Spelling aside, this expression of appreciation to Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and NATO is genuine. It is interesting that the EU, which also supported the war effort and is footing a large portion of development costs here, seems to get no credit here. Proof, perhaps, that truth has little relationship to perception.

Graffiti

I asked Shkumbin to translate some pictures of graffiti that I had taken. A number turned out to be just the names of people which was disappointing because I am interested in political expression and the hit-and-run ease of graffiti application allows both dominant and suppressed views to be expressed -- although whoever is last on the battlefield, usually dominates the situation.

In Prishtina, the graffiti reflect the sharp divisions between Albanian Kosovars and Serb Kosovars. Bridging the gap will be difficult indeed.

Shkumbin told me about a graffito that is nearby. Someone had written, "I'm not just perfect! I'm Serb too!" Above this, someone else had written, "Perfect is shit!"

Another graffito was "Srbi. van Kosove" ("Serbs out of Kosova") was written in Serbian so the intended audience can read it.

A graffito of an unpleasant kind: One more expression of an "eye for an eye."

"Where is Mitrovitsa?"

Then there was "Ku eshte Mitrovica" ("Where is Mitrovitsa?") implying that at least part of Mitrovitsa is not in Kosovar hands, thus implying the desire to get rid of the Serbs.


Ishmail came by so we could go get our hairs cut. We walked up Mother Theresa Street but all the "frizers" we passed were closed, possibly because there was no electricity. We walked around to Marshall Tito Street that runs parallel to Mother Theresa Street and the situation was the same.

As we walked down the street, we saw a pickup truck with some people around it. As we walked by, someone offered us some meat. We walked back and a guy reached into the back of the pickup and pulled out a plastic bag containing perhaps ten kilos of meat and handed it to Ishmail. I guess I passed -- in the dark -- for a Kosovar because the guy handed me a bag. This way Ishmail and Kimeta ended up with both bags.

We gave up looking for a barber shop and took the bags to Ishmail's home. When we arrived Fahtan (of Fahtan and Dahtan) was there with a friend who works in Munich. We handed the bags over to Kimeta, Fahtan and friend left for their next visit, I never did get to see what was in the bag.

I opened a bottle of Vranch red wine for Kimeta and we settled in for some conversation. We chatted for more than two hours about this and that. Kimeta served some sandwich meat and some cakes and some bread. During the conversation it came out that ten people in Ishmail's village had been killed by a Serb policeman using a grenade.

Later Ishmail walked me back to the Grand and we had some more intensive language training. We hadn't done it for a few days so if felt really good to be back in the saddle.


--Saturday, 18 March 00--
On a day that featured gray skies, cold air and a snow shower, George came into my office and asked me to learn the expenditure system and to document it. At the same time he wants it controlled. It will be interesting to do it.

At 3 PM I finally snagged Alan and showed him my draft CFA website. Larry and Maureen came along for the ride. I made Alan bring his laptop along and find the website on his machine. I showed them what I had done and how it was structured. They asked questions about how easy/difficult this and that was and what the options were. They were up-to-speed quickly.

I asked for approval to move further and indicated some of the possibilities. Both Alan and Larry were enthusiastic about the possibilities. We discussed how the work would get done (in-house, contractor, etc.) and what should be next, how fast we could proceed, etc.

It was a very successful meeting and everybody liked the concept. Alan agreed with me that the focus should be to move as quickly as possible to make the website as useful as possible. Any redesigns, if needed, could be done later.

I pointed out that beyond the utility of the site to the CFA internally, it was a superb communications device for dealing with people in Washington and New York. He nodded his head and from his face I could see that he got the message fully. Shortly thereafter he said, "While I am still connected I am going to show this to Steve." We went to George's office and Alan told Steve (who is from the IMF), the woman from the World Bank and George that the CFA had a website and he wanted them to see it. Steve really liked the idea and said that he designed websites for nonprofits.

We tramped back up stairs and Alan did the dog-and-pony show and really wowed them all. Steve asked various technical questions about how this or that was done and I explained. He asked why we didn't do things this way and I explained. He was clearly impressed. Alan said it was his attention to "have transparency by publishing every bloody page on the web". It went over exceptionally well.

At 6:30 I called Clyde McSpadden about dinner. He said that he was meeting Wayne in the lobby at 7 and that they would rely on me for a suggestion. We met in the lobby and Wayne asked what we were thinking about. Clyde hastened to say that he thought they should go back to the Monaco, (the only restaurant they have been in since their arrival). On the other hand, the food at the Monaco was good. I had a Lasagna al Prosciutto which was delicious.


--Sunday, 19 March 00--
I go down to breakfast religiously looking for the skinless chebop sausages that they served exactly once in the three weeks I have been here. I have become totally bored with the repetitive presentation and only drink some orange and apple juice. I dream of more chebop.

Another complaint. This city has wonderful bread of several kinds. The hotel has hard, stale-seeming bread that Clyde correctly likened to day old bread. The situation seems criminal.

I walked down Mother Theresa Street past the office to the rotary where there are so many people selling gasoline out of plastic jugs. I took a left up the hill to the University Hospital campus and then I took a left to follow the hill upwards. Before long I found a big, grass covered park with Prishtina's World War II memorial on its crown and a small KLA cemetery adjacent. From this crown, I walked down toward downtown until I saw a second park on my right and walked through it to the street.

By pure luck Naim was driving by on his way to George's apartment and stopped for me. We picked up George and went to the EU building which still houses a Kosovar museum. We got an English language tour of the museum, an old Albanian house, a 15th century mosque built by the conquer of Constantinople and the biggest 15th century mosque in the Balkans, and a natural history museum.

There actually was something to do on a Sunday morning in Prishtina.

Joe