"This summer i would like to go somewhere else. Maybe it would be nice to go to a beautiful beach, or maybe just enjoy a mountainous climate...Well, why not rest in the countryside, or stay in a small house close to the lake? Oh, it would be interesting to explore some archeological sites of old civilizations..." If you still don't have in mind a new option for where to go or what to do then go to Albania, you will find all the variety of holiday options in this country. Although it is a small country in the Balkans, surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the Western part and Kosovo, Greece, Montenegro and Macedonia on the other sides, Albania is a beautiful country with a long history starting centuries B.C. Since it is found in a geographical position where many civilizations have encountered, it has created a unique heritage influenced by Greeks, Romans and Ottomans.
The western part is coastal comprising two different seas: the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea. The first one has flat coasts, shallow waters and sandy beaches. While the Ionan Sea offers totally the opposite of the Adriatic Sea: rocky coastline, deep and sweet waters and interesting wild and small bays. Most of them are rarely visited but if you like adventure then you will be rewarded with interesting and intimate bays. Apart from the coastal part, there are many archeological sites along these coasts revealing the long history of the Illyrian, Greek and Roman settlements. Albania has many castles, forts and religious monuments, all depicting the long path existence of this country. If you are a fan of lakes, you can find them in different part of Albania but the most visited ones are the lake of Prespe and of Ohrid, parts of which are found in Macedonia also. Close to the lake, medium mountains are found which give a very pictoresque view to the city. On the Northern part, high mountains named as Albanian Alps are found. Here you can climb the mountains, go skiing, make excursions or do camping. You will find it a very breathtaking place full of caves, forests, cascades, canions, clear water rivers, colorful flora and fauna, national parks and valleys which have been elements of Albanian myths and legends.
This cultural and natural heritage is best completed with the tasty Albanian cuisine and the hospitality of the Albanian people. Our cuisine is influenced by Greek, Ottoman and Italian culture. Our meals consist of wide range of vegetables, meat and olive oil accompanied with garlic, pepper, vinegar, lemon juice and yoghurt. Albanians love the milk products and there are different types of cheese produced according to the regions. Although we have different types of desserts such as baklava, shendetli, cookies and pudings, we prefer the fruits a lot. Regarding the drinks, we produce raki from grapes, wine and cognac the most popular of which is 'Skanderbeg' having won some international competitions. Good food is enjoyed in the company of good people and although Albanians have suffered through the years and may not have high incomes, they have a famous statement showing their hospitality 'buke, kripe dhe zemer' which means that we can just offer you bread and salt but also our heart.
Still thinking of where to go?? Come to Albania and be my guest!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
What is who's?Putting artificial borders in Balkans
Sometimes i use to call my country 'the wonderland' because there are things happening there that despite being unlogical seem to be logical. Although we have a beautiful tourism, we do not get advantage of that; although we have the same politicians ruining our lives, we keep choosing the same ones; although we have water, we don't have electricity; although we have possibilities in our hand, we do not make a change. The last wonder that really shocks me has the name 'Bollano' who is the name of the mayor of the city of Himare in the south of Albania. Himare is a very beautiful and small touristic place where i used to spend my holidays with my family.
This mayor who is originally greek has been conducting an anti-albanian campaign which has been accused only by the media. In 2006, many citizens complained that the mayor was not allowing their registration in the city of Himare as citizens because there were not orthodox and were not speaking Greek. Although there was a unit from the government sent to check about these irregularities, nothing was done. After that in 2008, there was another charge against Bollano. He had given an order to remove all the touristic signs established along the road starting from Llogara to Borsh because they were in Albanian and English and not in Greek. These signs were put from the General Directory of the Roads after a project financed from World Bank and the governments of Austria and Holland. This mayor had no right to give such an order because it is not in his competences and secondly we are in Albania, there is no logic to put sign in greek language. It is so shocking how a public person can do whatever he wants in a country where the laws express the opposite of his actions.
After these two major events, the prosecutor of the district of Vlora has prepared the dossier with the charge of 'abuse of duty' and they are just waiting for the day of the trial. According to article number 248 of the criminial law, abuse of duty is charged with imprisonment. For me, the best charge for this person would be that after getting out of prison, he should leave the country and his entrance to this country should be banned. Apart from him, the prefect of Gjirokaster Spiro Ksera participated in the celebration of the 'proclamation of autonomy of Vorio-Epir' in a greek city close to the border. He was seen to be under the greek flag and participating as the prefect of Vorio-epir. For people that do not know, Vorio-Epir means the northern Epir. Epir was a region in Iliria in the end of 6th century B.C.; it became very important in the years of Pirro in the 3rd century B.C. The notion of Vorio-Epir in political sense stems from years when the greek Prime Minister Jan Koteli introduced Megali Idea (the big idea) which was the creation of a big greek state in 1844. Since then, the south of Albania, including the districts of Gjirokaster, Korce and part of district of Vlore(part of which is Himara) is seen as Vorio-Epir.
