The most celebrated holiday in Albania is New Year's. It seems that
one thing Muslims, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians can all agree on
is fireworks. On New Year's Eve in Tirana the streets are rife with
explosives, nothing is planned but everyone has a vague idea of what's
going down, and the feeling of a good-natured revolution is in the air.
Read the rest of: "New Year's Eve, Albanian Style"»
I spotted this grandma when I was in a traffic jam on the outskirts of Tirana, the capital city of Albania.
The picture doesn't show it clearly, but the woman is talking on her cell phone and gesturing - all the while walking calmly between 4 lanes of cars and trucks on a dusty highway. To me, this portrait shows a lot about how Albanians, isolated for half a century and now reintroduced to the rest of the world, merge the old with the new. Creative problem solving is a way of life. Hey, if walking down the middle of the highway gets you where you want to be......then go for it!
