🌽 Bozës & Byreka 🥐 | Albania Memories & A Possible Return To Social Living & Sanity

about 3 years ago (Edited)

While many countries have been closing their borders due to COVID-19, Albania has chosen to open their country to the world with a new e-visa scheme.

🛂 New E-Visa, New Path to Shqipëri 🛫

This pandemic has brought so many global changes, and I hate to admit I feel most of those changes are negative. Borders once open are closed, and visas once easily obtained are now nothing short of impossible. For nearly two years my family and I have been searching for a place to call "home," unable to return to Cambodia or immigrate to the USA.

About 7 years ago I lived in Albania for 4+ months during a period of work permit and visa difficulties in Cambodia, and I fell in love with this mysterious and beautiful country. I quickly took to the food, the culture, and the way of life, and even though technically European, the lifestyle felt more Asian to me.

another view from atop Piramada in Tiranë

American citizens are granted 1 year of visa-free access to Albania, and that was one of the big lures for me, but now that I have a family with Cambodian passports, the dream of returning to Albania all but died until they released a new e-visa scheme, allowing my family to come as tourists for a 90-day period. I checked with some old friends and foreigners living in Albania, and it seems it will be quite easy for me to establish residency, then leave together with the family to Serbia and return on a family reunification visa.

🚶‍♂️ The Xhiro 🚶‍♀️

"Xhiro" is an Albanian word that basically means to dress up in one's finest clothes and go for a stroll in the neighborhood while socializing with friends and strangers along the way. The xhiro was my daily natural medicine, and I can't explain how much this social engagement affected my mood and overall mental health. I think the fact I have less than 20 pictures from my entire stay there is proof enough, because when I am caught up in the moment, taking pictures are the last thing I think of.

I don't even have one photo of any xhiros I took in Albania, so I've decided to share this YouTuber's video with you all to give you a better glimpse. The xhiro helps keep the population mentally and physically healthy, and it is a huge factor in why I've decided to try and return.

I can only show uou the ironically named street I returned to every evening after my Tiranë xhiros. Yes, that's "Rruga George W. Bush," but it wasn't intentional that the American lived on George Bush Street, although my Albania friends found it quite amusing.

🌽 Bozë & Byrek 🥐 There is Vegan Food

In addition to the social living Albania offers and the positive health benefits that come along with it, natural food is quite easy to find, and there are also plenty of vegetarian and vegan food options. Some of my favorites were pizza marinara, bozë, byrek, and fasule, which is basically Albania's dal, or lentil soup.

Italy has the pizzerias everywhere, and Albania has byrektores, which are small shops making and selling byrek, a sort of triangular croissant, but with many different savory fillings to choose from. Spinach and feta cheese is a common vegetarian offer, but I found it easy to strike a friendship with my local byrektore, and they would always make a few spinach and lentil byreks for me everyday.

Bozë is a fermented malt beverage made from corn, wheat, or millet. It's a very common drink in Albania, very healthy, and also the source of the English word "booze."

Once again, social living dominates the food scene too, and there are lovely old-fashioned restaurants where you can find fasule, the lentil soup I mentioned. These restaurants are basically tiny buffet bars, but the family serves you from the other side, and you choose the dishes you want on your plate then you grab a seat with a stranger, and more friends are made.

🌊 The Landscapes ⛰️

Albania has the most mystical landscapes I've ever seen, in fact so mystical I have no pictures at all of the most beautiful scenes I witnessed. Even just riding a bus around the country, you'll often see an 80-year-old man descend from the clouds in the mountains with his flock of sheep, recreating what seems like a scene from a movie.

During my previous stay I felt truly inspired and full of creativity from the power of these landscapes. It was only after 4 months in the country that I made it to southern coastal town of Sarandë, and I finally felt bored enough to snap some pictures of the sea, with the island of Corfu (Greece) on the distant horizon.

coast of Sarandë with Corfu in the distance

🥾 This Family Needs Adventure 🧭

Maybe my HIVE and LOTUS earnings will buy a small family boat, especially now that HIVE is nearly a dollar. It kills me everyday here in Suriname to see how bored my daughters are, and there are just no easy ways to make friends or do social activities here without owning a car first.

enjoying a pizza marinara and the night-time view in Sarandë

As an American and former car owner, I don't honestly ever want that stress and needless responsibility in my life again. I think it was the other way around, and my car always owned me, bringing so much financial burden. Some good news is that in Albania we can buy a Piaggio Ape tuk-tuk similar to the one we had in Cambodia.

We still have never "traveled" as a family, even thought we've transited and lived in a few countries, it has mostly felt like a migrant struggle, only keeping landlords happy and trying to solve visa issues. Albania will give us a cost of living affordable enough for us to thrive, eat a more diverse diet, and have more time to spend outdoors and in nature.

🗣️ The Hospitality 👋

Albanians are among the most hospitable people I've ever met, definitely among the ranks of the Cambodian people. The best example I have is this child's study book given to me by a random old lady that chatted me up in the street, entertaining my barely conversational language skills.

This woman ran back in her house and gave me her own daughter's former textbook after seeing how eager I was to learn and conversate. These small acts of kindness are things we miss in our daily lives, and it means so much more than to us than financial wealth.

okay, violin is always easy in every language

If it doesn't manifest we have some backup countries in mind, likely Ethiopia would be our number two pick at this point. Either way, this family can see light at the end of the tunnel, and even this glimmer of hope has already brought us great joy.