--Saturday, 03 June 00--
Not Understanding the Principle
Sami told me that 332000 was to be my photocopy code on the new machine and 4286 on the old machine. [As a matter of national security, please do not disclose this information to anyone who doesn't have at least an A++ or D- clearance level. I trust your discretion implicitly or I would not be sending you these emails.]

"No, no," I said, "let me have the same number on each machine." "How can we? The old machine code is four digits and the new machine is six digits." "Then make the long code 428600," I said. But I was not understood. I have a third, different, number for the machine upstairs but I can't remember it.

Processed a wire transfer with a bad email address to a Macedonian firm. What other parts are inaccurate?

Around 11 AM we began the training in the FreeBalance accounting system. The trainer was Grice Mulligan who was very good technically and is a compulsive workaholic, an excellent trainer with a varied background (including English and Accounting -- a most unusual combination). It was clear that FreeBalance had made a major commitment to supporting us, to the tune of a month of Grice's time). I think they/he are smart to do it. Their payoff will be later.

Grice and I met for beer after work and I learned a little more about him. His varied educational background prepared him well for becoming the chief technical person at FreeBalance. He is the near perfect marketeer, combining technical skill with an understanding of what we are trying to do.


--Sunday, 04 June 00--
Up at 5:30 due to barking dogs, loud music and jet lag. Walked north up the hill to the edge of the city where there were vacant lots and grassy slopes. The air looked bad in the city as it usually does. Took the private bus system back to the hotel for two DM. Changed into my shorts and started reading "A Necessary Evil" by Gary Wills. At 10:15 no Smile so I decided to go for a second walk.

Hilary had told me that Kukri served an English breakfast so I went over to see. The answer is "Yes and no." They were open at 7 AM but were only serving coffee. They told me that the owner did serve a breakfast but needed to got to Skopje to get sausage and bacon. The sign on the door said that breakfast was served at Noon. Go figure.

Planned a trip to Sultan Murad I tomb in Fusche Kosova (which the Serbs call Kosovo Polye, the Field of Blackbirds) and the bus station but only got to the bus station.

The interior of the bus station with the mangled remains of the suspended ceiling. The boy with the newspapers in a cart staring at me was so totally transfixed by my presence that he followed me around the interior as I took pictures yet never said a word to me.

Another day in Prishtina.

In the evening Smile did come by so we went for a walk. After a while, We sat outside Sabri's cafe and, in the fading light, we listened to the amplified call to prayer from the local mosques. It mingled/competed with the loud traffic noise (beeping, engine reving, tires on pavement, water being splashed from potholes, etc.) and the disco music from a bar. Perhaps not a unique mixture of sounds but one characteristic of this part of the city and for me forever reminiscent of Prishtina.

Smile walked me to the travel agency that offered to rent cars for a trip to Ishtok, the trout farm and the motel. The Recreation Committee had inspired me to aggressively seek out entertainment possibilities and this was a prime one. Smile had been there Saturday on his school trip and spoke well of the fish at the restaurant.

Smile told me that he wanted to learn how to use a computer. I told him I would teach him, thinking that he only wanted to learn to type. He needs to learn that but, in the discussions that followed, I learned his motivations. 1) Kimeta is just finishing four six-hour weeks of computer training and 2) his brother is the principal of a village school which has recently received a donation of a computer and printer. So now his brother and his wife talk to each other about file saves and edits and whatever and Smile feels left behind. He is determined to catch up as quickly as possible. So once again I am the teacher of an eager pupil.

I sat him down before my Mac and he immediately insisted on learning how to begin with starting the computer. We did and made rapid progress. He demonstrated interest in MS Word and demanded to know what each menu item did (File/Save, etc.), bold, italic, tables, copy and paste, delete, mouse movements. In short order he mastered mouse movement, single and double clicks, click and drag.

Smile told me that when he tries to learn from books he can't remember but when he hears it from me he can remember it. Of course, I end up repeating things but that is part of training.

For lunch we went to Fjala Cafe and sat out of doors in the shade and had a good pizza.

The most obviously damaged portion of the Bus Station.

Afterwards Smile walked me to the bus station which is at the very south end of town and, when I noticed that there was a portion of concrete hanging dejectedly on the outside. Smile told me that the Serbians had concealed a tank in the large open space of the bus station interior. "How did NATO learn about it?" I asked. Smile said that the KLA knew about it and were in contact with NATO who sent a cruise missile right through a window. The tank was demolished and the interior blown into the exterior but without serious structural damage to the building. Since then the glass has been replaced (but not the hanging ceiling).

--Monday, 05 June 00--
Smile thought he forgot his keys yesterday and did today.

Smile's computer training is progressing. He is driven by his brother and Kimeta's knowledge. Today we did copy/paste between applications (Stickies and Word), studied how the menu bar changes with the application. Smile also typed his first email to me, it was just three words and I don't think he understood what it was all about but it is progress none-the-less.

I went over to visit Smile as he guarded the Chesvee vehicles (three have been stolen so far but never on Smile's watch). Once more I was the honored guest most stared at by the locals. We drank some beer and chatted. Halil, the guard from the construction site across the street told me that there were a lot of Albanians living in the Boston area. This is news to me but I suspect he is correct.

Around 10 PM I went back to the Grand and to bed.


--Tuesday, 06 June 00--
Smile came by to practice typing. From the Internet I downloaded a typing training program. He took to it very well, progressing from three words a minute to six in his first session.

But Smile had problems. He was not himself, quiet and pensive. I asked him what was troubling him and he told me that the brother of his building's first floor tenant -- who had invited him to move into the third floor -- had come from a village and demanded rent. Smile refused. He pointed out that the owner of the building was a Serb living in Canada and the first floor tenant (this guy's brother) wasn't paying any rent. Smile seemed to tell me that Serb-owned buildings are specially treated by UNMIK.

And CESVI is closing, possibly as soon as the end of July. More than half his income will be lost. Smile is very interested in another job.


--Wednesday, 07 June 00--
Why isn't the fax machine that has been sitting for six weeks in the communications room working? If it worked I could save a lot of time going to the Government Building just to send faxes.

George told me for the first time that the Co-Head of the Department of Health and Social Welfare sometimes distributes large sums of money and should be included in the query re currency needs. Her office is in the tall building half way between the CFA and the Grand on the 8th or 9th floor. Huffing my way to the 9th floor, I asked for her and was told she was on leave and would be back Monday. Her assistant seemed to indicate that there were no significant distribution planned. Certainly she didn't know anything about them.

Smile came by late, I went with him to the Chesvee lot. Halil, from the construction site across the street, spoke a fair amount of American. The indoor guard from Chesvee came out and we drank some beer. Kimeta stopped by and wanted to be part of the gang but Smile said she had to go home, and she did. This is a very sexist culture.


--Thursday, 08 June 00--
Dropped wires off at the Government Building and stopped by the BPK on my way back and saw Wayne and Steve. In an impromptu decision, we went to Supreme, a PX on the south edge of town. Very good, clothing, a good liquor selection but, while they had Cointreau, there was no Grand Marnier.

In the afternoon, the staff asked me if I knew that a bomb had gone off in front of the police station near the Grand. I walked by later and the area was cordoned off. Later I learned from press release that a kilo (two pounds) of explosive with a detonator had been found in a wheel compartment of a car in front of one of the Police Station buildings. What to make of it? Both the misinformation I was originally given and the presence of the explosive.

Another day in Prishtina.

Joe