For me all these seems nonsense. I would never argue if Epir was Greek or Albanian 2000 years ago. For me what is important is the present and the future. The south of Albanian is Albania's, inhabited with people speaking a different language from Greeks and having their own tradition and culture. We leave in the 21st century and other things are priorities for our country apart from deciding to change the borders. Macedonia does not want northern part of Greece called also Macedonia, Albania does not want western part of Macedonia and Greece should not even think about the south of Albania. In the end, we will all be part of EU, diverse but equal and living in harmony. Do borders matter?
http://www.petitiononline.com/HIMARA/petition.html
This mayor who is originally greek has been conducting an anti-albanian campaign which has been accused only by the media. In 2006, many citizens complained that the mayor was not allowing their registration in the city of Himare as citizens because there were not orthodox and were not speaking Greek. Although there was a unit from the government sent to check about these irregularities, nothing was done. After that in 2008, there was another charge against Bollano. He had given an order to remove all the touristic signs established along the road starting from Llogara to Borsh because they were in Albanian and English and not in Greek. These signs were put from the General Directory of the Roads after a project financed from World Bank and the governments of Austria and Holland. This mayor had no right to give such an order because it is not in his competences and secondly we are in Albania, there is no logic to put sign in greek language. It is so shocking how a public person can do whatever he wants in a country where the laws express the opposite of his actions.
After these two major events, the prosecutor of the district of Vlora has prepared the dossier with the charge of 'abuse of duty' and they are just waiting for the day of the trial. According to article number 248 of the criminial law, abuse of duty is charged with imprisonment. For me, the best charge for this person would be that after getting out of prison, he should leave the country and his entrance to this country should be banned. Apart from him, the prefect of Gjirokaster Spiro Ksera participated in the celebration of the 'proclamation of autonomy of Vorio-Epir' in a greek city close to the border. He was seen to be under the greek flag and participating as the prefect of Vorio-epir. For people that do not know, Vorio-Epir means the northern Epir. Epir was a region in Iliria in the end of 6th century B.C.; it became very important in the years of Pirro in the 3rd century B.C. The notion of Vorio-Epir in political sense stems from years when the greek Prime Minister Jan Koteli introduced Megali Idea (the big idea) which was the creation of a big greek state in 1844. Since then, the south of Albania, including the districts of Gjirokaster, Korce and part of district of Vlore(part of which is Himara) is seen as Vorio-Epir.
For me all these seems nonsense. I would never argue if Epir was Greek or Albanian 2000 years ago. For me what is important is the present and the future. The south of Albanian is Albania's, inhabited with people speaking a different language from Greeks and having their own tradition and culture. We leave in the 21st century and other things are priorities for our country apart from deciding to change the borders. Macedonia does not want northern part of Greece called also Macedonia, Albania does not want western part of Macedonia and Greece should not even think about the south of Albania. In the end, we will all be part of EU, diverse but equal and living in harmony. Do borders matter?
http://www.petitiononline.com/HIMARA/petition.html
Thursday, May 29, 2008
An unusual day in cinema
Yesterday me, Mike, Brian and Anna decided to go to cinema and watch Indiana Jones. There is a cinema in Potsdamer Platz where one can watch movies in English and different languages. I was really excited about the movie because it used to be my favourite movie when i was a child and it was the movie that made me fall in love with Harrison Ford. Before the movie started, me and Mike after changing a lot of U-bahns because we could not go from the short way due to an accident on the rails, managed to eat at Burger King (my favourite). After that we headed to the cinema. The interesting part was that after we watched some ads, they drew the curtains and a guy selling ice-creams appeared. Flo told us later that they used to do this long time ago and there would even be some girls selling cigarettes and other stuff. But since smoking is forbidden, they sell just ice-creams. Then the movie started. As usual, it was full of action and adventures which Indiana Jones was successfully dealing with. But, the weirdest thing was that Spielberg had mixed many elements such as 1000 year-old legend with communists trying to find the truth and finally aliens appearing in the end of the movie. One could not really make the connections so we were just trying to enjoy the effects of the big screen. At the end of the movie, i just realized that although i still love Indiana Jones i am not 9 years old anymore and these type of actions do not surprise me.
After the movie finished, we were going out to head back to our retirement home when we saw all these young beautiful ladies, dressed up and wearing makeups and entering a cinema saloon. Before entering it, a guy was distributing champagne to these girls and we immediately asked what was going on. The movie 'Sex and the city' had its premier and all these girls (i have to stress that they were only girls, i did not see any guy or gay) were crazy fans of the serial 'Sex and the city'. I took some pics of that day which i am gonna share with you. It was a nice afternoon trying to make something different except from writing a thesis, eating, sleaping, going to gym and watching tv. The movie was not great but anyways i left the village Schlachtensee for some hours and i could breathe some air in the center of Berlin.
After the movie finished, we were going out to head back to our retirement home when we saw all these young beautiful ladies, dressed up and wearing makeups and entering a cinema saloon. Before entering it, a guy was distributing champagne to these girls and we immediately asked what was going on. The movie 'Sex and the city' had its premier and all these girls (i have to stress that they were only girls, i did not see any guy or gay) were crazy fans of the serial 'Sex and the city'. I took some pics of that day which i am gonna share with you. It was a nice afternoon trying to make something different except from writing a thesis, eating, sleaping, going to gym and watching tv. The movie was not great but anyways i left the village Schlachtensee for some hours and i could breathe some air in the center of Berlin.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
A bit of "le Festival de Cannes"
I have always heard about Cannes Film Festival but i would never compare its importance with Oscar Awards of course. This year, i was more interested because a movie named "Lorna's silence" produced from the Belgian brothers Dardenne was showing the story of an Albanian girl played from the Kosovar actress Arta Dobroshi who was a nominee for the Best Actress. Lorna is an Albanian immigrant who becomes acomplice in a diabolical plan. Firstly, she is going to marry to Claudy, a belgian guy under drugs in order to get Belgian citizenship. Then she will marry with a Russian mafioso in order for him to get the Belgian citizenship bu the plan is that Claudy will be killed by Fabio another character in the movie. Lorna who knows all the plans should be silent and not tell this to anyone. Is she going to change during her stay with Claudy? I would like to watch this movie which by the way won the Best Screenplay for 2008 Cannes Film Festival which was held from 14th to 25th of May.
