Happy 8th Anniversary

by Apr 4, 2022Living in Albania, Tirana

HAPPY 8TH ANNIVERSARY

We are happy with our commitment to become a valuable support to you, expats living in Albania!! As many of you may know, our Facebook Group “Expats in Albania” was created in early 2014. This spring marks our 8th year Anniversary! Happy Anniversary to all of us!!

 

Special thank you to our small group of moderators & admins: Jenn Miller, Sonila Demi, Bledar Sadiku, Niki Zeqiri that have spent endless hours contributing with their feedback and commitment to keep the group active, informative and helpful overall.Thank you to some of the members that are active contributors: Richard Russell, Sandra Dauti, Martha Bacile, Katie Hogan Yokers, Ron Parker, Ozgen Fidel Polat and more.

 

A lot of work has gone into this online community from the early days when it first started, and a lot of work goes into it today; administering the fb group, updating our website, organizing our weekly events planning them in advance, talking to the venues, interacting with you on each event, managing the ‘way too many’ communication channels, creating the monthly calendar, email updates and let’s not mention any last minute “Albanian style surprises” which do add to our workload.

 

We are welcoming volunteers to help us manage the workload. If you have some spear time to commit to supporting fellow expats please contact Denisa at [email protected]

 

Why are we doing all this?

Because we believe this is absolutely needed and we believe with all our heart no one could do it better!! Our small team of repats and expats have gone through the same exact experience any newcomer to Albania would go through. We believe that a newcomer to this country should meet some friends and get the best and most biased advice they could get.

 

No one should dine alone, and no one should feel alone in Albania. We believe that this country can present pitfalls for newcomers, and we want to prevent that from happening to anyone. We believe that with some ‘local & expat’ guidance, the Albanian experience could be great for any newcomer!!

 

Wednesday Coffee & Chat – we believe is crucial event we offer for newcomer to get oriented and informed about Albania, local culture etc. directly from the admins. We have implemented this as of Jan 2022, but this event could be better utilized by this community. We will change the meeting time to afternoon in hopes of more successful attendance.

 

The Dine Out on Tuesdays – socializing over a nice meal under a quiet atmosphere for conversation, this event does two things; gives us a venue where we can meet and talk as well as it promotes a restaurant to this community. Two win-win situations.

 

Quite often someone that has just landed in Tirana joins our dinner gathering. This is the time, we realize, we are doing a good thing here. So, do join this dinner &  be there for the next expat as well as support local businesses.

 

Friday’s Expat Drink – is our most popular event! Thanks to Jen Miller this event has grown nicely and hosts the biggest turnout of expats in Albania events. New expats and more resident ones join over drinks, and we all explore and discover nice venues, local bars and bands in town. Don’t miss out on these & please spread the word.

 

Saturday Cultural Tours – this is a new service we are just starting to offer to this community. We know new expats want to explore the key venues of Albania, so why now book through us. We can offer English speaking certified guides, transportation and great itineraries as well as tailored tours to ones wish and desires. Support our ‘small agency’ as this way you support the rest of the work we do for this community.

 

Sunday Hikes – This has become a very popular event for the past 3 years. We explore nature on foot in the surroundings of Tirana. The main idea being, we want more time being active and in nature and less time in the car or driving. We all have a busy week, most of us are working at an office or from the home office. Going outdoors on Sundays is one of the best breaks we can offer to our mental and physical health.

 

Have a wonderful Spring Everyone!!

Sincerely, Denisa Kaca Bradley