Saturday, December 30, 2006
Photos from Christmas Day--Prizren, Kosovo
These are the photos we took on Christmas Day in Kosovo. The first one is me at the fort above Prizren. The second is Matthias and I overlooking the city.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Half dead rabbits and other amusing tidbits
Well, it seems the election will be moved to February 18th. If this is the case, I will be here until March 1. Unfortunately the political parties are still arguing and it's not for sure. If it's longer than that, they will send us home and ask us to come back. It's going to be a long, hard winter staying here for 2 more months if this is the case. It's so dang cold.
In the mountains around Kukes there are a lot of wild rabbits. The owner of the restaurant bar here goes hunting for rabbits. Last night while we were eating dinner he brought in a half alive rabbit that he had just stunned. I guess we know what's on the menu tonight. There are some guys here from Singapore that we have made friends with. They are working on the communications system for the new Kukes airport. (This is another side story entirely about why they are building an airport here. There really is no reason but people are of the opinion that "if you build it they will come." It's like their future depends on it.) Anyway, these guys wanted to hold the half alive rabbit and they were taking photos of themselves so I jumped up and took pictures as well but it kind of ruined dinner for me.
My shower is a pipe coming out of the wall so the bathroom is my shower. They have placed the toilet paper roll holder directly underneath the shower.
The people from Kosovo are building a monument in Kukes to remind the city of how much it did for Kosovo during the 1999 war. It is a half-complete pile of bricks that has been under construction for three years and it's kind of an eyesore.
Yesterday while meeting with one of the police chiefs, he had a very nice looking space heater in his office. He was briefing us on road conditions and the security situation and all I could think was, "how can I get close to that heater?" This is what my entire life is about--creative ways to get warm. It's amazing what going into basic survival mode can do to your brain.
In the mountains around Kukes there are a lot of wild rabbits. The owner of the restaurant bar here goes hunting for rabbits. Last night while we were eating dinner he brought in a half alive rabbit that he had just stunned. I guess we know what's on the menu tonight. There are some guys here from Singapore that we have made friends with. They are working on the communications system for the new Kukes airport. (This is another side story entirely about why they are building an airport here. There really is no reason but people are of the opinion that "if you build it they will come." It's like their future depends on it.) Anyway, these guys wanted to hold the half alive rabbit and they were taking photos of themselves so I jumped up and took pictures as well but it kind of ruined dinner for me.
My shower is a pipe coming out of the wall so the bathroom is my shower. They have placed the toilet paper roll holder directly underneath the shower.
The people from Kosovo are building a monument in Kukes to remind the city of how much it did for Kosovo during the 1999 war. It is a half-complete pile of bricks that has been under construction for three years and it's kind of an eyesore.
Yesterday while meeting with one of the police chiefs, he had a very nice looking space heater in his office. He was briefing us on road conditions and the security situation and all I could think was, "how can I get close to that heater?" This is what my entire life is about--creative ways to get warm. It's amazing what going into basic survival mode can do to your brain.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Have I been here forever?
I have been here for just over a week but it feels like forever.
On Christmas Eve we arrived in Prizren, Kosovo. We checked into our nice hotel and there was no water. Welcome to Kosovo. Matthias commented that things look nicer here but the conditions are a little bit harsher.
We then walked around the city. Prizren is an interesting place. It wasn’t hit too much during the NATO bombing and the war in 1999. However, in March 2004 there were some serious riots against the Serbs. Several of the Serbian Orthodox churches that stood for centuries were burned and looted. Serb neighborhoods were also burned. The city is still recovering from this event.
