During the few days between Christmas and New Year’s, I decided to head to Athens. It was a great time! I would truly recommend it. This is the second time I’ve been to Athens and I wasn’t sure if there was enough to keep me busy, but believe me there is so much to see in that city. The only thing that I did which was the same was go to the Parthenon and watch the sunset from this certain hill which is really pretty. Other than that everything was different.
And by the way, I love Greek food. We had KFC, McDonald’s, and Applebee’s. Before you judge me too much, please remember I live in Albania. I do really like Albanian food, but I miss American food. And Greek food is really similar to Albanian food. We did go out to a Greek restaurant one night and it was great. About half way through dinner, these two guys came in. One played the keyboard and the other the bazooki which is some sort of Greek guitar. We were almost the only ones in the restaurants so we had a great private conversation and got to talk to them a little bit. It was a very cool cross cultural experience.
When I got back, I got ready for the biggest holiday in Albania. NEW YEAR’S. I don’t think words can really describe what it is like here on New Year’s. On the days leading up more and more fireworks arrived in Kavaje. They were selling them everywhere and I’m not talking about sparklers, I’m talking about big fireworks that shoot high in the air and explode. Eight year olds were buying them. So all day fireworks are randomly going off, but about 10 minutes before the ball drops they really start going. None of the fireworks are sponsored by the city or anything they are just shooting them off randomly from people’s homes and the main square. So the whole city is just lit up. My next door neighbors were shooting them and I felt like they were going to come into my house. At some point, the fireworks set off a small brush fire near my house. So I watched my neighbor attempt to put it out with a hose. He was hampered by the fact, we had no water at the time. So once his reserve was out, he had to just watch it burn. Eventually some fire fighters showed up and put it out. This year, I observed this all form the comfort/safety of my home. Maybe next year, I will go crazy and wander down to the square. I will never forget New Year’s 2008.
And by the way, I love Greek food. We had KFC, McDonald’s, and Applebee’s. Before you judge me too much, please remember I live in Albania. I do really like Albanian food, but I miss American food. And Greek food is really similar to Albanian food. We did go out to a Greek restaurant one night and it was great. About half way through dinner, these two guys came in. One played the keyboard and the other the bazooki which is some sort of Greek guitar. We were almost the only ones in the restaurants so we had a great private conversation and got to talk to them a little bit. It was a very cool cross cultural experience.
When I got back, I got ready for the biggest holiday in Albania. NEW YEAR’S. I don’t think words can really describe what it is like here on New Year’s. On the days leading up more and more fireworks arrived in Kavaje. They were selling them everywhere and I’m not talking about sparklers, I’m talking about big fireworks that shoot high in the air and explode. Eight year olds were buying them. So all day fireworks are randomly going off, but about 10 minutes before the ball drops they really start going. None of the fireworks are sponsored by the city or anything they are just shooting them off randomly from people’s homes and the main square. So the whole city is just lit up. My next door neighbors were shooting them and I felt like they were going to come into my house. At some point, the fireworks set off a small brush fire near my house. So I watched my neighbor attempt to put it out with a hose. He was hampered by the fact, we had no water at the time. So once his reserve was out, he had to just watch it burn. Eventually some fire fighters showed up and put it out. This year, I observed this all form the comfort/safety of my home. Maybe next year, I will go crazy and wander down to the square. I will never forget New Year’s 2008.
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