8th of September to 18th of October, 2020.
One month and 10 days it was not the plan but that turned out to be my best choice. I planned to leave by the end of the month, going to Serbia, where I miraculously got a very late positive answer from a Workaway host. But I still got nothing for afterwards, which I know it seems too much of presumption, facing the current circumstances. Still, I want to be sure to have a place where I can own some money, mainly over the winter, plus to settle down for a few months in case countries start to lock-down again, which seems pretty possible according to the news. So I decide to stay longer, waiting for some good answers.
How is it here, though? Well, what can I say… when I first get in here, the two Brazilian girls, Nathalia and Emanuele, are still around. They are very nice and welcomely to me, as much as the owner, C. The girls got stuck during the lock-down, because they could not enter Brazil, so they have to wait for a available flight, which comes in about two weeks after my arrival.
The Hostel it is small and simple, with a nice rooftop. Rooms and bathrooms are OK and for now I will be staying in a dormitory room.
We basically have three shifts, being the first two ones involved with the cleaning plus the first one being responsible for the breakfast. The third shift is just to be on call, available for the guests in case of any doubt or for late check-ins or walk-ins.
C. is a German guy who has been leaving in Albania for over 12 years now. He had done many different things, including to own a restaurant with a vegan menu. So he is a very good cook. I mean it. He prepares many different dishes and all of them are spectacular! Some really delicious soups too, most of them I had never tried before. He bakes very well too. I had the chance to try some amazing breads and cakes, which I will try myself to reproduce soon! So he would prepare one meal per day (something in between a lunch and a dinner) and we have to look after ourselves for the rest. Breakfast is easy because we have prepared for the guests (bread, 4 different types of jam, Balkans white super sour cheese, Ajvar, margarine, chocolate spread and most of the times homemade Gaspacho). And that is how I ended up falling in love with fig jam. For other meals we have some ingredients, time to time, but mostly I would rely on bread with something for dinner. Many times C. would prepare a big portion meal so we could have some left overs. I felt as I needed some more healthy food though, so using my scarce money, I bought some fruits and oats to have a more healthy breakfast. But C. also always let it clear that if we needed and wanted to buy any food, we knew where the money was so we could just do it. I did not want to push too much though, so mainly what I would buy was milk.
The work is for sure not too hard, because it is a small place. I have just to clean the bathrooms and the floors, plus to do the laundry. Of course that I always have help, at the beginning from Nat and Manu and when they left another really nice girl came over, Leila from Argentina.
But going back to Manu and Nat, we have a great time together. With Nat it is more calm and relax communication, nice conversation and chill topics. She is from São Paulo. Meanwhile with Manu it is more of a acid / black humour, we are always making jokes and being sarcastic to each other. Something that I was missing, and told her, since it is something difficult to find in a none Brazilian person. At least not in the same way. And Manu is also from Paraná so we have something else in common. Apart of the fact that we named our food completely different: CUKE and CHINEQUE. Laugh. So they are both great with me, super patient on passing on all the info and stuff, plus before they leave, they got me three things which might seem not much for them or other people, but for me, it is priceless: a lighter (for our gas camping stove in the kitchen – inside joke); some coins (with which I could buy more fruits); and sweets. OK< maybe “priceless” it is not the best word to describe. And the sweet was another 3 letche for my “collection”. I told Manu one day that I loved so she kindly bought one for me.
I am sorry if this text it sounds to much confuse or complex… it is just that I do not know how to write down so many information…
Anyway, when the girls left, they actually had a hard time at the airport so they had to leave their backpack! I was shocked!
When Leila arrives I like her immediately. We understood each other right away so we could work and spend some time together in a very good way. We share the living room (well, which use to be the living room) where Nat and Manu were staying. And I have to say, I think I never felt so cool on sharing a place with somebody else before. She is my best room mate until now!
Tirana street art 🙂
We have a lot of guests, mainly for turbulent times such as Covid-19. Most of our guests are from U.S.A. or Germany. And I am mostly surprised for long term guests.
