Today for the first time in Albania, I used the ATM system of my bank to withdraw some cash from my account. This is relatively a very small thing for most people living abroad, but it carries some importance because for me it is an indicator of better things to come for entire country.
About a month ago I decided to open my own personal checking account in an Albanian bank. For the entire time since I have been back, some 11 months now, I had not truly been so keen to open an account, except for when I was needing a Credit Card.
This morning I left to come to work and on my way there I decided to stop and try my new ATM card, which I had only gotten the day before. I have used ATM machines many times while in the US, but had never used one in Albania. And in another way what made this experience special was the fact that the ATM directions were all in Albanian.
Now some of you may be wondering, why is this guy writing about such a mundane thing? May be this is truly a useless topic, but nonetheless I thought I’d share my little story with you as part of my ‘Back in Albania’ experience. But most importantly to evidence some of small but important developments happening in the country. Much remains to be done in Albania, but often even small things have the endowment of hope for a better future for the entire country.
