Dazed and confused - My final blog post

I leave tomorrow for good and have been reflecting on my time here. The people have been really nice, the place as you can see needs a 'little work'. However the next 2 photos sum the place up for me.

On the left is the UN HQ with some of their vehicles in the compound at the front and the Grand Hotel behind. The country is totally dependant on the UN and EU for structure and economy, the Grand Hotel, sold by the government with a promise of refurb to western standards - hasn't yet happened, I wonder if the official who sanctioned the sale drives a 10 year old car like me or a new 7 series BMW....hmmm.

This is a poster of Adem Yashri the most revered freedom fighter of the war with the Serbs, he died with 40 of his family (incl women & children) defending his village. In front of it you can see the Kosovo Flag with the red Albanian flag next to it. It sums the people up, ask them if they are Kosovar or Albanian most will say Albanian. Many want to join with Albania, so all this 'nation building' we are doing could end with the 'country' becoming a province of Albania!


Thanks for reading my blogs I've enjoyed doing it, with over 1,800 views it has been really great to think people have been so interested in my experinces.
Hope to see you soon.
G.

PS Malcolm et al, I'll need by car park space on Monday!!

Question?

Guess what types of buildings I photographed these signs on?

A monastery & a shopping centre!!!

Taxi !

After 5 months in Pristina we have found ourselves a taxi driver who not only speaks good English but lived there for 19 years. So Arben offered to take us on a tour of Pristina, I've walked to most corners of the town but he did manage to uncover a few interesting places.
The first is of the grave of Ibrahim Rugova, 'The Father of Kosovo' who was a Ghandi style leader who advocated non violence who said 'The slaughterhouse is not the only form of struggle' when trying to negotiate a political solution to the question of Kosovo's independence from Serbia.
Wikipedia article if you are interested. He died of cancer 2 years before actual independence.

This is the monument to the fallen Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers, ironically on the same site as the pacifist Rugova.

We left the city and went on to a little village 5km outside Pristina called Gracanica which is a Serb village which still uses the Serbian Dinar as currency and has a beautiful 13th century monastery with frescos which date from that time. Wiki article
To resist the temptation of the ethnic Albanians to 'get there own back' it's under permanent guard by Swedish NATO troops.
The locals (outside the monastery) were less than welcoming, so we didn't wait to have coffee!

As you can see it's still cold here;

The last of the basic courses.

Well, at times we didn't think we would see it but we have got our final group through the Basic VAT Law course. Here's a few photos marking the event;

Most of the students on course 3, Murat sitting between Pete and I told us some very interesting stories about living & working in Kosovo

My colleagues, Aksel the VAT Law Expert, Laureta a translator, Miranda our regular translator, Arbrasia our training admin and Pete my co-trainer

Speeches at the end of course presentation this one from the Sakip, Head of Compliance.

Onwards and upwards, the first advanced course started the next day. No rest for the wicked.

The sun has got his hat on...

Well looks like we have waved goodbye to winter, the snow and ice has melted (apart from a few lanes & streets which don't get the sun) . Suddenly in the space of 24 hrs the temperature rose by 20-25c from -10 to +15c. The tables are back outside the cafes and you can walk about without a top coat on in the day time.
Not sure I would sit outside this place even though the cafe name is challenging me to.

I know it's not clever to mock others spelling of our langauge my local cafe/bar always has entertaining specials board. I'm guessing the scribe learned English by speaking it rather than reading it.

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted, as you can tell there is only so many interesting things in a town this size.

Pristina Traffic

Here is a flavour of the traffic in this town, This is a random 90 seconds shot from my office window. Things to look out for are both sides of the road at the crossing and how the traffic forces it's way from the side road on the right on to the main road.

Apologies to those watching at work, I guess it probably wont work for you.

Winter has arrived.

Winter has finally come, that's a full week now with the temperature below zero, it does mean the streets are covered in hard packed ice so no matter how good your boots are you slide all over the place! Still people in the UK, you will have plenty of experience of that before Christmas! We seem to alternate sunny and gloomy days as you can see from the photos.

The University Library looking like a lunar prison!

The new Roman Catholic Cathedral, still being built.

A view over the city

The Students Centre where we do the training.