Tax time everywhere

Before I travel to Albania every spring I make sure to file early my tax return in the U.S. It’s quite a headache to take care of this task every year, which I have faithfully and painstakingly attended to, also on behalf of my organization.

In the U.S. it’s a recognized fact that we could use more streamlined forms, in addition to a complete reorganization of the I.R.S. laws that have become more convoluted over the years, but at least all sorts of information is readily available in print and online, in minute details. From my experience with tax returns and filing also in countries such as Italy and Albania, this chore can become a nightmare for diverse and different reasons. Basically this is due not only to the unnecessary complexity of the rules, but to the lack of documentation, and available information to the general public, but this, of course, provides excellent business for accountants and the (Italian) “commercialisti”.

In Albania there are additional and different type of problems in this field. Some progress has been made and continues to take place, with most laws (some of which poorly worded, not very specific, and quickly approved to make progress) available also online, but not very organized, and thus, difficult and time consuming to research.

Today, conscious of the approaching deadline, I made it my business to go and take care of the city and state taxes here in Tirana, and was happy that it was a beautiful sunny day, and I tell you why.

The city hall tax offices have been recently built outside, and behind the main large building. This annex of various individual, one floor, pre-fabricated small offices form a cluster under the shadow of the old clock tower in the center of the city. Most of them, however, are just big enough to hold the working staff, their desks and files, with open windows to the outside where the public can conduct their business. There is not even a ledger where one can either lay down papers or append a signature. You can imagine the situation during bad weather, where one must additionally hold an umbrella.

I have been in such a situation years ago, for another matter and at a different place, when I also had to wait for the clerk to complete the task at hand while I was standing by the window, with my feet in mud and a puddle of water that had formed underneath it, due to a pothole. In the early 1990’s, when needing some documentation, I also experienced being inside old and decrepit office buildings with no lights in narrow corridors jammed with people – mostly men, and all smoking. Beside suffocation, I also felt like a smoked herring!

By comparison today, the progress looks great. Most government offices have been completely renovated, and they now enjoy beautiful lighting, air conditioning, and heating, with shining marble floors and large hallways. Some exception, such as the above described one, are new recent additions needed to meet today’s demands for additional services unheard of under the dictatorial regime that lasted until 15 years ago.

It was interesting today watching people, with folders under their arms, scrambling for answers, or clarifications, waving papers, while questioning employees, and getting used to the modern democratic system of being tax payers. Even at the banks, nowadays, customers have learned to wait their turn patiently on line, and conduct all sorts of transactions, as individuals or business people that did not exist for over half a century under the old totalitarian government that developed after WWII. Much is still to be done, and it necessary to push forward!

Crazy March

After days, and days of continuous rain, which hampered the long holiday weekend in Albania, the sun finally decided to show itself for an entire day today. However, this was after a snow shower yesterday morning, that put a new layer of white on Mount Dajti. There were warnings about the difficulty and danger of using the tortuous road to the city of Elbasan. I remember traveling on it a few years ago: it goes through the mountains, with ups and downs, and many curves without any outside railing. I can imagine what it would be also with snow.


Tirana is a bit of a mess when it rains. While the city repaves the streets, the sidewalks are left to be fixed. Many are very uneven, and some even dangerous. Some businesses choose a variety of tiles in front of their stores, but, when wet, they can be very slippery. A taxi driver, the other day, was pointing out to me that even the materials chosen last year to repave the main boulevard is not of the type for safe walking, especially by the elderly, who in Tirana are forever taking strolls every day, in all sort of weather.


Today some were sitting, as usual, on the park benches, enjoying the warmth of the sun, which is also helping the spring flowers to bud out.......


while the "twin towers" of Tirana were proudly displaying their modern shapes against the clear blue sky!

Where is spring?

The bad weather continues to strike all of Europe, and the long holiday weekend has hampered traveling everywhere. Snow has reappeared, even at lower levels, to the delight of skiers, and rains and winds are clobbering trees, while the sea waves are smashing the coasts. The European TV channels are showing a variety of all these conditions, which also caused some deaths, and the weather forecast does not offer great hope for changes soon.

