Longing for Albania...

A few days ago after looking at a tropical rain storm from my window in Bamako, I turn on the television and start to listen to Euronews in English and suddenly there was a very comforting, homey feeling pouring over me. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was because of the language that I was hearing. I was listening to an interview in Albanian about Kosovo.

The past 20 years or so, I lived in a few countries and when people asked me where my actual home was, I was always telling "Where my furniture and my cats are" but now I realize that there are places like Albania, where the feeling "home" became so strong that leaving it behind after 4 years was like being detached from the roots.

So, what makes some places so special? Is it the geographical location, the climate, the quality of the services... ? In Albania, it is definitely the people. Being in Bamako for 1 week now, what I miss the most from Tirana is the people and the friends that I left behind.

Image via Wikipedia

I find that quoting Ismail Kadare, an Albanian writer, is very suitable for my longing...

"I long to stroll through the streets of Tiranë in the evening,
Where I used to get into mischief,
And through the streets where I never got into mischief.
Those old wooden doorways know me,
They will still hold a grudge against me
And will snub their noses at me,
But I won't mind
Because I am filled with longing.
I long to stroll through the lanes full of dry leaves,
Dry leaves, autumn leaves,
For which comparisons can so easily be found.

I was filled with longing for Albania,
For that great, wide and deep sky,
For the azure course of the Adriatic waves,
For clouds at sunset ablaze like castles,
For the Albanian Alps with their white hair and green beards,
For the nylon nights fluttering in the breeze,
For the mists, like red Indians, on the prowl at dawn,
For the locomotives and the horses
That huff and puff, dripping in sweat,
For the cypresses, the herds and graves
I was filled with longing.
I was filled with longing
For the Albanians.

I was filled with longing and swiftly journey there,
Flying over the mists, as over desires.
How far and how beloved you are, my country.
The airport will tremble with the droning,
The mists will hang in suspense over the chasms.
Surely those who invented the jet engine
Must have been far from their country once."

And to make my point even stronger, I'm adding my farewell letter to Albania as well :-))

"Farwell to a country, that made me cry twice!

Mesi Bridge, Shkodra

Looking back to my first reaction about moving to Albania (“Me? – In Albania?! – Never!”) is almost a miracle, that it turned out to be the best time of my life.

Sadly, the only one reputation that Albania has outside of Albania is a lousy reputation, so when I first heard that I would have to live in Tirana for at least four years I almost had a “heart attack”. The shock was really bad especially when I was expecting to go to Argentina instead. J

Now, the only one thing that I would like is … staying a while longer in this surprisingly authentic and unique country. Albania brings up very strong feelings in outsiders I noticed, or they fall in love with it or they will hate every single day that they spend in it. And most of the foreigners that had really the chance to sense Albania will cry twice; first when they arrive and the second time when they have to leave it behind. I’m one of the second group.

What do I like about Albania? I could cast up many things like; fantastic weather, rich and gripping history, surprisingly good kitchen and the nature is breathtaking but personally I think that the Albanians themselves make this country so notable. Albanian people in Albania are genuine, extremely friendly, curious, honest and warm people but also remarkably proud to be Albanian.

In most of the ex-communist countries in Europe (I, myself, am from one of those countries) people are having kind of mixed feelings about ‘outsiders’ and yet the Albanians after the harshest 50 years of communist dictatorship still kept their unique friendliness, trust and curiosity towards foreigners.

Thank you Albania for your hospitality!"

For more photos of Albania go to Flickr.