Kosovo Pics

Entering Kosovo...and the snow starts to fall

With Yll at the lake near his house. I am the Shadowman on the right.

On the second day, the snow really came.

Shpend and Vered in Yll's village

18 Vacation Days, 6 Countries, 1 Mangy Beard, and A Partridge in a Pear Tree (Part 3)

Kosovo

I've always wondered about how exactly international borders are decided. Other than geographical barriers such as bodies of water and mountain ranges, how do leaders/conquerers decide where their territories end?

The border between Macedonia and Kosovo was not remarkable - it resembled a tollbooth in the middle of nowhere. However, the moment we crossed the border, it began to snow. Perhaps the differing climates were a decisive factor in where to lay the border or perhaps it was just a coincidence on that day at that specific border, but it was quite surreal. My only knowledge of Kosovo prior to the trip was a vague recollection of the war that took place ten years ago. I expected to see barren, war-torn wastelands, but I was blown away by the natural beauty of Kosovo during our bus ride. Unending mountains, rivers, and waterfalls surrounded the bus and we made our way to the capitol city of Pristina.

I was traveling with Vered, the Perrotis College intern / guest professor, and our ultimate destination was Gjakove, a small city South of Pristina. We didn't have much time between buses to poke around the capitol, however I could feel the American influence. There is a huge avenue named after Bill Clinton and allegedly a three-story portrait of him on an office building in commemoration of American assistance during his presidency, which helped end their war and eventually led to Kosovar independence from Serbia. Kosovars speak Albanian and share many cultural traits with their western neighbors. Like Macedonia and Albania, Kosovo was occupied by the Ottoman Turks for 500 years, so the lingering Turkish presence is obvious in the food, the architecture, and the Muslim population.

At the bus station, we used a combination of grunts, smiles, and International Body Language to figure out which was headed to Gjakove, and we were on our way. Arriving in Gjakove two hours later, Shpendi Gojani, a friend from Perrotis College, picked us up and drove us home. The Gojani family hosted Vered and me for three nights, and couldn't have been more accommodating; they were almost too hospitable. We would go out with Shpend and other PC friends for coffee until 1:00 or 2:00a.m. and Mama Gojani would wait up for us with a full meal. After the first night, I tried to have Shpend dissuade her (because she only spoke Albanian) from staying up and from preparing the food, but she was unstoppable.

The most overwhelming aspect of Kosovar culture was the concept of family unity. Every home we visited and almost every Kosovar I spoke with in Gjakove lived at home with members of their immediate family. Grandparents, parents, and kids all lived together in most homes; even post-college, Kosovars usually move back in with their parents and raise families in the same home. Shpend's grandmother, one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met, stayed with the Gojanis while we were in town and has four sons living in a five-block radius. She lives with one son and his family for a few months then goes to board with another son - it is a cool system and I could sense the deep attachment among the Gojanis and other Kosovar fams. This bond is due to their constant interaction as well as the traumatic events they've experienced together during the war.

Ylli, another friend from Perrotis College, lives in a small village just outside of Gjakove, and we all spent most of the time in Kosovo together. During our stay, Shpend and Yll told us stories about the war that were literally unreal. These guys were teenagers while the war was devastating their country, so they have vivid recollections. I find it hard to grasp and relay the events because I have never had a comparable experience, but a violent war was taking place all around them. They spent countless hours hiding in their homes listening to gunshots and explosions in their neighborhoods. They lost family members and friends. Most of the Kosovars had no weapons, so Albanian and American aid was crucial. Their stories were extremely powerful, and the visit to Kosovo was one of the most memorable trips of my life.

Skopje, Macedonia Pics

Downtown Skopje and the Vardar River.

Old Fort built by Constantine. I assume it was heavily guarded by a kustos and featured a secret knock system to enter.

T1AO Yugo

18 Vacation Days, 6 Countries, 1 Mangy Beard, and A Partridge in a Pear Tree (Part 2)

Phase Two: Macedonia

Greece's northern neighbor is a delicate issue. Known as Macedonia, FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), or simply Skopje, the now-independent chunk of ex-Yugoslavia has had a long history of occupations and abuse. Greece and Macedonia quarrel about territory, culture, history, and every other imaginable issue. Greeks insist on calling their neighbor FYROM because the Northern region of Greece (where Thessaloniki is located) is known as Macedonia, and Greece doesn't want FYROM laying claim to any part of their history.

The Greek mindset toward Macedonia can be exemplified through a simply analogy: If Greece is a house, Greeks see Macedonia as the grimy subletters of the attic apartment. The elitist house residents will gossip and spread rumors about the subletters, but, as long as they don't try to spend time downstairs and stay out of the way of the daily activities in the house, things are not so bad. The Greeks basically want to live their lives without any recognition of FYROM. As a matter of fact, Greece has poor relations with most of the other countries in the Balkan neighborhood. Albania represents the weird next-door neighbor that lets his dog relieve itself on the Greek lawn, and Turkey symbolizes the detested neighbor for whom hatred has been passed down from generation to generation.

