for 6 weeks. I've mentioned it to my landlord twice and he says it is no problem. Let's also talk about the lack of addresses here. Albania just started to get street names a few years ago. I have an official address, but the likelihood that I would receive mail at it is limited to none. My electric bill has arrived one out of 2 times. Also because of this issue, I have to keep a little book that they stamp when I go to pay my electric and water bill. No online service here. I have running water and electricity, which I'm very grateful for, but paying the bill is such a big task. I have to go to the electric building (nearby) during the weekday, before it closes at 3. I work during all these hours, so I have to leave work early. Then I have to go to the water place to pay my water bill. This is quite far away and also not open during hours I'm not teaching, so there is another afternoon of prep time gone. Also when you wait in line it is just like the traffic. Everyone else is first. So a lot of the time people cut in line. Luckily I've learned to block everyone with my elbows.

The Pollution: Trash is everywhere. Albanians have no idea what is happening to the environment. And don't get me started on the plastic bags in the stores. I purchase one thing and they insist on giving me a bag. I go to the market and buy one pomegranate and several apples. I put the apples in a bag and carry the pomegranate  I expect them to put the pomegranate in with the apples after they weigh it. No way! it goes in a separate bag and then the two bags go in another one. For real??? I also would like to mention how poor the air quality is around here. Because of all the cars and the disel they burn I am unable to run. The one time I ran I ended up severely ill and coughing up black crap for 2 weeks. I was advised not to run again and so I haven't. I'm going crazy here! A recent quote from my lips: "It is such a gorgeous day out! I'm going to go home, open up all my windows and let in the fresh air (this sentence was just hardly finished, as I started laughing.) Let me rephrase: I'm going to go home and open up all my windows to the wonderful smell of exhaust. It's gonna be great!"

The water: Apparently the water here is drinkable. Now that I've been here for almost 4 months I will drink a glass of it every few days, but I still don't trust myself drinking it all the time. Apparently the water is stored in tanks on the tops of buildings. Thus, it is sitting out in the sun (especially in the summer.) Therefore if there is one small bacteria in the water, and the water sits in the heat and sun all day long, the possibility of the bacteria multiplying, is great. I spent my first month in this country with terrible stomach problems like any other i'd ever had. I think I can blame it on my stomach trying to get used to the water.

The gypsies: Saddest part of living here. I wish there was something I could do. So many times I have had a gypsy child come up to me and beg for money. And yet I know that if i give this child money it is just going to go straight to their "pimp."

:(

The organized crime: Apparently "nothing here happens by mistake." This is what was said on our way down from the highest mountain as we overlooked a huge forest fire. It was part of organized crime. Seriously? Ruining beautiful things for the benefit of a few people. Stupid. I guess I don't know much about this one, except that it runs our country.

ruined forest.

The shopping: I read about the fresh food markets before I arrived here and was very excited to do my fresh shopping everyday. What a task it has become! When you go to the market they expect you to purchase a large bag of everything you get. I'm only one person, therefore I only need 5 apples, one head of lettuce, and one tomato, not 8 tomatoes and 4 heads of lettuce. Also many of the small markets don't carry everything I want. Granted they have everything I need so this should be enough. They are starting to get some super markets here, but it seems each one has it's own special items. For example I have to go to Conad if I want greek yogurt, but I have to go to Euromax for my peanut butter and Gingerale. If I want oat milk (I can't stand regular milk here as it is filled with chemicals and I'm used to drinking it almost straight from a cow) I have to go to Rossman. And don't even get my started on the search for good mustard and Jameson. As far as clothing goes there are several malls, but most of the clothes in them are expensive. I purchased one item (my winter coat) for about $90, which is more than I have ever spent on an item of clothing in my life. Even my prom dress only cost me $32. I've found a few great thrift stores, which are fantastic, except for the European clothing sizes. What is a 32? is that the equivalent of a 6 or 8? My shopping for boots was endless, because everything I liked didn't exist in my size, and everything in my size was ugly. I've learned that if you find something you like at a decent price you just buy it.

Me and Cortney after a great trip to the mall. 30 minute walk to the center, 30 minute sweaty crowded bus ride there. Then the same trip home, only with packs and bags to carry. 

The Men: Awful. "He was very kind until he got drunk. Then he became Albanian."- The words my friend used to describe a man who I was originally meant to be set up with. Everyone assumed when I left that I would meet the man of my dreams, fall in love, get married, and never return. Wrong. Trying to pave your way through the dating culture of another country is much more complicated than I thought, and thankfully about a month in I realized I definitely had no desire to do so. I've heard far too many comments about what Albanian men expect their wives to be. Let's just say Albania is a little bit behind on the women's rights issues. When I complained about paying my water bill (see apartment section) another teacher commented that when he told them he worked during all the hours they were open, they told him to, "get a wife." The expectation of women is that they cook, clean, take care of the kids and do just about everything. They are seen as an object that men own. I'm not saying all Albanian men are like this, but it is definitely part of the culture. I can't even post some of the comments I've gotten walking down the street. Mostly because I refuse to re-live them.

So this sums it up. 2nd world countries are survivable, but a bit intense.