Some photos from the last few days

I'm going to post a few photos from the last day in Vienna (mostly the kids on the trampoline, which was a highlight for them), the next morning in Ljubjana, Slovenia, and then some pictures from Tirana.  As for the Tirana photos, I have taken much better photos of the place & people on previous trips.  I see things left and right that I've already photographed & photographed better.  But I figure I'd better take a few shots of things so that whoever is reading a blog has a visual to go along with what we are experiencing.  The photo at the end is Nathan waiting outside Gjushja's door.  It's in the late afternoon, so it's after the market has closed, so it looks kind of sparse around there.  During the early day, it's full of goods/clothes hanging outside the areas near her door.

Wrestling on the trampoline.  It looks rough, but they really enjoyed it, and it even didn't end in crying.

Yes, this is just taken from the car on the drive out of the city.  We finally got sun on the day we were leaving.  There are prettier parts of the city, but these massive stone buildings are typical of large parts of the city.

Again, from the car.  The building is the incinerator, designed (or decorated?  Ursula insists that he is an artist, not an architect) by the same guy who did the Hundertwasserhaus that we visited the first day there. 

A view of the river in Ljubjana that we stayed near.

We don't know what these locks were for.  We only had 15 minutes to walk around before we had to head to the airport.  The locks have been personalized.  We got the impression that they had been fished out of the water.  I would love to know the story behind them. 

OK.  So I took a minute to google it.  I will quote from Wikipedia: "Shortly after the opening of the bridge padlocks of couples in love started appearing on its steel wires, symbolizing declarations of eternal love, a phenomenon similar to the one on the Parisian Pont des Arts."  It sure is easier to find things out in the age of Wikipedia.

 The next few photos were taken on the taxi ride into Tirana from the airport.  It occurred to me that I should take a few photos to show the colorful buildings that are all around.  It's easier to take photos when I'm not walking.  Plus, we tend to be walking only in one condensed section of the city. 

The gate to the hostel.

Nathan loves the homemade ice cream here.  Luke eats it sometimes, but is not as fond it.

I had an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  Yes, it's a bit late.  But it was raining on Easter itself, so I told them we would do it later.  I hid 6 Kinder eggs - they are chocolate eggs with an inner plastic egg that contains a toy that they put together.  I also hid 16 of the inner yellow eggs with toys inside that we had left here from last year.  They had fun looking for them all, and they found an equal amount, so there wasn't much squabbling.

OK.  This is classic Albania for me.  Gjushja had 2 wide and short plastic buckets that she filled with hot water for each of the kids to put their feet in.  The kids sat for over an hour with their feet in hot water.  She would sit near them with a tea kettle and keep adding a little more hot water and mixing it with her hand, to keep the water from cooling down.  Nathan is eating qofte (pronounced chofta), which warms her heart.  Nothing is better for an Albanian grandmother than seeing her grandkids warm and eating.  Luke is playing backgammon with Genci.  Men playing chess, backgammon or dominoes is very Albanian (or perhaps Mediterranean).  It really is just men who play.  I have yet to see an adult woman do it.  I have heard of a girl who was allowed to play, but I haven't actually seen it.  When I asked Genci about it, he didn't think there was any taboo against women playing these games, but it seems impossible that not one woman would find game-playing interesting.  The only thing that would have made this picture more Albanian would be if Genci was drinking Raki.  But his mother is very anti-alcohol, so that would not make sense in this house.

 Gjushja insisted on drying the kids' feet herself (I was going to do it).  She really enjoys taking care of them in this way.  Once one foot is dried off, it goes directly into a sock (or two - she doubled up the socks on Nathan's feet), and then into a shoe or slipper.

