Pages

28 April 2012

Ish Biloku

 You can tell when a city is poor, as Rebecca said recently, by the smell.  It’s hard to put a finger on what that smell is, but it’s there.  It’s almost the same every time.  Especially when it’s raining and you can smell the leaks in the sewers, or when it’s hot and dusty and the smog of burning trash and two-stroke exhaust hangs in the air.
Tirana is a poor city.  Albania is a poor country – in Europe, only Ukraine, Kosovo, Bosnia and Moldova are poorer.  Walking in the city, one feels a gripping, immediate destitution.  Children beg in the streets, manhole covers are missing, trash is piled in empty lots.  Even in Tirana’s center square one can feel it – at night, Roma prostitutes in tawdry petticoats stand on the steps of the opera.
But there’s one small part of Tirana that is – almost miraculously – very different.  The two questions: What does it stand for?  Is it real?
 “In that time,” Malvin, a new, young Albanian friend told us one night, “in the time of the dictator, not even a bird could get into ‘The Block.’  Maybe just a little bird, a tiny bird.  But nobody else.”  A woman at the guesthouse we are staying in said, about The Block, that it was “the neighborhood we couldn’t go to when we were little.  Nobody could go there.  It was where our dictator lived, and all of the other important communists.”
“Today,” she continued, “it’s where the young people go, maybe for a drink or to hang out.  It’s very cool.”
Above, Radio Bar, which is certainly a very cool bar, and one of the more popular.
 It’s true that “Ish-Biloku” (“The Block” in Albanian) is a cool neighborhood, and that it’s a place to go for a drink.  A small section of six city blocks, it’s become sleek and well-fed, the leafy streets and luxurious homes opened up to the public and the club speculators.  White chaired, colorful-walled cafes – a type of establishment, with indifferent coffee and loud techno, that’s proliferated across the entire urban continent – mix with shoe stores and “boutique” clothing stores.  The first time we came down to The Block, a new Ferrari was pulled up to the curb nearby a popular café.  Wardrobes in this part of town are painstakingly curated, the heels are high, the sunglasses like gleaming hubcaps. If there is somewhere wealthy in Tirana, it’s here.  But how much of this wealth and showiness is real?
 Until 1991, when it was first opened to the public, Ish-Biloku was the private reserve of Enver Hoxha, Albania’s communist dictator, and a few high-level party members.  His house now sits disused in a neglected stretch of lawn, visible in all its mundane blockiness from the sidewalk.  Around it are simple coils of barbed wire and a low fence.  There are no visible guards.  It’s ignored, except by a few tourists who stop to gape.  The neighborhood has moved on.  Capitalism has swept in, and there are friends to meet around the corner.
Ish-Biloku, to many Tirana people, is a symbol of their victory over the tyrant, of their freedom, of the promise of a better life.  But it’s also too expensive for Albanians.
 In Chisenau (another strange, communist-block shantytown, the capital of Moldova), we used to wonder at the little pockets of wealth.  There, in a country where the people are throttled by poverty, where the average citizen makes less than someone in India or Congo, there were little enclaves of shocking luxury.  Parts of the city were full of idling, chauffeured luxury cars.  We ate at a few restaurants that would be considered expensive in New York, where women wore yards of shining fur and the men’s faces were bloated with rich food and power.  Moldova is so corrupt that it can barely be called a free country.  The black market thrives.  The old communist leaders have been replaced by gangsters and crooked officials.
 Albania is much the same, just a little more glossy.  In a sense, there is something unchanged about Ish-Biloku, even if it seems that everything is different.  People who populate the glitzy stores and restaurants are divided into two groups: the actually wealthy and the wide-eyed.  The first group is suspect – how has anyone made money in Albania, if not by being slippery and cozy with the ruling party?  The members of the second group linger for hours over a few cans of soda, or a long-finished espresso.  The average income in Albania?  About two hundred and fifty euros a month.  That’s only three thousand euros a year.  An afternoon coffee for a young student is a real expense.
When we ordered food at one restaurant, called Artigliane, everyone gaped at our plates.  This salad cost about four dollars.  The people around us couldn’t take their eyes off it.  Almost nobody orders food in The Block.  Tirana’s people eat and drink elsewhere, where things are cheap.  They come to Ish-Biloku to sit and feel better off.
 When one first enters Ish-Biloku, crossing from grime to luster, there’s a sense that something miraculous has taken hold of Tirana.  The air even smells – in that telltale way – cleaner and healthier.  Even in the rain it’s fresh, with the vegetal odor of the trees and none of the churned up mud of the outside world.  Tirana seems to be a different place.
If the neighborhood wasn’t so small it might not feel so illusory.  Instead, the fresh flowers and waiters in vests, the bright clothes and indolent youth seem like a fleeting mirage, flickering in a wasteland of poverty.  Tirana isn’t really like this.  Albania is still a very poor country.
This bar is almost attached to Hoxha’s old house.
Is Ish Biloku real?  Maybe.  It’s real in the sense that it exists.  Young people go there and sit on angular surfaces, grip cold glasses, smell the new leaves, listen to raucous techno.  But there is an illusion here, a play on reality.  At times it seems that everyone got dressed up to pretend that Tirana was better off.  Twenty years after Albanians emerged from the depths, they’re still gasping.  The Block may have been opened up, but it’s difficult to tell if anyone can really get in.

17 comments:

  1. Loan offer with 0% interest contact Lightstreamloanlender@gmail.com for any Financial help....Business loan, loan to acquire a House or a Car etc....

