--Friday, 09 June 00--
I have switched my site for reading the Herald Tribune from Brooklyn to
Kukri because on my last visit to Brooklyn, they had no Skopska, no Extra,
and an Efes warm enough to bath in (if you consent to bath in yellowish,
carbonated liquids). I started reading my paper at the Brooklyn exactly
because it had cold Skopska and the Grand had yet to figure out what the
word "cold" meant but piss warm beer was too great an insult
to ignore. I just walked away and haven't been back since.
Kukri is a bar strategically located across the street from the UN building.
It caters to a unique crowd of expats (and a few locals), mostly from
security, army, technical services, news photographers and video camera
operators who really enjoy their drinking in an international setting.
They gather in groups and talk endlessly unless a soccer match is on,
in which case the hardcore contingent gathers in the enclosed bar and
watch the game on the TV.
Outside, people talk until interrupted by the combined screaming of the
game watchers and the game announcers. I would judge them to be professionally
self-exiled: they work in international setting that need their skills
and when the job is done or the funding gone, they move on.
Yesterday's unexploded bomb was real, but only one kilo (two pounds) of
dynamite. What was its purpose? No one took "credit" for it
so it is difficult perhaps impossible to tell. Some people I overheard
at the Kukri thought that someone was trying to disrupt the upcoming elections.
But the elections are in October and it is hard to see how such a goal
justified the target.
November 17th, a small, tightly knit Greek Communist terrorist group assassinated
the British military attache today. There are those who say that it is
financed by that good Communist, Slobodan Milosovich but as is usually
the case, facts are few and far apart.
I found out that Belgrade government radio had claimed that a USAID employee
was involved in a recent assassination in Montenegro and that he was a
CIA operative. I thought that such charges were quite flattering to the
person in question given how far from the truth they are.
This has been my first complete week in the office. One of the more significant
changes is that the locals are now doing basic expenditure processing.
As significant as this is, FreeBalance, a new accounting system has been
brought up in only 28 days. The pace of spending has also increased significantly.
Now lines form in the payment room. Things are picking up which means
there is more work to do.
Smile eventually found me at Kukri -- after he had waited fifty minutes
in the lobby. I was having a bad hair day.
George left for home with all his keys including the one to his office
and the one to the petty cash safe. Since Phil Clark returns tomorrow
we are jammed for space so I had Sami burgle George's office so I could
use it. It turned out to be surprisingly easy -- a screwdriver and five
seconds was all it took. Sami is one talented guy. I am glad he is on
our side.
Berndt emailed me that he had not received a two signature approved fax
for the Monday transfer and he was leaving in an 60 minutes. Since Monday
is a holiday in Germany, we will not know if he got the fax I sent. Another
day in Kosovo.
--Saturday, 10 June 00--
Worked on budget allocations all morning. Reduced the problem to a series
of questions I will get answered on Monday morning.
I meant to leave at noon but only got out at 1:30. Met Smile as I walked
to the Grand and we went to my room for some typing training -- not nearly
as interesting as intensive language training -- he sits and types into
a training program that evaluates his speed and accuracy. Smile's typing
speed is up to twelve words per minute from three.
Afterwards we went and got our respective hairs cut. Since the barber
was away for lunch, we went and had lunch at Ludovitsa where they serve
grilled bread similar to what I got in Skopje. Delicious. We went back
to the barber shop and got what we wanted.
Smile told me that he hadn't been to his village in two weeks so he and
Kimeta were taking a bus there. He said that if he could borrow a car
tomorrow he would pick me up at 9 AM and we would go to Peje and Ishtok.
I bought a Herald Tribune and read it while sitting outdoors in the evening
sunshine at Kukri Bar. People around me frequently talk about how much
time they had left -- as if they had enlisted in some sense. Here, there
is as much smoking by expats as locals, perhaps because so many of the
expats are from Europe where smoking is much more common than in the States.
Heard a rumor that Grand Manier can be found at Barts(?) at the airport.
I must check this out!
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--Sunday, 11 June 00--
Smile told me that if he could borrow a car he would pick me up between
9 and 9:30. I sat in the outdoor cafe of the Grand from 9 to 10:30 but
no Smile. I walked to the bus station to take some pictures and to find
out about buses between Prishtina and Skopje (12:30 to Skopje and 3:30
to Prishtina). I forgot to ask about buses to Peje but I found out later
that even on Sunday they run almost hourly.
I had an OK pizza at Spaghetteria Toni and spent two and half hours completing
my editing of Expenditure Procedures and Forms. I was helped by a young
waiter who told me that he wanted to go to a military academy that was
being created in Feruzi. I hadn't heard of it but he was intense about
his desire to enroll.
Went to Kukri Bar and ran into Wayne Owens and Steve Campbell. Chatted,
Wayne left and a cinemaphile friend of Steve's joined us. He asked us,
"What are your three favorite movies?" Steve's friend picked
three foreign films. I had seen none of them but did know one of the directors.
Joe
A Virtual Tour of Kosovo |
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