That evening we went to the German KFOR camp. We had to go through heavy security to get in and we couldn’t take our cameras. One of the soldiers took photos and he is supposed to send them to us. We were guests of the 20 or so members of the reconnaissance unit but there were about 200 German and Austrian soldiers at the party in the tent (with no heat). The head guy was dressed up like Santa and two female soldiers were dressed up like angels passing out the parcels for each soldier sent by the German government. Each unit had to do something funny (push ups, congo line, sing, etc.) before they got their gifts. We had to go up with our “unit” and sing “Silent Night.” They sang in German and I sang in English. They also gave me a gift. They were the nicest group of people, even wishing me Merry Christmas in English in front of everyone. And everyone was very good looking. There was lots of alcohol and some German marzipan bread. Even the hot chocolate was spiked. I asked the head of our unit (Torsten) to get me some hot chocolate without alcohol and it opened some doors to talk about my beliefs. Torsten even arranged for a local tour guide for us on Christmas Day. I found out that he told the guide, “Watch your language around the female.”
So on Christmas Day we met our guide named Noli. He is about 25 years old and speaks several languages. He started working for the German and US military in Kosovo and then went to work for the US in Iraq. He has seen a lot of death and violence not only there but in his home country of Kosovo. He took us around the city and showed us all the damage from the 2004 riots. We also saw the Serbian Orthodox church on the top of the mountain that serves as a lookout point for the German KFOR. There is also a fort on the top of the mountain built in the 12th century I think.
Noli took us through the mountains and then we ate an early dinner and called it a night. We were tired and our driver and interpreter were coming at 8:00 a.m. the next day so we could go to the part of our area that you can only get to (within reasonable driving time) by going through Kosovo.
Today we met with a few mayors and civil registry personnel trying to assess the process they used to compile their voter lists and how they see the election situation. We still don’t know if there will be an election on January 20. The rumor is that there will be a compromise and the election will be on February 20th. Right now there are still no candidates who have filed because the Local Election Commissions have not been established yet. Time is running out and while no one here celebrates Christmas, New Years (in fact both January 1st and 2nd) are public holidays so something has to happen before then or it’s too close. I have no idea what that means for us. Will we stay or will they send us home and bring us back? We have no idea.
So we spend our days meeting with these officials. There are these places in the Balkans called “coffee bars.” It’s basically like a coffee shop and there is one on every corner, 5 on a small street, and they are even in the middle of nowhere on mountain roads. No one ever spends time in the office. You always go for coffee. Sometimes we go for coffee five times a day. My order is always the same—bottled water. I even learned how to say “still water” (not the yucky carbonated stuff) in Albanian. It’s “uje pa kaz” (oo ee pah kaz). It’s become a joke with my team. I drink so much water I have to pee all the time, which is not good if you have toilets that don’t flush or no water. Today I sort of had a break down and told Matthias that I was tired of “going for coffee” and I didn’t think I could drink one more drop of water. It’s the way business is done here so I guess I just go with it. It’s just so amusing.
At our hotel in Kosovo we always seemed to have power until the last morning when we actually had water pressure and the water was lukewarm. I opted to shower and while I was in the shower the power went out. I just stayed in there because the water was warm and eventually the power came on. What can I do but laugh? We have to find hotels to put the short term observers who will arrive the week before the election. We have to ask questions like, “How long do you have power? Do you have a generator? Do you have water? Do the rooms have heat?” These are questions I have never asked a hotel at home. Today I actually found myself a little homesick for the Amerika Bar Hotel.
There are a few things I have learned I can live without—showers, electricity, clean hair, clean clothes, heat, paved roads, hairdryers, makeup, and clean hands. There are some days that I eat cabbage twice a day and it can really do a number on one’s digestive system. I’ve eaten more cabbage this week than I have in my entire life.
There are so many more things I could say but these posts are turning out to be longer than I thought they would be. I’ll sign off for today.
On Christmas Eve we arrived in Prizren, Kosovo. We checked into our nice hotel and there was no water. Welcome to Kosovo. Matthias commented that things look nicer here but the conditions are a little bit harsher.
We then walked around the city. Prizren is an interesting place. It wasn’t hit too much during the NATO bombing and the war in 1999. However, in March 2004 there were some serious riots against the Serbs. Several of the Serbian Orthodox churches that stood for centuries were burned and looted. Serb neighborhoods were also burned. The city is still recovering from this event.