Cannes Film Festival founded in 1946 is one of the oldest and prestigous film festival alongside with the Venice and Berlin Film Festivals. It is discussed that it is an important arena for the European movies to be either promoted or criticized. Since many producers, directors and actors from all over the world come here, it is a good opportunity for film producers to launch their movies and try to sell them in different parts of the world. This festival is held in Cannes which is a touristic city in the South of France. When i was in Nice in February, i went to Cannes with some friends because i have always heard about the festival and about the amazing 'Palais des festivals' where the festival takes place but i was really disappointed. Firstly, maybe because it was February, the city was kinda emptied. Secondly, the building about which i heard a lot looked so simple and i had to ask to people passing nearby to be sure if this was the place although one could see the stars of the actors and actresses on the pavement before entering the building. Then later i compared my pic with the one taken from festival day and one can see the change when you put red carpets over the stairs, you have hundreds of journalists and photographers on the two sides of the carpet and you see the shining actors, actresses, film producers walking on the stairs. Everything looks different..at least from the pictures. Anyways, i appreciate this festival where Albanian movies have also participated. It is a good venue to show people your artistic values and culture.
Cannes Film Festival founded in 1946 is one of the oldest and prestigous film festival alongside with the Venice and Berlin Film Festivals. It is discussed that it is an important arena for the European movies to be either promoted or criticized. Since many producers, directors and actors from all over the world come here, it is a good opportunity for film producers to launch their movies and try to sell them in different parts of the world. This festival is held in Cannes which is a touristic city in the South of France. When i was in Nice in February, i went to Cannes with some friends because i have always heard about the festival and about the amazing 'Palais des festivals' where the festival takes place but i was really disappointed. Firstly, maybe because it was February, the city was kinda emptied. Secondly, the building about which i heard a lot looked so simple and i had to ask to people passing nearby to be sure if this was the place although one could see the stars of the actors and actresses on the pavement before entering the building. Then later i compared my pic with the one taken from festival day and one can see the change when you put red carpets over the stairs, you have hundreds of journalists and photographers on the two sides of the carpet and you see the shining actors, actresses, film producers walking on the stairs. Everything looks different..at least from the pictures. Anyways, i appreciate this festival where Albanian movies have also participated. It is a good venue to show people your artistic values and culture.
If we had more like him...D.H. Rest in Peace
On the 24th of May, i was as usual checking my mails and I opened top-channel.tv to read the news and download my favourite newspaper 'Shqip'. Instead of the normal site, there was a short clip informing about the death of Dritan Hoxha, the president of Top-Media which included the Top Channel TV, the Top-Albania Radio, the newspaper 'Shqip' and the digital platform Digitalb. He was only 40 years old when he died in a tragic car accident but he achieved so much in a period of 10 years. In the beginning of the democracy' years like many other Albanians, he also went to Italy for a better life but he came back to his own country to start with a coffee business. He was very energetic and had big plans. In the beginning, he opened the Top-Albania Radio in 1998. Then in 2001, he was successful to add to the short list of tv channels in Albania another channel which later would become professional and colorful with the different high quality programs and objective news. His projects seemed to never end. He introduced the digital platform Digitalb with many channels; the mobile-television; the Big Brother in Albania.....and maybe he left so many other unrealised projects that the staff he was working with is going to continue.
The thing that really touched me was his funeral where many people participated although most of them never saw him or talk to him. Everyone accompanied the coffin with roses and applauses to thank him for the revolution he made in the media, to thank him for giving those people opportunity to watch things differently and to entertain them. Among the simple people, there were also those people that worked with him closely and they were also applauding to thank him for making their dreams come true and give a chance to contribute to the beautiful world of art, journalism and mass-media. Apart from being still young and leaving behind 4 children and a wife, his funeral was one of a kind because he was not an old politician or any celebrity but he did more than a politician would do. He loved what he was doing and he did everything to help the people and help this country develop. He was successful in developing the media and communication and it would be wonderful if we had other Dritan Hoxhas to help Albania develop in different domains. His death was tragic but his work will not be stopped and i hope many others will be inspired from him to show that changes are possible.
The thing that really touched me was his funeral where many people participated although most of them never saw him or talk to him. Everyone accompanied the coffin with roses and applauses to thank him for the revolution he made in the media, to thank him for giving those people opportunity to watch things differently and to entertain them. Among the simple people, there were also those people that worked with him closely and they were also applauding to thank him for making their dreams come true and give a chance to contribute to the beautiful world of art, journalism and mass-media. Apart from being still young and leaving behind 4 children and a wife, his funeral was one of a kind because he was not an old politician or any celebrity but he did more than a politician would do. He loved what he was doing and he did everything to help the people and help this country develop. He was successful in developing the media and communication and it would be wonderful if we had other Dritan Hoxhas to help Albania develop in different domains. His death was tragic but his work will not be stopped and i hope many others will be inspired from him to show that changes are possible.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Oops...Eurovision in trouble!
