Daily Stuff

Here is an update on some of the subjects I discussed earlier as well as some random stuff.

On the protests, the police arrested the leader of the self determination party shortly after the deadly protests in February. He is still in jail awaiting a trial on charges which I am told amount to failing to apply for a permit for a public gathering. His supporters held protests in late March which were peaceful and uneventful.


The birds are gone...for now. Someone had told me in mid-March that the birds only come into Prishtina from the countryside in the winter because the city is warmer than the country. I didn't dare to hope that this could mean the birds would actually be leaving their perch outside my window at some point, but indeed, they did. By the end of the first week in April, all but a few had flown away. The trees lining the fields along the roads leaving Prishtina are now full of giant nests - so the birds are busy multiplying in time for next winter.


I had maybe two weeks of peaceful sleep when it began to be interrupted again on a nightly basis - this time by dogs. Yep - now we have a pack of stray dogs living in the courtyard. Not packs of dogs at the level of post-Ceausescu Romania, at least not yet. It is a group of three or four which during the day, don't bother anyone. I walk by them every morning. But at night, late, at around 2 a.m. or so, if anyone is per chance unlucky enough to be coming home at that hour, the dogs give chase and bark and growl as loud as they can. And then at around 5:30 a.m. or so, they just start howling. An end may be in sight for this as well, however. Protesters gathered last weekend outside the police building to express their disagreement with a soon to be implemented stray extermination policy. I suspect they lacked the political clout to force changes to the policy.

On garbage, someone, probably the owner of the Thai restaurant in the courtyard, organized the removal of the garbage on my side of the building. One day I came out and it was gone - a pleasant surprise. As for the piles on the other side of my building, someone set it on fire so it too is gone in its original form. Now there is a waxy black ash with charred jagged plastic edges scattered throughout a stretch of land about the size of half a basketball court. Let's see if it lasts.

What else? It appears that the washing machine/water/detergent is eating through my clothes. My jeans have two holes in them as does a t-shirt. I think the water is very harsh here. Considering I only brought two pairs of jeans with me, this could be a problem at some point. I am choosing to ignore the holes for now, but believe me, they will not go unnoticed for long, and not in a "look how fashionable she is in worn jeans" way but in a "OMG doesn't that American chick have any self-respect at all, how can she wear clothes with holes in them" way. There is no chance of me finding a pair of jeans here to buy. The average Kosovar woman is about a size 2, and the boutiques reflect this fact- literally not stocking anything above a size 6. So, to my petite friend T., this place would be mecca to you fashion-wise.

I found soy burgers in a grocery store. The box is in German and Turkish. It was a great find since soy has not yet taken off here. The burgers are unlike any soy burgers I have ever seen in appearance or texture. Nevertheless, they are strangely edible.

I am very much looking forward to a vacation in London in May followed by a weekend road trip to Albania. I hope I come back with some good stories and photos to share.

Kosovar Signage

A typical road sign in Kosovo looks like this - in this case, the destinations are provided in Albanian, Serbian and Turkish. This sign was from the Prizren area where a number of Turkish minorities reside, thus, the Turkish translation. [I have heard a number of Kosovar Albanians complaining about how poor the road signage is in Kosovo, but speaking as a resident of D.C., where it seems entry to certain roads, like Rock Creek Parkway, is a well kept secret, devoid of any signage whatsoever, I have actually found the Kosovo road signs to be accurate and helpful.]

Now if you are NATO in Kosovo, you have to come up with a road sign understandable to all 17,000 troops who are on the ground throughout the province and originate from some 35 countries (the force is made up of troops from both NATO members and non-member states). The answer.... animals. [In Bosnia, if memory serves, they used colors, so Blue Route, Red Route, etc., and you would look out for stripes painted on various landmarks along the routes - just like hiking trails are marked.] All over Kosovo roads, you will see yellow signs with images of animals such as snakes, birds, rats, and this one, for example, indicating three roads - Duck/Goose (I can't tell), Horse and Lion.

Finally, in signs unique to a peacekeeping region, all the bridges in Kosovo are preceded by signs indicating speeds not just for trucks, but also for tanks.

