... happened the other day. We had electricity for 24 hours...
But when we were just about to start celebrating this occasional event, the generator went on, as the power had gone off once again...
But well... I guess it would be boring if only Obilic and the million smokers here polluted the air... ;)
Don't get me wrong on this. Even though the air pollution is quite bad here, my skin gets better, so it can't be that bad :)
Lats weekend I went to a soccer game. To all of you who have never been at one, even if you are not interested in soccer, you should go there once in your life. You can feel the pulsating life of a town in the stadium like nowhere else. You enter and the energy boosts you like a blast.
As we are currently in the month of Ramadan, people not only fast, but some refrain from any violence, even verbal violence like cursing. So a couple of guys when wanting to swear at the referee only said: "I cannot say his name, as I would shame the Ramadan and break the fast". Imagine this excited soccer fans, not having eaten or drunk all day and then even staying calm about the referee apparently making a wrong decision... It was definitely fun to watch ;)
Ramadan brings a couple of interesting things with it. Right after sunset, people would break the daily fast (which they keep up the whole month of Ramadan) with the evening meal, the Iftar. In order to know when you are entitled to eat most mosques light their minarets. It looks really nice when you see a city or town from a distant hill. You see lights and every once in a while some green glooming light from the minarets.
And the funny thing is, right before Iftar starts the traffics goes mad. Everyone is going home in order to have Iftar. And after that the streets are, at least in areas with a high rate of fasting people, empty like they would be in the middle of the night.
It is amazing to me how many people actually fast and have the inner strength to keep the fasting for a month...

Tung (albanian for ciao)

Finally I'm back again in this lovely country.
Some might not understand what is special about a place which does not have 24/7 water and electricity supply. But there's a hint: candlelight romance can be very nice. And having regular shower times is not all that bad. (Unless you come home after a fun night and realize that there is no water and you have to stay the way you are until the day after tomorrow, because you sleep in and miss the time when you have water...;-). But that is probably why some genius invented the 2,5 liter water bottle. With this much of water you can not only cook the inevitable morning coffee, but also wash your face and brush your teeth and even do the washing up and more. Guess I have never lived more environmentally friendly than here, at least concerning the water and electricity use.

Apart from these small obstacles this place is wonderful (as soon as you, on your way to work, have learned how to walk the bumpy streets with high heels without killing yourself).
The people are just lovely. They have welcomed me over and over again and every day someone surprises me with some lovely situation. Some day it might be someone inviting me for coffee or lunch. The next day it might be my lovely neighbors inviting me for dinner or giving me full water bottles, so I would not be thirsty and able to wash myself. Then I get products for free in a shop, because the owner is happy to talk German with someone. Or the security at work always smiles at me, because I fulfilled his wish of speaking a couple of words in German. As soon as I thought this lucky period was over, I got invited to dinner over and over again, got lovely prints for my wall (which is pink, don't ask why someone would make one wall pink and the other in a salmon-like color...).

One thing I'm madly in love with here is the food. I don't know how they do it, but every way they prepare meat is just delicious. And the veggies and fruit taste as if having been kissed by the sun just before being harvested. On top of all they are fully organic, as chemical growing enhancers etc. would be too expensive.

Just one thing is very dangerous: if you want to stop smoking, don't come here. Not only are the cigarettes dirt cheap, but you are constantly being offered some too. So the one pack per day rule actually becomes hard to follow...

Guess it is time for another coffee (the inofficial passion of everyone here: even meetings usually take place in place where they serve some of the delicious macchiato vogël or madh. So all those people who sit in coffee houses or gardens are not lazy, they actually get some work done during their coffee breaks:-). By now I am addicted to coffee. Even at this time I will have one :-)

natën e mirë (good night)!

Namaste,

I'm finally almost on the road again. Can't wait to go to India. I'm already counting the hours...

Heut hats endlich das erste Mal geschneit...
Snow in Vienna. For the first time in ages!