Support the chances

But in these countries there is also a lot of potential. To name a few I could start with the human resources in its youth. Not all but many young people are eager and willing to work very hard and invest in themselves. Besides their majors they speak one or two extra languages next to their mother tongue.

The robust educational system and more specifically the beta studies are another asset. In comparison to The Netherlands young people still enroll in these studies.

Furthermore I think that our Western products shouldn’t automatically replace the traditions of homegrown food and honest recipes and some of the traditional products. Is the EU influence only based on streamlining food security from the viewpoint of risk prevention and quality control? Or can it also leave space for the traditions of these countries, that might not have given them very high product efficiency, but certainly better tasting fruits and veggies, plus the tradition to use everything and to throw away nothing. Earlier, I wrote about complaining Dutch citizens, because the plumb trees planted in their streets were polluting their cars and attracted wasps. In the countries I visited nobody needs to die of hunger in summer and autumn, because fruit and nut trees, vegetables in the fields, can provide for all. Here the people are much closer to nature and its products than in Northwestern Europe. Their tradition and our so-called ‘slow-food’ and honest homegrown products could be combined.

However is it possible to keep these chances intact? Or will the patterns of change, like I saw them in the nineties in Poland and the Baltic States, repeat itself? A total wipe out of their traditional products by the multinational giants, like for instance Coca Cola, Pepsi, Unilever, Nestlé etc. and with the by-effect of an enormous aluminum, metal and plastic pollution, because their products are coming into a market where people have no or very small awareness of environmental effects of throwing away plastic bottles for example.

Why don’t we support these countries from the very beginning and start environmental awareness campaigns, with heavy duties for these multinationals, alongside the inevitable economic equalization process?

I am not an expert on the talks and negotiations that these countries go through in the stages of preparation for EU-admittance. But I hope that from the evaluation of the joining of CIS countries these lessons and insights are seriously used and applied. I believe that it would be good for them and also for us, since we have lost so much on our way to ‘progress’ that we only regretted after the losses were almost irreparable. That shouldn’t have to happen again. That would be a shame I think.

Personally, I have ‘tasted’ enough of these countries and people to most certainly bring me back there. Definitely in my free time, but maybe also in my professional time, using my previous experiences and try to fit these to our mutual benefits.

Looking back on this six week trip

From being alone, I being the only one responsible for my actions, decisions and their consequences, my successes and failures, I am back now into the world with my wife, children, family, friends and responsibilities. This needs some time for adjustment and I knew this beforehand, but there is a difference of knowing it and the real thing.

Of course during these six weeks on my own, I did not live like a hermit. I also like company. I am not the loner type. This trip, that didn’t give a single negative experience at all, made me realize that the confrontation of other people from a positive point of view of trust and wonderment without doubt and suspicion, feels good. It proofed also more productive in getting into some form of communication, even if the spoken languages did not match. And traveling through the Balkan as a West European this will often be the case. This lesson, I will bring to mind after my sabbatical.

How old is 55?

The other element, I was not quite sure of, was if at my age of 55, travel companions, hosts and people in the street you just encounter with a question, would not find me odd, a loner on his bicycle. As far as I can judge it by my experiences, people never gave me that feeling. Maybe that is because on a bicycle you are so much more approachable than for instance in a private car. Maybe because they also are astonished and curious, that could very well be. But this expected disapproval was never there and that gave an enormous reassurance and a lot of confidence in myself. It just was what I hoped it to be, a social and societal adventure into countries and cultures, that I never visited before and in which I had no experience. I consider this as another of the many treasures, I will cherish and nourish forever.

Between disillusion and hope

Another element of this trip, touring specifically the former communistic countries Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia Hercegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and Albania, that will stay with me is a mixed feeling, one of hope and positivism and contrarily despair and disillusion.

