Dream somewhere else

Waking up at the shores of Lake Ohrid is pretty amazing in its own right. A sole fisherman was sitting in his boat, while I took a plunge into the crystal clear water and let the smoothness of the moment refresh my body and mind. Back then I couldn’t have guessed that only a few hours later I would be crossing the Albanian border in the truck of a local who, in his broken English, kept repeating the phrase “money is everything” while proving the opposite in an act of immense hospitality when he invited me to dinner in a rundown petrol station. Over beans and meat he taught me the very basics of the Albanian language. I thanked him by saying “faleminderit”. And still nothing could prepare me for what was to happen next. See, when you travel the way I travel, you don’t expect a 5-star hotel. You content yourself with a somewhat comfortable mattress and a warm shower. Yet somehow this night I ended up on the luxurious couch of a 5-star hotel reception somewhere in the nothingness before Elbasan. And while I went over the events of that day in my mind, the same question kept coming up: How did I get here? I thought of the moment I said goodbye to my new friend. I thought of the desperate hour when I tried to find a reasonable place to sleep, the raging stream which wouldn’t let me cross over to the welcoming anonymity of the trees on the other side. I thought of the sudden blinding lights of the hotel and of the seconds it took me to form an idea and gather the necessary courage to walk into the lobby and ask: “Would it be possible to put up my tent in your garden?” I thought of the silence which followed my question, because nobody understood. I thought of the 11-year old daughter of the hotel manager who was the only person that I could communicate with. And I specially thought of her reply: “The money shouldn’t be a problem, but unfortunately we don’t have a free room. We are really sorry about that. You can sleep on the couch over there if it’s not a problem for you.” And before I knew it, I was taken to a table next to the illuminated swimming pool, where I shared my second dinner that day, this time with the hotel manager. But the last thought that crossed my mind just before I fell asleep was this: Do these people know that they gave me the most precious gift I could ever ask for on my birthday? The understanding that we are all connected, no matter where we end up. Happy birthday to me and faleminderit to you all.