Kaleidoscope

This post signals a new phase in this blog and in my life. For the first time I am currently living in Tirana, the capital of Albania and am starting a new life, discovering new culture, new language and new people.

In Egypt we don’t know much about Albania, except that Mohamed Ali was Albanian. Only I recently discovered that he was not born in Albania, but somewhere in Greece, to Albanian parents.

Albania is located in South Eastern Europe, west of the Balkan. It is bordered by Greece to the south-east, Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, and Macedonia to the east. It is facing Italy across the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea. The total surface is almost 29 000 km2 (almost half the surface of Sinai). The total population is estimated to a bit more than 3 million (2008), a third of which lives in Tirana. They speak Albanian. A language used only on their lands and in Kosovo.

Life here is simpler than Cairo’s. The capital is really small, you can take a long walk and cover all the major sightseeing. People have a bit of the Mediterranean character, they like hugging and kissing, have the tastiest white cheese and have tens of olive oil types.

(To be continued)