I imagined myself as a young man, no job, and no incentive from parents to educate oneself as best as possible. The further South I came, the more you see the young men hanging around, trying to distinguish themselves from all the others, but ending up doing all the same. Drink a coffee and smoke like their fathers and grandfathers, being very serious about their mobile and some about their twenty year old smoke cuffing VW Golf. Of course they would like to work, start a family but how can they? There are just no jobs, although there is work enough! But they can’t see – what I see – because they lack examples, role models, a little push, some appreciation and trust. Going abroad, as only the bravest do, doesn’t really help, because all their energy is encountered by us in the established part of the EU with mistrust, envy and fear. And if you are Serbian or Albanian you can’t legally work anywhere in the EU.

But despite all this negativism there are also bright spots of hope. I do not know if my observation is blurred by the interest in the other sex, but it seems to be that in these societies the girls and women are the most studious and diligent. They seem not so busy with their appearance and their own presence amongst their peers. They seem more communicative and open. Asking a question on the street to a young men or women made a difference. The men more often turned me down, or told me they did not understand me, than the women.

Of course you also meet well-educated men and women, both eager to get ahead. Both targeted and knowing what they are or want to be doing. But making a comparison between the young people I spoke to in Hungary and for instance in Albania, the ones in Hungary – although with the strong intention to work in their country – seem disappointed. They told me they feel they can’t ‘stick their heads through the ceiling’. It’s the power structure of the old Hungary, ruled by the clan of former communists, now often turned into nationalists and strong believers in the status quo that pushes and keeps them down.

In Albania there seemed to be more hope and less disillusion. They still see a future for themselves in which their time will come, where the Hungarians are looking abroad to at least give their enthusiasm and energy a chance to blossom.I have no explanation for these differences in the atmospheres.

What can we do?

If we believe in the European Union as not only an economic entity, but also a pacifying and levering vehicle, bringing us all a more stable and better future, what can we do to make this a reality?  

I wrote earlier that one of most successful models to build up mutual trust, companionship and communication channels is through person – to – person relationships at different levels of society. Private initiatives of exchange, like teachers to teachers, schools to schools,  cooperation and relationships between craftsmen, SME's, municipal workers willing to share their experiences, are powerful tools of change. I belief that this policy should be built up at EU-level, but without the money factor playing a significant role. This would only attract the wrong people on both ends and would lead to an early death, because of the killing red tape. Because ‘not going by the book’ is one of the rules in these countries. Therefore some flexibility and time is badly needed. Otherwise there will be smart local politicians, banning smoking in all bars, restaurants and workplaces, according to EU-regulations, just for the record and their shiny exposure. Still I could not find one of these places living up to it!

The often heart argument that this would only lead to spilling ‘our’ communal (EU) funds and to misuse, because these societies are so corrupt, is up for debate. Our Western definition of corruption just takes into account if something is legal or illegal. But shouldn’t the final results of an activity – take for example the postbox constructions of the Netherlands – not be part of the definition as well? We don’t call it corrupt, but these tax constructions certainly do not appreciate the losses to our national budget. These revenues never become part of it, because we allow some firms these legal constructions. But for me that’s just as corrupt as we tend to stamp the societies of the Southern parts of Europe and the Balkans with. This is not a plea to keep intact the nepotism, the arbitrariness, the insecurity of legal protection of basic human rights, like freedom of speech and sexual orientation. On the contrary, this should change, but the question is how can we do this most effectively, efficient and are we willing to look critically at our own ingrained and established methods and instruments?

TO BE CONTINUED!

11 October Tirana - Tirana Airport – Brussels’ Airport – Turnhout - home

With the help of the security guard of the hotel, my pedals are loosened. When I come down after my breakfast the job is finished. Also the lady host of the hotel has bargained a good prize per taxi for the trip directly to the airport.

After warm goodbye’s, I decide to take off for Albania airport. We arrive at 11.00 a.m. and the check in counter will only open up at 14.00 hours. I sit outside, in the morning sun, drink a coffee and work on my blog.

The bicycle, which I have wrapped in cardboard and taped myself, is not properly packed. So I decide to have both packages plastic wrapped. After some bargaining with the guys running the machine we agree on two packages for the price of one.

I check in my bicycle and hope for the best. We will see how it will come out in Brussels’.

The trip goes according to plan and it gives me time to think my bicycle adventure over. Some of these thoughts, I will share with you in my concluding chapter.