It’s interesting to see San Marco’s square in Venice at night, reflecting gorgeous colors from the beautifully lit buildings, which are under more than one meter of water. Very few people (and probably no tourists) are trashing about in tall boots, and the gondolas are undulating, empty in the wind. Mount Rosa in the northwestern corner of the Alps (at the bottom of which I used to live as a child) is experiencing – 22 degrees Celsius with snow falls (of about 1 ½ feet) also in areas as low as 700m above sea level. The large ferries that connect the Italian ports to the various islands are greatly affected by the bad condition of the seas. One of them, with a full cargo of passengers and 600 vehicles, had to take refuge near a cove of the French island of Corsica, and to remain there for 25 hours before being able to safely complete its journey.

Here, in Tirana, we had a bit of a break on Easter Sunday, with some sunshine, but during the night the rains started again and steadily continued throughout today. I feel fortunate not to have been affected by lack of electricity, which allows me to be warm inside my apartment, where I can enjoy the visits of my friends. Tomorrow, Tuesday, is again a religious holiday, but, by Wednesday, business life is going to jump again…..meantime, I am taking advantage of this seeming lull to handle house chores and the never ending paperwork.

Quiet Holiday weekend

The long religious holiday weekend has started here in Tirana, and I look forward to it, since it’ll provide for me a respite from official appointments, while allowing me to handle all sorts of paperwork that requires my continuous attention.

Contrary to the U.S., the Easter Sunday festivities in Europe traditionally spill over into Monday and it’s the perfect excuse for people to travel and take a spring break with the whole family. In Italy this Monday is called “Pasquetta” (or small Easter), while, in Albania, this coming Tuesday, I am told, is also a holiday (Novuz ??) in the Bektashi faith. Every religious conviction here is respected, and celebrated in peace with family and friends, with no great fanfare or interference from anyone else.

Unfortunately, this year the weather is not cooperating for great outings in Europe. Almost every country is inundated by continuous rainstorms and low pressure atmospheric conditions, and in many places the snow has reappeared even at lower altitudes. I feel quite comfortable in my apartment thanks to the available electricity, which allows me not only to be online, but to turn on and off my heating units as I need them.

The terrible accident of last Saturday near Tirana (widely covered by international media) that has claimed many lives (~ 20 so far confirmed dead) and produced enormous destruction of properties (> 380 buildings pulverized & 4000 displaced people) has caused a flurry of activities also in government, but it has not damped spirits. Albanian economy is moving along on a positive path, as confirmed also by the foreign press, and yesterday’s article from Sofia is a good compendium of this view.

Once my loyal Albanian friends know that I am here, they come visiting and, as usual, I am enjoying catching up on their news and feelings. Since I am now expecting company, I close this with greetings for everyone, everywhere!

Plusses & Minusses (2)

As I mentioned yesterday, one disadvantage, while traveling, could be troublesome communication, notwithstanding today’s high technology, and larger availability of areas that provide access to online connections. This is especially true in airports, but in the private sector, and lodgings, the situation can be quite a different story.

This is not the case only when traveling abroad, but even within one’s own country. I can attest to that with friends, living in the wealthy and prosperous country side of upstate New York that, unhappily, cannot rely on a good phone system, and even less on a broadband connection for their online computing.

Here in Tirana, last year I entered into a contract for ADSL service with a local company, and, although this was a step up from the intolerable dial-up service used previously, is nothing to rave about. The procedure to establish connection after every shut off is very awkward, and it requires quite often that I fuss around a bit to successfully get online. Additionally, the service staff, especially the non technical one, continues to lack good training in customer handling. When, the other day, I expressed my concerns, also about the seemingly not to speedy connection, to a supervisor (whom I’ve known for years), his reaction left me astounded. Lowering his eyes, he mumbled : “we are used to this way”!!

This exchange was happening while both of us where in the business section of the bank we use, and, coincidentally, its President was passing by and stopped to greet me. BTW, contrary to the above, I always, for years, observed the excellent training of this bank’s personnel, who wears complete uniforms when on duty, and is fluent in more than one language.

Having overhead part of the exchange I was having (although quietly handled), the bank’s President pulled me aside, and literally dragged me into the executive offices of the bank. While informing me that he was concerned since they use the same vendor, he actually wanted me to meet his newest VP for Information Technology. He made me smile when he introduced me to him as: “one of our best auditor: our own client”! Solicited to do so, he gave me the perfect opportunity to also discuss their online service and one of my recent experiences in handling a transaction that was ‘accepted by the bank’, but never went through completion due to an error, but I, as a client, was not automatically informed.

Conclusion: there is always a silver lining behind every dark cloud! Speaking of which, the rain stopped temporarily today and we welcomed some sun in Tirana, but the forecast for the next 10 days is for more rain and cold weather. The Dajti mountains encircling part of the capital display their snow capped peeks amidst the fast moving dark and white clouds. The spring looks like a long way off …but, again, the positive outcome of the current meteorological situation implies a good supply of water and, thus, electricity, that would otherwise be scarce in this ever growing city.

