The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Finally finished at the dentist, and today is moving day!

We've been here in Berat for two weeks now, and we've really enjoyed our stay. In fact, we could easily stay longer! But, we have decided to move on. We are likely to return with our new motorhome one day, and there are still some things we didn't see, so we have a reason to come back.

Yesterday, I had my 4th and final dentist appointment! The job is complete now, and everything seems fine. And how much did it cost?

Just as he said, the total cost for my four different appointments including X-rays and rebuilding the anchor tooth for my bridge was 5,000 lek ($60 CAD, $48 USD, €40). I thanked him, paid the bill, and then ran to the getaway car! I almost felt guilty for having only paid $60 CAD. It probably would have been at least ten times that in Canada.

The price list.

Some of the stuff doesn't translate logically, but to give you an idea... tooth removal is 500 lek ($6 CAD, $4.80 USD).

Teeth cleaning is 1,500 lek ($18 CAD, $14.30 USD).

Anyway, dental work in Albania is very inexpensive compared to western prices.

I was talking to the dentist about the Covid situation here. He says the hospitals are full, but that's not much of an indication because he says the hospitals are full all the time anyhow! He says that seniors are mostly taking the situation seriously, which makes sense since they are the ones most at risk, but young people are not concerned. Which is pretty much the way it is everywhere, I guess. It seems that everything here is operating normally, with the exception of the mask wearing which seems to be about 50% of the people, and the curfew that is in place between 8pm and 6am which of course doesn't affect us.

I said thank you in Albanian. It's a VERY difficult language to learn. There are 36 letters in the Albanian alphabet, and many words don't sound the way they are spelled. In fact, I was reading that for native English speakers, learning Albanian ranks as difficult as learning mandarin Chinese! So the Albanians are easily impressed when we come out with a word or two in their language. Try these out... and I can almost guarantee that you are not pronouncing them correctly...

Thank you Faleminderit

Hello Përshëndetje

Good morning Miremengjes

But, we are trying to pick up a new word or two here and there.

We sat outside and played cards yesterday afternoon.

Gotta get going... today is moving day and we are headed to our apartment overlooking the beach in Vlorë, Albania's 3rd largest city.

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And in Canada...



4 comments:

  1. You really lucked out with your dental and optical needs during this trip. Not only did you get super inexpensive prices but very good quality services as well. Lol! There’s no way I could even attempt to pronounce those words! Kudos to you for learning and speaking a few key words. That’s always appreciated by locals anywhere. Btw, do you use the speaking Google translate or just the plain text language and show the written translation to the person you are speaking to?

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    1. We sure have! It was just a matter of meeting the right people. The locals are the best way to get recommendations. :-)

      Yes, no matter where you go if you can at least try to learn a few of the most basic words the locals will absolutely appreciate the effort.

      Kevin usually just types the translation out and then lets them read it but I do think using the vocal aspect of Google translate would be much quicker but maybe not as accurate.

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  2. I'll admit I haven't paid much attention to the COVID situation in other countries. I spoke with my nephew that lives in Tubingen Germany. I mentioned Albania, and he said it was on one of the high risk countries for entering Germany. Not sure what list he was looking at or how old it was. I'm sure you are well-versed in all of this as you are heading to Germany some time in the near future and probably from somewhere else.

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    1. Yes, we do keep an eye on the numbers and the COVID situation for Germany and our ability of being able to get into the country at some point but things are changing all the time.

      As for Albania's numbers they are definitely lower down in the list for countries with higher cases of COVID per 100,000. Having said that Albania is totally open compared to the countries with less numbers of COVID but they are also the countries with a lot more restrictions so when you factor that in, Albania is probably doing pretty good number wise, had these same countries been open like Albania. At some point these other countries are going to have to open up, economically they just can't continue to stay closed.

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