Greetings from Pristina! I apologize that it has taken me so long to notify you Internet land peoples but Kosovo has been an absolute whirlwind of a week. We average about 3 meetings a day, which means that we are “on” from 8:30 am – 6 pm. We have met with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Mission in Kosovo, United Nations Mission to Kosovo, European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX), and Vetevendosja in Pristina. On Thursday we went to the city of Mitrovica and met with the OSCE Regional Office, the UNMIK regional office and the EULEX regional office. Since we have only been in Kosovo for three days, you can imagine our schedule and the amount of coffee I have consumed, so much for the detox!
Each meeting has been fascinating and has provided a lot of information on understanding this region and the politics here. One of the most confusing things in Kosovo is the status question – while Kosovo coordinated a declaration of independence in February 2008 not all countries have recognized this declaration. Only 60 of 192 UN Nation Members have recognized Kosovo and only 22 of 27 EU nations. This means that international organizations operate under a “Status neutral” or “no status” umbrella, meaning that they recognized institutions but not the state. Talk about complicated! Other than that, Bosnia-Herzegovina was definitely more complicated since the conflicts are of different nature and they are being handled differently. One surprising thing is that where decentralization is the problem in BiH, it seems to be the solution in Kosovo.
The food here is delicious. 80% of businesses in Pristina are in the service sector and about half of those are food. That, in addition to the presence of the international community makes for some delicious eating at very low prices! For example, an espresso is 70 Euro cents, and the average meal is about Six euro. The nightlife here is also very vibrant, due to the young population (the youngest in Europe). The fashion here is stuck in the cheap 1990s, and there are lots of shops for ball gowns everywhere. And by ball gowns I mean really tacky prom dresses.
There is so much to learn in Kosovo and while I am looking forward to moving to Vienna on Sunday, I will very much miss the experiences that I have had so far. On Saturday we will visit our Teaching Assistant’s home in Macedonia! This trip will add two more stamps on my passport, since we will actually get one from Kosovo after Macedonia! Keep the emails coming! I love hearing from you!
Love and best wishes,
Lauren
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