Prizren

Fortunate for me, the Kosovo judges held an anti-corruption seminar in Prizren, a city about 80 km southwest of Pristina. I had been hoping for a chance to visit since when I first attempted to buy postcards in Pristina, the only ones I found showed scenes of the town of Prizren and they were beautiful - lots of Ottoman architecture, a pretty river, mountains. The reality did not disappoint.

The bridge is from the 15th century and the mosque from the 16th century.

The Orthodox churches/monasteries, which had been torched in 2004, are being rebuilt, and as with many historic Serb monasteries in Kosovo, are under NATO protection, in this case, the Germans guard them.

You can see the largest Orthodox monastery in Prizren behind the mosque on the hillside.

A weekend away.

I travelled to Lake Ohrid in Macedonia for the weekend. I had always wanted to go there, but in 1990, when I was backpacking around the Balkans, I basically ran out of money in Belgrade - I had enough cash to get me to Sarajevo where I knew I could live on a few dollars a day, but could not afford the transport plus the more expensive room and board at the popular tourist destination of Ohrid. Life worked out - I saw Sarajevo and much of Bosnia before the war started, and not just during it and after. But now I finally had the chance to see Ohrid.

Ohrid is the deepest lake in Europe and one of the oldest lakes in the world - it is shared by Albania and Macedonia. On Saturday, I went on a boat ride to the far end of the lake to see the St. Neum monastery. It was freezing on the boat, which is probably an activity more suited to warmer weather, but I figured I had traveled five hours to reach the lake, so a little cold weather should not stop me from going out on it.
St. Neum Our boat.

The monks of St. Neum apparently had a thing for peacocks, for they are everywhere on the grounds, and they are absolute show offs. I'm not sure I had ever seen a peacock with its feathers spread - here you'd turn a corner and three would be there preening. As if completely indifferent to the admiring stares of tourists, they'd pose then slowly turn their backs to you in full preening position to look out at the beautiful view from the upper wall of the monastery. Not a bad life!

First he preens...then he ignores you!

Sunday provided perfect, sunny and warmer weather to explore the town of Ohrid itself. It is very tourist friendly with a cobblestone path leading through the old town to ancient churches, mosques, a fortress and an amphitheatre dating from Roman times.
I joined my friend from the UN whom I worked with years ago in Croatia for dinner at a traditional Macedonian restaurant in Ohrid Saturday evening. He is a Sikh from Bombay and when we walked into the establishment, I felt as if I were with royalty. The waiter, addressing only my friend, asked where he was from, looked very impressed to learn he was from India, and looked insanely pleased to learn he spoke Serbian. Indeed, the waiter would barely address me, and I don't know whether it was because I was an American, or a woman, or a foreigner, or reminded him of an ex-girlfriend.. ..who knows. But since it seemed they had never before met a Sikh, and were extremely happy to have a Sikh in their establishment, I figured we were in for good service, well at least my friend was, but I would benefit residually. The fish was great, the wine was okay, they brought us free baklava for dessert, while a folk music trio played in the background - where a fiddle player played the typically upbeat melodies of folk music from this region to the typically non-upbeat lyrics of death, lost love and lonely souls. One song you could really tap your foot to went like this: "You have broken my heart, Jelena; You have crushed my soul, Jelena; You have taken my life, Jelena."

The waiter, who had consistently and steadfastly spoken only to my friend throughout dinner, came with our coffee at which point my friend asked for a toothpick - a usual staple on the table of a Balkan restaurant, and so it was here, except my friend could not see them because they were hidden by the oil and vinegar bottles and were on my side of the table. The waiter removed the bottles to reveal the toothpicks all while giving me a look which I think was intended to burn my flesh from my bones. I interpreted it as: "How dare you not tell this great man where the toothpicks were. You are not worthy to sit at this table." My friend and I agreed that the waiter looked genuinely angry at me. And as we were leaving, profuse goodbyes were dispensed to my friend from the waiter, the owner, the fiddle player and practically everyone else in the restaurant. I was just happy I got my coat back. Perhaps we will be the subject of a new chorus for the fiddle player and his band: "You honor us with your presence, oh great royal Sikh; Our hearts are full because you have come here, oh great royal Sikh; How we would like to crush the life out of the terrible wench who hid the toothpicks, oh great royal Sikh."