That evening we went to the German KFOR camp. We had to go through heavy security to get in and we couldn’t take our cameras. One of the soldiers took photos and he is supposed to send them to us. We were guests of the 20 or so members of the reconnaissance unit but there were about 200 German and Austrian soldiers at the party in the tent (with no heat). The head guy was dressed up like Santa and two female soldiers were dressed up like angels passing out the parcels for each soldier sent by the German government. Each unit had to do something funny (push ups, congo line, sing, etc.) before they got their gifts. We had to go up with our “unit” and sing “Silent Night.” They sang in German and I sang in English. They also gave me a gift. They were the nicest group of people, even wishing me Merry Christmas in English in front of everyone. And everyone was very good looking. There was lots of alcohol and some German marzipan bread. Even the hot chocolate was spiked. I asked the head of our unit (Torsten) to get me some hot chocolate without alcohol and it opened some doors to talk about my beliefs. Torsten even arranged for a local tour guide for us on Christmas Day. I found out that he told the guide, “Watch your language around the female.”
So on Christmas Day we met our guide named Noli. He is about 25 years old and speaks several languages. He started working for the German and US military in Kosovo and then went to work for the US in Iraq. He has seen a lot of death and violence not only there but in his home country of Kosovo. He took us around the city and showed us all the damage from the 2004 riots. We also saw the Serbian Orthodox church on the top of the mountain that serves as a lookout point for the German KFOR. There is also a fort on the top of the mountain built in the 12th century I think.
Noli took us through the mountains and then we ate an early dinner and called it a night. We were tired and our driver and interpreter were coming at 8:00 a.m. the next day so we could go to the part of our area that you can only get to (within reasonable driving time) by going through Kosovo.
Today we met with a few mayors and civil registry personnel trying to assess the process they used to compile their voter lists and how they see the election situation. We still don’t know if there will be an election on January 20. The rumor is that there will be a compromise and the election will be on February 20th. Right now there are still no candidates who have filed because the Local Election Commissions have not been established yet. Time is running out and while no one here celebrates Christmas, New Years (in fact both January 1st and 2nd) are public holidays so something has to happen before then or it’s too close. I have no idea what that means for us. Will we stay or will they send us home and bring us back? We have no idea.
So we spend our days meeting with these officials. There are these places in the Balkans called “coffee bars.” It’s basically like a coffee shop and there is one on every corner, 5 on a small street, and they are even in the middle of nowhere on mountain roads. No one ever spends time in the office. You always go for coffee. Sometimes we go for coffee five times a day. My order is always the same—bottled water. I even learned how to say “still water” (not the yucky carbonated stuff) in Albanian. It’s “uje pa kaz” (oo ee pah kaz). It’s become a joke with my team. I drink so much water I have to pee all the time, which is not good if you have toilets that don’t flush or no water. Today I sort of had a break down and told Matthias that I was tired of “going for coffee” and I didn’t think I could drink one more drop of water. It’s the way business is done here so I guess I just go with it. It’s just so amusing.
At our hotel in Kosovo we always seemed to have power until the last morning when we actually had water pressure and the water was lukewarm. I opted to shower and while I was in the shower the power went out. I just stayed in there because the water was warm and eventually the power came on. What can I do but laugh? We have to find hotels to put the short term observers who will arrive the week before the election. We have to ask questions like, “How long do you have power? Do you have a generator? Do you have water? Do the rooms have heat?” These are questions I have never asked a hotel at home. Today I actually found myself a little homesick for the Amerika Bar Hotel.
There are a few things I have learned I can live without—showers, electricity, clean hair, clean clothes, heat, paved roads, hairdryers, makeup, and clean hands. There are some days that I eat cabbage twice a day and it can really do a number on one’s digestive system. I’ve eaten more cabbage this week than I have in my entire life.
There are so many more things I could say but these posts are turning out to be longer than I thought they would be. I’ll sign off for today.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Welcome to Amerika!
