Experts

For all of you lawyers and judges out there, this post is for you.  Today, I spent the day with some prosecutors in Durres, whom I met for the first time today.  Somehow in our discussions, we got distracted by a discussion of expert witnesses.  Essentially, if something could be the subject of an expert opinion, financial records for example, then courts often require that an expert analyze the records.  According to the prosecutors, some cases do not require experts because they think anyone should be able to look at the evidence and see if they proved their case.  However, they have begun hiring an expert before submitting the evidence to the court before the court forces the issue.  They must "hire" an independent expert and cannot use someone like an auditor from their office or one of their investigators to analyze the records.  In the eyes of the court, someone from the prosecution office would be biased, whereas a paid expert is not biased (go figure). 

This is where Albania meets the U.S. - prosecutors hire an expert who offers his opinion.  Then defendants hire an expert who, surprise, has a different opinion.  So far, so good.  Then, you would think that the judge (no jury trials here), who is paid to "decide" the case, would make a decision.  Generally speaking, that is not what happens next.  If the court is presented with two conflicting opinions, then the court will hire its own expert to render yet another opinion.  If the judge does this, then he simply throws out the first two opinions. 

Today, after meeting with prosecutors, we had lunch with our favorite Durres judge, the President of the court in Durres, Irvin Metalla or Vini (almost every Albanian has a nickname - Irvin is Vini; Dritan is Tani; Julian is Juli; etc.).  So, we ask Vini his opinion on this subject and we were happy to learn that he just had a case with conflicting opinions and was about to hire an expert for the court.  However, he decided that the case was not that complicated and that no additional expert was needed.  He decided to just make a decision without hiring another expert.  

We were very happy to hear this result.   Everything here is baby steps and we are happy when someone has taken some baby steps.  The best thing about today - lunch at The Virgin Restaurant (don't ask - I have yet to hear why this is the name of the restaurant).  It is a fish place by the Adriatic Sea, and it is very good.  Every time we go there, Vini insists on paying.  This time, before we went, we called and said we were treating him, since we had invited him.  So, he called the restaurant the day before, had them go out and catch a very big, fresh fish, and of course he paid them in advance the day before.  Smart guy.

Happy holidays to all of you - 

Cindy

A Night At the Concert

Last night we went to a concert.  It was billed as "3 tenoret" although instead of three tenors there were four, and two sopranos and a pianist.  But the three tenors were the bulk of the singing portion of the concert.  The three Albanian tenors are Adrian Xhema, Kastriot Tusha, and Armaldo Kllogjri.  The three guests were Katia Ricciarelli, Francesco Zingariello, and Ramona Tullumani.  Pianist was Genc Tukiçi,

The first part of the program consisted of tenor arias.  There was no program, so it's hard to remember now.  It seemed to be mostly Puccini, with a little Verdi and Rossini thrown in, which is not at all bad for tenor arias.  We closed the first part with a piano solo, which was a Theme and Variations on Rondo alla Turca.  It was fairly modern, because there was a jazz variation late in the piece.  I don't know who wrote it, but no doubt Mozart would have been interested.

Then we had a short intermission in situ, during which commercials for the sponsors were shown on the screens -- banks, Vodafone, Stela beer, etc.  An interesting intermission, but it had the wonderful benefit of not having to tolerate scores of stragglers interrupting the first piece of the second half.

Second  half started off with the orchestra playing concert adaptations of movie themes while scenes from the movies were played on screen.  There were four films, Rocky and Titanic being the two I knew.  The first was an old movie where apparently a group of Turkish officials were shot, and the next I just can't really describe.

