your *free* dose of liz :: kosovo

3 Bombs in a week

There seems to be a new fad in town: bombing!

In the past week 3 have exploded; 2 at local businesses, and 1 car bomb. These are apparently all mafia related, which is a strong reminder of just what goes on in the region behind the scenes here. There's something rotten, and it's not just the polluted smell of the place that makes me think so.

This, combined with the string of protests (there will be another this weekend) have upped security, even at restaurants and bars. At Samurai there are 2 big security guards at the front gate. I wonder if they get free meals with their employment package?

In other news I walked up the hill to Dragodan last night, where X used to live. I couldn't resist but walk by Ramush's house to check on things there while he's in prison in the Hague. His security guards seemed pretty bored at the gate, the grass on his lawn has grown long, and both his front gate and garage were open, exposing 3 large trees worth of firewood and other very normal garage items. Since all his windows are reflectable glass, there's no way to see in without risking your life.

Human Trafficking in Kosovo

Human trafficking is the 3rd largest organized crime worldwide, and in Kosovo it is a large scale problem that is on the rise. Most locals understand it is a problem, but see this as a transport root rather than a place of origin. Girls from poor, uneducated families, 14-18 years old are the most at risk, and in many cases, a family member or friend is culpable for putting them into the situation.

Last Thursday I attended a seminar on this topic, and a former victim was live via skype to tell about her story and answer questions. I was just blown away by her story. She comes from a small village, a family of 2 brothers, a sister, mom and dad. Her father is paralyzed and none of the family have gone to school or work. In order to pay for her father's medications, she went looking for a job, and a friend told her she knew where she could find work as a cleaning woman or as a babysitter in Italy. She arranged her papers and a man came to drive them to Italy, someone she didn't know. The man asked to carry all her documentation so that it wouldn't look suspicious at the Serbian border. When she got to Italy, she was beaten and raped by several men. She was told she would have 2 weeks to make 5000€ which she owed the men for transporting her. She was kept in locked room with no windows, and not fed anything but bread once every few days. Another woman said she didn't want to work the streets and was shot and killed in front of the other two girls. In the end, she did work the streets to make the money owed to her captors, and during this time managed to reach a phone to call for help. It has been 4 years since the incident yet she has not been able to go home or tell her family what happened. She lives in constant fear that the traffickers will torture her family since they have all her documentation. She never went to the police since she didn't have any of her own documentation and feared that she would be in trouble with the police.

This is but one story, but there are many others that are similar. The forecast in the region is that this crime is expected to increase, especially since paying for sex is legal and there are pathetic penalties for those caught trafficking, in line with 100-600€ with 1 to 6 months jail time. Not to mention the lack of judges and prosecutors available to try these types of cases.

A real internationally made tragedy in the making, apparently all this started with the influx of internationals to the region...

What goes on at the Cherry Orchard?

For the first time since we've frequented the Cherry Orchard, this past Sunday appeared to be 'Organized Crime Day'. Now, this is by suspicion only, so don't get the wrong idea. First it was the Porsche Cayenne that drove up with a separate caddy for racing bikes with the inscription 'Pure Adrenaline'. Next, 4 racing motorbikes equipped with the men in their special riding suits roared in followed by a Maserati and 2 Mercedes. 10 Large men held court at a corner table, and over the course of several hours other impressive autos raced in and out. Some of the horses (including those X and I were riding) get spooked by motors and loud noises, and at one point I had to dismount and wait for the bikers to leave.

As all of this is perhaps a construct of my overactive imagination, I'll throw in another detail. Several weeks ago when X and I were countryside riding with the owner, he showed us some biker racing tracks, and he sidehandedly mentioned that he 'sponsors' the group. The more I know about Balkan culture, the more I wonder if he 'sponsors' them not to upset things at the Orchard? Were they making a house call yesterday? The things great crime novellas are made of...

Bombing at the Samurai

Last Wednesday night as I was attempting to cook dinner, we heard a loud (and I do mean LOUD) explosion that seemed to come from nearby. Discarding it as yet another street sound from downtown Pristina, it wasn't until the next morning when I saw that the street next to ours was closed off with police tape and police officers questioning people that I realized something actually happened the night before.

It turns out that a grenade was thrown into the back garden of Samurai, the Japanese restaurant. It's still unclear why, but there are 2 theories. The first is that a top official was dining there that evening; the second is that the local organized crime people were owed some money for 'protecting' the premises.

Who knows? Yesterday coming back from Skopje we saw some kind of pretty involved military procedure involving tanks, barbed wire and lots of KFOR. It's never clear what is going on in the region due to particularly shady communication.  Ho hum...Life in Kosovo is always slighly shadowy and always imbued with a distinct fogginess. Maybe it's the pollution.

The thing that gets me

Why is it that Kosovars walk right into when walking on a spacious sidewalk? I never will understand why walking on the sidewalks here, which are less busy than most places in the world, proves more frustrating and more challenging. It's like the locals are magnetically pulled towards foreigners and want to run you off the sidewalk. It's truly a local phenomenon.

where i'm going, where i've been

Been awhile since I've posted, and I blame that entirely on travel and being generally b*u*s*y. No good.

Here's a brief update.