This is a view of the mosque in Kukes and the mountains.We are staying at the Bar America Hotel. Yesterday I sent my laundry to be done and I'm sure it was the strangest laundry the cleaning woman has ever seen. I'm not even going to try to explain. The only problem is that only half of it came back. I hope it will appear at some point or we might have a problem. :)
So today when we left there was a cow walking down the sidewalk. It was looking for something to eat and she walked right in front of our hotel.
Today for lunch I ate cabbage and olives. Usually during the day we don't have power but at night we have heat and electricity. We always have water.
On all the mountain roads there are all these headstone grave markers. They were put in the exact spot where the person fell off the mountain. I find it to be a little creepy.
Today we went to one little city looking for a fax machine in the town. There was a big sign that said "Faks" and the sign said "Hapur" which means "open." Not only was the shop closed but we called the number on the door and the woman said there was not a fax there. She just posted the sign for no reason. We drove around town and found several sheds that were hooked up to a generator for electricity so the boys in the town could play Play Station 2. But alas, no fax.
Does any of this seem like "Amerika" to any of you?
I arrived in Kukes on Wednesday. We left Tirana at 10:00 a.m. and arrived in Kukes at 4:00 p.m. It’s not really that far if you look at it on a map but the road is so windy through the mountains that it’s 250 kilometers on your odometer. We started going up the mountain by these roads that are basically just switchbacks all the way up. Then there are switchbacks all the way down the other side. Repeat this process approximately 10 more times over 5 hours and then you arrive in Kukes. One of the observers who was in this area last year said that at a certain point you will look down the mountain and say, “Oh! We were just there 3 hours ago!” I don’t know if this is true or not because the mountains all looked the same. Plus it was snowy and foggy in some places and you couldn’t really see anything. There are not really guard rails of any kind on the road and at one point we came upon a group of kids who were looking down into a valley to see a van that had recently slid off the road. This was not encouraging. Luckily we have a very good driver who has a four wheel drive and it is safe.
The roads in Albania are categorized as either “good roads” or “bad roads.” If you want to go somewhere in Albania and you ask someone about it they say, “You can’t go there. The road is bad.” In some cases you get, “The road is good!” and you know it’s worth going. Driving to Kukes our driver told us he was taking us on the good road. If that was the good road, I’d hate to see the bad road. I didn’t dare drink water because I was so afraid of having a bladder problem in the middle of nowhere.
So I have not been warm since I got out of the car yesterday afternoon. I can’t even describe how cold it is. It is the bitter, wet cold AND windy. We are staying at the only hotel in town that has a generator and therefore heat. It’s called the American Bar Hotel. The owner has a sign out front that says “Welcome to Amerika” and he has it decorated with all this kitschy stuff, including several plastic Statues of Liberty. It’s pretty hilarious. Since it’s one of the few places in town with heat, everyone hangs out here all day. They sit at the tables and drink coffee and smoke. All my clothes smell like smoke and I have to say that already I can’t smell it anymore. It’s better to say that I THINK my clothes smell like smoke.
I brought 2 coats with me and I’ve decided that one is my indoor coat and one is my outdoor coat. My room is nice and it has heat but really, it’s not sufficient for what I’m used to but I make do. Life is hard here and in the houses, they have electricity from about 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and then it goes out. Sometimes it comes on for a few hours in the night and then it goes off at 7:00 a.m. Most people have to heat their homes by wood burning stoves and the lucky ones have some kind of gas heat. In the mornings when I blow dry my hair I think of how ridiculous it is to stand there with a hair dryer when the rest of the city has no electricity. This is why we decided not to rent an apartment and to just made do in a hotel. We have rooms next to each other and the hotel owner allows us to use some of the extra rooms in the bar as our office. It’s also very safe because the owner is the top businessman in town and nobody messes with him.
