Monday, June 30, 2008
Coffee
So, in this region of the world a lot of people drink "Turkish" coffee. This means coffee that is boiled with the grounds in it. It's much thicker than American coffee, is served in a smaller cup, and often has a kind of sludge at the bottom. It never has milk added but if people want sugar it is boiled with the sugar. They had this in Bulgaria too. However, here they do something a little different. At a cafe, they serve you this coffee with a small glass of sparkling water. You don't pay for the water, it comes with the coffee. It make sense since this coffee is so thick but is just something interesting that I have not seen before.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
An insight into Kosovo
So today I got out of Prishtina (the capital) a bit for a meeting with one of Care's partner organizations. One of the guys from the partner organization spoke pretty good English so as we were drinking coffee after our meeting I was chatting to him about his community, etc. He told me his story about during the war and according to everyone I have talked to here, this was not out of character.
Let me give you a little background before going into it. In Kosovo there are two main ethnic groups: Albanians and Serbians. Albanians are the majority and Serbians are the minority. In addition, there are other smaller minority groups like Roma (gypsy) and Eqyptians. Under Milosovec and up until Februrary of this year, Kosovo was part of Serbia but considered an autonomous state. So essentially, they ran their own affairs but were part of Serbia. Under Milosevec this started to change and Albanias began to be discriminated against. Think of apartheid in South Africa - the minority discriminating against the majority. Anyway, many communities in Kosovo were (and still are) divided ethnically. So there are all-Albanian towns or all-Serbian towns. In the late 90s, the situation escalated to violence - which many of us know about from the NATO bombings, Kosovar refugees, etc. There were "freedom fighters" or a "terrorist organization" depending on who you believe called the Kosovo Liberation Army.
When this violence started by the freedom fighters/terrorists, it also began on a small scale. Serbians tried to demonstrate the power of Serbia by destroying people's homes and property...and here comes the story. This man I was talking to was about ten at the time that all of this started happening. He lived in a village that was part-Serb and part-Albanian. His Serbian neighbor came into his house and lit it on fire, burning it to the ground and causing he and his family to flee to the mountains for the remainder of the violence. He says now that Kosovo has declared independence, Serbs will not return to his community because they know there will be retalliation.
All of this said, the Albanias are not without fault. Their freedom fighters/terrorists provoked some of the violence, and after Serbians began returning to the communities (even some Serbians who had not committed any acts of violence) some Albanians did the same thing to their homes.
I'm not making a judgment here. I'm just trying to provide you with a personal perspective that we may have missed when we were following the politics of the situation or the US involvement. It's not always easy to figure out exactly what's happening on the ground from the US news media after the US has picked sides.
While there are not that many Serbians around (although a few work in the office here) I will try to talk to them as well and get a different perspective.
Let me give you a little background before going into it. In Kosovo there are two main ethnic groups: Albanians and Serbians. Albanians are the majority and Serbians are the minority. In addition, there are other smaller minority groups like Roma (gypsy) and Eqyptians. Under Milosovec and up until Februrary of this year, Kosovo was part of Serbia but considered an autonomous state. So essentially, they ran their own affairs but were part of Serbia. Under Milosevec this started to change and Albanias began to be discriminated against. Think of apartheid in South Africa - the minority discriminating against the majority. Anyway, many communities in Kosovo were (and still are) divided ethnically. So there are all-Albanian towns or all-Serbian towns. In the late 90s, the situation escalated to violence - which many of us know about from the NATO bombings, Kosovar refugees, etc. There were "freedom fighters" or a "terrorist organization" depending on who you believe called the Kosovo Liberation Army.
When this violence started by the freedom fighters/terrorists, it also began on a small scale. Serbians tried to demonstrate the power of Serbia by destroying people's homes and property...and here comes the story. This man I was talking to was about ten at the time that all of this started happening. He lived in a village that was part-Serb and part-Albanian. His Serbian neighbor came into his house and lit it on fire, burning it to the ground and causing he and his family to flee to the mountains for the remainder of the violence. He says now that Kosovo has declared independence, Serbs will not return to his community because they know there will be retalliation.
