I’ve mentioned this before, but Albanians in my community find it SO strange that I run around outside and get really tired for fun. People–my neighbors, the shop owners I frequent, my students, small children whom I’ve never met before–get pretty worked up about my exercise routines. “I saw you running yesterday! WHY WERE YOU RUNNING?” “You’re going to run?! But it just rained, there are puddles everywhere!” “Where are you going? I have a car, I can take you, you don’t need to run.”

Exercise is widely embraced in America because we’re all a) fat and b) taught to admire athleticism. But in Albania, if you are fat, you either stay that way or adopt what I call the “Albanian Woman Diet” which is coffee, cigarettes, coffee, coffee, and no dinner. That really does not sound appealing to me, so to help myself stay fit–and sane–coupled with the…