We still don’t know if there is going to be an election on January 20th. What is happening (without going into too much Albanian politics and election law) is that the Democratic Party (DP) is the ruling majority party now. By law elections had to take place at a certain time, January 20th being one of the last days it could happen. The minority party, the Socialist Party (SP) decided not to participate in the elections. All the local commissions are appointed by the central parties and the DP made appointments but the SP did not. So the local commissions can functions which meant no candidates could file to run. So, there are no official candidates. The DP says they are going forward (how I don’t know) and the SP says no and if the DP tries to, they may call for mass protests in the streets. They are trying to work out a compromise so that the elections will be postponed until February 18th so that they have time to prepare for an election. This would take making changes to Albanian election law. If they change it to a date in February, we will most likely stay for an extra month and do our work. If it’s longer than that, the mission will close down and we will all go home.
I am living on a diet of cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, meat and white bread. So far it’s okay and my pre-Albania cookie binge is definitely over. We try to walk to as many places as possible for exercise but there is really nowhere to go. We can walk the whole city in 10 minutes. We go to the store and the Internet café but there is not much more here. It’s a small city and when we go to the villages, we drive. We spend our days meeting with local officials trying to figure out what is goin on here. We meet a lot of government people who think they are very important!
My partner is Mattias from Germany. He has worked in Albania quite a bit. He has an 18 year old son who is studying to be a chef. His wife works for some organization in Germany where she travels some so I guess being away works for them.
There is an OSCE office here that works a lot with other issues (legal reform border issues, etc.) because it is so close to the Kosovo border. Apparently it’s a very easy drive to Prizren in Kosovo (Serbia) and we are told that if we need to do shopping or if we are going crazy we should make the 40 minute drive to Prizren because “the road is good.” My partner and I are planning to go to Prizren for Christmas. I never thought I’d be spending Christmas in Kosovo. We’ll see if we can really do that. I hope so because we will go crazy here with no work to do on Christmas Day. For New Years they have scheduled a meeting in Tirana and they will have a party for us there.
The roads in Albania are categorized as either “good roads” or “bad roads.” If you want to go somewhere in Albania and you ask someone about it they say, “You can’t go there. The road is bad.” In some cases you get, “The road is good!” and you know it’s worth going. Driving to Kukes our driver told us he was taking us on the good road. If that was the good road, I’d hate to see the bad road. I didn’t dare drink water because I was so afraid of having a bladder problem in the middle of nowhere.
So I have not been warm since I got out of the car yesterday afternoon. I can’t even describe how cold it is. It is the bitter, wet cold AND windy. We are staying at the only hotel in town that has a generator and therefore heat. It’s called the American Bar Hotel. The owner has a sign out front that says “Welcome to Amerika” and he has it decorated with all this kitschy stuff, including several plastic Statues of Liberty. It’s pretty hilarious. Since it’s one of the few places in town with heat, everyone hangs out here all day. They sit at the tables and drink coffee and smoke. All my clothes smell like smoke and I have to say that already I can’t smell it anymore. It’s better to say that I THINK my clothes smell like smoke.
I brought 2 coats with me and I’ve decided that one is my indoor coat and one is my outdoor coat. My room is nice and it has heat but really, it’s not sufficient for what I’m used to but I make do. Life is hard here and in the houses, they have electricity from about 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and then it goes out. Sometimes it comes on for a few hours in the night and then it goes off at 7:00 a.m. Most people have to heat their homes by wood burning stoves and the lucky ones have some kind of gas heat. In the mornings when I blow dry my hair I think of how ridiculous it is to stand there with a hair dryer when the rest of the city has no electricity. This is why we decided not to rent an apartment and to just made do in a hotel. We have rooms next to each other and the hotel owner allows us to use some of the extra rooms in the bar as our office. It’s also very safe because the owner is the top businessman in town and nobody messes with him.
We still don’t know if there is going to be an election on January 20th. What is happening (without going into too much Albanian politics and election law) is that the Democratic Party (DP) is the ruling majority party now. By law elections had to take place at a certain time, January 20th being one of the last days it could happen. The minority party, the Socialist Party (SP) decided not to participate in the elections. All the local commissions are appointed by the central parties and the DP made appointments but the SP did not. So the local commissions can functions which meant no candidates could file to run. So, there are no official candidates. The DP says they are going forward (how I don’t know) and the SP says no and if the DP tries to, they may call for mass protests in the streets. They are trying to work out a compromise so that the elections will be postponed until February 18th so that they have time to prepare for an election. This would take making changes to Albanian election law. If they change it to a date in February, we will most likely stay for an extra month and do our work. If it’s longer than that, the mission will close down and we will all go home.
