OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE

Keto foto jane per Eneiden, e cila me ka kerku qe sa dite, qe si ta rregullojme bredhin t'ja dergoj fotot. Dhe qe Eneida vetem per deshiren tende ja ku jane fotot. Mirepo jane edhe per Roksanen, Ronin, Jeten dhe Tejen. Ju don Palela shume shume shume.

These pictures of our first christmas tree are for my nice Eneida, she have asking me to send her pictures of our tree as soon we decorate it. And here they are Eneida, as you wished. Plase share them with Rooksana, Jeta, Ron and Tea. Palela loves you and misses you soooooo much!

Thanksgiving New York Style

It was nice for a change to have turkey, stuffing, cranberries and all the other Thanksgiving Day acutramonts readily available (and so well preparing by our dear friends Carol and Jim). Pranvera and I were invited to the Big Apple for the long holiday weekend to see experience NY in its full holiday glory. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, window shopping on 5th Avenue, family sit-down Thanksgiving feast, decking the halls by putting up a holiday tree, a show (Avenue Q) on Broadway, several late night meals and of course ice skating in Central Park.

We bused in up over the very busy weekend with only a slightly delayed travel time of 5 hours up but a record pace of 7 on the Sunday back. None the less it was fantastic to hang out with our very close friends and appreciate their fine apartment on the upper East side, great cooking, pleanty of wine and wonderful conversations. It is times like these that I so appreciate being stateside again to appreciate some Americana and dear friends.

As anyone who has been there will tell you, NY is an exercise city. Anytime we left the apt. we were able to cut across Central Park to get to the central and lower Manhattan. It seemed like we averaged 80-100 blocks of walking a day. Not to mention being able to stop in fantanstic little deli's or bars to pick up some food. Or had we been brave enough to fight the crowds, to actually do some shopping. The eneregy of the city never stops and with perfect crisp weather and no indication what so ever that the US is in any type of recession, the holiday spirit was high.

A new home

Todd and I got married almost six months ago,but since we were living between his apartment run by his landlord and mine (run by mom), we literally felt all along like we were still dating. No responsibilities and all play. We would spend weekends traveling in the region, hiking some peak, swimming in a lake or a pool, or just hanging out. All this made our move to US seem more difficult. All of a sudden we had our own apartment that we needed to run. We faced and still are facing so much
work that we often reminiscence about our leisure days in Prishtina.

We arrived in US in the beginning of September. The first two days we stayed with Todd’s friend, and meantime were working in preparing the condo for our move. Unpacking, dealing with movers, moving furniture around and disagreeing where it looks better. Needless to say, turning a bachelor’s corner into a family home was not without any challenges.

We moved in. And as we were settling in, all appliances in the apartment started breaking down, apart from one, the one we ironically talked about replacing a long time ago. Be it dish washer, heater, frig, computer, water heater, etc. So my days were spent in waiting for different workmen. When I was not waiting for workmen, I was waiting for movers. Our shipment easily arranged in Prishtina, became a nightmare in DC. Our shipment was divided into three parts, instead of one, and on top of it our belongings were damaged badly. They would say they are arriving in the morning and will be there the next day. And the best of it, was when the second shipment arrived, the truck driver unloaded heavy boxes in front of the building and asked me to carry them inside. I think I was almost ready to start kicking him. Anyway now we are settled in and are enjoying our new home.

During these times also we have been so thrilled to receive so many beautiful gifts from our friends, family friends that have been so generous in helping us make a new home. BTW we do not have space any more to fit in even a needle, but we are managing some how. We are looking forward to a weekend when we spent the whole day playing, instead of dealing with errands every night.

Shtepija e re

Todi dhe une jemi martu para gjashte muash, por si duket, pasi qe jetonim duke levizur ne mes te baneses se tij ( per te cilen perkujdesej I zoti I shtepise) dhe baneses sime (per te cilen perkujdesej nena ime), per kohen kur ishim ne Kosove ne ndiheshim thuse ende ishim duke kaluar. Nuk kishim shume pergjegjesi dhe mjafte kohe me shetit. Vikendet I kalonim ne vende te ndryshme te regjionit, duke u ngjitur ne maje te ndonje mali, apo duke u lare ne pishina, liqene. E gjithe kjo e beri levizjen tone ne Amerike me te veshtire. Tash e kemi banesen tone per te cilin duhej perkujdesur vete. Prej se kemi ardhe jemi ballafaquar dhe ende ballafaqohemi me veshtiresi, keshtuqe me endje I kujtojme ditet tona me pak pergjegjesi ne Prishtine.