The 53th Eurovision festival finished last night and the winner is Russia. Serbia was hosting this year's festival and as far as i saw it really did a great job by having a good organization and giving a beautiful show. But, i have still some critiques which have to do with the overall festival. Firstly, the name they use 'Eurovision', it gives you the idea that this festival encompasses the countries from Europe but countries like Georgia, Azerbaijan, Israel compete here also. The topic on dicussing if one country is part or not of a continent has been discussed several times. When Turkey wanted to become part of European Union, the opponents would discuss that it is not part of Europe geographically although a section of Turkey is part of the european continent. When it comes to this festival, at the beginning European countries were participating but now countries which are not definitely part of Europe are participating. At least they can change the name of this festival!
Secondly, the way the winner is chosen is really not fair. In the festival there are different nations, languages, rythms competing and at the beginning one would think, that it is logical that people should vote for the song that they like the most and the majority of the votes would go to the most popular song among the people. But recently, different festival show that this has become very political. The countries are divided into three groups: eastern countries, balkan countries and nordic countries and each country gives points to the country in its bloc or to the neighbour country. The fun part for me is when i watch the countries revealing the distribution of the points, i always try to guess which country gave to which one and i generally am right. Macedonia, Greece, Croatia, Bosnia&Herzegovina, Turkey and Slovenia would give points to Albania (Balkan bloc); Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia would give points to Russia (eastern bloc) and Norway, Iceland, Finland and Sweden would give points to Denmark (nordic bloc). The unlucky ones are the Western European countries which recently they have been the last in the list such as UK, Germany, and France. And it looks like these Western countries are not even taking this contest seriously. When i watched the song of France and Spain i wanted to laugh so bad, their songs are so ridiculous and funny.
Thirdly, because countries are also trying to get points from other countries from other blocs to make the difference, they try to appear in the scene with different costumes and trying hard to give a beautiful show for marketing their songs. In the end, we do not really have many good songs or good voices but good show. But, part from these critiques, i believe that the positive thing is the fact that for many countries this contest is a way to present their countries to around 100 million people watching it. For example, i remember that Turkey did a good job when it hosted the Eurovision 2004 and many broadcasted videos presenting Turkey showed another face of Turkey. Spain, France, UK and Germany are the countries funding this contest but every time they get annoyed because they find themselves in the end of the list. I think it is time to change the way of the voting so that we have a beautiful song contest and everyone will feel treated equally before people stop watching it and the 'big four' stops funding its existence
Secondly, the way the winner is chosen is really not fair. In the festival there are different nations, languages, rythms competing and at the beginning one would think, that it is logical that people should vote for the song that they like the most and the majority of the votes would go to the most popular song among the people. But recently, different festival show that this has become very political. The countries are divided into three groups: eastern countries, balkan countries and nordic countries and each country gives points to the country in its bloc or to the neighbour country. The fun part for me is when i watch the countries revealing the distribution of the points, i always try to guess which country gave to which one and i generally am right. Macedonia, Greece, Croatia, Bosnia&Herzegovina, Turkey and Slovenia would give points to Albania (Balkan bloc); Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia would give points to Russia (eastern bloc) and Norway, Iceland, Finland and Sweden would give points to Denmark (nordic bloc). The unlucky ones are the Western European countries which recently they have been the last in the list such as UK, Germany, and France. And it looks like these Western countries are not even taking this contest seriously. When i watched the song of France and Spain i wanted to laugh so bad, their songs are so ridiculous and funny.
Thirdly, because countries are also trying to get points from other countries from other blocs to make the difference, they try to appear in the scene with different costumes and trying hard to give a beautiful show for marketing their songs. In the end, we do not really have many good songs or good voices but good show. But, part from these critiques, i believe that the positive thing is the fact that for many countries this contest is a way to present their countries to around 100 million people watching it. For example, i remember that Turkey did a good job when it hosted the Eurovision 2004 and many broadcasted videos presenting Turkey showed another face of Turkey. Spain, France, UK and Germany are the countries funding this contest but every time they get annoyed because they find themselves in the end of the list. I think it is time to change the way of the voting so that we have a beautiful song contest and everyone will feel treated equally before people stop watching it and the 'big four' stops funding its existence
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Do you want to protect environment and earn money?..RECYCLE
Did you throw a party in your house in Berlin? Then you better be careful with the bottles because they yield money. How? Through recycling.. Every supermarket has at its back a special machine where you put your bottles one by one; they may be wine, beer, juice, water bottles and for each of them you can get 8, 15 and 25 cents but in the form of the bill. So when you do your shopping if you have to pay 8 euro and you got 4 euro from the bottles, then you just pay 4 euro. Isnt that cool? For a short period, we took it seriously in the house and were collecting all the bottles, we were even looking outside to collect bottles :), it was like a new business. At the end, with the collected bottles rewarded ourselves with ice-cream.
Recycling in Germany is a serious issue. In all the S-bahns and U-bahns, there are four different trash bins with different colours for 4 different materials to be recycled: green bins for paper, yellow bins for cans, plastic and aluminum, brown bins for biological waste and gray bins for the hazardous waste such as fluorescent tubes, batteries and acids. This will make the recycling easier. When i saw these bins, i would always think if this would work in Albania, people would put the things not in the right bins intentionally :). Well, on my part i have been in Berlin for three months and i still havent paid attention which waste goes to which bin. But, this recycling issue is very successful in Germany because germans are really strict, correct and punctual people but what about the newcomers....It will take them a bit to get used and be part of this contribution to the battle for the environment.