All of this said, the Albanias are not without fault. Their freedom fighters/terrorists provoked some of the violence, and after Serbians began returning to the communities (even some Serbians who had not committed any acts of violence) some Albanians did the same thing to their homes.
I'm not making a judgment here. I'm just trying to provide you with a personal perspective that we may have missed when we were following the politics of the situation or the US involvement. It's not always easy to figure out exactly what's happening on the ground from the US news media after the US has picked sides.
While there are not that many Serbians around (although a few work in the office here) I will try to talk to them as well and get a different perspective.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Kosovo
So, despite the fact that the title of my blog is "Anna in Costa Rica" I'm actually writing from Kosovo where I am for about two and a half weeks doing a consultancy with Care. So let me tell you a little bit about my trip here and my first impressions...I just arrived on Thursday night.
I arrived after much drama originating from an extrodinarily delayed flight from Costa Rica which caused me to miss my connection in Atlanta. From there it continued like this - stay an extra 24 hours in Atlanta, layover of 10 hours in Vienna, late arrival at 11 PM in Prishtina (capital of Kosovo) to a lost bag that just arrived yesterday. One wonders how the bag could have not made it here if they had 24 hours in Atlanta and 10 in Vienna, but I know better than to ask those sorts of questions of airlines these days. Anyway, the positive side is that I got to explore Atlanta and Vienna. I had been to Atlanta before but there are always new things to see wherever you go.
Moving on...So my first day in the office was Friday and the staff here are really nice and generally young. The culture seems a lot like Bulgarian, although not exactly the same of course. The people are extremely friendly and really want to play the host - trying to make you feel comfortable, included, and paying for everything. It's quite the change from my experience in Malawi and Costa Rica where most locals don't want anything to do with me. I'm mulling around in my head if that is a cultural thing or if it's a factor of being from the Embassy community...
The city of Prishtina looks a lot like other major cities in the Balkans - less tall buildings, no international hotels, but otherwise very similar. It has several major European chain shops like Bennetton, Mango, and Terranova and the streets are lined with outdoor cafes where everyone is drinking coffee and smoking.
The food is great - a lot like Bulgarian which I miss. The fruits and vegetables are so much better in this region of the world. I've eaten cherries - which we don't get in Costa Rica and the most wondeful tomatoes. Breakfast is buffet style and each morning I eat Bulgarian feta cheese (I'm sure they call it Kosovar feta here...but I'm sticking with Bulgarian - very different from greek feta - much softer and saltier), tomatoes, cucumbers, a delicious type of Balkan salami, and some fruit and other more normal breakfast food. Because of the heavy presence of foreigners in the last decade or so there are also a lot of "international" restaurants like Italian, Mexican, a Brazilian coffee shop, lots of pizza places, etc.
Speaking of the presence of foreigners, the Italians are currently the soldiers who are here keeping the peace. I know some people were worried about my safety coming here, but honestly it feels completely safe. The only funny thing is that yesterday I was sitting in a cafe having a drink and five army hummers (not the kind that idiots drive down the street in urban areas of the US but like really all armored, guns on top, etc.) drove right down the street that all the cafes are on. It seemed strange and when I asked on of my Kosovar collegues, he said it was just to make sure people knew they were there. Whatever. Several British soldiers also came in on my flight. Still trying to make heads or tails of all the military.
When talking to people about customs, attitudes, etc. they preface almost every comment by "before the war, people did this...after the war people do this..." It makes perfect sense since the war was so recent and affected everyone, but for some reason it really made an impression on me.
Well, the good news is that they have already asked me to come back again to help with another project for a few weeks so I'm happy about that. I'll go back to Costa Rica for about a week and then come back here...then Tyler and I have a trip planned to Mexico with his parents for about a week - I almost don't feel like I live in Costa Rica anymore!
