Blogu "Our man in Tirana" eshte nje nga blogjet per Shqiperine me interesante. Autori eshte Alwyn, nje irlandez qe jeton perkohesisht ne Tirane. Me stilin e tij, me temat qe sjell, me balancen e mrekullueshme qe mban midis kritikes dhe admirimit, Our man in Tirana, eshte bere nje nga adresat me te dashura ne Internet per vete shqiptaret. Me poshte eshte nje interviste e Selfmaderadios me Ourmanintirana, e botuar ne anglisht. Lexim te mbare.I always find it difficult to come up with a good name for a blog. Most are either very dull or merely descriptive. When I was trying to think of a title ourmanintirana was a very obvious one - it's a play on the title of a famous novel by the English writer Graham Greene. His novel 'Our Man in Havana' is set in pre-Castro Cuba and features a vacuum cleaner salesman who is having trouble making enough money to keep his daughter happy. So he agrees to become a spy for the British secret service. But instead of recruiting other spies, he just makes everything up and this impresses his superiors. It also impresses other foreign intelligent agencies who start trying to catch him and to kill off his 'spies'. Its a very funny and satirical story. Having said all that, there is no deeper significance to the name of the blog than the fact that I liked the play on words. In case anyone is concerned, I'm not a spy and I don't sell vacuum cleaners.
I originally started the blog to keep friends and family back home up to date with what I am doing here and what it is like here. I suppose those people were the original 'our' of the name. It seems though that over the months I have been doing this there has been a change in the audience. From the comments I get and from the tracker information I keep it seems that the majority of people reading the blog are Albanians - mostly expat Albanians. For them I am reluctant to consider myself 'our' man since I am a newcomer to this place. So I am not sure who I write for anymore. I think that I have changed the nature of the postings since I have come to realise that it is being read by Albanian expats - but not in a conscious way. I think it is just in the back of my mind as I think of things to write about. I have also tried to develop the title as my persona while here - partly for consistency and partly out of a desire to maintain general anonymity.
I am of course very flattered that so many people from Albania read what I have to say and are sufficiently happy with my perspective that the come back to read more. It is also though a little frightening since it is so easy to get things wrong or to cause offence. Coming from Northern Ireland and having read many prejudiced and biased things about my own city of Belfast, I know how annoying and frustrating it is when people who don't really understand a place or its people or its history start making pronouncements. I also understand that, even when some of the things being said are true, it is more difficult to hear it from outsiders, whose own societies may not be that wonderful either.
There are of course many things that frustrate me or make me angry, but I don't think it is good to blog when you are angry. Some reflection makes for a better posting. I do not agree that the best thing about blogs is their 'honesty' or 'rawness'. These are often just excuses for prejudice or bad manners, so I try to present my experiences here as fairly as I can. I realise that there will always be occasions when people are still upset by them, but I do not go out of my way to cause offence and do not enjoy it when people are offended. My goal is to understand and to record my experiences of life here and to make those available for other people.
I do largely try to avoid discussing politics because even though I do find it interesting I do not think I know enough about the politics of the country to speak with any confidence. In the same way I have not written much about religion, though I hope to do so soon. I can claim a little more understanding here, both as a practising Christian and as a student of Theology and Philosophy of Religion. Despite these omissions I hope that the blog posting taken together do convey a reasonably rounded picture of life in Tirana and to a lesser extent Albania.
What do I do besides blogging? Not much. I read a lot, walk the city, drink coffee, play football, walk in the park etc. I am not working here, though I would like to be. I am here because my wife's company sent her here on a two year contract. We arrived in October last year so we have about one more year to go. On my age you are about 20 years out - if you think I am 25 from my blog then either I am youthful or immature - I will choose to see it as youthful and be flattered.
Thank you, Alwyn
