Sorry you haven't heard from me for some time, the laptop crashed. I am now in Macedonia and have access to this computer in the office when isn't being used. First of all a couple of pictures of our last couple of days in Canada, Lilian out for a walk with Caleb, (we walk he runs!) and his sister, Grace who seems a quiet as Caleb is noisy.

The next country I visited was Albania and frankly, I didn't quite know what to expect!
In fact, that's probably the best way to describe Albania, "unexpected". A beautiful country with some dark and ugly corners, a hangover from it's long period under communism. I visited the ancient city of Berat with its 2400 year old castle and it had a real Mediterranean feel about it. We stayed in Tirana, the capital and it is a mixture of old and very new/ spick and span and dirty/neo classical and ultra modern/ rich and poor! Like I say, you don't quite know what to expect!

Eating out is a big thing in Albania and there are lots of restaurants, roadside markets and coffee houses. With its large Muslim population the men tend to gather in coffee shops rather than in pubs. All meals are large and they just keep coming.
The weather was warm and bright but as we are coming into the winter there was the occasional dull day and shower of rain. There appears to be a phobia about getting wet and everybody carries an umbrella.
Southern Albania is particularly beautiful with lovely beaches but judging by what I have seen of coastal development so far, they need to be careful they don't "Majorca-cise" it with ugly blocks of high rise hotels right along the beach front.

Elsewhere some of the buildings and architecture would not be out of place in Los Angeles or London. During my time here I have met a lot of Albanians and done a lot of eating and talking, (no surprise there!) While they are delighted to be free and democratic, they say that corruption is rife and many of the politicians who are in charge were big Party members in the former Communist regime with all that implies. Some parts of the city (the best parts) which are now open to everyone were previously closed to all but senior Party members and that sense of privilege (corruption they would call it) is still part of the political mind set!
It's been a fascinating time here but now I head across into Macedonia. Interestingly relationships between the Macedonians and the Albanians are not so great and in fact Greece itself doesn't recognise Macedonia and insists on referring to it as "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" so its all a bit mixed up around here politically but coming from Northern Ireland we're well used to that. However on Sunday after church I will be travelling into Macedonia and I'll tell you that story on the Sabbatical Journey blog. The link is on this page.