Plusses & Minusses (1)

Some of the disadvantages of traveling across the oceans are the discomforts of jet lag, and poorer communications, but, in return, many are the advantages of new experiences, and, among these, I always find the one relating to food most intriguing.

Every time I get back to Europe, and I am exposed to local foods, my taste buds are revived by the great flavors especially of fruits and vegetables that don’t have to travel long distances to reach the consumer. Yesterday, here in Tirana, I shopped, as usual, at the open door green market that is a short block from where I lodge. Some of the many stalls are manned by little old ladies in their black robes and white head scarves, who are always enticing the customers with welcoming smiles. Their products look fresh and tempting, and they are so easy to cook. It’s true that they require some old fashioned cleaning before consumption, but, once on your plate, they surely reward you with a smell and taste that is not easily described and is no longer known in most modern societies.

Among the vegetables that I like here there is a type of string bean that I have never seen back in NY. They are about 8/10 inches long, very flat, about one inch wide, and have tiny little beans inside. They cook in no time and don’t need to be steamed first. Carrots are sweet, and deliciously crunchy, and the thin skin, light green, elongated peppers are part of a daily diet among Albanians, along with leeks and eggplants. A special type of the latter is an eggplant the size of a long finger, who is treated with great care and lots of labor to produce a very interesting and delectable dessert!

Citrus fruits are forever present in Albania, and most households grow them in their own backyards. The tiny, little mandarins, have a thin peel and they are very sweet. Lemons are always served at every meal, and their juice is ‘a must’ even in some Albanian soups. Yesterday, my dessert was a cup of strawberries, so red, sweet, and juicy! They brought back memories of when I was a child in Albania.

Our new residence then, a 2 story villa with 14 rooms, was built in the newest part of town, and the planting of our garden and available land was planned by an Italian firm (still in business today) that specialized in horticulture. My mother could not believe the size of the fruits and vegetables that we harvested from this, then ‘virgin’ soil. I can remember large bowls of huge strawberries that mother would prepare almost every day with just some lemon juice (or, instead, a bit of good red wine vinegar – try it it’s delicious!).

After such pleasantries, I should write about some ‘minusses’, but it’s time for some house chores and lunch, and, hopefully, I should get back online with part 2 a little later.

On the way to Tirana

Traveling these days is a real chore, and one has to put up with many unexpected situations. Besides, unless one is business class (the cost of which is 4 times the one in economy!), there is not much room for a comfortable flight anymore since the planes are usually fully booked and everyone is packed in like sardines.

I left my residence in NY in cloudy and rainy weather, lucky that the forecasted snow showers did not materialize. The Super Shuttle was more than 20 minutes late for my pickup, and it was evident that the driver was a bit disorganized, to say the least. Unusually so, he was also not terribly familiar with JFK airport, did not recognize airlines’ names (that had to be repeated a few times by the passengers in his van), and, to top it off, let me off in the wrong spot (at the arrival instead of departure gates).

Austrian Airline was, as usual, very efficient in checking in and boarding, but it was delayed in departure by over 2 hours due a variety of other problems and the necessity to abide by today’s safety rules. This is not the first time that the luggage of a passenger that did not board the scheduled flight, had to be removed from the plane’s belly (cargo area) before leaving; meantime everyone else just sits and waits on board! This delay was extended on my flight when a passenger on board also fell sick at the last moment and a doctor had to be summoned for help.

I have never liked the 767 jets used by most airlines for transatlantic flights, which have extremely tight seats and leg room. Although, as usual, I got an aisle seat, as I wanted it, I was very uncomfortable during this entire trip for additional reasons that I shall recount below.

One my left, in the window seat, sat a very nice and chatty 24 years old young man, who was returning to his home in Macedonia, after 2 years of study and work in the U.S. One of his back backs was loaded with all sorts of the very latest electronic equipment, and he wanted to keep it right between his legs throughout the entire flight. My veiled attempt to dissuade him from doing so failed because he took into consideration only his own discomfort that he was willing to put up with, never realizing that he was infringing into my leg space, already tight. Not wanting to dampen his spirit, I put up with the situation, He was a bundle of nerves and, as if it was not already evident, he kept verbalizing his feelings of excitement about going home, while fussing around with his ultra sleek digital camera, his ipod, and the tv plane channels. He took numerous photos, watched movies, and listened to music – all this without missing a beat with his legs! Both of us, having wide shoulders, also overlapped our arms. I leave to your imagination how we spent, completely glued to each other, 10 hours (from NY to Vienna)! He never slept a wink, and neither could I since his every move, at every moment, kept me wide eyed and growing more tired by the hour. The flight was fully booked and it was not easy to spend even a few minutes standing, between the carts going back and forth, for dinner and breakfast, and the serving of water and juices that the Austrian stewardesses offer almost on an hourly basis throughout the night.

