Some little places

I am currently out of town for a little vacation in Sofia, Bulgaria. More on that when I get back. In the meantime, please enjoy pictures of places that I patronize in Pristina.

Dukagjini Bookstore

ProCredit Bank - one of the bigger banks here

One of 2 Chinese Restaurants in Town (they do massage also)

Blurred View of my Fish Shop

Dily Dally or is it Daly Dilly or DIliDali or ...who gives a *****

Today, I was walking home from lunch when I was cornered by a little kid, who I will refer to as Oliver, asking me for money. This is not too uncommon in Prisitina. Difference this time for me is that I saw the boy with his mum earlier going through trash. One of the things I told myself when getting here was that I would not be giving out alms in form of cash. I do not have much of it and I just feel better giving out something more tangible that can be used. I did that already a couple of times here. So back to my encounter with Oliver... I shook my head at him and said 'Jo'. Did it a couple of times and went around him. As I was walking on thumbing the the two euro in my jacket pocket, I heard a voice telling me to look back. At the same time, another voice was saying to me, "C'mon, you just gave a tip of one euro for lunch and you cannot help this family?" So I looked back and there was Oliver's mum going through garbage again. I almost lost it there and felt like crying. I crossed the street and ran back to Oliver and gave him the 2 Euros and mumbled "God Bless you and guide you into adulthood and a blessed future." I did not feel good about what I just did when I left Oliver behind. In fact I felt crappy about the whole situation. All around us were coffee houses with people drinking lattes and machiatos and there was Oliver and many more like him picking garbage. I felt even worse and guilty as I felt more like an outsider with my own different world from Oliver who is from Kosovo but yet is suffering like mad. We, fools talk and enjoy while the righteous suffer ....

I miss home a bit. It always seems like it's when I leave the country that s*** begins to happen - Possible downfall of Gonzales, congressional democrats finally growing a spine, Chief of Staff of the Military becoming a moralistic military preacher, Britany Spear shaving her head, etc. Pffffff

Me thinks this might be a conspiracy ...

There was another explosion ne Prishtine tonight. Apparently, the grenade toting gang is at it again. The news can be found here. Sad stuff, the restaurant bombed is Samurai :( Only place I have Japanese food and sushi (cooked meat) here. There is supposed to be another place but never been there. Nobody was hurt again except for those who were planning to have lunch there tomorrow and the owners who have to take on the financial burden. I am beginning to get suspicious whether these explosions are being done by pro-independence or anti-independence Kosovans. Both groups dislike most multi-lateral organizations anyway. But, onwards we all march to the future ...

We the People ....gallery

Sometimes, during all the political excitment and wheeling & dealing, it is oft forgotten that there are people on the ground being affected by all that is going on. In the following photos, I attempt, in a rough way, to visualize what Pristina and Kosovo are like from my limited exposure. Hope you see, hear and understand :)

Nightlife

On a recent visit to Skopje in Macedonia (or FYROM), I was asked by several people what what the night life was like in Pristina. I was wary about answering this. Being someone who has been lucky enough to know nightlife in NYC and London, I can be excused if I tend to soak up reviews of other cities' night life like a drainer. I ended up telling the inquiring minds that nightlife in Pristina was okay and growing. There are always cafes open up late (though mot serving coffee by 10 pm). 24 hrs casinos are still up and running. Taxis are always around to take you anywhere. I have heard of many a club but have only been to a couple. SPRAY might be queen amongst knights when it comes to clubs. Always a different vibe there but always full of young and beautiful Kosovan people indulging in all sorts of debauchery. Babuka is a favorite for internationals in Pristina. Better known as the Jazz Club, the live music in Babuka is good. The owner is also a constant drummer in the bands and a cool dude. There is actually an American vibe to this as some who work there used to in the USA. Cubed Club is also a god chillout place, nice eclectic music dj'ed by bartenders; mainly Kosovan patrons. There is always the OSCE happy hour every Friday night but I got a feeling that this is where internationals hook up and break up, the only time I was there. It seemed like a good networking event though. Here is a site talking about a couple more places to go to at night. Also check out article below about clubbing in Kosovo, though it is more about clubbing in Pristina and reads more like PR campaign for Babuka ;)

Clubbing in a new Kosovo

By Patrick Jackson BBC News, Pristina

As Kosovo awaits the UN Security Council's decision on its final status, BBC News asks Pristina's night clubbers if there is a place for Serbs, in a city where inter-ethnic tensions still resonate. Where does Europe's youngest population - 50% under the age of 25, according to the UN - go on a Saturday night? If you have a few euros, and can get past the bouncers, let Pristina's packed clubs entertain you with live rock and jazz. With pizza lining your stomach - or maybe a Bondsteel burger, named after a US military base - the beer bottles are glinting, the music is good and you could think you are in a club in any EU state. What places you in the Kosovan capital, other than the male-female imbalance (which grows as the night wears on), is the Albanian being spoken around you.

