Lunch with Ram at the Napoli. Ram treated; he should save his money.
Smile came by for typing training at 6 PM and was prompt. I had searched the Internet in the AM and found a typing program for 3-year olds and downloaded it. It was a big hit with Smile but he only used it for an hour. His cold continues with all the usual symptoms.
Coughing, he left in the rain to go to meet Kimeta at her brother's house where a Macedonian Albanian family that sheltered her brother during the NATO bombing has arrived from Tetovo. Social obligations here are a major element of the culture and for increasingly obvious reasons to me.
I've noticed that Smile is quite prompt these days. He consistently shows up at the time promised and frequently is even early. This is quite a change from a year ago.
--Friday, 23 March 01--
Smile told me that his sense of smell has suddenly returned after 11 years. He said that he had had a bad cold once and his nose bled and after that he couldn't smell anything until about ten days ago. Now he can smell "only good things."
The Australian crew gathered at the Kukri for Glenn Wood's "Shout" which means that he was so happy that he was leaving in a few days that he was willing to treat people to some beer.
Smile came to the Kukri and we had a beer and then came over for some typing and ended up with English training. He doesn't enjoy typing as much as learning English but email will be our principle means of communication once I leave so some ability in typing is important.
--Saturday, 24 March 01--
Went to the Kukri after work and read several days of the IHT. Colin gave me his Friday IHT. Dan Berney from the BPK came by and we chatted for a while. The American nurse and her friend to whom I had introduced the Kukri stopped by and joined Dan and I. The result was that I spent way too much time socializing at the Kukri.
--Sunday, 25 March 01--
Today was the first truly balmy day 21.6 C.
Sunday, my weekend off! You have to work Saturday's here in order to catch up but having only one day to forget the week is far too little.
Smile has to work the graveyard shift starting today. Yesterday he worked the day shift so he had only eight hours to get some sleep for his work today so he will come by around 2 PM.
Having become accustomed to promptness, I called Smile at 2:15 and he said we had planned to get together at 4 PM. He agreed to come over immediately so that I would not starve to death and we could have Chinese food together. Afterwards we went to see a movie, Deuce Bigalow (Smile laughed a lot), then Kukri and then we went to our respective homes.
Local government here is bizarre. It is as if 1880 Dodge Kansas the government instructed Marshal Earp that his most important activity was sensitivity training. Every community seems to have a department of women's Issues but no one collects the trash.
I looked out the patio of Mary's apartment and saw kids playing baseball; one kid was playing with a car, bleep, bleep, bleep went the car each time the boy bounced a soccer ball off the rear window. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, just as if he were playing with his personal friend. I counted 53 children with all the concomitant noise.
--Monday, 26 March 01--
The temperature continues to be just short of warm.
This AM Tony came into my office and asked me to deal with an 18th month old payment (from a time when ONLY the UN was operating here). Since the word Customs appears on the documents the UN refused to pay. I will recommend payment.
Met Smile at my place at six and he tried more of the 3-5 year-old typing program and he is making progress. Then some language training and then a walk to the Kukri where we met the two American medical staff who were first introduced to me by Smile and Kimeta.
Every apartment I've been in has only have overhead lights and no table lamps. I hate ceiling lights.
--Tuesday, 27 March 01--
Smile came by at one PM. We had lunch at the Parliament. Smile told me that I had never brought him there before. We had an interesting discussion about me helping him. I told him that it was wrong for me to use my position to benefit an individual. He clearly didn't agree and said it was natural to help your friends. We had to agree to disagree.
--Wednesday, 28 March 01--
Lunch with Smile at the Napoli. We had well-done pepperoni pizza with extra pepperoni.
I met Than Lwin, my replacement, and Quanja Sultan, Glenn Wood's replacement, outside the Grand around 6:30 and gave them a tour of downtown Prishtina. They both seem competent and nice.
--Thursday, 29 March 01--
The second cold day in a row (6 C.) but I felt exhilarated -- my replacement was here. My impression of Than from the night before was positive.
I copied a number of documents and put them on Than's desk. He was busy at the Government Building until around 10:30 and then came to the CFA. I introduced him to the staff and we talked about issues facing the Treasury.
Mike Ives returned from duty in Prague and I introduced him to Than. He told us that his apartment had been broken into but not much was lost as he had stored all his valuables in the office. Apartment break-ins are all the rage crime of the day. What does it portend?
Smile came by at 8 PM. We walked over to the Kukri and had a beer.
 |
| Smile and Kimeta bring
up the end of a line dance on New Year's Eve. |
--Sunday, 01 April 01--
Since the border with Macedonia was closed except for official business,
I arranged a trip to Skopje to pick up the check stock with which to pay
vendors.
Since the bus leaves at 8 AM, at 7:30 I was drinking a cappuccino at the
Kukri. At 7:50 I expected to see UN bus and when it didn't show, I went
to MovCon where I was told that we would go by helicopter-maybe. At 9
AM I was back at MovCon staring at the vast fleet of UN cars. At 10 AM
we were bused to the heliport but were delayed by snow at the Skopja airport.
At 10:25 the flight was cancelled and we were driven to Skopje on the
bus.
To kill time I walked the old city and the nearby open market. I found
a 15th century mosque that was interesting an then walked to Fort Kale
which overlooks the city. I had lunch at Golden Road and was back at the
OSCE building, where I met Zlatcho from the printing company to exchange
the badly printed checks for good ones. Then it was back to Prishtina.
--Monday, 02 April 01--
Up at 7 AM to no electricity. Had to shower and shave without the news
playing on the TV. Depressing. At 3.6 C. quite cold as well.
In the afternoon a newspaper reporter, Fatmire Terdevci, from Kohe Ditore
(Daily Times) came by. When staff told me she was outside I asked what
she wanted, hoping to be able to send her to someone else, but when Arzen
said, "She wants to ask why you don't keep your money in the BPK,"
I said, "Show her in!"
--Wednesday, 04 April 01--
The media here can be very confused and very confusing. As just one example,
one newspaper ran a report that "in the municipality of Klina, one
case of "mad cow" has been reported. 48% of the 500 examined
cows have been found to have another disease called "bruceloza",
which could infect other domestic animals and human beings." The
next day the government announced that "there are no "mad cow"
cases in Klina." How did this all get started?
The dinner that Thuy organized for tonight turned out to be a going away
dinner for me. It consisted of all the expats in the CFA that I had worked
with and was very pleasant. The roast Spring lamb was nice but watching
it being hacked up was a bit unsettling. They gave me one of the felt
caps that older men wear here and I thought the gift appropriate even
if it made my head look like the nipple on a condom.
At the end, Colin told his dyslexic jokes which I had heard before. I
have decide that he is in his "anecdotage".
Joe
A Virtual Tour of Kosovo |
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