A Happy Holiday Wish

Well even in the Balkans where it is predominately Muslim, the holiday spirit still thrives (with Ramadan and their excessive use of Christmas lights as a ploy to colorize the drab city while reducing the limited power supply even more). As I prepare to head off and explore Turkey single handily (get the pun?) for this holiday season, I wanted to pass along my electronic card to all of you by sharing a random list of top 10 (if you will) things that make me blessed to be alive and riding this journey that some higher power must have put me on (who would really pick Kosovo to spend two years of their life). I send you all the warmest of wishes during this special time of year and wish I could give everyone of you a hug of gratitude for being in my life.

1. My Mental and Physical Health: although the mental I know is suspect and challenged everyday living in my new home, without the use of 1 arm has helped me realize even more how I seem to abuse myself but need to do it within limits to stay in one piece.
2. Spencer: a cute little rubber dinosaur that my dear friend Carol and I found sitting on a sidewalk in NYC. So we adapted him and ever since he has joined each of us on some of our amazing adventures (joint-custody arrangement) and brings a smile to my face every morning in the shower .
3. My family: who may never fully understand why I do (join the crowd) what I do but who have always been there for me, unconditionally. This includes my cutest of 'nieces' who continue to grow up between each time we skype and remind me how much I miss being around little kids that force us mature adults to be present, every minute of every day.
4. My friends: who mean the world to me and provide me the inspiration to keep the adventure alive and to follow a dream of making this world a better place (and having as much fun as humanly possible while doing it).
5. The internet: for without it I would be lost in another world being unable to blog, text, email, skype and video with all of you who keep me connected to 'the real world'.
6. Yoga: not having any classes or teachers to choose from out here I realize how much I miss my own growth and passion for practice/ but all the while am now able to gift what I know to many new friends in Kosovo who attend my classes weekly.
7. Fresh air: of which we have very little of and I miss more than I thought was possible.
8. Electricity: the source of all things warm, bright, colorful and productive.
9. Me: I know it sounds conceited but I guess I just still appreciate this crazy curiosity I have to continue learning a new place, culture, people, language all the while trying to discover who I really am and why I am on this planet.
10. Love: the most powerful and beautiful of forces that just seems to bring it all together.

Happy Holiday and a Merry New Year!!!!!

Your Average Doctors Visit…

…in Kosovo has proven to be just a bit more complicated than we’re used to in the West. Not sure if you all will remember the ‘insignificant’ bike accident I had several months back in Montenegro? Well, my shoulder has never properly healed and at the encouragement of the UN’s OSCE staff doctor, I decided to further investigate and try to get matters taken care of locally. Yea, right!

My first step was to get a 200 euro local MRI scan that turned out to be useless since the machine is too outdated to produce a clear enough image. None the less I had a local Orthopedist review the film who recommended that I head to Europe. I initially started calling around his references in northern Greece where I knew I could drive myself rather simply, except for the fact that if I had corrective surgery I would not be able to drive back…Ok, plan B. Upon the (obvious) recommendation from my company’s home office, I was told that our SOS emergency medical evacuation is intended to assist in such matters. Now I was always under the impression that this was only used in the case of serious life threatening injuries but apparently it is designed for all types of medical assistance.

So within 24 hours of placing the call, my simple shoulder injury had me booked on a direct flight to Vienna, an appointment with a leading shoulder specialist at the leading private hospital and the surgery ‘theater’ on-call for two days after the initial evaluation to fix whatever was wrong. Having suffered any number of injuries before from my mountain biking, snow boarding, rafting or soccer, this just seemed ridiculous. Not to mention the SOS service didn’t let me confer directly with the doctor for over a week so the trip was literally canceled and rescheduled 4 times. At the last minute, Monday morning, I was finally able to hear my options first-hand and instead of postponing till after the holidays and my trip to Turkey, the doctor insisted for me to be on that afternoons flight for examination and check-in on Tues, surgery on Wed and up to 3 days recovery immediately thereafter.

So, here I sit typing in my private hospital ‘suite’ in Vienna the night before my surgery. As nice as the Austrian airlines flight was, or the Mercedes sedan that escorted me from the airport to the boutique hotel around the corner from the hospital, the hospital food is still the same crap as almost anywhere in the Western world (ok, so I don’t know if they even feed you in Pristina’s hospital). Today was quite long with a lot of waiting, several physical examinations, several painful shoulder dye injections to enable the new MRI to reveal the extent of the tear, and no less than a dozen Xrays (see the glow in the photos).

