MOVING TO ALBANIA.

Almost everything written about moving to this country is written by people who do not live in it. You get averages, and an average is what you come out with when nobody has paid the bill. It will tell you that a single person lives here on a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars a month. It will not tell you which internet provider will waste your week, or which hospital takes a child at two in the morning.

This is a month in Durrës, with the names on it. It does not cover your visa, your bank or your taxes, and the last section explains why.

INTERNET.

There are 6 providers and you only need one of them. You pick a speed at the office, a technician comes to the flat the next day, and neither the connection nor the equipment costs you anything. Tring is the one people warn you about.

DOCTOR.

A pharmacy is a FARMACI, so that is the word on the sign you are looking for. One hospital takes adult emergencies and children go to a different one, which is the kind of thing you want to know before you need it and not after. Every district also has a clinic for the routine work, vaccinations included, once your paperwork is in order.

SCHOOL.

This is the question nobody answers, and it is the one that decides whether you come at all. A nursery is a çerdhe, a kindergarten is a kopësht, and a school is a shkolla. Search those three words on the map and you will find them, because every district has both state and private ones, and they are the easiest buildings in the city to spot: they are the ones with the bright drawings painted on the wall.

BILLS.

Your electricity comes from a company called OSHEE and your water from one called Ujësjellës. You can pay both at the post office, and the post office charges you no commission. Nobody thinks to tell you that, and everybody needs it in the first week.

MONEY.

The currency is the lek, and a dollar is worth about 82 of them. Check the day's rate at Iliria98 before you change anything, then use an exchange office. Western Union gives you a decent rate as well. Do not change money at your hotel.

FOOD.

The fish bases sell cheaper than the shops, but they sell whole: a salmon is 5 or 6 kilos and shrimp start at a 2 kilo pack. If that is more fish than you want, the old men at the market will sell you less of it.

GETTING AROUND.

The buses leave from the station, and the two you will want are Plepa and Golem. For the airport, and for anywhere else in the country, Sergiy drives.

WHAT IT COSTS.

Nobody here quotes you a price in dollars, so I have done the arithmetic for you: everything below is converted at 1 euro to 1.14 dollars and 82 lek to the dollar, which is the rate on the day I am writing this. What the landlord will actually say to you is the euro number.

WHAT I AM NOT GOING TO TELL YOU.

I am not going to explain your visa, your residence permit, your bank or your taxes. Those depend on your passport and your money, and I am not going to guess at either. The embassy publishes the entry rules and an immigration lawyer will do the rest of it in an afternoon.

Or you can ask me and I will do it for you. Tell me what you need and I will come back with what it costs and how long it takes: ask me.