The flight arrives in time. At Brussels’ airport I reassemble wheels, saddle and steering of my bicycle, after unwrapping the packages. I role the bicycle to he station, buy tickets to Turnhout.

 

I arrive at 21.00 hours and am re-united with my lovely wife Ameli. Happy to see each other again, we drive home. My trip has officially ended, but it will take some time to readjust to ‘normal’ life, whatever that maybe. But one thing I know for sure, every minute of this 6 past weeks have been worth the experience. It was just fabulous. I‘ll tell you why tomorrow.

10 October Tirana

In the morning I decide to try and find out about Tirana’s second year’s “Design Month”. According to the structure the Polis University should be the place to be.

At Skanderbeg Square the buses to this University seem to leave. After a coffee in bar I’ve two young economy students. One is so kind to walk me to the bus stop and tell the driver where I need to go. A single trip costs a little less than 0,20 €. Another succeeds the first bus escort. He walks me to a private business University. 

 Skanderberg Square in center Tirana

Friendly they tell me that the Polis University is some 5 kilometers away. Two students point me out another bus and even want to pay for my ticket! This kind of hospitality I have encountered all over Albania. People are proud of their country and want you to feel welcome. They are just fascinated that you come to visit them. I know this will not last forever, but this culture of making sure that you are well looked after is strong. I can give numerous examples and this makes Albania a warm bath, especially coming from the North Western European directness and business-is-business mentality.

businesses and universities have moved to the outskirts

The Polis University has about 500 private students. One of the faculties is design. The three founding fathers of the Institute, started during their architectural and urban planning studies, with an NGO that was supported by funding from the Dutch Embassy, European Union and others. After they graduated, they decided to turn the NGO into a private school, which grew out into the Polis University. Four years ago they moved away to the outskirts, because the growing number of students couldn’t be 

housed anymore in the downtown building. They bought an old abandoned factory, stripped the inside and made it into a spacious and modern equipped educational center.

A staff member greets me and the young co-coordinator of the design exhibition shows me around. It appears that there are strong ties to the Erasmus University and the International Housing School (IHS) based in Rotterdam.

The design exhibition is tiny and could probably learn a lot from ties with the Eindhoven Design Academy and their graduation exhibition during the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven in October.

wars in the Balkan and how they effected Albania

When I finally leave to take a bus back to Tirana’s Center, the guard taps me on the shoulder. He has been send after me to give me the brochure with presentations of their full program and exhibitions.

The bus takes me back and because my bicycle flies back home as well, I start gathering materials to firmly pack and wrap it. I have no idea if Tirana’s airport offers cardboard boxes or wrapping for bicycles. But I know from experience I need to dismantle by bike. The pedals off, air taken from the tires, etc.

I find cardboard, tape, but in the evening when I try to bicycle to a service station to ask if they can take the pedals of, the unavoidable happens for the first time this trip. An instant flat tire! A clear sign it’s been enough.

I’ll tackle this problem in the morning and go to dinner. I find a nice restaurant and receive some assistance to read the menu, by an Albanian speaking almost fluent German. After a short conservation about the beauty of the country and the friendliness of the people, I am again treated by a glass of red wine. It’s almost boring to mention but this is Albania at the moment. I feel a little sad, because I have come to the end of my beautiful bicycling trip, but it has been heart warming, interesting, rewarding and enlightening. Good night!

9 October bus Shkodra – Tirana

When I wake up it’s raining heavily. I decide to go to Tirana by bus. After thanking Martin and family members for their kind hospitality, I bicycle into town to bargain for a bus.

It’s crowded with people and there are many local bicyclists. There are even some bicycle racks. According to many I spoke to, Shkodra is the city where Albanians bicycle the most. I find the buses and even manage with the driver, to secure my bike standing up. That’s a relief, because it will come out all right with a much higher chance.

The bus takes me away from the rainy weather and into capital Tirana. When we reach Tirana’s main railway station the sun is shining. A hotel is found 200 meters down the street for a reasonable 15 euro a night.

