Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Dentist update, and the Berat Ethnographic Museum

We published our March expense report earlier today. If you want to have a look, you can view it here... March Expense Report

You may have noticed that there was no expense for the visit to the dentist that I mentioned the other day. Well that's because it hasn't cost us anything ...yet! However, it's an interesting story...

I had said that I thought maybe the dentist here in Albania would cost slightly more than what we pay at our regular dentist in Mexico. But I was basing that on what I read online, and almost anything you can find online is prices that are from "dental tourism" websites. And those are always higher than the price the locals pay.

Our host here had sent us to a local dentist. Nice clean modern equipment, but not the fancy and expensive waiting rooms and highly qualified assistants and receptionists that you would find in a typical dental practice in Canada.

In fact, there is no receptionist. And his appointment book is hand written. If he spilled his morning coffee on it, he would be lost! And the only assistant I saw was a girl who came by and filled up the little paper water glass for me. Other than that, everything was done by the dentist, just like our dentist in Mexico.

So, I went to my second appointment yesterday. I was in the chair maybe 45 minutes in total. He removed the bridge again, froze the tooth, and went right to work. He explained everything he was doing, and why. He did some drilling, and installed an anchor in the old root. He took another X-ray. Then he reinstalled my bridge, again with temporary adhesive and scribbled me another appointment in his book for this coming Saturday at noon. 

He had thought I might need another appointment after that, but now he's saying he should be able to complete the whole job during my appointment on Saturday.

I hadn't yet asked how much all of this was going to cost. He has a price list up on the wall, but it's all in Albanian. I could understand the figures, but not the descriptions beside the figures! (By the way, the Albanian alphabet has 36 letters... more on that another day!)

Anyhow, he had told me at the first appointment that I did not need to pay anything until the job was complete. Exactly the same as our Mexican dentist. So this time I asked how much money I needed to bring to the Saturday appointment. I really had no idea, but of course wanted to be prepared.

He turned over my appointment card and wrote on the back.

5,000 lek.

Well 5,000 lek is $60 CAD ($48 USD, €40). I honestly thought he missed a zero. But no, that's the total cost.

Now, I haven't been to a dentist in Canada for over 15 years. But I'm pretty sure you can't even sit in a dentists chair in Canada without committing to more money than that. I'm only guessing, but I'm pretty sure that what I am having done here in Albania would be a $1,000 job in Canada. 

Anyhow, with that done, we went back to the cottage for an hour.

And what did we see outside our patio?

A small tortoise.

It turns out there are ten of them living in the garden!
This is the first one we have seen.

But given the amount of dirt on this one, we think they bury themselves in the dirt over the winter.

Ruth in our garden.

There is a museum just up the road from us called the Berat Ethnographic Museum. An Ethonographic museum is one that displays the history of a culture. 

It's just a small museum, but it's located in a fairly big home that was originally built in the 1700's.

The Berat Ethnographic Museum.







This loom is over 200 years old.

Not bad. 300 lek ($3.60 CAD, $2.85 USD) for entrance per adult. Fairly well done, although a little small. We were in and out in an hour.

A special birthday today. Wish we could be there to help grandson Cameron celebrate his 10th birthday. We have a small group of loyal readers who have been here since we set out in 2007. Most of them probably remember when grandson Cameron was born. Can you believe it's been 10 years??

Happy 10th birthday, Cameron!
(Daughter Lindsey sent me this photo that she took this morning.)

It's another beautiful day here in Berat, Albania and we are taking the car out for a drive into the mountains.

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Little girls love the LOL Surprise Dolls.

And in Canada...



16 comments:

  1. Way to go on getting that dental deal. Happy Birthday to Cameron.

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    1. We are pretty darn happy with that amount, it is even better than what we thought it might cost. To top it off Kevin said the dentist is very good and very professional and as he mentioned in this post, he explains what he is doing as he proceeds with the work.

      Thank you for Cameron's birthday wishes. We did a video chat with him and he had a great birthday. :-)

      Delete
  2. We remember when Cameron was born, always loved his name. What a great picture, Cameron! Hope you had a happy birthday!! It’s hard to believe we’ve been following you guys for ten years. Love all the places you have taken us! Have a great day!❤️

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it seems that 10 years goes by very fast! We can't believe it has been that long as well. :-)

      We are glad that you are still following us after all those years and that you have been enjoying our adventures. :-)

      Say hi to Barry for us and take care, you two.

      Delete
  3. Wow 60.00, what a deal! Hope his tooth issues are over. Nice hike, you two enjoy those hikes! I will have one hip replacement, looking forward to that, as it's tough to go, but I have to we do(Joann, Peanut, and I) get some exercise!
    Take care, Rawn Stone

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    Replies
    1. Yep, $60 and that is $60 Canadian dollars, so it is even less in U.S. dollars!

      We love our hiking! We hope that your hip replacement goes well and that you will soon be walking without any pain.

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  4. Happy birthday Cameron. I too remember when he was born. I started following you when you were in SA. I wanted to go to Bulungula on the wild coast. John was concerned about the road getting there and Kevin described it in great detail. We went and the road was bad but I loved it. Our grandson will be 10 soon as well.

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    1. If you remember Cameron being born then you started following us well before we went to South Africa! Maybe you are confusing him with Sadie because Sadie was born in August before we left for Namibia and South Africa? Anyways, we are happy that you went to Bulungula and the wild coast. We really enjoyed our time there, and yeah the road is and out was bad, but it wasn't really bad, you just had to go slowly. :-)

      Delete
  5. Medical and dental are even more outrageous in USA. I went to see a doc in Victoria Island due to bug bite that turned to infection while traveling. The doctor's office was plain and no nurse to take vitals or receptionist on duty. Doctor came out and did everything...total cost for prescription and doc fees $75.00. And, doctor gave me a printed paid receipt for reimbursement to medical insurance. I thought that was awesome. Here in American just to be seen in urgent care the fee is $50 and then you pay doctor's fee and prescription with a nurse and receptionist in office.

    Happy birthday to Cameron.

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    Replies
    1. I think you mean Vancouver Island, not Victoria Island.

      I am glad that everything worked out for you there and that it didn't cost you too much. Yes, we agree that would have been more expensive in USA.

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  6. Great fee! My bridge came off here in BC & the fee was $134 to re-cement it.
    Happy Birthday to Cameron.
    Happy Easter also.

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  7. $60.00 CDN?! for all that (dental)bridge work? What an incredible deal! Hope that the repair will last for many years. Happy birthday to Cameron! What a cute smile!

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    1. Yep, $60 CAD! Keep in mind that nothing had to be done to fix the bridge itself, the dentist is able to reuse Kevin's bridge so the work being done was just on the broken anchor tooth but still that would have cost Kevin a lot more back in Canada and this is why we don't go to a Canadian dentist anymore.

      We will pass your birthday wishes along to Cameron. He had a great birthday. :-)

      Delete
  8. Replies
    1. It is very pretty and it is fun to go out and look for the tortoises. We have only seen six of the ten so far so I think the others are still in hibernation.

      Delete

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