Once they were all finished I was given permission to return to the hotel to collect my bags. Before returning to ‘my cell’ I took advantage of being in Europe by purchasing several nice Xmas presents for my staff, the obligatory bag of M&M’s and chocolate chip cookies to survive the hospital food, an MP3 player for the yoga classes I am teaching in Pristina and a small bag of McDonald’s French fries. Oh, and since the hospital does not have internet I was ironically able to use a computer kiosk located on one of the street corners to send some messages out to family (just like the ones we have in Kosovo J).

Ouch…but all done. The ‘theatre’ was pretty impressive with tons of robotic looking machines and about 8 doctors probing me in German. A couple pills, some drip formula and the next thing I remember was an unbelievably dry throat and echoing sounds of the nurse asking me how I felt…hummm…like crap? I now continue to update my saga with my remaining good hand as the other is wrapped in a sling and padded like a football player. The surgery went well and in fact was essential for the torn muscle to ever heal giving me my full strength back. Lucky for me since more than 4 years ago they would have had to completely rebuild my shoulder vs. just making 3 small incisions and using a camera to place the stitches (the damn thing even took photos). The recovery and rehab will take a couple months but granting me limited mobility the entire time. They are keeping me in town for a couple days for observation and basic physio before having the sedan take me back to airport and then home.

I must admit that thus far it has been a very productive ‘rest’ since I only get German TV (except for CNN but talk about depressing) and I came prepared with laptop to write several presentations and my project quarterly report not to mention several great books, my Albanian lessons and a travel guide to plan out next weeks Turkey trip. And now the kind doctor has given me my very own DVD to watch the surgery over and over (it kind of looks like an underwater scuba video).

As much as I was hoping the saga to be over my flight back home was cancelled so I had to endure an entire day of travel to Skopje instead. But at least I was not my co-worker who I ran into in Vienna who had been stuck for 3 days due to cancelled flights and then they lost his luggage. Had an extra 2 hour drive home but at least the office sent a car to retrieve the both of us.

Well at least according to the very active ultimate Frisbee crew I hang with in Pristina, I hold the quickest record for getting in Kosovo and then needing to get out for medical treatment. One of these days I hope to learn…but maybe after the snowboarding season. En shallah!

Road trip, Balkan Style

One of the great perks about my job is that I am tasked with traveling to the neighboring 5 countries to learn as much as I can out their consumer markets and to coordinate with other international donor assisted agriculture and livestock efforts. So our Thanksgiving holiday had me toasting a shot of rakea with my American co-worker and feasting on an assortment of mixed meats and pickled vegetables in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Our adventure began the day before when he and I rented a Land Rover with international plates (easiest way to get through the 6 border checkpoints) to drive the 9 hours over a half dozen mountain ranges through 3 countries to arrive at one of my favorite cities in the Balkans. The drive was incredible. Normally at this time of year several of the mountain passes would have been snowed in (thus the SUV) but we had sunny skies and a fair wind at our back to speed us right along. Much of the drive was through the breathtakingly beautiful gorges where each turn would reveal another ice blue damned lake or stunning rock mountain face that typically locks in a 6 month winter.

Our first conference had us staying a the Holiday Hotel at the end of the runway where we spent 2 days with about 60 development and regional food processors and producers. My partner and I broke away several times to drive into the city and hit some of the local bars and restaurants and after the conference we actually opted for a boutique hotel in the old part of the city so we might just walk out to explore, shop and experience the entertainment that Kosovo lacks.

Not only did we have some proper meals but we saw the new James Bond and I reconnected with a friend I had met a year back and spent an entire night out with them hitting several clubs and dancing the night away Bosnia style. Since I had been in the city just a year ago not much had changed but it was still nice to be back. The weather was cold and rainy until last Saturday when the skies parted and allowed us a 60 degree day to drive down the center of Bosnia and spend the day near Mostar visiting several farms as well and the historic tourist part of the city.

Mostar was just incredible. One of the most heavily damaged cities during the war since neighbors fought neighbors. Even 11 years later many of the main buildings still lie in disrepair as they argue over ownership rights and try to raise enough money to complete the restoration.

Fortunately, UNESCO came in and helped to rebuild the Mostar bridge and label it a World Heritage site. Since is was off season we were not able to enjoy the performances of the professional dive association that jump the 80 foot distance to the clapping, cheering, and euros from the audience. None the less the local artists peddled their wares and we enjoyed a nice stroll through the historic cobble-stone streets.

