So I want to first off apologize to all of my followers with my absence. It has been a hectic time for me, with work, travel, and the weather, so I got a little behind with it.
So I left off right after Bajram, so I will try to remember all that has happened between now and then. This is definitely going to be a 2-3 post update.
So the first weekend of November saw me visit the city of Prizren. It is an old town that has retained a lot of its Turkish heritage, through the various wars and occupations. It's a stunning city, with a river meandering on through. The city is tucked at the base of some smaller mountains, though there were snow capped mountains in the distance. Prizren is in the bottom left corner of Kosovo, near the Albanian border. I was in Prizren for a CouchSurfing event, a meet up of sorts, which people came from all over the Balkans (and the rest of the world) to see old friends and make new ones.
This was definitely an interesting adventure for me; I rode down with two people I had never met. A German police officer and a local Kosovar who works for the local telephone company were my fellow passenger and driver respectively, but it was far from awkward and was quite an enjoyable ride. Every nationality and ethnicity was present when we arrived. It was organized by this really cool girl from Serbia, who had been organizing these for 12 years. There were Serbs, Albanians, Kosovars, Turks, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Croatians, English, Scottish, Australian, Kiwis (New Zealanders), Americans, and Italians. I think that covers everyone, but needless to say it was quite the spread.
Besides making good friends (specifically: a Croat named Bojan, a German named Dori, and an English girl walking from England to Istanbul), two things stood out to me.
1) The Hike- We hiked around 2 hours to a clearing out in the mountains that had a great view of the city and the surrounding snow caps. It was exhilarating and welcomed. The air was fresh and pure; it was overall a fun adventure. When we came down the mountain, we stopped by the old city wall that towers over the main part of the city. The sun was starting to set, so the views were breathtaking. I was literally inundated with breathtaking views, it rocked my world.
2) When her fellow Serbian friends asked "Why are you hosting this event in Kosovo, it's shit!" She asked them "Have you ever been to Kosovo?" When their response was clearly no, she responded, "This blind hatred it stupid, you are stupid, please piss off” (She was taught by the Brits). It was such a refreshing dialogue rather than the typical hatred between these two Republics.
So it was a nice weekend to visit another Kosovar city and get out of the grind that is Prishtina!
The week after was the Election, to which I had secured an invitation to the Embassy's gala event. It was a grand ole time; I shook hands with the Ambassador, enjoyed Samuel Adams beer, and was in a good mix of American and International company. I even woke up to watch the election results, but it was cold and rainy (and 4:30 in the morning) so I did not make it over to Jason and Laura's for their election breakfast party.
While I did not travel the following weekend, I did have a chance to get to know a great Canadian couple that I have become fast friends with. Michael is a writer who followed his girlfriend Andrea, Political Affairs Officer for the UN, to Kosovo and continues to write. We ended up hanging out at the Irish pub and then going to see Skyfall (Which I enjoyed immensely) with a whole mess of UN folks.
Since we did not have the week off for Thanksgiving, we opted to have it on the 24th instead. Our idea was for the Americans to produce the food, and our international friends produce the alcohol. So much fun was produced that night. That Saturday, which will live in football infamy, was an epic day. While we did not kill our own turkey, per my previous post, we did have a good sized bird courtesy of my friend Mackenzie and her connections at Camp Bondsteel. I personally made ajvar deviled eggs (turned out PHENOMENAL, to be humble), mashed cauliflower, and roasted beets. I think three dishes is a good amount to make, but it was not even close to a fraction of the feast that we had. There was turkey, two things of mashed potatoes, two things of stuffing, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, brownies, stewed curried pumpkin deliciousness, cranberry sauce, my three dishes, and plenty more that in my food (and nothing else) induced coma.
That was just the food. We also had a whole mess of Raki, wine, and mulled wine. The mulled wine I think killed about half of the international community; Jason might have been a little heavy handed with the Brandy (think like my eggnog a few Christmases ago). It was delicious, but strooooooong. The party was a great success; delicious food, plentiful drinks, and wonderful company was in abundance. It was a true Thanksgiving. We even had a second Thanksgiving the next night to over indulge again!
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