Ne Amerike arritem ne fillim te shtatorit. Dy ditet e para ishim te vendosur tek shtepia e nje shokut te Toddit, dhe ne nderkohe pastronim dhe pregaditnim banesen per te levizur. E gjithe koha na shkoi duke u marre me kompanite e transportit, duke I levizur gjanat prej ne vendi ne tjetrin dhe debatuar e mospajtuar se ku rrinin me mire. Mos me zgjate shume, do te them qe nuk eshte e lehte te shendrossh banesen e nje beqari ne banese familjare.

Mirepo,perkunder te gjitha sfidave hyme ne bamese. Dhe dersia ishim duke u vendosur, te gjitha pajisjet e mundshme filluan te prishen, perveq makines per larje per te cilen kishim folur ma heret se do te blenim te re. U prish, makina e eneve, ngrohesi I ujit, nxemja, frigoriferi, kopmjuteri. Te gjitha nje nga nje. Keshtuqe une ne rolin tim te ri, si shtepiake, gjithe diten e kaloja duke I pritur mjeshtrit te cilet thonin se do te vinin ne ora 10 te mengjesit e vinin ne ora 7 te mbremjes. Kur nuk isha duke i pritur punetoret, prisnja Movers qe na I bartnin gjerat tona nga Kosova. Te gjitha gjerat qe shume lehte I paketuam ne Prishtine, per ti derguar me aeroplan, arriten ne Washington me shume telashe, dhe ate ne tri kiste. Dhe pervoja me e mire ishte kur shoferi I kamionit I cili e solli kistin e trete te gjerave, filloi ti shkarkonte pakot afro 50 kilogramshe ne trotoar dhe me tha barti ti tani nalte. Per pak kam fillu me shqelmu por vetem fillova me bertite. Port ash perfundimisht jemi vendose dhe jemi duke e shijuar shtepine tone te re.

Gjate kesaj kohe gjithashtu jemi kenqaur duke pranuar dhurata te shumta nga familja e miqte tane te cilet ishin shume te mire me ne.

Por me nuk kemi vend per asnje gjilpere, po kemi vend per musafire. Te gjitha skutat e baneses jane plote e perplot me gjerat tona. Dhe me padurim jemi duket pritur vikendet te cilat nuk do ti kalojme ne cpaketime, dyqane e blerje, por duke I vazhduar aventurat tona.

YES WE CAN

Tonight I felt like I was 14, 16 or 18, cheering, screaming or defying discrimination in the streets of Prishtina. Tonight democracy won! And the big question (the President Elect asked) if there was anyone out there still doubting whether America is a land of opportunities, was answered! From the early morning, you could see people on the polling stations waiting in long lines to vote. In the coffee shops and stores, people were wearing I VOTED stickers. The excitement, anxiety, euphoria could be felt in the air. Todd had a yoga class after work, and as soon as we had dinner we hit the town to be with the crowds when the election results were announced. We went to a bar recommended by a friend of Todd. Unfortunately, I was a bit distracted and I forgot my ID home. For those on the other side of the planet, you can not go in a bar or club unless you have any identification card with your birth date on it. Funny enough, it should feel like a compliment, but unfortunately it is just a rule. Anyway, I asked Todd to let me in first as I will try and get in myself without an ID. And so I did. The bouncer let me, after a cute smile and I have a friend inside waiting for me, type of an excuse. We went in just as the groups were cheering. Obama has just won another state.

The bar was full with people, hard to move around, a very diverse group of people, young and old, black, white, yellow, man and women. The level of energy was so high, that you could almost touch it. We quickly sank into the energy of the group and starting cheering every time Obama would win a state, and booing every time when McCain would win. We kept drinking, dancing and talking to people in the meantime. Until in the end as the last polling stations on the west coast were closing, CNN announced that Obama was the new president elect. People were crying, cheering, dancing, screaming and yelling. It was so wonderful to be part of that. An African American woman standing close to me asked us to have a picture together and in mean time she told me: Now I believe that we are an equal part of America, and that democracy won. And she started yelling; Yes We Can. We heard first the McCain speech and then waited for a while until Obama gave his speech.

It was a marvelous, inspiring speech, his words were so powerful. Why Kosovo can not have a leader like that, I keep asking myself. Whoever writes his speeches, or if he does write them himself, when he speaks, you feel like he is speaking from his heart and you do believe him.

After the speech we went out in drenching rain, which funny enough stopped after a minute or two. There were already crowds on the street; there was a band in the corner of U Street. People were celebrating, singing and dancing. It was fabulous. Seriously I felt like being home and fighting for democracy and freedom. We spent an hour just joining the groups of people on the streets. It seemed that people were still in awe of what has happened.

For the first time America has elected its first African American president, if this is not history I do not know what is. And I felt that this is a new America being born. This is a new era for a great country.

