I have made a number of interesting trips lately, including Israel and Colombia, with no blogging. This trip to Albania will, I hope, be different, and perhaps even lead to retro-blogging the earlier ones. There will be no mention of Liam Neeson’s daughter beyond this point.
To begin: the weirdest thing that I have seen here, and there has been a lot, has to be the “Samba Goal” dance routine just shown between the Ghana-Germany game and the Nigeria-Bosnia one. Take three attractive Albanian women. Have them dance to what sounds like polka with a Latin melody. (I call on Carlos and Doug to explain what I just heard.) And dance well, with a very Latin sinuousness, except for the leg kicks. The Cossack-style leg kicks. What?
That said, I am learning that you can mix polka (or what sounds like it to a clueless American from the non-polka part of the nation) into a lot of pop music.
I have also learned the raki is awesome here. I’ve had it in Turkey and Lebanon and thought, meh. In Albania, though, it almost but-not-quite as good as tequila. I will add that Albanians share Mexican incomprehension at the idea of the shot, which is one of the many things wrong with America.
Penultimately, Albanians are weirdly laid-back World Cup viewers, at least in the upscale districts where I am watching. They have blocked off a street for viewing games, but the ambience is weirdly detached. I was the only one to leap up and yell when Messi scored against Iran. The test, however, will be tomorrow at midnight, when I show up to cheer the United States against the evil colonizer of Angola and Mozambique.
Finally: a very highly-placed Socialist in the new administration is of mixed-feelings about the crackdown on marijuana in Lazarat. “How are they going to live? And it’s all going to be legalized within a decade anyway.” But it is what they need to do to join the European Union. Sadly, the Albanian government seems to be focussed on a number of silly things in order to join the European Union. Not that the goal is unworthy, even with the E.U.’s governance problems. But it is leading the government to put a lot of carts in front of its horses, which seems unwise. Thoughts?
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