Yes We Have Wood

I've never seen anything quite like this before! This morning on the way to our new supermarket I was complaining a little to our driver (who speaks NO English) about being cold in our apartment. Now at least I know the Albanian word for cold is ftohte, which is a little difficult for foreigners to pronounce. "Ska problem" he said to me, and off we went on a little detour to the country. Within a few minutes we were parked here beside this amazing wood pile. It is as high as the house beside it! We stopped at one vendor, then at the next, all the way down the road. Then we stopped and Sazani (our driver) took out his pencil and paper and made all sorts of calculations, showing me which one was the best deal. Honestly, it didn't matter to me if I paid 5 or 10 usd for the delivery- I just want to be warm. So now he's made arrangements for the wood to be delivered (and brought to the 10th floor) tomorrow morning at 6. 6???? you ask. Yes 6. Because there is no traffic at 6. Of course.

The little table in the front corner of the photo is a roadside stand where they sell things you just might need if you're stuck in a traffic jam. Things like motor oil, dashboard shiner, chewing gum, and beer. And it's on a lovely sidewalk- can't you tell?

Mother Teresa Day

Did you know that Mother Teresa was born on Aug.27 1910 in Skopja, Macedonia, and was of Albanian descent? I didn't know that until we moved here and noticed a lovely statue of her in front of the university and was told it was called Sheshi Nena Teresa or Mother Teresa square. Earlier this week my husband told me that he wouldn't have to work on Wed. because it is Mother Teresa Day in Albania- a national holiday!

One thing Albania can be proud of is its acceptance of all religions. Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims live here together in relative peace. The Protestants are a new addition but are definitely a growing force lead by many, many missionaries of various denominatons. One group which is having a harder time than the rest is the Jehovah's Witnesses who were in the headlines a lot this past summer. It seems that there were a large number of suicides involving rather young people and the Albanian authorities have been trying to link these to the JW's somehow. They are working hard to win converts and we have them at our door at least once a week. Perhaps this annoying habit is bringing them the negative image.

So in honour of Mother Teresa, for whom I have enormous love and respect, I am sharing some of her wonderful words:

"If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. "

"God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try"

"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love."

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."

"What I do you cannot do; but what you do, I cannot do. The needs are great, and none of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful."

"Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless"

"I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?"

and the last.... and my favourite:

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."

Kim & Julie & Julia?

Yesterday I received another nice package from that terrific company called Amazon (my new best friend), and I got 3 new books which is great because I already ate the two I got last week! I started reading the first one last night and it's really funny and rather cute. Perhaps you've heard of it if you're a blogger- it's the book based on the blog called The Julie/Julia project wherein Julie blogged about her experience of cooking her way through Vol. 1 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. It's an easy read and kept me up well past midnight.

When I got up this morning I had this brilliant idea of taking my copy of this cooking classic off the shelf and trying the first recipe in the book Potage Parmentier (Leek and Potato Soup), just as Julie did. Now I'm sitting here and my house is stinking with the smell of leeks boiling away in the kitchen. I thought I'd cook this while P is away because he doesn't much like potatoes and I know he'd scrunch up his nose at the smell of leeks. The recipe is dead easy- boil some potatoes with a bunch of sliced leeks for 40-50 min and then mash with a fork, add cream and butter and enjoy. I'm waiting now for the 'enjoy' part!

By the way, it's the first time I've ever bought leeks, and the friendly Ferdinand (my local shopkeeper) told me that leeks are called 'PRAS' in Albanian, and that they have a saying "He was caught with a leek in his hand", which translates in English as "He was caught with his hand in the cookie jar!" Imagine that!

A Fire Would be Nice...

It's definitely Fall here in Tirana! The days are bright and sunny and the temperature warms up to about 18 or 20 celsius, but the nights are cold and clear with temperatures falling to 3 or 4 degrees. You can start off the day wearing a winter jacket but by noon all you really need is a light sweater. But despite warm days our apartment feels really, really chilly. When you live in an apartment building as we do, you have to wait for the owner to decide to switch on the heating system, which in our case will be a hot water radiator system. I haven't a clue when that will happen but I imagine (and hope) sometime this month.

Now we do have a beautiful fireplace and a few pieces of wood as you can see in the photo, but I am afraid to try to start a fire! I wasn't a very good GirlSscout and I once tried to warm up our house in Canada and didn't know there was a flue to open. You can imagine what happens when a flue is closed and a roaring fire is going. Withi minutes the house was filled with noxious smoke. Now I've been contemplating making a fire tonight because last night I sat in the living room wrapped in a big fleecy blanket, with my huge gorilla slippers (thanks MOM!) and socks, a flannelette nightgown, and a hot cup of tea- and I was still shaking from the cold. But I've been studying this fireplace all afternoon and I just can't find a flue! P is 4 hours away and won't be back til midnight and I am not looking forward to a cold evening alone.

I wonder if a hot loaf of fresh bread would give off enough heat?!

One of the best things about living here is the hot bread shop around the corner. It's really just a hole in the wall kind of place, with the bread displayed right up against the window and a sliding window which opens and shuts as you pick and pay for your bread. This is a loaf which was not only warm when we bought it- but hot! It was perfect for a light supper the other evening with slices of Edam cheese and dollops of yummy Ginger Orange Marmalade!

Archives?

When I click on my older archives they don't show up. If anyone can help me with this I'd be so grateful! Thanks!