Final Weekend Getaway to Tirana

As our countdown to departure continues, I decided it would be prudent to try and get out of Kosovo one last time in August. And my friends Tim and Kat (and little Sam) Schad from DC, along with Belle-air gave me the perfect excuse. This airline just started delivering the 35 minute flight between our two cities for a mere 117 euro return. Considering I could land on Friday night and return Sunday evening it was the perfect weekend getaway. This all is of course if you actually put the correct dates on your ticket and don't have to purchase a new full-fair 1 way ticket to return home when you thought you were...

Pranvera opted to stay home to continue catching up with friends and family before we leave Kosovo. So 'flying solo' I was lucky enough to run into one of her co-workers from Tirana on the plane whose son picked her up and drove me as well to meet Kat waiting at the US Embassy. As we quickly learned, this was not specific enough of a landmark to rendezvous since this happens to one of the largest complexes I have seen with the blast fence covering well over a normal city block. As I waited at one gate and Kat at another (with my cell phone not working) we eventually thought the same thing and started walking toward each other at the same time (did we both get trained at Thunderbird or what).
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Wonderful to see her and then meet Tim and the baby at their wonderful 10th floor apartment right next to the meeting point. For our first night we quickly found ourselves at a pub catching up on all that has happened since with saw them last in Lake Ohrid Macedonia where we celebrated my Bday and Kosovo Independence. We then wandered to their work colleagues bday party and enjoyed a low key evening of free finger food and drinks.

Saturday we headed all the way up the coast (2.5 hours) to hang out on the beach for the day (Velipojo) in a desperate attempt to escape the city heat. An added incentive for our destination was the fact that one of my yoga students from Kosovo lives in Tirana and had opened up a sailing school there for the summer. So we were taking him up on the invitation to enjoy the day playing with his boats. As I am (appropriately) learning, having a 2 year old slows things down a bit. So it wasn't until after Sam's nap at 10:30 that we were able to roll in a highly overpriced old ghetto VW rental to weave our way through the typical stupid, reckless and slow driving of Albanians (just like in Kosovo).

We arrived in time to sprint to the closest restaurant and get some much needed beers, fresh fish, pork ribs and plenty of french fries for Sam. The beach was quite wide but with so many people, trash, blackish sand and floating trash I immediately appreciated the heavenly beaches of Thailand I had just enjoyed. We walked out to the water to try and spot my friends boats but due to the high wind conditions non were actually in the water making our rendezvous a bit of a challenge. But after several inaudible phone chats we located him and finally parked ourselves on the beach.

Sam was in the water before we had the umbrella's up. My friend Ilir insisted on a welcome drink which we grabbed at their closest beach pub. Not before too long was I in the water with my friend suiting up to windsurf for the first time in 10 years. Funny enough after a couple of reminders and being given the beginner board and sail, I got up on my first attempt and raced all the way out to sea, with Ilir far behind. When I could no longer make out the details on shore I thought it was time to head back. Since coming about is so hard I just dropped the sail, went for a nice swim and turn the board around to head back. Funny thing is that since this was my left (and weaker) side, it took about a dozen attempts to get myself back up and a couple more falls to figure out how to steer the boat in the direction I needed to go. With my back screaming, my mouth full of salt water, I finally made only to be convince by Ilir I had gotten the hang of it and we went back out for one more tact. It was a great blast and certainly something I would rather now wait 10 more years to do.

Back on shore with applauds from the peanut gallery it was Tim and Kat's turn to hit the water. So they fired up the fast 2 man catamaran hobbiecat and give each a tour well out to sea to get in the full spirit of the day. Even little Sam joined them later in the 2 man kayak as they paddled around the shoreline. All and all a wonderful day to have fun in the sun with old and new friends.

Our two hour return trip left us with enough energy to pick up some fantastic hickory sauce cheeseburgers and onion rings and stuff ourselves silly on the sofa with some fine beer and bad Albanian TV. Didn't take too long before it was lights out for everyone...

Sunday we slowly rallied the troops after several mugs of nice coffee and some Tim special omelette's. Sam was ready to go in the backpack this time as we headed slightly out of Tirana to the gondola that was going to whisk us all the way up this massive mountain for a perfect windy and crisp, sunny Sunday of hiking and a long lazy lunch overlooking Tirana in its entirety. Fortunately Tim and Kat had done this before so we jumped into a free shuttle to head to this wonderful restaurant which had the perfect, low impact hiking trail that we enjoyed for a couple hours. With Sam in backpack we enjoyed the long walk, extremely fresh air followed by a traditional lamb and beef/yogurt meal with the obligatory beers.

With no particular rush we enjoyed our time up in the hills, the wonderful views from the high speed Austrian gondola and weaving our way back through a much less congested sleepy Sunday city with most its inhabitants out at the beach still. The new road to the new airport was a quick and pleasant way out of the city to head back to Pristina in time for a rendezvous with Pranvera and a late supper. The Balkans certainly have their advantages and I believe I can safely say I have maximized my two years out here to explore them to their fullest.