Recycling in Germany is a serious issue. In all the S-bahns and U-bahns, there are four different trash bins with different colours for 4 different materials to be recycled: green bins for paper, yellow bins for cans, plastic and aluminum, brown bins for biological waste and gray bins for the hazardous waste such as fluorescent tubes, batteries and acids. This will make the recycling easier. When i saw these bins, i would always think if this would work in Albania, people would put the things not in the right bins intentionally :). Well, on my part i have been in Berlin for three months and i still havent paid attention which waste goes to which bin. But, this recycling issue is very successful in Germany because germans are really strict, correct and punctual people but what about the newcomers....It will take them a bit to get used and be part of this contribution to the battle for the environment.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Showing respect = peace!
A couple of days ago i was going to the library to give back my books and some books of my friends. Since it takes me about one hour to go to the library by S-Bahn i decided to give a look to the book of Marzena who is writing a thesis on blasphemy (the term means disrespectul use of Gods or of something which is supposed to be sacred). The pages i was reading were very interesting, the writer was critizing Salman Rushdie, a British-Indian novelist who became very known and critiziced with the 'Satanic Verses' published in 1988. The book caused uprising in the muslim world and the Ayatollah of Iran at the time condemned Rushdie with death. The book was banned and Rushdie would appear sporadically in public because of continous threats. The novel narrates the story of two characters who after are saved magically from a plane crash, are transformed into the personality of the angel Gibreel and the devil respectively. The controversy starts whith the dream visions of one of the characters where Rushdie re-narrates the life of the prophet Muhammed who according to a legend would add verses to Quran after being tempted by the devil;in some other dream visions Rushdie would speak about some prostitutes with the names of the wives of the prophet.
My point is not to discuss about the book but about the fact of insulting a prophet which is something that has happened several times. The Danish cartoons that appeared in 2005 in Jylland-Posten's magazine about the prophet Muhammed is another case which caused many protests among muslims who were really furious. Recently, i read that an American soldier in Iraq was using as shooting target the book of Quran and this outraged the muslim population in Iraq. One would ask himself why would this soldier use Quran as shooting target? The options are either he couldnt find another object or he was ignorant not to know that Quran is a sacred book or he didnt care at all.
It is so easy to cause conflicts and to make people outrageous. For muslim people the prophet and Quran are sacred values that are part of their identitites. Whoever insulting these values would put these people identities under threat. It is the same with a country whose most important thing is the flag and it keeps people of a nation together. Whoever burning that flag would make the people of that nation furious. People argue that civilized people accept satires but i dont belive that it shows uncivilization not to accept the situation where your prophet is being depicted as terrorist or her wives being depicted as prostitutes. Priorities to achieve peace and stability in some regions through different means are always set high. Wouldnt be good to start by showing respect to some values?
My point is not to discuss about the book but about the fact of insulting a prophet which is something that has happened several times. The Danish cartoons that appeared in 2005 in Jylland-Posten's magazine about the prophet Muhammed is another case which caused many protests among muslims who were really furious. Recently, i read that an American soldier in Iraq was using as shooting target the book of Quran and this outraged the muslim population in Iraq. One would ask himself why would this soldier use Quran as shooting target? The options are either he couldnt find another object or he was ignorant not to know that Quran is a sacred book or he didnt care at all.
It is so easy to cause conflicts and to make people outrageous. For muslim people the prophet and Quran are sacred values that are part of their identitites. Whoever insulting these values would put these people identities under threat. It is the same with a country whose most important thing is the flag and it keeps people of a nation together. Whoever burning that flag would make the people of that nation furious. People argue that civilized people accept satires but i dont belive that it shows uncivilization not to accept the situation where your prophet is being depicted as terrorist or her wives being depicted as prostitutes. Priorities to achieve peace and stability in some regions through different means are always set high. Wouldnt be good to start by showing respect to some values?
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Searching for something?Youtube it!
My connection with technology has always been weak and when it comes to internet i mainly used google to find articles for my papers or my presentations. Like one month ago, i had to prepare a presentation on 'Privatization of security:case of Blackwater' and i was googling again. Mike told me to check in youtube because i may find interesting things. And he was right; i found many interesting videos such as the one related to the book 'Blackwater: shadow army' written by Jeremy Scahill ( i couldnt find this book in library and it was important for me).
I would always think of youtube as a place where you share 'fun' videos but everyday that i am exploring it i come across many tutorials such as if you want to learn how to use excel, how to speak spanish, how to dance salsa, how to use photoshop, etc etc. Generally, while we are having lunch or dinner, we would watch funny videos from youtube; crazy videos such as people having big mouth;people doing funny things with their eyes, tongues, pimples or videos from Bitain's got talent, American Idol etc...
Today, i read from my Albanian newspaper that a16-year old girl called Crystal accussed a 23-year old guy for raping her and she was asking for help because friends around her wouldnt believe her. It looks like youtube is becoming an important tool not just to learn but also to express yourself. But, naturally there are also problems with youtube and Turkey is the country(as far as i know) having the more because several times there have been launched videos insulting Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and a very respected figure. I remember, while i was in Turkey that they forbade the access to youtube in the whole country until youtube deleted those videos. Imagine if people and states start to complain about different videos that may be insulting to them, this would be headache for the company of youtube. Personally, i believe that people are free to express themselves, of course there are people who exaggerate and putting the limits is difficult. But, one can see the different perspectives of one story in youtube; it is left to individuals to believe whichever side they want.
I would always think of youtube as a place where you share 'fun' videos but everyday that i am exploring it i come across many tutorials such as if you want to learn how to use excel, how to speak spanish, how to dance salsa, how to use photoshop, etc etc. Generally, while we are having lunch or dinner, we would watch funny videos from youtube; crazy videos such as people having big mouth;people doing funny things with their eyes, tongues, pimples or videos from Bitain's got talent, American Idol etc...