I was in Amsterdam for a week which was fabulous. I loved seeing my friends, admiring the canals in springtime, sitting in the Westerpark, going to all my old haunts and feeling like I was living there again albeit for a brief time. I also saw Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds at the Paradiso - a real treat. I spent most of my college years seeing Dave perform in small cafes, then at bigger venues on the east coast, so to be in spitting distance of him once again with nothing but him and his guitar (and Tim Reynolds) on stage brought back many memories that even triggered some nostalgic tears.

The pity is that my iPod got stolen and I seemed to misplace 2 of my favourite rings that I've had for a long. long time. I'm trying to think of this as a lesson, that I became too attached to these material things, but I'm still hoping at least the rings turn up. Let go.

I flew back to Pristina and hopped into a taxi to go right into a yoga lesson - the first of a 5 module series I'm calling Yoga Basics: Creating your Home Practice. Then X and I were back in Macedonia on Friday night and on the horses all weekend. It was sunny and fantastic, though it's become a bit of a circus these days at the Cherry Orchard. Every family with children seem to frequent the place, it's almost like a zoo! The people look at the horses, rabbits, chickens and pigeons, and the kids hang to the railing of the riding ring which makes for an interesting session, especially when I'm riding Lasta, a white mare who spooks easily at any sound or small movement. It's ok though, I kind of like the excitement, my cowboy past life pops back into the picture and I become a girl with a whip and a mission.

In other news, I've now completed the essays I had to write for the Jivamukti teacher training and all I have to do is locate a scanner anywhere in this here town of Pristina to scan and email the 'agreement'. That's a tough task.

Lastly, I'm experiencing frustration when it comes to working with a local production company. We were supposed to shoot a commercial this week and the guy never gave me the storyboards, so now we're running a week late. This is par for the course here, which makes yoga especially necessary.

More soon.

Drop me a line! Skype: lizzieb2007

Mavrovo Macedonia

As the last of the snow disappears from the Balkan mountains, X and I headed off for a three day weekend to Mavrovo, Macedonia (UN staff in Kosovo had Friday off so that KFOR could prepare for Saturday's demonstration, which was held peacefully). We pulled into the Bistra hotel on the lake on Thursday evening and spent some time looking around at the stuffed owls, bear skins and other wild animals(killed and displayed in yet another attempt to prove man's strength over the beast). 

On Friday the ski lifts were closed due to strong winds at the top of the mountain, so we drove to St. Jovan Bigorski monastery, and then on to the remote town of Debar.

The monastery is quite old and famous, but what impressed us was the 10 or so monks sweeping the stone walkway in silence. It was very clean, so we wondered if that was part of the daily regime. A few others appeared to be on trash duty, but as it is Macedonia, trash duty seems to be going to the side of the mountain and throwing the trash down the hill.

The drive was extremely impressive, the road flanked on both sides by snowcapped mountains and severe rock cliffs. Also impressive, the few houses and signs of life along the side of the road - it felt like the last frontier with an old inhabited train carriage on the side of the road, some kind of makeshift dog kennel with wild dogs, and a few dilapidated bridges.

Debar itself was nothing special, however, being so close to the Albanian border in a town so strategically important throughout the centuries added a mysterious aura about the place. There was a border crossing sign that looked like it was circa 1945 in 4 languages (French and German misspelled) surrounded by barbed wire and a crumbling observation tower.

A few meters from the sign, we saw large 'missile head'-shaped ...well, missile heads, and when we stopped to take a picture, two shepherds (yes, with wooden sticks and sheep galore) gave us very unwelcoming looks.

And then there was this palatial estate, perched atop an overlook above Debar lake. The whole place seemed slightly...strange.

On the way back to Mavrovo, we detoured to two abandoned Vlach villages, Gari and Tresonce. Along the way we ran into a herd of wild horses, who seem to roam free throughout the region between these 'ghost towns' and the higher mountains in the summertime.

At Gari, we were greeted by 3 wild dogs and an old man who was the only sign of remaining human life still living in the village. As I understand it, a few people come back for the summer months to these villages and to get married. The houses were just beautiful, and there was a stillness that was both soothing and nostalgic; my mind conjured up images of days gone by when a community of people lived together.

Back in Mavrovo, X and I spent 2 days skiing/snowboarding. There was not much snow, but it was a great atmosphere, very laid back and scenic. We saw some of the Macedonian ski team training, and also witnessed a kids racing event. With the exception of 3 ski lifts from the bottom of the mountain, all of the lifts in mid and top mountain are t-bar, with people skiing right down the centre of the lift while others go up. It's a bit dangerous, but more chaotic than anything else.

We're looking forward to returning to Mavrovo in the summer months when apparently you can rent bikes and horses on the top of the mountain to check out the abundant nature. And now, back to work!

 

my latin lover

Last week in what turned out to be a very interesting dinner conversation, X made the comment that it was interesting that both my sister, who is married to a Brazilian (note: Latin America) and myself (note: boyfriend from Belgium, half Flemish, half Wallone) ended up with Latin partners.

Shocked to hear that I am with a Latino, I questioned X further to find out that when filling out an ethnicity questionnaire he always chooses Latin! How can this be? Well, he considers his native tongue, French, to be enough of an indication to his ethnicity. After all, it is a Latin language, which makes him...Latin! He did admit that he is on the northern end of the Latin empire, which is nice to see he's not completely deluded. However, with a mother from Flanders I wonder if he could equally be...German? I'm so confused...

So, my friends, I am adjusting to having a Latin, bull-fighting lover named Havier. Who'd a thunk?