Kosovo's First Yoga Festival

We had a great weekend staying out in the Etno Village outside of Pristina participating in Kosovo's first yoga festival. The compound was designed of traditional village grounds and structures where we taught classes, workshops, talks, dance, therapy sessions, home cooked vegetarian cuisine and had a great community of about 100 locals and internationals.  There were 8 teachers from Kosovo that shared our style and practices with old and new students alike. As you can see we had the kids with us and Adi's teacher last year from ILG ran the kids program with them playing and running around both days. Adi even joined me for a meditation session along with pulling his mat next to mine during another teachers class and tried some poses and asked me what yoga was. A great start for maybe integrating this into his life some day.

Unfortunately is seems as if winter is arriving early so it was already hat and gloves into the evening and early morning but the sun came out during the day in full force. But the evening sky was a wonderful classroom for us to be reminded of the beauty and closeness we are to nature but so often forget to take it in. So we spent the night in one of the very basic unheated rooms with us all in our new sleeping bags trying to stay warm. A fun 'first' that we hope to replicate more during the summer days.

Saying Goodbye to Summer in Style

After having traveled for almost 6 weeks this summer for work, no wonder I was wondering how summer could almost be over. Fortunately we had a final week long get away planned in a small fishing village just north of Dubrovnik Croatia where we rented a waterfront house with close friends Fredrick and Oslem (and son Eric) of Pranvera's from law school (and later joined by Gabi). It was wonderful to have non-stop time with the kids having been away too long and we had an added bonus with my sister Stacey renting a room just next to us for 4 nights as she happened to be finishing up a 3 week holiday from Italy and a local Croatian cruise.

Most time was spent swimming off our dock or at the local pebble beaches, partaking in fresh seafood meals, long happy hour, early morning waterside runs and just time with friends and family. We went to a local village one evening for a family meal in a residents home where everything was made on their farm from the rakia to cheeses to olives to veil. A wonderful evening! And then we did the obligatory visit to the fortress city of Dubrovnik where we took a gondola ride to the above mountain and walked the upper walls looking out to the ocean and within the town.

Our final perfect weather day was spent on our own boat with 2 other couples cruising between 3 islands with fresh seafood and bottomless cups of wine flowing in-between.  On the drive back home ( 9 hours) we lunched in the spectacular city of Katar Montenegro to wander the small alleyways and admire the cliff-side fortress walls. As wonderful as the vacation was and time with friends, we also appreciated returning to our home in Pristina as we all buckle down for a fully engaged school, work, and Fall schedule.

Not all work...

I just returned from 3 weeks in Tanzania (Dar and Morogoro) working on a USAID water partnership project. Aside from missing the kids and great routine we have in Kosovo, it was a great hands on learning experience and a way for me to keep my field skills sharp. And as you can see, we found our moments of fun too.