Hamburgers

Today, I woke up from a nap with intense thoughts about hamburgers and picnic foods. Like, potato salad. Man, oh man. This was all I could think about for about... 20 minutes. The craving is lessening now but oh! the things I considered during those 20 minutes! Taking a boat to Italy... because just over the boarder they have a mcdonalds... or so I've heard. haha. These cravings sometimes drive me almost to tears, they get so bad. No, there are no hamburger places in Tirana (that I'm aware of and are decent). And it's pretty impossible for me to cook anything American-ish over here - just can't find the ingredients. So I'll just suffer for a while! Oh, to be near a Stop and Shop again.... sigh.

Shopping for maternity clothes in Albania is fun. not. Luckily, Mom and Dad are visiting me in a week and a half (woo hoo!) and they can bring me a bunch of stuff (as much as they can stuff into a suitcase!). But I do have one pregnant American friend here... there is something in the water... and she needs them, badly. So the past month or so we have been on a hunt for them. For all of the pregnant ladies in Tirana, we have found ONE or TWO maternity stores in the whole city! We have gone to all the malls, asked everyone we know (and don't know) and that is all we can find. The selection is extremely small, it's like a small section in the back of a baby gear store. And whoa! Is it expensive! $60 for a shirt I could buy at Target for $15. CRAZY. Thank God I'm not too pregnant yet, or I would be dying over here.