I arrived after much drama originating from an extrodinarily delayed flight from Costa Rica which caused me to miss my connection in Atlanta. From there it continued like this - stay an extra 24 hours in Atlanta, layover of 10 hours in Vienna, late arrival at 11 PM in Prishtina (capital of Kosovo) to a lost bag that just arrived yesterday. One wonders how the bag could have not made it here if they had 24 hours in Atlanta and 10 in Vienna, but I know better than to ask those sorts of questions of airlines these days. Anyway, the positive side is that I got to explore Atlanta and Vienna. I had been to Atlanta before but there are always new things to see wherever you go.
Moving on...So my first day in the office was Friday and the staff here are really nice and generally young. The culture seems a lot like Bulgarian, although not exactly the same of course. The people are extremely friendly and really want to play the host - trying to make you feel comfortable, included, and paying for everything. It's quite the change from my experience in Malawi and Costa Rica where most locals don't want anything to do with me. I'm mulling around in my head if that is a cultural thing or if it's a factor of being from the Embassy community...
The city of Prishtina looks a lot like other major cities in the Balkans - less tall buildings, no international hotels, but otherwise very similar. It has several major European chain shops like Bennetton, Mango, and Terranova and the streets are lined with outdoor cafes where everyone is drinking coffee and smoking.
The food is great - a lot like Bulgarian which I miss. The fruits and vegetables are so much better in this region of the world. I've eaten cherries - which we don't get in Costa Rica and the most wondeful tomatoes. Breakfast is buffet style and each morning I eat Bulgarian feta cheese (I'm sure they call it Kosovar feta here...but I'm sticking with Bulgarian - very different from greek feta - much softer and saltier), tomatoes, cucumbers, a delicious type of Balkan salami, and some fruit and other more normal breakfast food. Because of the heavy presence of foreigners in the last decade or so there are also a lot of "international" restaurants like Italian, Mexican, a Brazilian coffee shop, lots of pizza places, etc.
Speaking of the presence of foreigners, the Italians are currently the soldiers who are here keeping the peace. I know some people were worried about my safety coming here, but honestly it feels completely safe. The only funny thing is that yesterday I was sitting in a cafe having a drink and five army hummers (not the kind that idiots drive down the street in urban areas of the US but like really all armored, guns on top, etc.) drove right down the street that all the cafes are on. It seemed strange and when I asked on of my Kosovar collegues, he said it was just to make sure people knew they were there. Whatever. Several British soldiers also came in on my flight. Still trying to make heads or tails of all the military.
When talking to people about customs, attitudes, etc. they preface almost every comment by "before the war, people did this...after the war people do this..." It makes perfect sense since the war was so recent and affected everyone, but for some reason it really made an impression on me.
Well, the good news is that they have already asked me to come back again to help with another project for a few weeks so I'm happy about that. I'll go back to Costa Rica for about a week and then come back here...then Tyler and I have a trip planned to Mexico with his parents for about a week - I almost don't feel like I live in Costa Rica anymore!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Tolls
So all of us find tolls pretty annoying anywhere in the US. Will all the new electronic passes and stuff they are not such a pain...Costa Rica has tolls in the area around the capital city, San Jose. So we were driving on the highway yesterday and we came up to a toll. The toll cost 75 colones (about 15 cents). We didn't have any change at all so we drove up to the toll and offered the attendant a 1,000 colones bill - the equivalent of $2.
And she said to us, "Oh, I'm the only attendant that cannot provide change. You will have to go in another lane." And we said, "Okay, but how do you expect us to do that." She says, "Just back up and go in another lane." ???!!!???? This is not a toll booth with two lanes in the middle of nowhere, there were cars behind us and cars zooming up to every single lane. Tyler said, "That's too dangerous, I can't back up here." Her only answer was, "If you don't pay it, we will take a picture of your license plate."
So we pull up off to the side of the highway just past the toll booth. I jump out and run to the closest booth to pay directly (having to cross a lane of traffic on a highway, how safe.) So I walk up to the toll booth, putting my hand out to stop the cars that would be happy to run me over and the lady (a different lady) says, "You can't walk up here. You have to drive in you car." Well, obviously. So I respond, "The other lady won't take our money and we can't turn around because it's too dangerous." She rolls her eyes as if I am terribly annoying for wanting to pay a toll and not wanting to back up at a toll booth on a highway. She gives me the change, I run back and hop in the car.