It was good to take the bus, my bicycle could even stand up straight, and I prevented a trip along this busy road. I have been looking at the maps and after the experiences in the mountains so far, I will encounter still more and even higher passes when I try to reach the Igmoenitsa port in Greece, From there I can reach Istanbul by boat, but it will become a race against the clock and this I do not want. The road was my aim not the end destination. So after such a beautiful and inspiring trip I decide that Tirana will become the end station. I find a WIFI bar to start planning and preparing my flight back home.

That being taken care off, I enjoy the city, which comes to full life from around 15.30 till around 20.00 hours. It seems everyone is out on the street, going home from school, work or shopping for groceries, talking and having a coffee. At the Skanderberg Square, where the Opera and House of Culture are located and surrounded by many embassies, I run into a structure that says Tirana design month 15 September – 15 October. I decide I’ll find out more tomorrow. The Polis University seems to be the middle point of it all.

After asking for a restaurant with local food, I am escorted to a restaurant far away from one of the main arteries, Although you can’t enjoy city life, it’s better not to eat in the diesel fumes and the loud street noises. I enjoy some goat’s meet, a salad and another good local red wine. Tired, I put my legs up and fall asleep.

7 October Hotel Dardhe – Fushë-Arrëz – Rrapë - Pukë

After a long and refreshing night, I start at 9.45 and will see where it ends. I will not make it a long and tiresome day, because I still need to recover from yesterday and the days before.

At around two I arrive at Pukë. The forecasted rain is a little later and I arrive relatively dry at the hotel in the center. They ask a high prize and don’t seem particularly interested in me. Before I went in, a man in a small shop called out “Can I help you”. A first, I ignored this, but now I go back and realize he speaks good English. I ask him if there is an alternative for the Hotel. ‘Yes sure’, he answers. He knows a guesthouse, that he will call and ask for the prize and availability. A typical scene enrolls. He tries to reach them with his mobile. But apparently the phone-number of the place has changed. After some shouting over the square, another man walks up over to us. He greets me in English and it appears he worked two years in the UK and is now driving a taxi. He therefore has the correct telephone number. A call is made, a bed is available and I decide to go for it. A young man in a Landrover appears and waves to me to follow him. In less than a kilometer I arrive at ‘Hani’, a wonderful pension or guesthouse. However, it’s nowhere to be found via the Internet, besides a Facebook page. They have WIFI but no web page, which really is a pity, because they could attract many more tourists. You can make great hikes here, winter sports are also possible and trips by mini buses to other places of interest can be organized.

At 4, I eat the local bean soup, a salad and a bowl of rice. At seven I visit the downstairs’ restaurant again and meet with a hydroelectric engineer, fluent in English, 29 and married with a young child. He is an exception here, because he does neither smoke, nor drink. He also tells me that in Albania some years ago, even before France did, that forbids smoking in public places, restaurants and bars and is not allowed on the work-floor. But nowhere this law is respected or enforced. According to him this was just to make a good impression in Brussels.

Hani guesthouse

We exchange many thoughts, for instance about the development of this society, the need for a strong leadership and living with and caring for one’s parents. He reveals that Albania with around 3 million people – one million in Tirana – has many treasures. One is the abundance of water and the ability and need to increase the hydroelectric production. However, the relatively strong connection with the economies of Greece and Italy, are not in favor of current developments in Albania. A loan at the bank is almost impossible.

About strong leadership, he as a manager knows from experience, that people almost expect this. You can’t learn democracy by pushing a button. This reminds me of the other discussion with the army major some days ago, who was asking me if the politicians in The Netherlands were very rich. Asking this, revealed his thoughts: “They must be’, because ‘Hollanda’ is looked up to. When I tell him ‘No, if you want to become rich in the Netherlands, you’d better not become a politician, he laughs, obviously with unbelief. Nepotism in Albania is a widely spread disease!

The question is if the EU should not be stricter and wait longer before she invites these ‘young democracies’ into her midst and expects instant change and democratic behavior. You can change laws according to EU design, but what about the mentality of people and the non-existing checks and balances. Democracy is – as I see it – a historical and long-term construction that runs deep into the veins of the society and not something that is created overnight. This means that the generation of the clique of Enver Hoxha and the ‘new rich’, which have jumped into the wild capitalism stage, first need to vanish and grow up. A middle class requesting stability is badly needed, but this society is still far from it.