I cannot forget [the war] but I try not to think of it because we have to go forward - otherwise there is no chance Besim Gashi Babuka jazz club owner

But don't be discouraged if you don't know it - people here have a command of English to put other nations to shame, the product of schooling and "kitchen-table" private tutoring. And many older Albanians are no strangers to German or other west European languages, learnt from years of labour or exile abroad. Only Serbian, the one second language that just about everyone who grew up before 1999 knows as a citizen of the former Yugoslavia, stands outcast in Pristina. This city of 550,000 is now home to 12,000 Serbs, according to the OSCE, which includes suburban Serb enclaves. Serbs themselves say no more than 50-60 live in the centre of a city where they officially made up 13% of the population in Yugoslav times. Could they come back? This Saturday night some Albanians, at least, genuinely seem to be keeping the door ajar to a life together in Kosovo's capital.

Trying to forget

"We want to have a real good life here like young people have in Europe and everywhere else," says locksmith Jener Lleshi.

[My message to Serbs is] be Kosovans! And come and live in Pristina like you used to Jener Lleshi Pristina clubber

There was a time, he continues, when Serbs should "maybe have been afraid but not anymore". His message to them is that if they embrace Kosovo as a nation, they will be welcomed in and can enjoy the fruits of a euro-fuelled economy. "Accept that this is Kosovo and reject disintegration and separation because nowadays in Pristina you can travel, you can go about freely," he says. "That's my message to you: Be Kosovans! And come and live in Pristina like you used to." Besim Gashi Babuka is the owner of the jazz club where we are trying to talk above the music. Speaking in between sessions with the band, the man everyone knows as Babuka clearly has no illusions about the gulf between the two communities. He himself "lost everything during the war". "We [Albanians] were a million driven out of our homes, we had women and children killed, the anger was very strong," he says. "I cannot forget it but I try not to think of it because we have to go forward - otherwise there is no chance." Serbs, Babuka says, should try to understand that Albanians were hit hard during the war. There is intolerance on both sides and Albanians should also try to understand Serbs, he adds, but that "is much harder". As for the political situation, he argues that Kosovo's statehood will soon be a reality and he looks to the EU for examples of a multi-ethnic society. "I have just come from London and I studied in Amsterdam and I have seen all those millions of people from different places, of different nationalities and different religions, successfully living together." Many Serbs still living in the Pristina area avoid the city, some commuting to the Serb stronghold of Mitrovica on a train specially organised by the UN. Pristina's Serb population fell from an estimated 40,000 to a couple of thousand in the space of a few months in 1999, the UN refugee agency reported at the time. Expulsions by ethnic Albanians, it said, appeared to be "systematic" with entire blocks of flats reportedly emptied by militants using threats or actual violence.

Given the chance...

As the night winds down in Babuka's club, journalist Dukagjin Gorani offers his own view of Kosovo's future.

Kosovo will become a state but not a nation-state Dukagjin Gorani journalist

"It's not much of a country, just a small and extremely modest entity which I believe is very ambitious, ambitious in its idea that it does belong to the wider family of democracies, and it has certainly made up its mind that its road to wellbeing lies to the West," he says. Kosovo, he predicts, will "become a state but not a nation-state" if the Serbs accept democratic values and come aboard. By democracy, he means not just "the will of the majority but... but respect for minorities". And Dukagjin asks for the world to give Kosovo a chance: "Considering the way we have been governing ourselves for the past seven years, I cannot say I am much proud of anything but I sort of expect myself to become proud, hopefully with the serious reforms and changes which Kosovo will inevitably have to undergo." As for Babuka, his club is a symbol of the kind of place Kosovo should be. "Through my jazz club, something which is very European, I like to show that we are normal," he says.

Some more recent pics....

Some people commented to me that my previous pictures were not "too positive" and a little depressing. That is a pity as I was just trying to give images of current happenings. I do hope people do not think that's all Kosovo is about. This is a beautiful 'country', really. Here are some of more recent pictures from Kosovo.

Vala Card Guy by UNMIK (courtesy of MT Cowgirl)

A Busy Road (courtesy of MT Cowgirl)

CoalFired Power Plant - only one in Kosovo (Yikes!!!)