These are a couple of Roma (gypsy) kids in the park.  They sit or lay on cardboard, and are essentially begging, although these two were not actively petitioning anyone.  Luke gets very disturbed about seeing people begging, especially kids.  He wrote in his journal that there are lots of Albanians begging everywhere.  That is not true.  There are a few spots where there is a person or two begging.  And sometimes you see people trying to wash the windshields of cars in traffic in an attempt to get money.  But it's not very many people, especially considering how many people live in the city.  They also are mostly Romas, which are Albanian, yes, but they have a whole different culture.  But, whoever they are, it is disturbing to see a two or three year old child alone, asleep on a piece of cardboard in the middle of the park.

This river has a potential to be very beautiful, but unfortunately, it's very polluted.  This section had a strong sewer/trash smell.

I'm guessing that those are rosary beads and that this man is catholic, but perhaps the Orthodox church has something similar.  This guy was walking through the park with a few of his friends, while at the same time fingering his beads behind his back.  I should have included a picture of the group of them for context. 

The trampoline/amusement park was closed from 1:30pm-4pm, and we got there at 1:31pm.  So I took the kids a different route back, and we found this little park with a cafe.

Luke has lots of silly looks that he gives me.

Men playing dominoes in the park.

This group of men talked with me for a while, asking where I was from, why I could speak Albanian (somewhat, of course, not fully).  The toothless guy on the right wanted to know if I could find him an American wife -- not a young one, of course.  I said that most American women would not want to marry a regular Albanian guys, because Albanian men expect to be taken care of, and expect the woman to cook and clean all the time.  (Genci is not like this, by the way.)  I didn't mention that most American women, even older women, prefer men with teeth.  But I thought that was unnecessary.  As I was getting ready to leave, the guy asked for a dollar (1000 old lek) for raki.  I thought about it for a second and decided to give this guy a bit of raki happiness.  Of course, once I gave him that buck, he wanted 30 cents more.  Raki costs $1.30 (I'm converting here), he says.  Me: that's it.  Him: But I need 1.30.  OK. I take back my $1 coin from him.  Nevermind. 

Then the other guys starts to protest (he wants the money).  OK. I'll give it to him instead.  So, guy #1 takes it.  Guy #3 says I'm a strong woman.  We all shake hands. 

This exchange would have driven Genci nuts.  He would have become tense, angry, protective, mistrustful.  I just thought it was funny.  I should have seen it coming.  But no harm was done.  It was a game, just like bartering can be a game.  (I'm not good at bartering, though.)  It was an interesting way to spend a few minutes in a day with nothing in particular to do.

Yes, the begging continued.  This beautiful family was begging.  I gave the mother a small coin.  I asked if I could take a photo of her baby.  She said for another coin I could.  So I did.  Then a son showed up and wanted his picture taken for another coin.  I must have been in a good mood, because I complied.  He was cute after all, and the total sum only ended up being 60 cents.  Should I have given more?  Should I have not supported begging (or raki buying in the case of the guys) at all?  I don't know.  But they seemed happy with what they got, and they are really beautiful.  I don't know anything about how they live, how much they need to survive, what assistance there is for them.  I think that there is basically NO safety net at all here, except that you can get free medical care.  If there were a lot of beggars around, I would not give anything, because it becomes chaos.  But it's OK in individual cases.  If I had time/energy, I guess it would be better to figure out what they really need and try to get it to them.  But I'm mostly focused on keeping the kids occupied and fed, and helping Genci out occasionally with house-errands he needs to do.  I guess I don't really want to think about it, or I might feel compelled to do something.

We saw a couple of couples sharing romantic moments under umbrellas.  There was a light rain, but it wasn't too cold out.

The main park in Tirana.  The building is the Taiwan restaurant building, that has a bowling alley, arcade and billiard room in it.

Luke wasn't having very good luck with his game, and he didn't take well to advice. 

Mannequins in the market on the walk back to Gjusha's house.

This is taken from in front of Gjushja's door.  The guy next door has opened up a little convenience store, which includes fruits and vegetables.

Nathan waiting for someone to let him in.

The view from the other direction.  Notice the trees in Gjushja's tiny yard.