our prime

Of course, it should read "Our Prime Minister," but I guess we all get the point :) This slogan seems to have popped up overnight. It's on store windows around Pristina and on this tee-shirt sported by the guy who brings coffee upstairs to our office from the cafe below. I have to admit I've been quite impressed at how calm Kosovo has been this week, and this attempt at a little nonviolent protest deserves our respect, too. Mind you, the other night after leaving the gym I finally joined, I was stopped by local police and forced to take a long detour. I luckily ran into two friends who were coming out of a show they had just performed at the nearby theatre, and we all walked together... Apparently, only half an hour earlier, two grenades had been thrown in front of the gates at UNHQ (UN headquarters), which I normally would walk past on my way home. Strangely though, it seems to have just been someone trying to spark trouble because there were no obvious targets. In my mostly unsuccessful attempts to follow the local Albanian TV news, it seems that a protest that was meant to be staged on Monday has been cancelled, perhaps as a result of the threat of violence? Either way, it has been very quiet here. I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow, whether the protest goes ahead or not.

In other news, the CCTD van, which acted as the primary source of transportation to theatre performances outside of Pristina, was stolen on Tuesday. Although we have filed a report with the police, it seems unlikely that anything will come of it, and sadly, for whatever reason, the van's insurance doesn't cover theft! So, if anyone has 5000 Euros (roughly $8000 CDN) sitting around that they'd like to donate to a good cause... Anyway, the loss of that money just adds incentive for me to get working on the grant applications that I've finally started to write. The actual writing process is not the most inspiring work -- in fact, it's much like the "blah blah blah" of writing papers, complete with elaborate exaggeration -- but it's been quite nice to feel useful and productive. And who knows? It would feel good to actually be awarded money based on the proposals that I will write.

We've also just started the more intensive process of beginning to write a play the UN memory project. It's far from being finished; the deadline for a final draft isn't until the first week of April when a British director has agreed to come to Kosovo and stage the show. There have been many obstacles, too, like the one minor detail of money (oy. you'd think my life now revolves around the stuff!)... But overall, it has been crazy to watch the project turn slowly from an idea into a reality. As soon as it's more of a reality, and out of our heads and onto paper, you'll hear more about it.