--Saturday, 25 November 00--
Another fractured day and I count on Saturdays to get me in shape for work on Monday. On good thing was that Naim, our former IT guy, came by and in three minutes did what IT couldn't do in three weeks.

--Sunday, 26 November 00--
Will This Society Make It?
There are walls and barbed wire everywhere here, the edgings of this society. Will it make it? The recent assassination of a senior advisor to Ibrahim Ragova is ominous. There always has been a risk that the willingness to use violence against Serbians would be translated into the willingness to use violence against anyone.

The history Albania, the country, is not encouraging. I was told that one political party there bombed a power station in order to embarrass its opposition.

The tolerance of trash is another symbol of the the preference of the rights of an individual over the group. The widespread spitting on the street is also something Susan pointed out to me is a feature.

Another problem is the work ethic. Communism, even the milder form practiced in Yugoslavia, produced major under employment: people with jobs that had no productive work to do. After a half century of this, the older people simply don't associate employment with productive activity. They don't even know what productive activity means. They think that you get a job, you go to work (mostly), you sit around, you get paid monthly.

One must remark on how friendly the people here are to the people they: Europeans and Americans. Graciousness and kindnesses abound. But can you build a nation on gratefulness?

This is the time of year for flies to move indoors. Well past their time, they become lazy, pestering beasts. I slammed three against the kitchen window with my package of bacon. The bacon had a wonderful taste.

Today the sky was filled with dark clouds with white fleecy edges limned by the hidden sun. The empty pockets of the sky were filled with a delightful Wedgwood blue. The air was mild in the morning but the breeze picked up in the afternoon and it seemed cold. Still, a lovely day to look at the sky.

A beautiful sky in Prishtina

I walked around and then over the hill north of me, ate a cheddar cheese omelet, then walked west of 99 percent of the city to Smile's under-construction home.

The ceiling of the first floor is nearly ready for the concrete. One of the guys asked me if I wanted some beer and I said yes so he drove me to a shop near the Hospital and bought Fanta for the other two guys, four beers for me and one for himself, and he refused to let me pay.

Walked to the hospital and took the No. 4 home. I was seated in the back with an old man wearing the white felt cap that is so common (on old men) here. I asked him if I could take his picture and he agreed but wanted to pose with the old man beside him. I took their picture and the kids in front asked me to take their pictures. Then the guy in the front seat. Everyone was having a great time.

When the old guy got out he gave a one DM coin to the driver and made a motion with his hand that I thought meant that he was paying for his friend. He looked at me and I gave him a thumbs up. Later when I tried to pay, the driver rejected my payment and indicated that the old guy had actually paid for me. Such is my life here in Prishtina.

The roof of the second floor of Smile and Kimeta's home with Prishtina in the distance.

The tools used to construct Smile's house consist of a level, a hammer, two pliers, a hand saw, two concrete mixers, several shovels, a spade, three wheel barrows, several buckets, two pick axes, and a measuring tape.

Even the ingredients used make a short list: cement, gravely sand and water for concrete, rusty rebar, cinder blocks, tar paper, three kinds of hollow clay bricks, combination clay-cement-rebar ceiling supports, wire, nails, wood for forms, food for workers, beer for Joe, and not much else.

Smile stopped by unexpectedly but very pleasantly. We chatted and looked at soccer games on TV. He wanted to see the pictures that I had taken of his house today but something was wrong with my camera and none of the files could be read as pictures. Strange.


--Monday, 27 November 00--
The first day of Ramadan and a rainy holiday here. I worked the holiday for two reasons, one to build up a reserve for a vacation and two because I can get so much more work done on a holiday because of the decreased interruptions.

The guy from Zvechan was here on Friday with a problem. He seemed much more interested in talking about it than in solving it. I told him to comeback with the paperwork. We shall see.

Got wires done, got the CFA web page updated, even help Mike with data about several EU payments.

Smile called me at home from his new apartment (which is among the six percent of households with a phone). He gets quite a chuckle out of using the phone and told me not to have lunch tomorrow because he would come by and we would go for Chinese food! "Don't you [fail to] wait for me!" he said.


--Tuesday, 28 November 00--
Flag Day, an unofficial holiday that everyone takes off, even if you say they cannot. One wonders why it is not on the holiday list.

Lunch with Smile at the Golden Road. He told me that eight people had come from his village and with five others had poured the ceiling of the first floor in five hours.

Sunset is now very early. It gets dark before we leave work and gloomy as well.

I head the dogs barking every night even though the windows are closed. Yet I see only a few during the day. Odd.


--Wednesday, 29 November 00--
Went to Collin and Thuy's place and then on to Tim Terrell's penthouse apartment for Bridge. I certainly had a very pleasant time, food and card game wise.


--Thursday, 30 November 00--
Gave Ram my invoice for rent an he was appalled that he had to go back to his uncle for the signatures.

Had a chebop lunch with Annette and Mary at Sela, our favorite chebop shop. The food is always good there.

On return Smile was in the entry way and he told me that he had left his keys in his apartment last night and now couldn't go home. So he proposed that he sleep locked in my apartment for the afternoon. This made Smile's forgetfulness my problem and I was not pleased. We went to my apt and I locked him in for want of extra keys.

He showed me the new, lined coat that he had received from UNMIK. It had a most impressive number of pockets, some detachable, a vest that can be unzipped, an outer cover, and an inner cover. And in one of the pockets he found his keys. It made the whole effort some kind of farce.

So many decisions locals make seem to be made based on friendship rather than on any objective criteria. Hiring decisions especially.

Mingles told me that someone had been shooting a Kalishnikov in the market yesterday. I am glad it wasn't my shopping day.

"Ali's" meeting lasted over two hours but Ali himself left promptly at 5:30. I got back to my apartment around seven and Smile woke up shortly after that and went on his way.

Joe