Today, i read from my Albanian newspaper that a16-year old girl called Crystal accussed a 23-year old guy for raping her and she was asking for help because friends around her wouldnt believe her. It looks like youtube is becoming an important tool not just to learn but also to express yourself. But, naturally there are also problems with youtube and Turkey is the country(as far as i know) having the more because several times there have been launched videos insulting Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and a very respected figure. I remember, while i was in Turkey that they forbade the access to youtube in the whole country until youtube deleted those videos. Imagine if people and states start to complain about different videos that may be insulting to them, this would be headache for the company of youtube. Personally, i believe that people are free to express themselves, of course there are people who exaggerate and putting the limits is difficult. But, one can see the different perspectives of one story in youtube; it is left to individuals to believe whichever side they want.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Corruption...is it good or bad?
Despite being in the fun city of Berlin, i have to stay in the student village in Schlachtensee and try to write my thesis in order to get it ready not later than 15 of June. I wanted a thesis topic where to include my country Albania, EU(since that what my master is about) and any problem in Albania which needs solution through support of EU. So what better topic could be than 'corruption in transition countries: the case of Albania'. I am very interested in the topic because an endemic system of corruption is created in Albania which inhibits economic growth, decreases investment rate and has become like a way of dealing in everyday life between individual and officials; individuals and police; individuals and doctors, teachers, etc.
Thanks to the libraries here in Berlin, i have been able to find many books, i just have to finish reading them and i have sometimes difficulties in understanding economics :( . I was reading an article of Josephf Nye where the benefits of corruption were discussed. At the beginning, i was a bit surprised because i have always seen corruption as 'evil' and i wasnt even thinking about its benefits. Then i started to discuss these things with my friend Mike and he would come up with situations where corruption has benefits for some people. I read some more articles discussing about benefits and i found cases such as: bureaucrats who are paid from people who dont want to lose time waiting in queue, get motivated to finish the job as fast as possible; or when there is limited supply of goods and services such as health, education or natural resources but a surplus in demand and in order to avoid the halt of the system, the ones offering bribes will get access to resources; entrepreneurs from minority groups who cant have access to public projects, can achieve one throw bribes; one can pay less taxes in customs by paying bribes to the official by saving more for himself.
I agree that one can find benefits of corruption but one should also look at the costs of corruption and for me costs outweigh the benefits and in relative terms corruption is harmful. If there are some people who can benefit by paying bribes to customs, this means that many other people will bear the costs because the taxes which are one way of budget revenues will not be sufficient. This, on the other side means less public services for people. Apart from this, companies would not prefer to invest in a corrupt environment and investment is what developing countries such as Albania need in order to grow economically. In the end, corruption cant be easily eradicated but effective measures are needed to diminish it. Hopefully, EU, World Bank and IMF are helping financially in the fight against corruption; we will have to deal with the rest...
Thanks to the libraries here in Berlin, i have been able to find many books, i just have to finish reading them and i have sometimes difficulties in understanding economics :( . I was reading an article of Josephf Nye where the benefits of corruption were discussed. At the beginning, i was a bit surprised because i have always seen corruption as 'evil' and i wasnt even thinking about its benefits. Then i started to discuss these things with my friend Mike and he would come up with situations where corruption has benefits for some people. I read some more articles discussing about benefits and i found cases such as: bureaucrats who are paid from people who dont want to lose time waiting in queue, get motivated to finish the job as fast as possible; or when there is limited supply of goods and services such as health, education or natural resources but a surplus in demand and in order to avoid the halt of the system, the ones offering bribes will get access to resources; entrepreneurs from minority groups who cant have access to public projects, can achieve one throw bribes; one can pay less taxes in customs by paying bribes to the official by saving more for himself.
I agree that one can find benefits of corruption but one should also look at the costs of corruption and for me costs outweigh the benefits and in relative terms corruption is harmful. If there are some people who can benefit by paying bribes to customs, this means that many other people will bear the costs because the taxes which are one way of budget revenues will not be sufficient. This, on the other side means less public services for people. Apart from this, companies would not prefer to invest in a corrupt environment and investment is what developing countries such as Albania need in order to grow economically. In the end, corruption cant be easily eradicated but effective measures are needed to diminish it. Hopefully, EU, World Bank and IMF are helping financially in the fight against corruption; we will have to deal with the rest...
Kosovo...the newborn state
It looks like things are working out for Kosovo, the newest state in the Balkans. So far around 40 countries have recognized its indepencence, some other 40 have not yet decided and around 30 states are against the independence. Kosovo government has hopes that the number of the countries recognizing its independence will increase and this is just a matter of time. But yesterday, i heard from the news that the government of China, Russia and India are expecting from Kosovo 'delegation' to restart the negotiations with Serbia....the negotiations for what??? Now, it is true that i am happy for the independence of Kosovo because first of all i am albanian and i am sure that the Kosovars merited the independence for which they fought. But, the case of Kosovo is not a precedent but a sui generis one. Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia and since 90's all the countries part of it started to declare independence one by one. In 2006, Montenegro declared independence the last and as a consequence Kosovo sooner or later would do the same.