After 4 days in Bosnia we drove a foggy 4 hours to a mountain resort town in Serbia to meet up with another conference of mostly Serbia agriculture assistance programs where we spent two days meeting and visiting local cooperatives to see how they are introducing new technologies and producing products to compete on the international markets. Since I arrived a day early to stay in the old communist renovated hotel, I was the only guest for the first night having to order heat specific to my room to stay warm in the cold mountain air. The ironic thing about this ski town is that there in no skiing. The mountain lifts were bombed during the war and haven't ever been rebuilt. But the elite locals still head here in droves from Belgrade to enjoy the fresh air, stroll the little resort village, ice skate, shop from the little kiosks and party like rock stars each night at the dozens of clubs and cafes where they can smoke themselves to death wearing the latest in European fashion.

After three more days of meetings and hotel accommodations, I was ready to return home to lovely Pristina. Since several more of my co-workers had driven up to meet me they carted me back the last 6 hours through a make-shift border crossing (Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state so it technically won't have a border with it except for the fact that all the KFOR UN troops are stationed there forcing a border with the Serbs). Welcome to the Balkans, baby!!!

Dazzling Dragesh

I had prepared a very detailed account of another weekend adventure which was deleted before I could upload my adventure so this posting will be a modified account of another day trip. And now I realized I also deleted the very cool photos I was about to upload. I guess this entry was never supposed to happen...

Anyway, a crew of 6 of us headed out from Pristina in two typical white NGO SUV's and drove 3 hours to the southern most tip of Kosovo to the mountain region of Dragesh. We had lucked out with a rare (for this time of year) perfectly sunny day and took advantage of the fact that minimal snow has fallen allowing us a final window of opportunity to smell the fresh mountain air and hike into the hills without risk of disappearing in meters of snow. It felt like we were way out there hiking through a very remote village with all the locals staring and waving speaking a language that was closer to Serbian than Albanian. I guess they see a good amount of us internationals and fortunately don't seem to mind our weird outfits, incomprehensible desire to voluntarily walk up a mountain and the need to take photos of them and their houses.

It's amazing how dull the senses can become in a heavily polluted city since I immediately began snorting in the fresh air and the sounds of the babbling brook as if it was the last time. We started up the mountain according to some questionable KFOR maps that quickly proved wrong and left me debating with our self-appointed leader on the best way out of the valley. I volunteered to hike straight out to a ridge that unfolded an incredible valley (with wild horses) and a clear shot up the to the top of a mountain without the need of any trails. The snow had not yet collected on this ridge but left incredible views contrasting snow white with the last remaining green fields of the season.

After an hour up, I parked myself on the side of the 45degree mountainside and had an awesome meditation. Several of my companions insisted to reach the top even though our sunlight was fading while several others had already turned back and one had stopped much earlier for a nice nap. After waiting for an hour and still no sign of the advance crew I grew cold and donned my final layer and began to descend into the valley with enough sunlight to make our way back to the village. The other crew finally descended to a ridge line that left them still 800 meters above the valley floor with almost no light to get down the mountain. Fortunately they came across a convoy of sheep and trudged behind them to emerge from the darkness into the town. Our days adventure was not complete until we stopped off at a mountainside inn to feast on fresh trout and several beers to recap the days adventure. 6 strangers now bonded by another Kosovo experience.

Forward March, About Face, Cut Cake

I guess now I have officially been inducted into the bizarre cross-world where US military meets UN meets civilians. Last weekend I joined several of my American friends (3 ladies) as their escort to the second annual Kosovo Marine Ball. It reminded me a bit of a high school prom in the sense that it was anticipated for awhile since it is one of the rare official social occasions and everyone put on their best dress, uniform, tux (or suit) in my case. Difference being that even with open bar, a majority of the men in uniform could not drink since they are technically on active duty. At least most the firearms were checked at the door at the restaurant which was located out in the countryside with well secured check-points, car bomb inspections and a security detail of about 50 men. Once inside we were still subtly reminded that we were in Kosovo as the power cut off several times momentarily and once seated at the tables we still had to make our way to the bar to get our own drinks instead of relying on the wait staff.

Before the meal could be served we listened to a good half hour of official speeches from various officers and Marines congratulating one another, paying their honor and respects, presenting the flags, singing the National Anthem and most entertaining watching the honor guards carry a huge flag sheet-cake to the end of the room where they officially called out maneuvers to cut the cake with a sword and serve a couple pieces to the highest ranking General and the guest of honor. We did get a good laugh as they introduced the young Marines that were there serving at the American Office of Pristina, all whose birthdays were in the early to mid 80's.

Finally with formalities out of the way we dove into a fairly nice dinner with plenty of gossip going around commenting on some of the outrageous make-up and dress selections from a number of the local women. Eventually, I was able to steal away and hang out with about 6 lovely ladies I know from playing ultimate Frisbee out here. Fortunately, they are all a ton of fun and love to dance. Aside from some questionable DJing, one of the Marines finally grabbed control of the mic and rapped the rest of the night away. All and all, a good night at the Prom...

