Shopping in Albania

(Note: Thank you to those who pointed out that you couldn't click on the photos to enlarge them. I did some research and figured out how to fix that problem in future posts. Let me know if this works.)

One of the most challenging and yet enjoyable things about living in a country for six weeks is having to shop for what one needs from day to day. This can be especially entertaining in Erseka, since this is still a land where English is nearly useless. Perhaps because Albania was completely closed and isolated under communism, most of the people in smaller towns like this know little English, and not even my limited Spanish and German helps a bit. That means we do a lot of smiling, pointing and saying "po" (yes) and "yo" (no) -- and trying not to nod or shake our heads, because those motions are opposite here. A nod actually means "no," which gets me into so much trouble, you couldn't imagine.


Today we ventured to the weekly "market," which is a flee-market-type gathering in the middle of the town. Locals from Erseka and surrounding villages don their best clothes and walk up and down the rows of stalls, purchasing things like used clothing, socks and underwear, fruits and vegetables, pots and pans, a few tools here and there, and pretty much the gamut of Chinese-made knicknacks. Shoes are very expensive in Albania, so many people were rummaging through the piles of used shoes, which local cobblers spiff up and sell for a great deal. Same with clothing. Ruth picked up some used shorts for $2 (she would have gotten them cheaper, I think, but the vendor heard us speaking English). We also bought dish soap, tomatoes and deoderant.  Kind of like an Albanian Walmart, right?

Normally, however, I like to visit the small stores located on every block of this town, often right next to each other.  These stores are very similar to one another, leading me to wonder how they manage to stay in business.  They all carry pretty much the same produce, which is very fresh and yummy but lacks a lot of variety.  Inside the store, you'll find some basic types of frozen meats, milk in boxes, rice, pasta, one or two types of jelly, one kind of cheese and exactly two kinds of cereal -- corn flakes and Coco Puffs.  Ruth showed me where to find a few specialty items, like some tortilla-type things; thick, Greek yogurt that substitutes for sour cream; and boullion cubes to make soup. I have narrowed my shopping down to three stores where the shopkeepers know me as the helpless American and always write down the cost of everything by hand (no cash registers here), so I know how much to pay.

I have great admiration for these shopkeepers, who literally work from dawn until dusk.  They are mostly middle-aged women, but you'll often see their older parents helping out, or their grown sons and daughters, leading me to believe these are truly family-based businesses.  Best of all, the business owners here are reputed for their honesty.  Despite the hard-scrabble life they lead, they earn each "lek" in a clean, respectable way, not even taking advantage of a gullible foreigner like me who takes out a large bill and waits wide-eyed while they count out my change.  Before I go, they pass out a candy to each of my children, kiss me on the cheeks and send me on my way.