    ReplyDelete
  2. My name is Mrs Aisha Mohamed, am a Citizen Of Qatar.Have you been looking for a loan?Do you need an urgent personal loan or business loan?contact Dr James Eric Finance Home he help me with a loan of $42,000 some days ago after been scammed of $2,800 from a woman claiming to been a loan lender but i thank God today that i got my loan worth $42,000.Feel free to contact the company for a genuine financial service. Email:(financialserviceoffer876@gmail.com) call/whats-App Contact Number +918929509036

    ReplyDelete
  3. Do you need Finance?
    Are you looking for Finance?
    Are you looking for a money to enlarge your business?
    We help individuals and companies to obtain loan for business
    expanding and to setup a new business ranging any amount. Get a
    loan at affordable interest rate of 2%, Do you need this cash/loan
    for business and to clear your bills? Then send us an email now
    for more information contact us now whatspp Number +918929490461
    Contact Us At : abdullahibrahimlender@gmail.com
    Mr Abdullah Ibrahim

    ReplyDelete
  4. My name is Mrs Aisha Mohamed, am a Citizen Of Qatar.Have you been looking for a loan?Do you need an urgent personal loan or business loan?contact Dr James Eric Finance Home he help me with a loan of $42,000 some days ago after been scammed of $2,800 from a woman claiming to been a loan lender but i thank God today that i got my loan worth $42,000.Feel free to contact the company for a genuine financial service. Email:(financialserviceoffer876@gmail.com) call/whats-App Contact Number +918929509036

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello Everybody,

    My name is Bhagwan Kumawzt by name and I live in the POLAND and i am a happy woman today? and i told my self that any lender that rescue my family from our poor situation get any kind of loan you need today, thank you, as you read greatest testimony of my life. with whatsapp+919667837169

    Testimony of a serious loan acquired, thank you very much Dr. Mark for your loan assistance of 100,000(US DOLLARS) without any upfront fee,that you give me. I will talk about your services to those around me who need a loan or financing. I am happy with the loan you have granted me Do not hesitate,if you need a loan and a real legit loan lender so just kindly contact him now and get your loan via:: markthomasfinanceltd@gmail.com whatsapp number: +919667837169

    Whats-App no +919667837169
    Company Name Ronnie Finance Ltd
    Dr. Mark Thomas

    ReplyDelete
  6. Are you in need of finance? we give out guarantee cash at 3% interest rate. Contact us on any kind of finance now: financialserviceoffer876@gmail.com whatsapp Number +918929509036 Dr James Eric Finance Pvt Ltd

    ReplyDelete
  7. Do you need Personal Finance?
    Business Cash Finance?
    Unsecured Finance
    Fast and Simple Finance?
    Quick Application Process?
    Finance. Services Rendered include,
    *Debt Consolidation Finance
    *Business Finance Services
    *Personal Finance services Help
    contact us today and get the best lending service
    personal cash business cash just email us below
    Contact Us: financialserviceoffer876@gmail.com
    call or add us on what's app +918929509036

    ReplyDelete
  8. DO YOU NEED A LOAN?
    We give out loans with an affordable interest rate of 2%
    Captain One provide Excellent and Professional Financial Services and we
    are known and genuine money lenders across the globe
    Our services include the following:
    *Student Loans
    Truck Loan
    Personal Loan
    Debt consolidation loan
    Car Loans
    Business Loan
    Student Loan
    Mortgage Loan
    Refinancing Loan
    Home Loan
    Improvement loan
    Construction Loan
    contact us for more information on how to get started:
    (Whats App) number:
    +919394133968 patialalegitimate515@gmail.com
    Mr Jeffery

    ReplyDelete
  9. Here at Pot City Herbs Community , You can easily get various strains such as : Sour diesel , Lemon haze , Blue cookies , BLUE COOKIES STRAIN
    Blue Cookies Strain Review , Platinum kush , Banana kush , Gelato #4 , Afghani strain , Wedding cake strain , Wedding crasher strain , Blue dream strain , Amnesia haze , purple Animal cookies strain , Gorilla glue #33, Purple punch strain, Strawnana Strain , Granddaddy purple, Purple haze strain , Thin mints Cookies strain, Hindu Kush strain , blueberry headband strain ,Northern lights strain , White widows strain ,True OG , Silver haze strain, Big Bud Strain , Jack Herrer , American Dream , OG Kush. and many other cannabis strains cultivated and harvested from our farms.

    Wickr Me : Budboos
    Email: Budboos@protonmail.com
    Text/Call: +15672460706
    Visit: Potcityherbs.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. I just want to say I’m very new to weblog and seriously loved your web page. More than likely I’m likely to bookmark your blog post . You actually have outstanding stories. Thanks for sharing with us your webpage.


    스포츠토토티비
    스포츠중계

    ReplyDelete
  11. I like this post, enjoyed this one thanks for posting. « Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after


    토토사이트
    토토사이트추천
    토토 대표 사이트

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nicely researched and presented. Thanks for delivering genuine information
    hello~~I was surprised to see your writing. This is a really useful resource~
    I would like to see these materials often~
    I will come here often. Thank you!!


    카지노사이트
    온라인카지노
    카지노사이트추천



    ReplyDelete
  13. It looks good. i find it really interesting . We offer safe and trusted online site for gamer. click here: 바카라사이트

    ReplyDelete
  14. I really appreciate your effort doing this kind of article. We operate a website where you can play online games. visit here: 카지노사이트

    ReplyDelete
  15. This site seems to inspire me a lot. Thank you so much for organizing and providing this quality information in an easy to understand way. We recommended to you our safest Online games. go here: 카지노사이트

    ReplyDelete
  16. I think that a healthy era of big data can be maintained only when such high-quality information is continuously produced. If anyone looking for safety playground for online gaming, Feel free to visit my site: 바카라사이트

    ReplyDelete
  17. LOAN WE LEND TO EVERYONE ONLINE financialserviceoffer876@gmail.com WhatsApp 918929509036

    ReplyDelete