All accidents avoided...law followed...I guess it all turned out okay.
And she said to us, "Oh, I'm the only attendant that cannot provide change. You will have to go in another lane." And we said, "Okay, but how do you expect us to do that." She says, "Just back up and go in another lane." ???!!!???? This is not a toll booth with two lanes in the middle of nowhere, there were cars behind us and cars zooming up to every single lane. Tyler said, "That's too dangerous, I can't back up here." Her only answer was, "If you don't pay it, we will take a picture of your license plate."
So we pull up off to the side of the highway just past the toll booth. I jump out and run to the closest booth to pay directly (having to cross a lane of traffic on a highway, how safe.) So I walk up to the toll booth, putting my hand out to stop the cars that would be happy to run me over and the lady (a different lady) says, "You can't walk up here. You have to drive in you car." Well, obviously. So I respond, "The other lady won't take our money and we can't turn around because it's too dangerous." She rolls her eyes as if I am terribly annoying for wanting to pay a toll and not wanting to back up at a toll booth on a highway. She gives me the change, I run back and hop in the car.
All accidents avoided...law followed...I guess it all turned out okay.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Kosovo
Why is this my blog title you may ask yourself? As far as I know this is the newest country in the world (as of February 2008), and I'm one of the first people I know to visit it...
I got a consultancy there for two weeks - leaving next week and coming back just after the 4th of July. Several questions might pop up to you now, so I will answer them:
1. Where the heck is Kosovo?
It was the southern region of Serbia. Borders Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, and Montenegro.
2. Capital?
Prishtina
3. Why in the world are you going there all the way from Costa Rica?
My boss from Malawi (who I love) is now working for Care International (a big humanitarian assistance international organization) in the Middle East. We talked about me doing a consultancy in Yemen which didn't work out. She recommended me as a consultant to the Care Country Director in Kosovo and here we are. I don't have a job, the pay is good, and I'm interested in the consultancy business and the Balkans. They pay for the airfare and they are willing to fly me from Costa Rica.
4. What will you do?
I'll be there for about two weeks helping them write a proposal for a grant they are trying to get. I'll work with their staff there and help them to put together a well-written proposal that will hopefully win the grant. According to the country director there, if I do a good job on this, he will recommend me to other Care offices in the region and I could get more consultancies.
5. Aren't you worried about your safety?
While there is some fighting on the Serbia/Kosovo border, there is not major violence in general in the country. I will be staying in the capital, have a driver from Care and be staying at an international hotel. I'll be fine.
If you want to know more about the country you can check out this site:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kv.html
Maybe I should change the name of my blog to "Anna in Costa Rica and Kosovo." Bet not many other people have thought of this combination of countries...
I got a consultancy there for two weeks - leaving next week and coming back just after the 4th of July. Several questions might pop up to you now, so I will answer them:
1. Where the heck is Kosovo?
It was the southern region of Serbia. Borders Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, and Montenegro.
2. Capital?
Prishtina
3. Why in the world are you going there all the way from Costa Rica?
My boss from Malawi (who I love) is now working for Care International (a big humanitarian assistance international organization) in the Middle East. We talked about me doing a consultancy in Yemen which didn't work out. She recommended me as a consultant to the Care Country Director in Kosovo and here we are. I don't have a job, the pay is good, and I'm interested in the consultancy business and the Balkans. They pay for the airfare and they are willing to fly me from Costa Rica.
4. What will you do?
I'll be there for about two weeks helping them write a proposal for a grant they are trying to get. I'll work with their staff there and help them to put together a well-written proposal that will hopefully win the grant. According to the country director there, if I do a good job on this, he will recommend me to other Care offices in the region and I could get more consultancies.
5. Aren't you worried about your safety?
While there is some fighting on the Serbia/Kosovo border, there is not major violence in general in the country. I will be staying in the capital, have a driver from Care and be staying at an international hotel. I'll be fine.
If you want to know more about the country you can check out this site:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kv.html
Maybe I should change the name of my blog to "Anna in Costa Rica and Kosovo." Bet not many other people have thought of this combination of countries...
