Holiday Ramblings!! It has been a good number of weeks since I have reported on any recent adventures. But believe it or not there really haven't been any. I have remained in Kosovo (other than a day trip to Skopje) since the Thanksgiving holiday. Not that we haven't busy, it just hasn't been the type of activities that lend well to romantic, seat gripping, late night thriller blog-reading.
But I guess the overall theme since I last wrote has been winter and the holiday season, despite living in a 'Muslim' country. For a city with almost hourly power outages, there are a lot of Christmas lights and decorations throughout the city. We even have a nice white-blanket snow cover which mildly hides the trash but otherwise turns into a brown-mud skating rink each night it freezes over. Yes, the temperatures have finally dropped and with the power outages (ie losing heat) I have already spent my fair share of freezing sleeps. Lets just say I am very much looking forward to spending Christmas in LA with my family.
The nights have been filled with a collection of international and local holiday parties but even more going away parties (every third night). With the imminent independence, many UN folks are on their way out to other global paradises (Sudan, Somalia, Congo, Haiti...) These have been ok but to be honest none have been for my closer friends and the more I attend, the more I realize how out of place I feel around them and how 'weird' they all are. I've come to realize (something that most of you have known for quite awhile) that I too am not cut from a typical mold. Living in Kosovo has clearly pointed out the difficulty of living this kind of work/personal balance in some place that really makes one appreciate their homeland and a more normal, simple job. Then again, it is an adrenaline rush that apparently becomes quite addictive and more adaptable, especially if you have a crazy partner willing to go to some of the same places you get sent.
The rumored date of independence and international news coverage (sure most of you saw at least 1 CNN segment on Kosovo) has come and gone, as most deadlines for this place have. There was no declaration, no violence, just no power... The real date is rumored now to be no later than May of next year which feels about right with all the things that would need to happen with the UN transitioning provincial authority to the EU. Regardless, my job will remain untouched until end of June when I guess the world becomes my oyster once again. While I'm home for the holiday's I'll also have 1 week in DC to ring in the New Year with friends and to interview with potential employers doing another kind of field position. Not sure if this is the next step since I will also be open to returning to DC for awhile.
Pranvera and I are also doing very well and spending more and more time with each other and her family who I adore. It is great to be around kids again (missing my two 'nieces' so much) while I play with her 4 nieces and nephew and spend hours just sipping tea with her mom trying to practice my Albanian. It is very nice when much of our time has been spent just being, which is a national past-time in Kosovo. Almost too much time seems to be spend visiting with relatives since for the most part the entire extended family lives in the same city, if not within the same family compound.
Things have even gotten a bit more cultural in good ole Pristina. There was the largest international rock concert in town last night attracting approx. 20,000 youth to FREEZE in -6C for 4 hours while stomping to the rap sounds of local hipsters and the headliner, '50 cent'. You would think I was too old for this but Pranvera got us into taking her two nieces so we braved the ridiculous temperatures and crowds to see history in the making. And to everyone's surprise, nothing happened. Just a regular rock concert that seemed to give people a boost of normalcy which is often a hard thing to find out here. Check out live concert video action here... http://itn.co.uk/news/6900f6c9672302eaac409fc70da3b19c.html
On another sunny yet chilled afternoon we went for a very long mountain hike in the hills above Pristina. Funny how this not only becomes a great way for the two of us to get some exercise together (although we did join a gym so she could rehab her leg and I my arm) but it helps clear out the lungs from all the pollution and coal/smoke in the city. The highlight was easily running into a local Shepard and Pranvera being able to talk with him about his village, life and goats. If it were just me we would do nothing more than exchange a friendly wave.
My office also had a Holiday party which turned out to be more fun than either of us anticipated. Not sure if it was the open bar or the live local band we had hired but it didn't take too long before the internationals were up and dancing quickly to be followed by Pranvera leading my entire office in local Albanian dances and then proceeding to dance a rather complicated Kosovar dance with one of my co-workers wives. It was nice to be able to sit back and let the attention fall onto others for awhile:-)
I can't say we have decked the halls this year but we did pick up a nice 'disco' plastic mini Christmas tree while in Skopje. It adds some holiday cheer to my place along with several stockings and the crisp winter air that permeates my apartment more than I would like. Since I will be heading back to the US for several weeks I will take this opportunity to wish you all the Happiest of Holiday Seasons and to send my love and prayers to you and your family, where ever you may be.
Ureme Feste!!!