The fact that there are about 41 countries out of 192 member countries of UN recognizing officially Kosovo and many others preparing to recognize (http://www.kosovothanksyou.com/); the fact that Kosovo is a three-month old country and is preparing to function as a free, democratic country by having also his own constitution in July the 15th, his own army, his own language, his own flag and the fact that it is supported by EU and US cant be ignored and assumed as nothing has happened by restarting negotiations with Serbia. The resume of negotiations is wanted from India, Russia and China while Serbia on the other side signed the association agreement on the 29th of April 2008 with EU (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7373045.stm), the very organization which is going to send her mission Eurolex starting from 15th of June. This mission is going to be a guide in terms of order and justice but EU is waiting a decision from UN being delayed from Russia. US' State department spokesman, McCormack said that Kosovo is a state finally and there is nothing to be discussed any more. So far, the region has been 'peaceful' recently; i hope that conflicts will not be stirred and the independence of Kosovo will mark the beginning of stability in Balkans.
The fact that there are about 41 countries out of 192 member countries of UN recognizing officially Kosovo and many others preparing to recognize (http://www.kosovothanksyou.com/); the fact that Kosovo is a three-month old country and is preparing to function as a free, democratic country by having also his own constitution in July the 15th, his own army, his own language, his own flag and the fact that it is supported by EU and US cant be ignored and assumed as nothing has happened by restarting negotiations with Serbia. The resume of negotiations is wanted from India, Russia and China while Serbia on the other side signed the association agreement on the 29th of April 2008 with EU (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7373045.stm), the very organization which is going to send her mission Eurolex starting from 15th of June. This mission is going to be a guide in terms of order and justice but EU is waiting a decision from UN being delayed from Russia. US' State department spokesman, McCormack said that Kosovo is a state finally and there is nothing to be discussed any more. So far, the region has been 'peaceful' recently; i hope that conflicts will not be stirred and the independence of Kosovo will mark the beginning of stability in Balkans.
Friday, May 16, 2008
I love Berlin!
I got to travel a bit during my master studies in IEHEI but so far, Berlin is the city that i really like. It is true that after the problems with the dorm that we had in Nice, Berlin offered better accomodation, especially a true kitchen. But, it not just that...It is a city which is always in motion, both in terms of the activities & events but also in terms of it expanding and being under construction. As far as i heard, Berlin unlike the Southeast of Germany which is more traditional, is more open to changes and different cultures. Wherever you go, you will come across with many foreign people visiting Berlin every season(except Turkish people who are leaving here) and even if you dont know german, generally germans speak english very well although they are modest and would say 'a little'. Besides that, it has a great location and you can go to Prague in 5 hours, Dresden in 3 hours, Poznan in 3 hours and Hamburg in 3 hours( all of these cities are wonderful).
During my stay here, i had the chance to see the Karneval der Kulturen which had like 101 groups performing from different countries with their own music, dances and costumes along Mehringdamm, Gneisenstrasse, Heidenstrasse and Hermanplatz. Besides that, i also attended the manifestations of Workers' day in Kreuzberg where one could dance in different stands offering different genres of music, food and drinks. Then in the evening, we saw some protest and group of police but there was nothing serious compared to protests in Istanbul which become very violent generally. My friend Mike prepared some very interesting videos out of these two events(http://www.catchmikey.com/). I went to some different bars and clubs but the most astonishing was Panorama which would be open from 3 am to 8 pm and once inside one could not realize that it was becoming morning outside. There are continously many concerts(check http://www.eventim.com/) and i attended 'These new puritans' with my friend Marza.
Even if you dont have any plan of what to do, just going around the city will give you the opportunity of discovering interesting places and the transportation system in Berlin is perfect; everything is connected with S-Bahn, U-Bahn and regional trains which would always be on time( we are in Germany with the most punctual people ever). I am happy i still have one month more to enjoy more this lovely city, yuppiii :).
During my stay here, i had the chance to see the Karneval der Kulturen which had like 101 groups performing from different countries with their own music, dances and costumes along Mehringdamm, Gneisenstrasse, Heidenstrasse and Hermanplatz. Besides that, i also attended the manifestations of Workers' day in Kreuzberg where one could dance in different stands offering different genres of music, food and drinks. Then in the evening, we saw some protest and group of police but there was nothing serious compared to protests in Istanbul which become very violent generally. My friend Mike prepared some very interesting videos out of these two events(http://www.catchmikey.com/). I went to some different bars and clubs but the most astonishing was Panorama which would be open from 3 am to 8 pm and once inside one could not realize that it was becoming morning outside. There are continously many concerts(check http://www.eventim.com/) and i attended 'These new puritans' with my friend Marza.
Even if you dont have any plan of what to do, just going around the city will give you the opportunity of discovering interesting places and the transportation system in Berlin is perfect; everything is connected with S-Bahn, U-Bahn and regional trains which would always be on time( we are in Germany with the most punctual people ever). I am happy i still have one month more to enjoy more this lovely city, yuppiii :).
Iran...and what is related to it
My classmate back from University send a mail to our group where she was proposing us to watch the new movie 'Persepolis' and sent the link http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808417/. It really looks like an interesting movie directed from Marjane Satrapi, based on her novel where she tells about her youth in Iran after the revolution and her experiences in an environment sourrounded by intolerance, superstition, political repression, torture and execution. But, her parents succeed in sending her out of Iran to Austria where she startes to make a life filled with punk rock and other pleasures. She is away from her home but she is more or less free.
