Day two in Tirane

Late waking, Sunday, lazy day :) we go for a fresh waking coffee. Meet a dutch girl starting an internship in the embassy. We go for a rest after we think we figured out the national museum opens at 5pm. I will meet a friend there at this time. After a short nap i head there only to find close doors and an other disappointed tourist. She probably got the same wrong info. It is also closed tomorrow so to bad i wont see it... I walk around looking for some nice pictures to take.
At night i meet with Nora for a tour in the children's amusement park with her friend and her young son. A couple rides later, the kid still didn't have enough and probably will want more eternally. We head for a beer next doors and there we have a long interesting discussion about society, citing the brave new world i argue that the middle class masses in western civilization are just like the betas (or gammas i cant remember), brainwashed and manipulated trough their fears. The Soma of our modern civilization being consumption. Huxley pictured our society very well in his metaphor some 30 years ago.
The very interesting discussion goes on into societies happiness. I tell them that people here, in the Balkan, seem happier, especially in villages (of course not always but they are not starving, which i never saw). They have less stuff, if you look around a house here, they don't have piles useless stuff like we do store all around our houses (in nice different Ikea storages). Also they care less about what happens in the world. They don't get bothered so much about wars, suicide attacks and other climate catastrophe outside their world. They are bothered enough with they own small problems and neighborhood problems. Once these are solved (sometimes before) they go for coffee. This two things might be the explanation for more smiles and happy life. I don't say that everybody is satisfied and has his dreams fulfilled. Speaking about dreams, people have more dreams, objectives and are happy with simpler things. For example they are happy and laughing talking to a foreigner like me, helping him out. Talking around a coffee for hours (we do this on some Sundays, around here it is non stop, all along the week and at all times of the day). Not bothering so much about next month or next year. Not saving up for years with no precise goal. Not living on credit. Having time when they cross boarders to chat with the policemen...
This discussions stop as we go and meet Stavri and some of his friends in the Presidential park. Again, laughter, simple talks and chats. Then we get to be spectators of imaginary fights in the kids playground. Hitting the climbing ropes, fighting the structure of the swinging chair, the bushes branches. Doing push ups on the bars... All this to our entertainment and distracting us from some serious conversations...

Tirane 1