A View of Beginning of Police Avenue Showing Most Expensive Private School in Prisitina (The One That Looks Like An Observatory)

Blurred View Of Youth Sports Center At Night

I intend to give you a run down of precedent events later but for now ....

Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu, left, and Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku

....

According to news media, the last talks between Kosovan and Serbian negotiators on the proposals by the UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari concerning the future status of Kosovo did not end well at all. C'est la vie. He takes the proposals to the UN Security Council now where Russia might be the only one of the Permanent Five to potentially veto it. Let's wait and see. From Reuters:

"The U.N. Security Council will decide whether to give Kosovo independence from Serbia, after U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari on Saturday declared an end to over a year of fruitless Serb-Albanian talks. Ahtisaari said leaders of Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority were still deadlocked over the fate of the U.N.-run territory after a meeting in Vienna, the last in a mediation process that began in February 2006. If the U.N. Security Council adopts his blueprint, Kosovo will declare itself Europe's newest independent state and the last to be carved from the former Yugoslavia. "I would have very much preferred that this process would lead to a negotiated solution," the former Finnish president told a news conference. "But it has left my in no doubt that the parties' stands ... do not contain any common ground to reach such an agreement." "It is my intention to finalize the proposal for submission to the U.N. Security Council in the course of this month." The West wants a solution imposed by June, seeing no prospect of forcing 2 million Albanians back into the arms of Serbia and fearing unrest if they are frustrated much longer. Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombed Serbia to drive Serb forces accused of atrocities in a two-year counter-insurgency war out of the province. Some 10,000 Albanians died and almost a million fled before NATO troops occupied Kosovo. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica called for the U.N.-mediated talks to continue, saying the present plan was a ''brutal violation of the U.N. charter'' and a bid to amputate land cherished by Serbs as their historic heartland. "This proposal does not meet the conditions to be presented to the U.N. Security Council,'' he told reporters.

LONG TRAIN RIDE

The talks ended as hardliners in Serbia marked the first anniversary of the death in detention of Slobodan Milosevic, the Serb strongman whose repression of Kosovo Albanians in the 1990s led to fighting and NATO's first "humanitarian" air war. "We are putting an end to a dark chapter in our history," said Hashim Thaci, the former leader of the 1990s Kosovo Albanian guerrilla army. Kosovo Albanian politician Veton Surroi said: "The long train ride has arrived at the central station.'' Russia remains the only potential stumbling block. Serbia's fellow Orthodox Christian ally insists time be given for both sides to agree on a solution, but has pointedly avoided threatening the use of its council veto. Asked whether Moscow might veto the plan, Serbian President Boris Tadic replied: "That is going to be up to the Russians to decide what position they will take in the Security Council." Though it avoids the word independence, the U.N. envoy's blueprint sets out the framework for an independent state, under a foreign overseer and European Union police mission. It offers self-government and protection for the 100,000 remaining Serbs. The plan has won a frosty and at times violent reaction from some Albanians, who want clear and full independence. But Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu said they had accepted a '"painful compromise.""

Oxford French or Why am I busier?

This week has been tiring for me. I cannot explain it in any way other than that I am not getting enough sleep. I have just been zoning through my classes.

Yesterday, I heard from a sweet, beautiful and incredible colleague from graduate school who lives in Latin America. I was really excited to be in touch with him again; then he told me that he got a divorce which was finalized this year. I was heartbroken upon hear this. He and Filipa were such a great couple. I was really sad for the rest of the day after hearing this. If N and F could not make it work, what hope is there for ordinary folks like me? Yeah, that sounded very self centered but .... N, I love you very much. You are strong, beautiful and intelligent. You will survive this as you have survived many other things in life. Besos.

Talked to Dad yesterday. He is going on a pilgrimage to 'neverlands'. I asked him for some sand and water from there. Talking to him about his travels made me remember my dreams of becoming a mystic in the near future. Safe travels Dad. I love you and will miss you. Be safe!!!

One of the many things I look forward to when I go the office, apart from my beautiful and comedic colleagues, is the full length mirror in the elevators. I have none at home. I always pray no one catches the elevator with me because that is where I get heave and push stuff here and there in attempt to look better than everyone else at work (this is my only vanity here thus, please let me indulge myself). I always wonder how much clothes people at work have. I am already recycling my wears but still look good though. But the way some people dress and never wear the same shirts in my office makes me want to ask, "WTF are you getting the money for all these clothes? Don't we work for the same organization? People, are we working for the United Nations here? Because you gals make it tough for me to be the most stylish here."

