Like a fish out of water (religion, muslim, Roman)

[Djamila]

Of all the places you've visited, where is your favorite from among those different than your home?

Where people speak another language, come from another ethnic background, or have a different religion?

Mine is Gjirokaster, Albania. The people are Muslim, but they're Albanian and they speak Albanian - so I'm still like a fish out of water there. They're also not terribly fond of Slavs, even Muslim Slavs like Bosnians, so I tend to say my family name without the C on the end when in Albania.

It's such a beautiful town, though. It was one of the country's communist leader's hometown or something, so it was preserved very well. The people are very... lazy in the romantic way.

My favorite thing the whole time was riding on the back of an Albanian man's bicycle through the streets. They're too steep for hand brakes to do much, so he rose with his feet on the ground, skimming along. It really was a lot of fun.

The fashion was very provincial, which was nice. Some women wore dresses with puffy sleeves even - hahaha. It was cute.