Arrived late in Vienna, everyone scattered around in transit to many other destinations. Only the passengers going to the northern countries really had to run to their gates to make their connections. It was interesting to see the hordes of people going through the Vienna security system. Everyone seemed well trained, though, in what to do: the passengers stripping themselves quickly, piling their wear, and hand luggage into the appropriate baskets, and the heavily staffed, security personnel on the ball at all times! We went through in no time notwithstanding the enormous crowd, and I proceeded to the gate for the flight to Albania that was due to leave within 45 minutes.

I found another huge crowd at this gate, mostly Albanians, and very little space to maneuver around. Some people were openly upset and on the verge of screaming when they found out that the flight was overbooked. The service staff handled everyone with courtesy, and efficiency, while trying to appease some and to influence others to leave at a later hour, by offering a fairly large sum in euro. Their thoughtfulness and approach in solving the problem they were facing was remarkable; in choosing the people that should make the flight, they even considered who, like me, were already taxed by the long haul having just arrived from overseas.

I found it amusing that many Albanians were not enticed at all by the offer, and found out later on why. Some were in a hurry to reach their families back home, following the horrible explosion that happened on Saturday in the ammunition depot 15 km from Tirana airport, where so far 25 deaths and over 200 people hurt have been counted. This awful accident, seemingly caused by human error in dismantling the many ammo gathered from the war years, has also caused the resignation yesterday of the current Minister of Defense (the buck must stop somewhere!).

The weather upon arrival in Tirana was not great either. It has been raining every day, and it’s still quite cool, especially in the evening. I finally reached my apartment thanks to my old, faithful driver who was waiting for me, as usual, and even helped me turn on the electrical and water systems once inside. After a quick stop at the local store to buy bottled water and milk, some unpacking and a quick shower, I conked out in bed for a couple of hours.

While the local phone service is ok, getting connected to the Internet, using either the dialup or my prepaid high speed service was another chore that I had to postpone until this morning, and will comment upon at another time. Now, onward to some more settling down here for a while!

On the move again

I cannot explain how February went by me so quickly until I look at my calendar, which is crammed with all sorts of activities and appointments, even discounting the enormous time spent troubleshooting a variety of other problems.

One of these was, unfortunately, the loss of Internet access provided to me by the local cable company. This happened just before a long holiday weekend, thus I did not get serviced until almost a week later. Some TV cable channels were also suffering from intermittent freezing spells, which drove me nuts when I tried to watch some of my favorite programs. My apartment thus fell under a “non-communicative” state for a while, until new wiring was rerun and completely tested.

The Internet connection was reestablished by the replacement of modem and power supply that failed, but, interestingly, some freezing still occurs with certain cable channels. These are the ones that use satellite transmission, which during this time of the year is affected by interferences from solar rays, I am told. It was strange to miss both types of connections so much, especially my high speed connection on which I rely so much daily for all sorts of transactions and research.

Meantime, I also had to run several errands for a sick friend, while undergoing all my annual medical checkups and physical therapy for my right knee, affected by osteo-arthritis and tears in my meniscus. Following an MRI test the orthopedic doctor suggested an arthroscopic intervention, which I have decided to postpone because it should be followed by several weeks of rehab, while, instead I need to travel again. Thanks to the great help of my therapist, I feel that I can face traveling, and so, this week, I have booked my next trip to Albania, with a possible extension into Montenegro.

It’s raining very hard in NY as I am writing and there is also a very dense, and unusual fog today. Lately the weather has been generally sunny, but we have experienced very strong wind and cool temperatures. I expect to find a bit more warmer conditions in Albania. Tonight I just have to turn the clock forward one hour since we are switching to DST much earlier this year.

So, friends, keep tuned for further news from Tirana, as soon as I can re-establish high speed connection after arriving there in another week (and, hopefully, not have to do more troubleshooting!). For now: bye bye, arrivederci, te fala!