Tirana is not a bad capital but still is a capital with all the noise, chaos, cars and people. Everything is very cheap (not as much as the countryside, of course, but still) you just need to know a little bit ahead about the prices and stuff because, of course, there are always someone trying to take advantage of stupid tourists. You can have some nice walks around town to get to know the place. There are nice parks and some nice street full of trees. National History Museum, National Gallery, House of Leaves and Buks are told to be very worth it attractions, but I cannot give my word for it since they are all paid so I could not check it out. There is also the Cable Car but coming from Brazil, where we have the Pão de Açucar, in Rio de Janeiro, offering a view of Cristo Redentor and the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana, this type of thing does not impresses me. There is a really nice and big park, called Grand Park of Tirana, where they made a artificial lake. It worth the visit and it is for free!
A couple is to, supposedly, take Leila spot as volunteer. On the day they suppose to arrive, another couple, as guest, arrives at the hostel first and C. mistake them for the volunteers. When the real volunteers arrive, they do not even spend the night because, after they complain that it was too much work (what? Just to your lazy ass!), C. send them away. I do not know if it can be always like that, but when we sat at the table, all together to explain to them about the duties, I felt that was something wrong about the dude. Anyway, so in the end, the guest couple, who C. took it wrong for the volunteers, actually took their place, becoming for real the volunteers. Laugh.
They are Michelle and Jeff, from Texas, U.S.A., and they are also super cool! A bunch of awesome volunteers spend the summer in Albania this year. So Michelle does tattoos, and right now I cannot remember what Jeff does but, so they are mostly cover in tattoos and have awesome hairs! Everything related to the job also works perfectly with them, the only difference is that, they make a different kind of agreement with C., so they actually will pay for a private room and get something else (apart of the food) for the volunteer work. So I basically have the living room for myself for several days (apart of two nights when C. messed up the reservations and they had to sleep with me). Michelle is very adorable and I get really fond of her. We have some good laughs together.
C. is too much temperamental for me in the other hand. Besides he can be damn rude. Under other circumstances, I would never tolerate his behaviour. He loses his temper also pretty easy and fast, and the result is a furious man, screaming and cursing in German. And the worst part is he does that in front of the guests! And he is very disrespectful with the guests too. And then he laughs just after the arguments, trying to convincing me that he was right. I was right there, man, I saw what you did and that was not damn not. I do not know what else to say about him but I do feel sad to say this bad things. He did help me a lot when he accept me as a volunteer; he offered help in case I need to stay longer; and he even said that if after Serbia I could not find a paid volunteer work, I could come back only with the condition I would work for him as a paid worker. Maybe he just got lonely with the past of the years and lost the touch with human beings?
One day, for my big surprise, a Brazilian couple come to spend one night. They are Mari and Marcos and I can barely stop talking to them. Marcos’ family is from Ponta Grossa! But now they live in the coast. Well, actually now they have been travelling a lot! With their own car (which they brought from Brazil) and all they need, including a roof tent, is on it. This is actually a second travel project they have, the first one was crossing from the most South point in South America to the U.S.A., testing all countries water. They called the project Viagem Familia (Family Travel). And now they are in their second project which is about the food on the countries they are travelling to. They are amazing people and I am super glad our ways got crossed. Here is the link to their website so you can check on their travel: http://www.viagemfamilia.com.br/
Before going to Serbia my plan was to spend a few days on the South of Albania, hitchhiking of course, and come back North again after for the crossing. But on those days the weather got rainy so I decide not to be stubborn and just do not go. I even stay a few days more than planned just to make sure I would not get rain on my way.
P.S.: C. also offers me money one day, just after Leila left and I was by my own doing all the cleaning. I refuse, of course, so he insists we go out for dinner one night, in this nice restaurant. I accept and we go. Unfortunately it is also raining that night, because the restaurant is at the Artificial Lake so we could have enjoyed the view after dinner. The food is amazing! Among other thing, the mushroom pasta is incredible. We even had some birthday cake, courtesy of a family who was celebrating a young girl’s birthday. It was an ice cream chocolaty delicious cake!