Well, I have been really busy! Last week Kat was sent to the hospital and it looked like our little grandson was ready to come. Thankfully he decided to wait awhile and she is back home on complete bed rest. After that scare I decided to come on home and am now back in Council Bluffs. I'm happy to report that Kat is doing well but complete bed rest is really hard.
I left Mitorvica on Friday and got into Council Bluffs on Saturday afternoon after a stop-over with Aaron, Jennifer and Charlie in Chicago. We got the news about Kat in the hospital on Tuesday, had an earthquake on Wednesday, and I left on Friday so it was quite a week. Oh the earthquake...it was my first and hopefully last earthquake experience. Evidently they are not uncommon in the area and are of two kinds: the swaying, shaky kind and the boom kind. We had the boom kind and it was boomy enough to scare me to death and to cause enough damage to the courthouse to close it until repairs can be made. Charlie and the staff are working out of a building in south Mitrovica for the time being.
I was able to take some photos of our neighborhood in Mitorvica before I left and will post them when I get time.
Charlie is very busy so he will definitely be kept occupied while I'm gone. All the EULEX judges met in Peja last week. Peja is a small city west and a little south of Mitrovica. Charlie drove to the meeting and said the area around Peja is just beautiful. Unfortunately there was alot of fighting there during the war and some scars remain. But there are also lots of beautiful fishing streams so he is getting his flies tied. Aside from his usual criminal trials he is serving on a couple of committees so his time is filled. He is also finding an important position as the only judge who speaks English as a native (he is now known as "The Native Speaker") so he is very helpful in composing anything that needs to be written.
I am planning on being here until a few weeks after the baby comes. As I said I would like to post the pictures of our neighborhood but after that I will be taking a respite until I am back in Kosovo. The adventure continues...
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
March 8 additional
I forgot to mention that if you click on the pictures I posted (under March 1) they will enlarge.
Also, I forgot to include a really funny incident. Yesterday Charlie and I went to the Pharmacy to get some medicine for his cold. The pharmacist didn't have the correct change (about 5 cents) so he gave us a pain pill instead! We are fighting over who gets to take it.....
Also, I forgot to include a really funny incident. Yesterday Charlie and I went to the Pharmacy to get some medicine for his cold. The pharmacist didn't have the correct change (about 5 cents) so he gave us a pain pill instead! We are fighting over who gets to take it.....
March 8
Well, I now know how to post pictures and have posted the blog about our trip to Skopja. I hope it worked like it is supposed to.
This weekend was beautiful with sunshine for two whole days! Unfortunately Charlie was down with a bad cold so we spent the weekend inside. He is feeling a bit better and did go to work this morning. I had a pretty typical day. This city is very European in the sense that you have to go shopping alot. Fortunately for me my trips to Dublin prepared me for this. In general refrigerators over here are very small and they don't use preservatives like we do so you do have to go out quite a bit to keep stocked up. So this morning after I dropped the garbage off at the local dumpster, I went to my favorite store - it's like a bodega in New York or a small 7-Eleven in the US - to pick up a few things. One of the young men at the store speaks English very well and is very friendly and willing to help me. Then I went to the little store in our neighborhood that sells only coffee and got some coffee for espresso. I usually also go to the bakery for bread but didn't today.
We have a great location. Thank goodness we live in the heart of Mitrovica. There are lots of little stores everywhere. We can find just about everything we need within a few blocks. My favorite neighborhood store is just around the corner and sells birds. The owner puts the birds in the window every morning and outside in large cages if the weather is warm. I think they are some kind of small parrot. They are the prettiest birds with brilliant colors. They brighten everything up.
Last Friday we went to Pristina to meet and have dinner with an American woman from the UN. She was very interesting and after living here for 10 years had much great information to share with us. Like a typical newbie I commented about all the garbage and she did offer some enlightenment on that subject. She said that because these people have never really had their own country they may not as yet have developed a sense of ownership and pride. It's also possible that over the years dumping garbage was a way to get back at their oppressors. I was glad she made this observation. It taught me not to view things through my own lens only. There is usually more to anything than meets the eye. It's so easy to be judgemental.
I actually made chicken and dumplings for dinner on Saturday. Somehow accomplishing that made me seem not quite so far from home. It was really good and such a good comfort food for ailing Charlie.
We tried the local kebabs at our favorite restaurant this week. They are pretty bad. They are like a bland meatball only formed like a little sausage. They are served with a spicy sauce - too spicy for me - and accompanied with potatoes.
We are hoping to go to Thessoloniki, Greece this weekend with a group from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). We just learned about the trip and are late in registering so I hope they let us join them. Thessoloniki is supposed to be very beautiful and is on the Aegean coast. Hopefully it will be lots warmer than it is here. It's been snowing all day and is really cold.
Our landlord stopped by yesterday to tell us he will be cleaning up the yard as soon as the weather warms up. There is a perfect spot for a herb garden so Charlie is getting anxious to get some things planted. It will be fun to come back after Kat's baby and have it be late spring or early summer with grass and flowers instead of mud. I'm looking forward to it.
This weekend was beautiful with sunshine for two whole days! Unfortunately Charlie was down with a bad cold so we spent the weekend inside. He is feeling a bit better and did go to work this morning. I had a pretty typical day. This city is very European in the sense that you have to go shopping alot. Fortunately for me my trips to Dublin prepared me for this. In general refrigerators over here are very small and they don't use preservatives like we do so you do have to go out quite a bit to keep stocked up. So this morning after I dropped the garbage off at the local dumpster, I went to my favorite store - it's like a bodega in New York or a small 7-Eleven in the US - to pick up a few things. One of the young men at the store speaks English very well and is very friendly and willing to help me. Then I went to the little store in our neighborhood that sells only coffee and got some coffee for espresso. I usually also go to the bakery for bread but didn't today.
We have a great location. Thank goodness we live in the heart of Mitrovica. There are lots of little stores everywhere. We can find just about everything we need within a few blocks. My favorite neighborhood store is just around the corner and sells birds. The owner puts the birds in the window every morning and outside in large cages if the weather is warm. I think they are some kind of small parrot. They are the prettiest birds with brilliant colors. They brighten everything up.
Last Friday we went to Pristina to meet and have dinner with an American woman from the UN. She was very interesting and after living here for 10 years had much great information to share with us. Like a typical newbie I commented about all the garbage and she did offer some enlightenment on that subject. She said that because these people have never really had their own country they may not as yet have developed a sense of ownership and pride. It's also possible that over the years dumping garbage was a way to get back at their oppressors. I was glad she made this observation. It taught me not to view things through my own lens only. There is usually more to anything than meets the eye. It's so easy to be judgemental.
I actually made chicken and dumplings for dinner on Saturday. Somehow accomplishing that made me seem not quite so far from home. It was really good and such a good comfort food for ailing Charlie.
We tried the local kebabs at our favorite restaurant this week. They are pretty bad. They are like a bland meatball only formed like a little sausage. They are served with a spicy sauce - too spicy for me - and accompanied with potatoes.
We are hoping to go to Thessoloniki, Greece this weekend with a group from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). We just learned about the trip and are late in registering so I hope they let us join them. Thessoloniki is supposed to be very beautiful and is on the Aegean coast. Hopefully it will be lots warmer than it is here. It's been snowing all day and is really cold.
Our landlord stopped by yesterday to tell us he will be cleaning up the yard as soon as the weather warms up. There is a perfect spot for a herb garden so Charlie is getting anxious to get some things planted. It will be fun to come back after Kat's baby and have it be late spring or early summer with grass and flowers instead of mud. I'm looking forward to it.
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