week 3
Although my last update was only 4 days ago, I am already here with another update. The timing is for two reasons. First of all, the past 4 days have been incredible and I have much to share. Second, I am afraid if I do not post today it may be quite a long time before I can post again. I will be very busy each evening after work this week. I volunteer for a non-profit and our fiscal year will close soon and there is an upcoming board meeting. Additionally, over the weekend I am going to Istanbul, Turkey and do not want to bring my laptop. I will be sure to update next week about my trip to Istanbul. I am quite excited and apprehensive about it. The state department has issued a "reconsider travel" warning, the second most serious warning they will assign. However, I have talked to many people who reassure me Istanbul is safe and I have read a lot about what to look out for and how to avoid trouble. I am still a bit nervous about it, I do not know why. But I must go, I just know that if I chicken out I will never get the chance again and one day will regret. Or I guess one day I could regret going, but I do not think that will be the case.
Anyway, back to the past four days. First I will discuss work. Today, I found a regulation from 2013 issued by the Central Election Commission of Kosovo. It spoke directly to the data privacy issue I had been researching in an unexpected way. If I understood it correctly, it may have serious implications for the voters' list audit D4D is planning. I am still waiting to hear back from my coworker on what to make of this regulation and will let you know how my week proceeds.
Now to this past weekend, which was absolutely incredible. On Friday I left work. I had brought a bag with me to work so I was able to go directly to the bus station. I wanted to catch a bus departing at 5:00 p.m. rather than wait 2 or 3 hours for the next one. I got out of my taxi at 4:55. The person selling the tickets was very nice and made sure I was able to get on the bus on time. I got on followed by the driver, and as soon as I had taken my seat we were in motion.
My destination was Tirana, Albania. The bus ride there took about 5 hours. I am glad I was able to make the 1700 bus because the sun had not gone down and the view out of the window was very nice. Here is a picture I took just after crossing the Albanian border.
I arrived around 2100 in Tirana and met up with some friends I had met in Pristina who had left for Tirana that morning. We went to a quiet, mostly empty cafe and had a very nice evening. After a while, the bartender offered some homemade Raki. The next morning they were going to do something very early and invited me to come along. I do not remember what they did, but it did not sound very interesting and I did not want to miss out on Tirana. Instead, I agreed to meet them in Durrës, Albania in the afternoon.
Saturday morning in Tirana I spent exploring the city and going to museums. The city is beautiful and there is art everywhere. I do not know much about art, but I have always loved street art and art museums. Here's a photo of some nice street art.
Of everything in Tirana, I most enjoyed this museum I went to in a bunker. Here's a picture of the entrance.
The museum focuses on issues related to Albania's time under communist rule. A man named Enver Hoxha had ruled the country for four decades until his death in 1985. I found his story extremely interesting and moved through this museum slowly, reading everything there was to be read. I never do that, at history museums, in particular, I generally do not read anything and just look at the displayed objects.
The main focus of this museum was Sigurimi, which was the secret police force during the communist era. This police force was dedicated to finding and stopping anyone who voiced any sort of opposition to the government. It seems very 1984, the museum showed strange and extensive ways the Sigurimi would spy on the population. The museum showed the darkest sides of humanity with lists of countless political prisoners and a list of over 5,500 people who were executed because of political status during the era. Towards the end of the exhibits, a quote of Enver Hoxha was on the wall, "Sigurimi is the sharp and dear weapon of our party because it protects the interests of our people and our socialist state against internal and external enemies." I was troubled by reading this; it is disturbing the kinds of things that human beings are able to justify.
It was very interesting to learn about Mr. Hoxha. He deeply admired Joseph Stalin. He was a strong believer in women's rights. Before he rose to power Albania had more cases of Malaria then anywhere in Europe but by 1965 there were zero. Yet, he also murdered people and imprisoned them for dissenting beliefs. I learned that in the 1970s, towards the end of his rule, a cult of personality developed similar almost to that in North Korea. Maybe that's where it went wrong, he started to believe his own lies or everyone around him was too scared to tell him when he had a bad idea. One famous bad idea he had was building 173,000 bunkers throughout the country so that his citizens could protect him should anyone attack. There were 14.7 per square mile at one point. This construction drained the economy, and I really do not see how it was a good idea. If someone actually had invaded, I would think the invading army would have an easy time, because they would know where all the hostile forces were, in the bunkers. Had Enver looked to the Americans in Vietnam, he would have seen how guerilla warfare and mobile resistance complicates an invasion. This is why I think he started to believe he was that genius he saw in his propaganda.
Enver Hoxha passed away in 1985 and shortly thereafter communism fell in Albania during the early 1990s. Enver's hero, Joseph Stalin once said: "Education is a weapon whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed." After reading this, I then moved to the part of the museum that explained how student protests in Tirana had brought about the end of communism.
The museum was mostly history but was also very artistic, here are a couple of photos to provide an example of what I mean.
Hopefully, no one found that too boring, sorry for going on so long but my time in that museum meant a lot to me and I found the history incredibly interesting. Hopefully, at least one of you will as well.
Around noon it was time to leave Tirana. I found a cab and asked him to take me to the bus station. I've noticed that most cab drivers I have had in the Balkans will ask where I am going and if I ask to be taken to the bus station they will proceed to offer to drive me there for various prices. It's much more than the bus, but cab drivers know how busses can take forever and often lack air conditioning. I usually refuse, but this cab driver was friendly and spoke excellent English, had the AC on and offered a pretty fair price. My cab driver and I talked for the first half of the drive to Durrës. He talked at great length about his family and showed me a video of his son playing the drums and claimed he was the best in Albania. I was unsure about "best" but after watching the video I will say he likely was the best. The video seriously reminded me of Niel Peart. Most of our discussion was about music and halfway through the trip, he put on a mixtape he had made. I liked it and for the rest of the drive, we blasted BB King, Eric Clapton, and the other artists he had selected. It was nice.
After arrival in Durrës, I met up with my friends and had an amazing and reasonably priced lunch. Durrës is on the coast so we ate seafood. Next was exploring the city of Durrës. The highlights included a Roman amphitheater, the Durrës Archeological Museum, and a castle from the Byzantine Empire. Here are some photos.
At the top of the castle tower, there is a nice bar with incredible views.
In the late afternoon, we made out way to the beaches south of Durrës. The evening on the beach was very fun and the coast was beautiful. I left my phone in the room because the beach was very crowded so sadly I do not have any photos.
So that was my weekend. Sunday was uneventful and I slept during my bus ride. I will update again next week at some point after I get back from Istanbul. Ciao!