The construction site can be a place of great fulfillment, or a place of emptiness; it can be a venue which inspires either dread or a palpable, positive anticipation. I have worked on both kinds of construction sites. When I was 18, I was hired by an asphalt repair company for a summer: dread. When I was in my early 20’s, I worked offshore in the oil fields of the Gulf of Mexico for a year-and-a-half: palpable, positive anticipation. I am happy to say that the work-site in Tirana has a crew of workers who enjoy the work, and the way they feel at work.
Friday and Saturday we tore out an existing walkway and replaced it with a walk which will serve better as an entrance to the magazin addition we are remodeling. We have engineered the walk so that the water from it will flow into our new drain system, which will take some of the load off of the existing drain system. Everyone seems happy with the progress, and so am I. Progress in Albania tends to feel slow, but I am an Amerikan; my gauge is calibrated for a different kind of living.
After work today, Sajmir and I went for a walk which ended with me in the Qender (Center) of Albania’s capital. Days more beautiful than this one are very few.
albaniacalling 