The rest of the week was as hectic as the beginning of the week! I will try my best to break down the various events, but I am having a hard time decompressing the information for myself so I am just going to give you my favorite moments.
Walking back from the USAID office one morning our group (of eighteen, mind you) was walking around a father and his young daughter who happened to be swinging a bucket full of cherries. After USAID a few members of the group were talking about independence in Kosovo and what that meant for its citizens. At the bottom of the hill the father and daughter stepped to the side of the path and held out the bucket for each of us to take a cherry. The little girl was beaming (and also very shy) and the father encouraged us to each take some fruit. As we each thanked him he frankly replied, “Yes, take, these are the cherries of our independence.” What is so glorious about being in Kosovo is that the people really want a country that will work and will work for them. There is a much stronger Kosovo identity than there is a Bosnia-Herzegovina identity.
The citizens (and the country itself) are a little schizophrenic when it comes to their understanding of Kosovo. While most buildings proudly fly the Kosovo flag, those that do also fly an Albanian flag. Houses, churches and buildings that fly the Serbian flag do not fly the Kosovo flag at all. Kosovo can never unite and its people can never reconcile until the Kosovo flag (and thus identity) is exuded by all of its citizens, regardless of nationality.
On the Fourth of July all of Kosovo had a celebration full of posters and good times. We were told that Pristina had fireworks, but we were not in Kosovo that day! We managed to take a trip into Macedonia to our Teaching Assistant’s home in Tetova, Macedonia. It was fascinating to see the way that another former Yugoslav country (the title is included in Macedonia’s formal name) functions, specifically Macedonia which is right behind Croatia in steps towards European Union Ascession. If globalization can be any symbol, there was a McDonalds in Tetova, the first one I have seen in three weeks. This was both disgusting (Waples’ class knows how much I dislike the chain) and exciting since it was the fourth of July and most of the group wanted to do something really Ahmurican. After a traditional meal and a walk around the town, we took the bus ride back to Pristina for our last day in Kosovo.
Prizren is a beautiful city, reminiscent of Sarajevo, and has been dubbed the most multicultural city in Kosovo. The presence of both Orthodox churches and Mosques made this clear, as did the heavy presence of KFOR troops – a deterrence against violence. We were able to visit the building where the meetings that lead to the first understanding of Albanian nationalism took place in 1878, which was a fascinating representation of the conflict that exists today.
After a two-hour plane ride we arrived in Vienna, in the heart of Western Civilization as it seems. After Pristina, everything is beautiful and shiny. I had forgotten how clean streets look when they are not crowded with garbage. Currently, I am mostly excited about doing laundry and getting my clothes CLEAN after three weeks of dust and travel. We are staying at the Diplomatic Academy and although I have been on the ground now for about 8 hours, I am still not entirely sure where we are situated in the city. A few runs around town will hopefully remedy this ignorance but clearly I might have some trouble motivating (Michelle knows all about this).
Today marks the next three weeks of my nine-week saga. I am very excited to see what I will learn, eat and experience in my time here! It’s shaping up to be an exciting month. Today also marks my second to last day as a teenager, which is only REALLY weird, but time goes on. Classes start tomorrow (this) morning at eleven, but breakfast is served between 7:45 and 8:30 AM…it’s anybody’s guess if I will wake up or not.
In love,
Lauren
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