That being said, I arrived in Skopje with no idea what to expect. Any time I had disclosed my travel plans at AFS, the Greeks would ask me why I wanted to see FYROM and/or give me an awkward smile and change the subject. I landed at Alexander the Great Airport (the birthplace of Alexander is a massive point of contention between Greeks and Macedonians) and headed downtown. Skopje has a population around 700,000, and is situated along the Vardar River. Downtown Skopje lacks the skyscrapers and imposing presence of many other capitol cities, but there are several ancient monuments, such as an old fort built under Con...stan...tine in the 4th Century and the 'Stone Bridge' that leads into the old Turkish Quarter. Skopje was under the Byzantine Empire, then the Ottoman Empire (hence the Turkish Quarter), then Axis occupation, and finally Titoist Communism before independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Thanks to the Communist era, the architecture was very plain, not aesthetically-pleasing but very practical; Tito-built public housing apartments are still omnipresent throughout the Balkans.

One remnant of Communism that I absolutely love is the Yugo - the Yugoslavian version of the VW Beetle. The standard issue car during Titoism and the punchline of various jokes by older generations, this car is amazing. Although they are no longer produced and TIME magazine lists it as one of the 50 worst cars of all time, I estimate that 20 percent of the current cars in Skopje are Yugos from the 1970s. Those Yugoslavian engineers definitely built Yugos with longevity in mind. Walking around town, it is not uncommon to see a dozen Yugos stopped at a traffic light. Similar to my craving for an El Camino in high school, I now yearn to own a Yugo. I can already picture myself cruising through town in a 1974 banana yellow Yugo hatchback (they are almost all hatchbacks). In the words of Tupac, "Picture me rollin'."

Moving along, I met up with Ivan, a friend from Perrotis College, near his home in Downtown Skopje. Our meeting spot was the center of social life for any Macedonian under 40: McDonald's. At any time of day or night, there are hordes of teenagers and young adults hanging around outside, inside, and all around the Skopje McDonald's. From there, we ambled around town, chatted about Macedonian history, and set up plans for the next night- New Year's Eve. On NYE, we met again at McDonald's and hopped in a cab (not a Yugo unfortunately). It was a typical New Year's Eve: attending a rave-like concert in Skopje, Macedonia with a thousand strangers. The band that as playing was the Gorillaz, an American hip-hop group that is famous for maintaining the secrecy of their identities by featuring cartoon gorillas in music videos and performing live shows behind a dark curtain. Although not my favorite group, the show was a lot of fun, especially in the category of people watching.

The rest of my time in Skopje was great: spending time with Ivan and his friends and exploring Macedonia. After five days, I had seen most of what Skopje had to offer and it was off to Kosovo for the next adventure.

Budapest and Prague Pics

Anybody Hungary?

Eating a Rooster Testicle in Pesshht

Best Parents Ever Supplying the Only Smiles in Prague

The Cathedral at Prague Castle

18 Vacation Days, 6 Countries, 1 Mangy Beard, and A Partridge in a Pear Tree (Part 1)

Dearest Reader(s),

Happy New Year! I hope you all had great holidays in whichever tradition you choose to celebrate: pretty Christmastimes (as the flight attendant wished my parents upon arrival in Thessaloniki), joyous Hanukkahs, splendid Kwanzaas, and/or euphoric pagan rituals.

I have just returned from an epic adventure through Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I could write a book about the various events, people, and cultures that I experienced and observed, however I'll try to be concise for the sake of your time. At the same time, many of the experiences were indescribable, but I'll give it a whirl:

Phase One: My parents came to Thessaloniki for Christmas, then we traveled together to Budapest and Prague. It was great to see my creators after four months away from home, and we had a great time. Our three days in Thessaloniki were spent catching up and showing Mom and Pop my new scene. We celebrated Christmas on campus at AFS with Thanos, my boss, and his family. The three days flew by then we hit the road. Upon arrival in Budapesshhht, we felt very Hungary so we found an awesome outdoor Christmas festival with traditional Hungarian cuisines. After wolfing down sausage, sauerkraut, potatoes, chicken-mushroom stroganoff, rooster testicle stew, and some hot wine in Pest, we took a stroll along the Danube and crossed the river into Buda. It was a perfect night with Mama Edlin assuming the roll of tour guide, speculating about the identity and functions of the historic buildings and structures. In the morning, we were off to Prague.

After collecting our czeched baggage and czeching into the hotel, we hopped on a bus to czech out downtown Prague. As the puns flowed and the temperature dropped, we found ourselves amidst beautiful, ancient buildings and monuments. Like in Budapest, we spent most of our time strolling through the city and eating savory delicacies at Prague's outdoor Christmas festival. We walked all over the city, got scammed and challenged to a fight by a currency-changing con artist, and explored Prague Castle and the Prague Communism Museum. Overall, it was a great experience, however we found the people to be harsh and unfriendly. At one point, my mom made the accurate yet disheartening observation that we hadn't seen a single smile in all of Czech Republic. As the Prague jaunt ended, my parents and I parted ways; they headed back to the States and I hopped a flight to Skopje, Macedonia for stop numero uno on my Balkan backpacking extravaganza.