Chocolate Shakes and Facebook
Okay, so I'm deeply entrenched into the "I don't have a job or kids" lifestyle. This means organizing your day around The View and Oprah and trying to make up stuff you might need to do years from now that you might as well get taken care of now when you literally don't have anything else to do. I pay way too much attention to the dog, how to train her, how much she's eating, and MOST IMPORTANTLY what her poop looks like to make sure she is not sick. If you ask me, I'm sick for paying attention to it. (In other news, yesterday was the first day she didn't go pee in the house! Woo hoo! A major milestone.)
So, point is...when you are in such a state you start noticing or doing things that you might not have if you had a life. First of all, I did a thorough search of the McDonald's here, including interviewing a girl who works there extensively and found out that McDonald's does not serve chocolate shakes in Costa Rica. WHAT??!!?? Impossible! This is the only reason I go to McDonald's in the US (or in Bulgaria for that matter...) and I am having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that they do not have any kind of shakes, let alone chocolate shakes. And it's not like they don't do ice cream - Mickey D's here has McFlurries and ice cream cones. And it's not like they don't do shakes in Costa Rica - other ice cream places have them. What a mystery.
Second thing I suggest you do if you are ever in a situation such as I am - no job, no kids, pulling out your hair thinking of things to do...sleeping too much probably - join Facebook! It really does take up way more time than necessary and you can stalk all of your friends and people you used to be friends with or maybe talked to once in high school. You can play games like Scrabble (called Scrabulous on Facebook) and take quizzes about how much you know about geography or what character you would be on Sex and The City (by the way, saw the movie, if you are a female and haven't seen it yet - RUN to the movies! Just looking at all the clothes is totally worth it and it's a good movie.)
If you are concerned about my mental health now...don't be! Read the next blog to see what's coming up in the next couple of weeks for me!
So, point is...when you are in such a state you start noticing or doing things that you might not have if you had a life. First of all, I did a thorough search of the McDonald's here, including interviewing a girl who works there extensively and found out that McDonald's does not serve chocolate shakes in Costa Rica. WHAT??!!?? Impossible! This is the only reason I go to McDonald's in the US (or in Bulgaria for that matter...) and I am having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that they do not have any kind of shakes, let alone chocolate shakes. And it's not like they don't do ice cream - Mickey D's here has McFlurries and ice cream cones. And it's not like they don't do shakes in Costa Rica - other ice cream places have them. What a mystery.
Second thing I suggest you do if you are ever in a situation such as I am - no job, no kids, pulling out your hair thinking of things to do...sleeping too much probably - join Facebook! It really does take up way more time than necessary and you can stalk all of your friends and people you used to be friends with or maybe talked to once in high school. You can play games like Scrabble (called Scrabulous on Facebook) and take quizzes about how much you know about geography or what character you would be on Sex and The City (by the way, saw the movie, if you are a female and haven't seen it yet - RUN to the movies! Just looking at all the clothes is totally worth it and it's a good movie.)
If you are concerned about my mental health now...don't be! Read the next blog to see what's coming up in the next couple of weeks for me!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
An Update
Well, a lot has been going on and I've been terrible about updating this...
First things first...Lucy is now 10.5 weeks old and she is absolutely adorable. Case in point:
She's growing slowly but surely and it's kind of embarrassing how small she is right now. But she will grow into a medium-sized dog.
Also, Laura (my sister) was here and that was super fun. We went to Arenal Volcano where there are natural hot springs. Here's a pic:
And to the rainforest where we did ziplines...another pic.
We also went to Playa Cocles on the Caribbean side which was lovely.
It's been raining like crazy since we got hit by Tropical Storm Alma last week...my poor sister probably think Costa Rica has the worst weather ever.
We are a bit spoiled after being in Malawi which really did have the BEST weather ever. It would rain for like two hours a day in the rainy season which lasted about four months. Here, it rains every day for lots of hours (four or more) and the rainy season is 8 MONTHS!!! I'm not complaining though...I could live in Chicago which would probably be worse weather - at least from November - March. And, it's predictable anyway...right?
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