Halloween in Dracula's Homeland

Rather ironic that I spent Oct 31 in Romania, the birthplace of the mystical Dracula and Transylvania, yet did not see anyone dressed in costume. It also might have to do with the fact that I was in Bucharest at the Intercontinental ordering roomservice and coming off the 'high' I had from popping several 'Dayquils' trying to fight off a cold.

But I digress. Romania rocks. I was attending a week long regional trade conference with mostly USAID development contractors and officers networking, listening to some interesting speeches and attending different work groups. It was a very interesting, multicultural group (12 countries represented) where we seemed to work and play well together. Each evening involved an open bar reception and plenty of finger-food along with those awesome mini chocolate mouses (I averaged 3). I wish I could say these were relaxing events to personalize with all the conference attendees but I was networking my ass off. I had to come away from this event with some serious leads for my project in Kosovo and I'm proud to say of the 100 attendees, I have about 40 key contacts to hopefully make some trade linkages for my farmers back in Kosovo.

This said, we did break out of the networking mold since our last night involved a very nice outing where we were all bused to a traditional Romanian dinner extravaganza which involved flaming platters of meat, Romanian opera singers and violinists strolling among our tables of food or the absolutely stunning ballroom dancers that floated above the dance floor as we moved from Rakia (plum wine) to salad to vegetable to meat to meat to dessert. Your average 4 hour Romanian meal. But I knew it was time to head back to the hotel when many of the very old timers were trying to dance with the any of the attendees that were single (and half their age).




The highlights actually came after the conference when I ventured out of the hotel to stoll the cold Romanian boulevard (10 lanes wide) with a steady mixture of snow and rain coming down. Eastern Europe was hit by the first winter snow storm of the season and the damp coldness alerted me to the fact that I was not prepared for winter and I now remembered why I moved to California. Anyway I was joined by some very nice attendees of the conference to visit the massive Parliament building (People's Palace) which is the 3rd largest building by volume in the world where Ceausescu was to house his entire Communist regime. This place was truly remarkable with more halls, ballrooms, conference centers, churches, offices, apartments than you can imagine. Ironically he was executed before it was finished and he was never able to rule from the empire.






For my last night in Bucharest I found a Serbian partner (Boris above) in crime that I had befriended during the meetings. After a lovely Italian dinner with my USAID officer counterparts, he and I emerging to experience the nightlife, Romanian style. As it turned out, we had to keep going from one bar to the next as a pre-party before we could go to the real club to dance the rest of the night away (they opened at 1). With beers under a dollar, each of the 'bars' filled up quite quickly where most the Romanian men seemed to act like assholes chasing the ladies into their secure, non smiling circles for protection. Finally we antied up a pricey cover charge to experience 'the office' with fantastic lounge and dance music accompanied with live bongos, stunning tall slender Romanian women wearing the latest European fashion (ok, so allot dressed like they were straight out of a Shakiro video) and men who seemed much more laid back and thankfully ranging from late 20's to grandpa in the corner. Unfortunately, I had to call it an early night since I ran out of steam around 3:30. It was a very nice change of pace from rockin Kosovo.

Although the conference had officially ended, I felt compelled to experience at least some of the Romanian countryside before leaving. So I had taken the initiative to speak with some of the locals I had met that week and had planned to train up to Brachov to see the medieval city in Transylvania and castle-hop for an afternoon (mind you is was now 5 below 0 C with 4-6 inches of snow up in the countryside). But as luck would have it my wing man from the night before was already doing the same trip with his boss and one of the local project Directors (American) who owned a mountain cabin which looked out to Dracula's castle. Perfect. I had two days of driving in the beautiful mountains with 3 great guys from the comfort of a heated SUV. Not to mention our 'guide' filled us in on all the local history and took us to the best castles, restaurants and pubs (see for yourself).










His cabin couldn't have been more perfect. Quite small but with all the comforts of home and free! Plenty of good conversation and some great 'war stories' were exchanged among these men who have been doing international development for decades, all over the Balkans and Africa. Very inspiring I must say. For my last day I was actually going to have to train it back early to catch my flight out of Bucharest but since we got off to an earlier start than expected, I was able to add one more fantastic meal in Brachov before we all returned to the city where they dropped me off directly at the terminal. I couldn't have had planned it to ever have worked out so well. And with Romania joining the EU next year, this country will continue to flourish and prove to be an inviting and hospitable place for all tourists (oh, except for the fact that the Romania has some of the worst bank and Internet fraud and therefore all of my credit cards were blocked for my entire stay) and watch out for those cab drivers...