I am living on a diet of cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, meat and white bread. So far it’s okay and my pre-Albania cookie binge is definitely over. We try to walk to as many places as possible for exercise but there is really nowhere to go. We can walk the whole city in 10 minutes. We go to the store and the Internet café but there is not much more here. It’s a small city and when we go to the villages, we drive. We spend our days meeting with local officials trying to figure out what is goin on here. We meet a lot of government people who think they are very important!
My partner is Mattias from Germany. He has worked in Albania quite a bit. He has an 18 year old son who is studying to be a chef. His wife works for some organization in Germany where she travels some so I guess being away works for them.
There is an OSCE office here that works a lot with other issues (legal reform border issues, etc.) because it is so close to the Kosovo border. Apparently it’s a very easy drive to Prizren in Kosovo (Serbia) and we are told that if we need to do shopping or if we are going crazy we should make the 40 minute drive to Prizren because “the road is good.” My partner and I are planning to go to Prizren for Christmas. I never thought I’d be spending Christmas in Kosovo. We’ll see if we can really do that. I hope so because we will go crazy here with no work to do on Christmas Day. For New Years they have scheduled a meeting in Tirana and they will have a party for us there.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Albania! Albania! You border on the Adriatic!
Well, I made it. The flights were not so fun--crowded and bumpy and I didn't sleep. I arrived in Tirana and amazingly, so did my luggage.
I met my partner Mattias (pronounced Matt ee us) from Germany. He's had quite a bit of experience in Albania.
We found out tonight that the deadline for filing candidates is tomorrow. Candidates must file with the local elections commissions that don't exist yet. There is some feeling that the elections will be postponed until February 20th. If that happens, we will be asked to stay. I guess we'll find out in the next few days.
Mattias and I are assigned to one of the hardest areas. They expect electricity to be out for up to 12 hours each day. There are several towns will be visiting first before the snow begins to fall. Glad I packed the down parka and boots.
The city is actually decorated for Christmas. This tree is in the lobby of our hotel--Hotel International Tirana. Sorry I don't have time to figure out how to make it right side up because I only have a few minutes. So it's Christmas in Albania after all!!
Saturday, December 16, 2006
On my way to Albania
I just found out that I am going to be stationed in Kukes, Albania. Kukes is in the northern part of Albania and it is just east of Skodra where I was stationed last time. So forget the beautiful Adriatic coastline. I am going to be freezing my butt off in the mountains.
Kukes is right across the border/mountains from Kosovo. In 2001 while in Kosovo I was stationed on the other side of these mountains. (If I remember correctly, my interpreter in Kosovo called them the "accursed mountains" if that gives you any idea how large they are.) Kukes was acutally nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize because during the war in 1999, thousands of refugees from Kosovo crossed the mountains and stayed in refugee camps in Kukes. Now there is not much going on there. I'm guessing they put me there because of my experience in Kosovo and familiarity with the political situation. I guess I won't be doing much sight seeing!
My partner is from Germany and I guess I'll meet him on Tuesday morning at the briefing.
Kukes is right across the border/mountains from Kosovo. In 2001 while in Kosovo I was stationed on the other side of these mountains. (If I remember correctly, my interpreter in Kosovo called them the "accursed mountains" if that gives you any idea how large they are.) Kukes was acutally nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize because during the war in 1999, thousands of refugees from Kosovo crossed the mountains and stayed in refugee camps in Kukes. Now there is not much going on there. I'm guessing they put me there because of my experience in Kosovo and familiarity with the political situation. I guess I won't be doing much sight seeing!
My partner is from Germany and I guess I'll meet him on Tuesday morning at the briefing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