And before I forget, Happy Belated International Women's Day (it was yesterday) - you socialists, hehehehe. The women here take it seriously. So seriously that when I was on my way home at 1 am this morning, I still saw guys dragging roses home to their ladies. Figures that such a cool day commemorated more by former and current socialists actually had its origin in the socialist movement in the good ole US of A. I love my country, even if we forget our pioneering roots at times :)

Aftermaths can be oops.

The weekend went by and the protest took place. It went peacefully this time with no violence. I was able to snag a couple of pictures from the protests this past weekend. Many thanks to the NGOers that took these pics and sent them to friends who sent them to friends who sent them to me.

Invitation to Protest (can't remember which protest this one was for)

Protesters In Front of UNMIK Building

International Civilian Police on the Ready

Wait and See

Take 2: No Bullets this Time

This coming Saturday, there is going to be another protest organized by the Vetevendosje (Self-determination) movement. This is not the first protest and will not be the last of its kind. The leader of the Vetevendosje, Albin Kurti, was arrested after the violence that took place in the last protest, February 10, claimed 2 people's lives - Arben Xheladini, 34, and Man Balaj, 30. The investigations in their deaths have not been concluded by authorities thus far. Some blame 'rubber bullets fired by some Ukrainian international police contingent.' That and many other versions are still speculations currently. The issue being that these protest usually end violently at the end of the day. They reflect the frustrations of the Kosovo people with the pace of the independence process being led by the UN.

Kosovo2007 recently heard a rumor that during negotiations between the Kosovo Police Service and the Vetevendosje, there was much disagreement about the definition of violence - who let in lawyers for this meeting? The Vetevendosje apparently does not believe that throwing cans and bottles of red paint at UNMIK's main headquarters constitutes violence. KPS disagrees ... where are the textualists when you need them? In any case, many international organizations seem to have taken the lead of UNMIK and are giving their staff Friday off so they can, unofficially, "leave Pristina" before the day of the protests. My organization chose to wait until last night to let us know about this "learning day" off. Muchos gracias para the warning. Yeah, a day will be enough for me to plan accordingly - not.

After the last protests a little over 2 weeks ago, some people started sharing pictures and analysis of the protests of February 10. I came across some pics and analysis via a colleague in Monaco who got them from another friend in Toronto. Hope you appreciate what these mean. Here's to freeware share and the public domain ;)

Chinese New Year

Picture of UNMIK Vehicles after Explosion

Apparently, some folks here ne Prishtine think the Chinese New Year party is forever. Yesterday, several vehicles belonging to the OSCE were damaged by an explosion ne Prishtine. This follows barely a week after the explosion that destroyed three UNMIK vehicles. C'mon, kids, stop playing with exploives, you might get hurt. Seriously though, even though no one has been hurt yet, these destabilizing people ne Prishtine need to be reigned in by the powers that be here. These images of Kosovo will not serve anyone positively. How does one expect foreign investors to come to Kosovo, even after independence, if it becomes known as the region where explosives in the streets is the norm. Acoording to the Associated Press:

"The blast may have been caused by a hand grenade, said regional police spokesman Avni Gjevukaj. It shattered windows and slightly damaged seven vehicles of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the agency's parking lot. Two other vehicles that did not belong to the organization were also damaged. OSCE spokesman Sven Lindholm said there was no indication so far that the OSCE had been the target of the attack in Pec, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Pristina. He said another unexploded hand grenade was found in the street outside the parking lot."

Yep, that just makes me feel better: It's not a calculated attack, there are just dumb people running around playing with hand grenades!!! Kosovo, my Kosovo, we still have some ways to go.

Bananas are not Lunch

Ne Prishtine, there are all sort of celebrities one can run into randomly anywhere: UN bigwigs, OSCE bigwigs, current government presidents of ministries, ex-government officials, tax guys, mafia bosses and their bodyguards, the UN yoga dude, etc. Yesterday, being that I get paid not much working for my small INGO, I head to a local market with a friend for lunch. Market lunches are good for 3 reasons: (1) You get to eat real local Kosovan food; (2) Chances of running into an international person there are small hence one can have a peaceful and "I feel like the Kosovans" lunch; (3) They are cheap and they overfeed you. When I get into this particular eat-shop, I saw 2 international military guys there looking very serious. No biggie, they have right to eat local food also; except that they were not eating. Turns out they were there guarding Albert Mostowitz, the Director of UNMIK Department of Justice. I have since heard from the hood that "Big"Al "not" loves eating at local eateries and dislikes going to the usual international eateries that most internationals here feel they have be at to show of their cosmopolitan gastronomical capabilities. Way to go Al, we gotcha your back here at Kosovo2007 just for that. This blog will have to look for a way to get an interview with Al. He would make an excellent local restaurant critic for Pristina,

Reasoned Legal Reasoning or a Bunch of Crock?

