aboutme

I was born in Durres(41�19'00,18''N 19�27'04,72''E), a town in west Albania, which lays on the coast of Adriatic sea, a relatively flat area, with low hills, surrounding it entirely but the seaside, protecting the town from the cold winds that blow from North and East, making this site be a magnificent place all along the year, with a mild climate in winter and warm in the other seasons. There are 15-20 km long, beautiful sandy beaches, all along Gulf of Durres(41�18'14,43''N 19�29'27,15''E). It's plenty of beautyful sunny days there; I guess about 90% during the spring and summer and 60-70% in fall and winter, that makes this town a nice one to live in. And you can find it in the way its people behave; generally easy going, social, careless (often excessively, in my opinion) due to provincial way the things always went there, too.

Durres has large streets and walkways, well ornated with trees all along the margins. There we have a seashore drive called "Vollga"(41�18'36,00''N 19�26'29,70E), due to the old name of a little hotel sited there. Once, a wonderful place, with palms and gardens, quietness, the sun splashing down into the water, after mirroring for a while over the flat surface of the sea. Oh, how I miss it!

A quarter a mile away there's my childhood school of music, once named "Mujo Ulqinaku"(41�18'41,00''N 19�26'54,24''E), to whom the politicians, have changed its name in something else, where I studied for 8 years (5 years to play violoncello). We used to play piano and sing during breaks between lessons. Especially our most talented classmate Xhili, who plays in piano so divinely, making our schooltime very funny and attractive. During lesson-free hours, we often used to go to "Vollga", to play soccer or chase each other along the alghae("leshterik")-covered seashore. It's hard to describe fully the beautiful sensation of those times there. Freedom, no pressure, beautiful places, plenty of sunny days, a flat sea , few people around, no cars... A great era! A little bit beyond "Vollga", there was a sport area(41�18'40,65''N 19�26'31,12''E), where were some soccer and basketball playgrounds, as well as a swimming pool, too. All this stuff along the seashore, for free. And just meters away, grows up a hill, "Vila", an evergreen park over all this heaven, where young lovers used to dating, with the sea under their feet, while the sun goes down to hug the water, smiling and winking to them.
There is a Main Street and three central squares(41�18'49,01''N 19�26'49,96''E 41�19'02,57''N 19�26'58,37'' 41�19'05,60''N 19�27'01,40''), that connect the seashore "Vollga" with the heart of the town.

When I was 10-11, I played a few years basketball in an official kids' team(41�19'10,48''N 19�26'59,22''). My career lasted very short, like any funny joke, but since then, "hoop" became like the air I breathe. I played mostly with my friends rather then practicing with my team.

There, where once were parks and playgrounds, now it's plenty of concrete monsters, debris and trash. No more harmony, order, tenderness, green. All free spaces are occupied by barracs and buildings. The're no more brakes and limits in the breathtaking speed of building and selling frenzy. Almost everything is different. It's very sad but unavoidable. There's changing everything, in bad, obviously. There may be at least 10.000, or even 20.000 new settlers(41�19'20,64''N 19�27'47,54''E) from eastern and northern parts of Albania, wich are well known for hard working people, generally honest and conservative. But they're also stubborn and quick tempered. And I think it's a good for Durres have them over there.

Then, I went to Tirana to study in a military high school, "Skenderbej", and after that, a few meters away, in the Army Academy, "Enver Hoxha"(41�20'33,34''N 19�50'15,38''E), where I passed very experiencing years, that I really enjoyed. A hard working times, plenty of studies, natures, reading, sport, friendship, knowledges and other, I surely could've never had elsewhere such an opportunity. We did so interesting things and experienced so much circumstances that, I often think that really a few kinds of landscapes are left that I've not been with my buddies.

After Academy, I went back in Durres working as an Army officer(41�17'47,60''N 19�30'51,14''E & 41�19'18,68''N 19�26'17,51''E), which I left after 5 years of hard work, physically, mentally. I gave up, I resigned, because it did never work. That job and I were not made for each other. However, that job gave me, with what it offered, many sweet, beautiful and unforgetable moments. Bad ones too.

After less than a year, while waiting for a couple of job oportunities, I went in Italy, illegally, spending first 3 months in tents, down in Metaponto (Basilicata), southern Italy, and then I came in Pisa (Tuscany)(43�43'01,41''N 10�25'06,14''E). (see map)

Here I got a job at a couple of nursing homes, "U. Viale"(43�43'01,41''N 10�25'06,14''E) and "Via Avanzi"(43�42'27,17''N 10�25'09,56''E), for 11 years. An eternity. It revealed as the most distressing job on earth.

Then I made an application to enter at Pisa main hospital "Santa Chiara" as an assistance operator. But they did not give me that job, at first, neither at the second. So I hired a lawyer. And after losing at the first trial, at the Pisa Court, I insisted and I won at the Firenze Court second degree trial, dealing a settlement with the hospital. Then Hank Williams Jr sung me "take this job and shove it"...
I worked at the Orthopaedic Ward(43�43'07,73''N 10�23'27,58''E) at "Santa Chiara" Hospital in Pisa, as an O.T.A.(Assistance Technical Operator), for two years and I also studied Nursery(43�43'13,24''N 10�23'41,59''E), at University of Pisa. It was pretty interesting, but very big to swallow, and to digest, due to some obligatory attendance, apprenticeship, exams, the job. All in one. At this moment, after working episodically at an Orthopaedic Ward(43�36'33,36''N 10�17'26,01''E) in Calambrone, Psychiatric Ward in Pisa, I work as a registered male nurse at the Neurology Ward(43�43'17,82''N 10�23'40,91''E), very few meters away from Leaning Tower(43�43'22,72''N 10�23'46,77''E).

I also studied and obtained a 1st Level Master Degree in Political Science department(43�43'00,49''N 10�23'57,38''E) of Pisa State University, as an "Expert in Immigration Issues".

I like very much playing basketball, usually in a playground close to soccer stadium(43�43'38,83''N 10�23'42,86''E), where I meet very nice people, young guys, most of them students, from Pisa and other parts around Italy. The same I can say for the guys I used to meet once a week to play some soccer, at the "Five to Five" playground(43�44'55,48''N 10�27'49,08''E), in Asciano. But the most important thing that really makes me stay here in Pisa is the beach, that of Marina di Vecchiano(43�47'51,90''N 10�15'50,52''E), a wide, sandy, free of charge beach, where I can enjoy the pleasure of a free of charge area of mediterranean nature. The most interesting thing at this beach is the sunset, becouse the air currents make the sun be very often accompanied from some different sorts of clouds, very very pictoresque scene.