Medical Issues and Making Decisions in Tirana

 

I’ve gotten way too comfortable in this apartment. 

I was thrilled to find this place was available back in February.  My memory of it being the best of the four places I stayed in the city last summer was accurate.   

Just as a reminder, this place has a killer location in the center of the city.  There’s a taxi stand just out front, a pharmacy right next door, and a great place for a cheap, tasty breakfast right across the street.  I’m near enough to the mosque to hear the call to prayer daily and get a great view of the Marriot Hotel in the distance.

I was able to extend my stay for the full three months of this time in Albania.  This will be my longest continuous stay in a single apartment in the last three years.  Once again, I just wasn’t feeling the logistics of heading towards the ocean.  Not that I don’t want to see the coastal cities, but I find myself easily getting into a routine while having longer-term housing.  Yes, I am ready to be in my own place.  I feel like I’m closer to it but … there are still issues.

For the last few months, I’ve been grappling with the changes happening in Portugal.  The switch to the new immigration system and the increased anti-immigrant sentiments are troubling.  Not to mention the fact that I don’t think I can afford it now any more than the locals can.

But Albania might be a better option.  It’s definitely cheaper and I do love Tirana.  I still have to look into the visa options for here and Cyprus, but I think I’m finally ready to let go of Portugal.

For now.

I’m not happy about it.  I do love Portugal, but I have to face reality.  Tirana may just be it.  

And I’ve already made some connection here as I had my first real medical issue on the road.

Sure, I’ve had colds and scrapes over the last three years but those were never enough to prompt me to see a doctor.  Then one day back in March, I could feel the telltale signs of a sinus infection.

I haven’t had a sinus infection in years and when I did, I attributed it to the office building I was working in.  My co-workers often complained about the black soot that would come out of the vents.  It would cover the desks and lead to multiple breathing and ear infection issues.

I’ve always been pretty hardy.  The issues that would travel around the office usually missed me.  Not this time, though.  When I’d never had sinus issues before, suddenly I had two infections in the same year.  The first one was so bad that it spread from one ear to the other and forced me to go to the doctor (something I hate to do).  When the second one hit a few months later, I knew better than to let it go on for so long.

That was at least 7 years ago while I was still employed and living in the U.S.  Now I’m in Albania.  Okay.

(No joke, this building freaked me out when I was here last year.  I kept asking myself "hey, wasn't that red earlier?"  Now I just try to catch it mid-color change.  Somehow, I keep missing it.)

As I said, I haven’t been to the doctor in years.  Bad, I know, but I really didn’t want to deal with the hassle of seeking medical care in a foreign country if I didn’t need to.  I did try to see a doctor last year when I got amla in my eye which made it turn red and bulgy for several days.  The language barrier caught me, though, and I didn’t end up seeing one.

Finding a doctor in Albania was a unique experience.   I realized that, in all my wonderings around the city, I'd never passed by a hospital.  There are plenty of dental office and opticians, but I rarely saw a sign for a clinic or even emergency care (despite the numerous ambulances I hear constantly).

When I found one, I was amazed by how the process was so informal.  You mean I don’t have to give you my family medical history going back five generations?  I don’t have to wait for 20 minutes even though I showed up on time?  I already knew I probably wouldn’t have to show my insurance card (traveler’s insurance with Safetywing) even though I had it loaded on my phone just in case.  I was still surprised that the only thing they asked for was my name (which they spelled differently each time) and my age.  I saw the doctor briefly for an exam then she had me go for an x-ray. 

That was another odd experience as they had me stand up against the now vertical bed with my mouth open. The took the picture, gave me a copy of it, and sent me back to the doctor.  She said the infection was only starting and prescribed me 5 days of antibiotics.

The doctor’s visit was 80 euros (more than I was expecting) while the pills were (expectedly) cheap.  They worked like a charm and I’ve been infection free ever since.

Anywho, still alive and well.  I've reached the big old age of 55 now.  Still wandering but hopefully close to finding a new home.

Three Years!

 

How?  How has it been three years since I started this journey?

I’ve always said that the perception of time distorts the older you get.  When you’re told at 10 years old that you’ll do fun stuff on Saturday and it’s only Tuesday?  That was a torturous eternity.  Now (if you’re lucky) you get to be my ripe old age of 54 and you blink and three years pass.  Three whole years!

On March 2, I landed in Lisbon, now one of my favorite cities.  But just before March 2 of this year, I landed again in Tirana, another favorite of mine.  Three years in, I crave familiarity which made me happy to book the same place I stayed when I first visited the city last summer.

My host did warn me that there would be some protests in the area but that they might not impact my trip in.  I did hear some ruckus as the taxi pulled in front of the building, but I didn’t see anything that night.  More on that later.

It’s cooler in Albania than in Cyprus.  I expected that but I also wanted to get a sense of what the city is like in the winter.  Not too bad, a little nippy as I set out on my first morning to get breakfast and supplies.  It was decent enough for me to visit the Millenium Café again and sit outside, just as I had on my first morning in the city last year.  The treehouse-like atmosphere wasn’t as lush as it was in the summer but at least there were no bees this time.  Believe me, I was looking out for them.  I haven’t forgotten about you, crazed Albanian bees -- it took weeks for my swollen bee foot to heal!

A few days after my arrival in the city I got a sense that the protests were still going on. I would see a group of people sitting outside a government building for days around a small display of signs.  Then one day I went out to get some groceries on a rainy, yucky afternoon and saw this on my way into the store.

 

I’m not sure what the protests and I only heard later that there was some rowdiness. I didn't see any of that, though, so I wasn’t worried about it.  Still beats being in the U.S.  And here, unlike in Cyprus, I can have hot water any time I want!  Love that!

I’d been in the city for a couple of weeks when I stumbled into a street festival.  Also not sure what this was about but it was nice to see everyone out enjoying the early spring weather.  There were a number of stalls selling crafts and snacks along with a lot of big cookies.  So in my mind, it was just the Big Cookie festival.

This video came out a few days after getting to the city.  It was cool to see one my favorite travel vloggers walking the same streets that I’m on now.

The Don'ts of Visiting Albania