"saved by the stick"

I have just returned to Kosovo from a city in Macedonia called Skopje (pronounced skope-yeh), which is a 1.5 hours drive from Pristina. I went for the day along with people from the office, some of their friends, a few of the playwright guests from Kosovo and Croatia, and some theater people from Germany and France (is that enough?!), for the premier of a children's play written by a CCTD staff member. Although the performance was in Albanian, I read an English translation before hand and could follow along quite well. Called "Saved by the Stick," the play was about a teacher that consistently picks on a particular student and wrongly punishes him by beating his hands with a stick. Even though the topic was serious and the kids were meant to learn that such behaviour is unacceptable, the play was comedic and great fun to watch! I was surprised to discover that Skopje is actually a larger city than Pristina, which was obvious from three-storey mall complete with stores like United Colours of Benetton (however you spell it) and Nike. Macedonia also has McDonald's, which is really the only international landmark noticeably absent from Pristina (or all of Kosovo for that matter... I would guess that being a recognized state is one of the company's prerequisites for expansion?). They also sold Trident gum in Macedonia, which I can't seem to find anywhere in Pristina. Despite being a fairly big city, Skopje has maintained more of its older Turkish-era architecture, which is more pleasant to look at than the communist concrete fiesta found in Pristina. And, the city has both mountains (or, at least more mountainous mountains that Hamilton's "mountain") and a river with a name that is extremely difficult to pronounce in English... It's no Pacific, but it was nice all the same... The bus on the way home was brutal, though! As if the '70's style seats in lovely shades of puke green and puke yellow weren't enough, we were blessed with never ending turbo-folk concert videos, and some one (likely the driver) was smoking with no air circulation. Have I mentioned that everyone here smokes? And I mean everyone. It is just something that a visitor to the Balkans must get used to as a fact of life, but sometimes it's overwhelming to the point of it being nauseating... like yesterday... I went for lunch after the show with the cast and crew, and we were fourteen people, eight cigarettes at any given time, and one small room. Oy. What's harder to watch, however, are young children who seem nearly oblivious to the smoke because they have grown up with it surrounding them. It's like they have a death complex here. Speaking of which, I have been noticing that Kosovo is still far behind North America when it comes to safety standards. For example, while this isn't too much of a problem in the city, roads and even highways often have no sidewalks so that everyone is forced to walk basically on the edge of narrow streets. I feel like my friends here are safe drivers, but in general, people speed and pass like it's going out of style. Sadly, I have witnessed a dog being killed in the street because it ran towards oncoming traffic, and I am certain that people, too, must get hit more than I'd like to think about. It is also common to see young children riding on laps in cars. And I don't think they have fire or emergency exit laws here, because doors to stores and restaurants open inward, opposite of doors at home... Like a loser, I still automatically pull instead of push when going into places, and people stare at me like I'm another stupid international :) Anyway, these are all observations, and really, I am doing quite well. More than anything, I find these crazy (and sometimes irrational) parts of life in Kosovo amusing. Like my apartment...On an alley wall near the entrance to my building, someone has written lyrics to "the youth gone wild" and I just have to laugh every time because I live on Skid Row. I feel much more settled into the apartment, and even enjoy the quiet (when it's a choice). I bought myself a good pot and cooked my first real meal the other day, a thrilling rendition of pea soup. And I also bought a dvd player, not only because it seems to be the most popular pastime here, but because Pristina's a quiet town, especially on evenings and weekends. Work is still erratic and vague, but we have more internet now so I can start searching for grant money, and the missing person's project should start up again next week. Overall, I have few complaints, as life here is still a novelty for me.