A Look Back at July
New Country, New Life
July 1st saw us flying into Tirana, Albania - a 16 hour journey - to begin our life in a new country. Many people take a couple of years to plan a move like this. We did not. It took us 7 months, and that included research to decide on a country. This is how Dan and I have always been - we decide to do something and off we go. In this case, we had the advantage of already being retired. Some people must wait for retirement. (Although, in addition to retirees, there are a lot of digital nomads here too.)
Life on the Adriatic Sea
We keep very little food in the condo. Having to go out for coffee or a meal keeps us active and walking. I’m such an introvert, I could happily stay in the condo for days. But keeping the body moving is important. And why cook when food is so inexpensive?
The day starts with us going across the street for coffee. We each have a double makiato. Best coffee ever! Later, we will go out for a meal.
The picture above was taken from our favorite Italian restaurant. Right now, Shëngjin is crowded with tourists. This will end in September.
We have been here a month and last night was the first time we had rain. That isn’t unusual.
The Furnished Condo
The great thing about buying a furnished condo is that you can move right in. The bad thing about buying a furnished condo is that part of the furniture isn’t right for you. The second bedroom had two twin beds for the children of the previous owner. So we gave the beds away and bought closets and a desk for the room.
From this:
(I forgot to take a photo until after the mattresses had already been removed.)
To this:
There is an identical closet / storage unit against the opposite wall.
There are still a few things we’d like to do with the condo, but with clothing storage, AC, and TV, we are comfortable.
The Most Surreal Moment
When we landed in Tiranë, we rented a car for a month in order to get organized. Tiranë is about an hour away when traffic cooperates. The day we took the rental car back, we ran other errands while there (opened bank accounts - apparently, joint accounts aren’t a thing here - and visited our immigration lawyer), then called for a taxi to take us home.
Imagine a 73 year old man who looks 60, extroverted, enthusiastic. He speaks little English. We speak even less Albanian. But we are going down the road, all of us singing to BB King, Bob Marley, and Joe Cocker. Loudly. Ridiculous and delightful. I love it here!
