"Albania? Where is that?": My First Step in the Visual Diary

September 2025. Etai comes home from work and out of nowhere asks, "What would you say if I told you I got a job offer in Albania?" These words, returning to me now from a distance of ten months, resonate differently. Back then, when he dropped this bomb, my first reaction was straight to the point, and out of pure shock: "Albania? Where is that?"

I am sitting now in my new workspace, in our apartment, in a new residential building in Tirana, Albania. Writing these words, which officially open my visual travel diary in Albania.

I admit that after the initial shock and Etai's immediate reassuring words ("We will only move there if you want to"), intensive months of preparation for relocation began. In the reality where this opportunity arrived, a reality of sirens, of running to the safe room in the middle of the night or to the nearest shelter when out of the house, and a general feeling of despair from whoever is (not) running the country for years, with more and more corruption being discovered, and the nation torn apart and in post trauma, this offer felt like an opportunity I could not refuse. It fit me perfectly.

Etai and I made two short scouting trips to Albania. The first, just to see if I could imagine myself living in this unfamiliar place, and to feel it. The second, a few months later, to find an apartment.

Now we are here. Two months have passed like two days. I am sitting in the apartment in Tirana, the vibrant capital city. The landing was surprisingly soft. We unpacked 9 suitcases in two days (do not ask how it was to bring them). Within a month I already found a gym with workouts I love a seven minute walk from home, and a local hairdresser who knows exactly how to color and cut my hair, exactly the way I am used to. These little things are what help me feel local, to feel at home.

"And what will you do there?" This was the question I heard over and over from friends when we shared our plans. In the post Corona era, it was obvious to me. A laptop and an internet connection are all I need to reach potential clients and stay in touch with my existing ones. Email, WhatsApp, and Zoom. I did not stop working for a moment. Open projects continued naturally, and loyal clients kept coming as if I was still in Ramat Gan.

And now for this picture.

This rug. A handmade rug by women from the picturesque city of Berat. It is the first thing that truly made me feel at home. Our new home in Albania. This move came in the middle of life, and after 30 years as a graphic designer, my gaze has always been through textures, compositions, and colors. Now this gaze meets a completely new reality.

So now, while my heart is still in Israel (and we are arriving to the elections this coming October) but my home is in Tirana, I decided to create here, in this space, my visual diary. A travel diary of this adventure, through my eyes, which will answer once and for all the question: Albania? Where is that?