After the movies we were back to opera, more Puccini:  Nessun Dorma from Turandot, mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi.  Then Katia Ricciarelli and Francesco Zingariello came out and did some duets and solos, all of which I remembered and none of them that I can recall the name.  The evening ended with some Neapolitan songs -- O Sole Mio, Funiculi Funicula, and what sounded like a Greek dancing song to me, but that is not said here, it was an Albanian dancing song, wildly approved by the audience

After the performance we all went to eat a late supper at the Rogner Hotel, just down the block from the concert -- me, Taylor, Cindy, and Chelsi.  The food, the wine and the company  were all quite good.  I had a little lagniappe moment when my food was delivered -- stuck right on top as a garnish was a little spray of sage.  I asked the waiter what it was called in Albanian.  He wrote it down for me.  I asked the waitress where I could buy some -- she didn't know, and wondered why I needed to buy any.  It's medicine.  They don't cook with it.  So now that I'm no longer looking for food, but medicinal weeds, I think I may have some luck.  Saltimboca is almost on the way!

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a great Thanksgiving Dinner.  We ended up with lots of people and lots of food and few leftovers, so it was the best possible outcome.  We had a great time.  We all crowded around the table, Cindy, Taylor, Chelsi, me, Peter and Kim (Canadian), Roza (our long-suffering language teacher), Bill, Peter, Leslie, Kendra, (Peace Corps), Kathy (Irish-American lawyer), and Mrs. B, Chelsi's friend.  The menu was pretty much as I mentioned before, but no corn pudding and no green vegetable.  Chelsi's cornbread dressing was really good.  Lauren and Kendra stayed a few extra days -- I think they had a good time.  Pictures are available on Chelsi's blog, http://www.chelsialbaniaadventure.blogspot.com.   I didn't take any.

Little Bajram Day

We are home from work today because this is the Muslim holiday called Little Bajram Day.  Bajram is pronounced just like the town of Byrum just south of Jackson.  I did the Google and found the following:  Eid al-Adha is the Arabic name.  It is a day of sacrifice, and comes at the end of the pilgrimage month and honors the would be sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham.  

People here kill a chicken, or some people here kill a chicken.  When I asked Albanian people I know what the significance of Little Bajram Day is, most said killing the chicken.  According to the Google, the meat sacrifice is shared one-third to the family; one-third to friends; one-third to the poor.  

It actually started yesterday at sunset.  I think Jewish and Muslim holidays start at sundown on the day before the calendar day; Christian holidays are calendar-day holidays.  Don't know why that is.

Anyway, the embassy closes for American as well as Albanian holidays, so we're closed today.  

Speaking of holidays, my class starts January 20 at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute.  This is inauguration day, and it is a Federal Holiday, but limited to federal workers in the DC area.  So I guess my class will start the 21st.  I'll be in DC for a month, staying at the Oakwood Apartments at Crystal City.  More about that later.

Thanksgiving Planning

I'm not sure how many people Cindy has invited to join us for Thanksgiving Dinner, but I know it's more people than we have chairs.  The embassy sent around a request for people to host Peace Corps volunteers from around the country, and we're hosting four.  I think some of them are spending the night.  

Chelsi will be here -- she's in charge of making the dressing, something I've never made.  She hasn't either, her father always has, but he sent her his directions.  

We have a young Coast Guard lieutenant who just arrived at post.  She is in charge of something called EXBS, which is something about Customs and Border Security.  She's coming.

We have a Canadian couple who live here in Tirana coming also.  He works for a big Austrian bank here.  I'm not sure how the structure is; he's one of three directors here, but it seems to be more like the president than our directors.

We may have a lady who has dual citizenship, US and Irish.  She is a lawyer who works with a European Union organization.  One has to be a citizen of an EU country to hold the job, so her Irish grandmother has helped her out.

I'm sure we'll have more by Thursday.

So I've been trying to plan a menu.  Turkeys are not available here until around New Year's.  That's the traditional New Year's Day dinner.  Someone at the embassy arranged for us to buy turkeys from Macedonia -- not sure how-- but I ordered two, and Tuesday someone drove to Macedonia and picked up boxes of frozen turkeys from North Carolina.  I got two 14 pound ones, the smallest available.  There must have been a couple hundred turkeys being distributed.  So we'll have turkey after all.