Today was "carnival" at the International Court of Justice aka The World Court. All legal and European eyes were on the Court today when it made its ruling in the Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro. It has not had this much attention since ... heck .. the ice age. Many were hoping the Court would actually leave its mark and flex its muscles. But what does it do? It lets the government of Serbia almost free of responsibility for genocide. Mind you, I am not saying Serbia should have been found guilty for the hell of it but evidence laid out during this trial were pretty convincing. The government of Sudan must be smiling now. Whether we like it or not, state sovereigns are still the powers that be in our structural realist world. There has to be other means of holding them accountable apart from bombing them to the stone age. The ICJ should have used this case, with all its evidence and reality, to set a precedent that states that choose to sponsor genocides will pay. Maybe when a state pays billions, its citizens will learn to hold its government more accountable. Alas, we might have to wait another 100 years for this sort of opportunity again. If you are a nerd who likes to read legal jargon, here is summary of the Court ruling on the case. And why is this posting needed for a Kosovo related blog? Well, Serbia has its quirky issues many of its former yugo-partners and with Kosovo, of course. I am sure Kosovo might have taken Serbia to ICJ also except that it is not a recognized sovereignty here; which is what brings us to where we are now. This ruling, like it or not, plays in the politics here if only for rhetoric sake but it has huge symbolic impacts also.

Some pictures of Prisitina ...

... that i borrowed from other sites. I have some pics but forgot my download cable in the States so looking to buy a card reader now. Once I get it, I will be posting more recent pictures.

Pristina during Daytime showing SportCenter

Pristina in the Evening



Pristina at Night

The Fork




Clinton Boulevard

"Police Avenue" (if you look closely, you can see my apartment in this picture ;))

How is Kosovo?

I get the title question a lot from people both outside and inside Kosovo. I usually pull a dumb face before I say "I dunno." This is not far from the truth. I have not had time to form an opinion of Pristina, talkless of Kosovo. Between trying to make weekend trips, settle in at work, fixing everything breaking in my apartment, making contact with people at home, and taking my class, it is hard for me to make some concrete and meaningful opinion. As the days go on though, I will be picking specific topics and using them to tell you about life here.

At last I have CNN and BBC on my tv. I have been so freaking tired of EuroNews. Talk about repetitive news forever. I can see that Iraq is still burning and people are not caring. Iran is hoping for a fight. Timor Leste is looking for new leadership. Senegal is also looking for this also. Guinea's president, Conte, might be coming around the fact that he might have to share power? Why don't they just put that relic in a museum? How is Castro? Does he still breath?

I need to go out more as I need to see if there are cute people in the international community. I am trying not check out local people here because I am here to work and will not date where I work. But the internationals are another story. I just wish many of them were not so damn annoying. Especially the ones that work for the big multi-lateral organizations ... ay. Hope is not lost. I might still find a cutie to sweep me off my feet yet. I am trying to also decide if I should start shopping again. I have gone through almost all the clothes I brought with me. I will also need some toiletries. I wonder if tampons are made locally in Kosovo.

Shameless Plug

I would like this blog to be a good source of good information about Kosovo and Pristina. For this to happen, I will need your help ... yes, you reading this. Please, if you or someone you know comes across kosovo-related pieces of articles, news, write-ups, pictures, exposes, gossip (no state secrets though), etc., pass it on so I can share with those reading this. Send all info to me at:

Kosovo2007@gmail.com

Do not be shy about referring this blog site to all you know too and leaving your comments ;)

Beginning ....

So here is my first post. It's been even more hectic here than I anticipated. So, I have sort of come to a decision that I will communicate more with you using pictures and links than words. It's interesting that I have the urge to write more about politics in the US than here. It seems the only way to be in the know-how here in Pristine is be in some mafia or the other, otherwise it's all just hearsay. That said, I believe the first thing I need to do is introduce you to Kosovo and Prishtina (Depending on my mood I can interchangeably use Prishtine (definite form), Prishtina (Indefinite form) or Pristina (Western form)). What bettter way to introduce these to my intelligent audience than referring you to other sites that talk about them ;)? I intentionally steer clear of local references because everyone on the ground here is usually biased and they tell their stories 'truthfully' or as truthful as they can anyway. I will be listing other blogs that talk about Kosovo really soon.

1. Kosovo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2. The Guardian on Kosovo (I like this site especially as it is very current and rich with all sorts of info)

3. CNN focus on Kosovo

3. BBC on Kosovo