Belated Blog #1: The Apartment

Yes, I realize that I have basically fallen off the face of the earth since I moved to Tirana, Albania on September 1st, 2006. So while this is my first blog, it is, quite admittedly, seriously overdue.

I have been living in Tirana, the capital of Albania for 10 weeks now. It sounds like such a short period of time, but in truth, could have been a lifetime in itself. Emotions have ranged from sheer joy, excitement, possibility and promise to utter despair, frustration, and needless head-banging against the wall. I have covered perhaps 20-25% of this country the size of the state of Maryland since my arrival, in addition to Montenegro, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Romania and London. And I may do more before the year is out.

My apartment is, well, unique. It is a newly constructed building with pea-green walls and orange modular furniture. While not quite my style, the newness of everything makes up for it. It's perhaps 350-400 sq. ft., and is about a 10-15 min walk to either office, right in the center of downtown Tirana. This photograph doesn't quite capture the "pea-green-ness" of the walls...I'll try to update it at a later date. But overall I'm finally settling in (I finally located the dry cleaners yesterday!), and the family that owns the apartment is very kind and responsive. Now, if only I could just get my internet connection set up soon...

More pictures of/from my apartment...