I believe that the twinning relationships, many cities in Western Europe built up in the former Central European states, were and are a superb vehicle to work on city and community level. They belong to a set of the strongest methods, next to supporting the NGO-community and independent journalism and student exchange, to bringing the awareness of democracy in all its ‘ins and outs’. After this trip that gave me a sniff of the Balkan states, I am quite convinced that a revival of this policy, EU-wide, could be of great assistance to unite our European worlds. It’s pitiful that so many Dutch cities have chosen to make deep cuts in these relative strong and cost efficient and promising relationships.

8 October Pukë - Shkodra

Did you know that the most popular car in Albania must be a second-hand Mercedes, and a filling station and the so-called ‘Car Lavazh’ (car wash), the most popular new smaller investments? You see the latter everywhere, popping out of the ground as mushrooms. Another phenomena are new buildings with names like ‘Europa Mobileri’ or ‘Mobileri Modern’, furniture for the newly built homes, because house construction sites for family houses you also see everywhere.

On my bicycle you see these things more clearly. The speed is not as great as in a car and the experience of landscape and surroundings are more intense.

From Pukë, it’s a fast decent for around 20 kilometers. I realize how high up in the mountains I have been and were. For kilometers I bicycle on a plain with only grass and small bushes, with on the left and right of me mountains up till 1600 meters.

I can’t find any rice waffles or gluten-free products, so I safe my Montenegrin packages.

In a bar in Kçirë, I stop for a coffee and get into a conversation with Martin Ded. The locals give me some fresh chestnuts, the bar owner serves me a free coffee. They all think I must be a little crazy to ride my bicycle from The Netherlands into Albanian mountains. Maybe I am!

Martin offers to take me up to the next top, but it appears his Land Rover is not big enough to carry my bicycle. A little later when I have climbed at least another 600 meters, he overhauls and inquires if I am all right. He invites me to his house in Shkodra. I agree and we meet again after the next decent. 

This piece of todays 60 kilometers is ‘Tour de Albania’ at it’s best. No car overhauls me here, dazzling down from hairpin to hairpin. I meet him again at the church and we drink another coffee and cola.

The next 20 kilometers Vau i Dejës to Shkodra are with headwind, but I do them in 50 minutes. It starts to rain more and more.

At the biggest Hotel in the center of Shkodra he meets me and I follow him to their family home. This is in a street unpaved and some 300 meters from the main asphalt street. The large houses with a gate bring back a memory from my Gedaref visits, although the ‘guard’ from there, is here replaced by a barking dog. But the call from the minaret for evening prayers is just the same.

 

Our conversations go on. He lives in Kristiansand Norway. Before he worked on an oilrig at Spitsbergen and made good money. In 1946 in the aftermath of the war a strange mix of communists and freedom fighters shot his grandfather, together and some village residents. His father and mother died both at around the age of 55. But they did everything to give him the best education. They all lived high up in the mountains in a family house. One of the landings during my boat trip from Koman to Fierzë was at the two-hour path up to his village, where today four families still live. At the local school he was treated with disdain and even beaten by the headmaster for the reason that their family saved some Jews during the 2^nd WW. This was the method used to make people understood who had the power now.

As a young boy Martin had a dream about living in Norway. Where it came from he cannot trace. But he has realized it, being a Norwegian citizen now and living in Kristiansand. He holds the opinion that Albanians first need to come to their senses and realize that if they do not change their mentality, there is no reason others should reach out with a helping hand. My argument is that what you don’t know you can’t ask for or change into something else. We exchange thoughts.

One of his other stories, for what it’s worth, is that he was asked to work as a clerk for the municipality. After a half year, he quit because his ethics could not be in line with what was requested. He was asked to create new and false identities for several persons. He claims that there are Albanians, which hold at least three names and identities. They use this for doing business. It’s clear that this is corruption and illegal. For his own protection he has photographed the proof of this. It took him in total 3 days. Then he informed the authorities and he quit his job.

Tired of talking we go to bed and I'll just see if the weather tomorrow gets a little better.