This movie reminds me of a novel i started to read 2 years ago in Turkey, 'Reading Lolita in Tehran: A memoir in books' written by Azar Nafisi who was a literature professor and after the Revolution when she was obliged to leave her teaching post because of refusing to wear the veil, she gathered 7 of her students in her house to speak about forbidden Western literature by having secret meetings in her house. To be frank, i didnt finish the whole novel but it was interesting because it would show how the women in Iran are repressed and live a life under the veil; how there is a police of moral who controls the people if they are behaving or not and how they would throw stones to a person if he has cheated on his wife or vice versa. Her book got a lot of critiques not only from Islamic Republic of Iran but also from Iranian writers who were saying that there were many damaging misinterpretations. These books and movies may exxagerate things but the truth is that many people are obliged to behave according to some codes and they are forbidden to be free.
Besides, there is another thing that makes me think while reading about Iran, the fact that there are two branches of Islam Shia and Sunni and instead of being 'friends' they are 'foes'. Normally, nations may be united by religion but in the case of Iraq they are being divided. On one side, you have the Shia supported by Iran and on the other you have the Sunnis(Kurdish and Arabs). They are both muslims but they have some changes regarding their prophets and the interpretation of Kouran. Anyways, in the overall i wanted to say that I dont have anything against the veil and the practice of religion but no one should be obliged to do these and religions should inspire peace and harmony, not war and conflicts. In the end, we all worship the same God, in different ways.
This movie reminds me of a novel i started to read 2 years ago in Turkey, 'Reading Lolita in Tehran: A memoir in books' written by Azar Nafisi who was a literature professor and after the Revolution when she was obliged to leave her teaching post because of refusing to wear the veil, she gathered 7 of her students in her house to speak about forbidden Western literature by having secret meetings in her house. To be frank, i didnt finish the whole novel but it was interesting because it would show how the women in Iran are repressed and live a life under the veil; how there is a police of moral who controls the people if they are behaving or not and how they would throw stones to a person if he has cheated on his wife or vice versa. Her book got a lot of critiques not only from Islamic Republic of Iran but also from Iranian writers who were saying that there were many damaging misinterpretations. These books and movies may exxagerate things but the truth is that many people are obliged to behave according to some codes and they are forbidden to be free.
Besides, there is another thing that makes me think while reading about Iran, the fact that there are two branches of Islam Shia and Sunni and instead of being 'friends' they are 'foes'. Normally, nations may be united by religion but in the case of Iraq they are being divided. On one side, you have the Shia supported by Iran and on the other you have the Sunnis(Kurdish and Arabs). They are both muslims but they have some changes regarding their prophets and the interpretation of Kouran. Anyways, in the overall i wanted to say that I dont have anything against the veil and the practice of religion but no one should be obliged to do these and religions should inspire peace and harmony, not war and conflicts. In the end, we all worship the same God, in different ways.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Cigarette packets now with images
The European Commission,worried about the increase of smokers in EU had proposed that in the end of 2008, the packets of cigarettes should be covered with graphic images that show the kinds of damages smoking can cause. After the 42 proposed pictures, only 14 of them were chosen. They mainly show a mouth without teeth, a pair of healthy lungs next to diseased lungs, a throat with cancer and many other dreadful pictures. It is thought that the writings over the packets such as 'smoking kills' or 'smoking causes infertility' which were introduced in 2003 and decreased the number of the smokers at the time, are not effective any more and so these pictures will make the smokers change their mind by decreasing their number.
Well, it is true that once you see these pictures, you feel bad but those smokers generally know that they are inaling nichotine and not oxygen so some of them kinda know the effects. At the beginning there may be a decrease but what if people get used to the images as they got used to those writings??? Apparently, one successful way to decrease the number of the smokers is by increasing the taxes which is the case in France when between 2003 and 2004 there was a decrease of 32% of smokers because the Prime Minister of that time, Jean Pierre Raffarin introduced new taxes which were followed with an increase in prices of cigarettes. This also causes protests on the side of cigarette producers and vendors but what else can be done?
I have been sorrounded by friends who smoke and many of them would be really pissed once you reminded them that smoking kills. My Spanish teacher would write on the board: 'I know that smoking kills but that is my decision, don't keep telling me that'. Once something goes wrong with their health, they may decide to stop like the case of my friend who was a heavy smoker and once they found something in his lung, he immediately stopped smoking. The main problem is how to stop smoking without having these health consequences???
Well, it is true that once you see these pictures, you feel bad but those smokers generally know that they are inaling nichotine and not oxygen so some of them kinda know the effects. At the beginning there may be a decrease but what if people get used to the images as they got used to those writings??? Apparently, one successful way to decrease the number of the smokers is by increasing the taxes which is the case in France when between 2003 and 2004 there was a decrease of 32% of smokers because the Prime Minister of that time, Jean Pierre Raffarin introduced new taxes which were followed with an increase in prices of cigarettes. This also causes protests on the side of cigarette producers and vendors but what else can be done?
I have been sorrounded by friends who smoke and many of them would be really pissed once you reminded them that smoking kills. My Spanish teacher would write on the board: 'I know that smoking kills but that is my decision, don't keep telling me that'. Once something goes wrong with their health, they may decide to stop like the case of my friend who was a heavy smoker and once they found something in his lung, he immediately stopped smoking. The main problem is how to stop smoking without having these health consequences???
Hey hey :)
This is my first writing in my blog and i am so excited...I hope i will be writing interesting things and giving my opinions without fearing what others will think about those :-p.
I thank my friend Mike a lot who helped me with the name and the building of the blog since he is very experienced with his own blog: http://www.catchmikey.blogspot.com/
For now that's all..I have to think about what to write :)
I thank my friend Mike a lot who helped me with the name and the building of the blog since he is very experienced with his own blog: http://www.catchmikey.blogspot.com/
For now that's all..I have to think about what to write :)
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