Elisabeth sent me some cranberries and sweet potatoes that arrived today in good shape.  Neither of those are available here.  The only corn available here is canned or frozen corn, so I'm thinking about getting a couple cans and seeing if I can turn them into creamed corn for a pudding.

In Bethesda I had some jello and blueberry pie filling that was shipped over here, enough to make a jello dish.  It calls for a can of crushed pineapple, but the rings are all we can get here, so I'll have to process it.  

Sour cream is not available here, so I'm going to make some with ricotta and lemon juice.  The buttermilk here is imported from Greece, and it's not like what we have.  It is not as thick, and you have to shake it up good first to mix the liquid and the solids together.  But it works good to cook with.

So the menu, at least, is coming together.  It's a little short on vegetables.  Veggies, as in green veggies, are pretty limited.  We get good broccoli sometimes, and green broad beans.  I have not seen asparagus yet.  If they have asparagus the season would have been over when we got here, so maybe next year.  They import pineapples, but not asparagus, so it may not ever be available.  I've seen some artichokes from time to time.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanksgiving starts a five-day holiday for us.  The embassy is closed for American and Albanian holidays.  Friday is Independence Day for Albania, Nov. 28, 1912, which is when they finally got out from under Ottoman rule, which lasted 400 years.  Monday is Liberation Day, Nov. 29, 1944, when the Germans/Italians were finally driven out of Albania by the Greeks, Brits, Albanian partisans, and probably some more.

So thank you, Elisabeth!  Looking forward to cranberry relish and sweet potato casserole.

 

American Embassy Tirana

I thought I would post the website to the American Embassy here in Tirana. If any of you are interested in what is going on here, this is a good place to look. If we do anything that is press-related, then it usually appears here. If you scroll down far enough, you will see the MAPO cover with me on it and a short description of what the interview was all about.

http://tirana.usembassy.gov/

I have also copied below the entire text of the speech given by our African-American Ambassador John L. Withers II, at the morning after election day breakfast. This speech is worth reading in its entirety:

Remarks by U.S. Ambassador John L. Withers II U.S. at the Election Breakfast (November 5, 2008)
Good morning ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for attending and sharing with us a very special day, the day after the elections of 2008.

I want to thank the American Chamber of Commerce for hosting, arranging this event in conjunction with the American Embassy.I would like to take a little privilege and speak to you less as the American Ambassador to Albania than as an American citizen and a voter. Today is a very special day for America and for Americans. The elections results of last night have declared Barack Obama to be the President-Elect and have changed the direction of American history.
Many decades ago, Dr. Martin Luther King expressed a dream for America. It is a dream that captivated Americans and is shared by millions from all walks and statuses of life. He dreamed of a day that would come in which Americans would not judge each another by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Today, millions upon millions of Americans, whether they be black or white, whether they be old or young, whether they be male or female, whether they be straight or gay, have shown that they wish to fulfill the dream that Dr. King shared decades ago.

They looked at two of the finest that America could produce. Senator John McCain, who is one of the finest Americans of our generation: a man of integrity and so much courage that when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam and had the opportunity to be released early under a special program, refused. Rather, he preferred to remain in jail with his fellow prisoners of war. And Senator, now President-Elect Barack Obama - an African American who had the audacity to hope.

A choice was made between these two fine Americans on the basis of issue, of programs, of ideas. And America preferred the one over the other without disrespect to the person who lost the race.

This morning, I received dozens of emails from my friends and family in the United States. When you take all of the sentiments that were presented in those various emails, they all came down to one thing: the one question, “Well, how do you feel now?”

I thought about that a little bit as I was coming over here and I think the only way I can describe my feelings is this. There was a song sung by the African-American slaves during the time of their bondage centuries ago. And amongst the lines in that song were words that I would paraphrase thus:

On my way to the promised land,
I heard from Heaven today.
God is going to give me his right hand,
I heard from the Heaven today.

How do I feel? I feel like I’m standing amongst my beloved American countrymen, and we are reaching out and we are touching the hand of God.

Current Events

Two great minds, One great magazine, Two stellar weeks!