I got up early today to take a bus to the tiny hillside town of Stublle e Eperme to participate in a bicycle tour, the annual Tour de Culture.  Several of Annette's colleagues, all new arrivals to Kosova, also planned to participate using bikes rented at the start of the tour. After about 90 minutes of confusion and walking up and down steep, narrow streets we finally got our rent-a-bikes and the crowd finally started down the steep grade that eventually would reach the large town of Gjilan, 25 kilometers to the north.  After about a kilometer in the  densely-packed peloton I had to stop due to an accident ahead and discovered that my front tire was flat.  Seeking assistance from the mechanics I was told they could not fix the tire so I should walk up to the trucks in the village and exchange my bike for another one.  After another good uphill hike, this time pushing a bike, I find that there are no spare rental bikes, so I put my bike in the sag truck and hop on a bus, my day of biking at an end.  As it turned out, it was a very hot day and the route had lots of long uphill pulls, so my bus ride wasn't that bad after all.

Just a quick post to add a photo Yada just sent to me showing me with Yada and her mother, Nada, sitting in their living room in Zagreb.  Nada looks just the same as she did last time I saw her in 1991.

We celebrated our 28th anniversary today by taking a bus to Prishtina so Annette could attend a meeting at the University of Prishtina.  After the meeting we picked up our last two big suitcases from her friend's apartment and hauled them back to Prizren on the bus.  So, we are finally 100% settled-in after 2 1/2 weeks in Kosova!

It's Thursday and Frank and I have had an eventful week.  We were so happy to move into our apartment on Tuesday.  The owners are very gracious, and, as the photos show, the apartment is well furnished and comfortable.  The owners have a house in a small town about 15 miles from Prizren and moved there while we are renting.   Frank had to take a cab from our hotel to the apartment with our big bags....two of my big bags are still in Pristina at a friend's apartment.  One weird thing is that there is a guy who sells women's bras and panties on a table right in front of the front door entrance to our apartment building.  When Frank arrived in the cab, the guy carried up some of the luggage with Frank to our place on the third floor, so Frank has yet another new friend!

On Wednesday, I went to the university to meet with the head of the English Department.  The university is only 3 years old and has grown quickly.  The English professor was very gracious and seemed intent on getting me two or three good classes for the coming semester.  I will find out my schedule next week and probably start teaching on October 8.  Unfortunately, the university is cramped for space and there are no faculty offices or desks to keep things.  I'll have to carry materials to and from the campus.  Usually, I will probably take a cab at least one way - the fare is 2 Euros.

Today I was invited to have lunch with the American Ambassador who was visiting Prizren for the first time.  She is in her forties, I would say, and just started her assignment about a month ago.  Her British husband and some staff from the embassy (a few of them I met during my orientation) accompanied her.  There were also three locals in attendance - about 12 in all for lunch outside by the river at a nice restaurant.  The man who sat next to me is an architect and involved in restoring some of the buildings that were damaged during the Kosovo conflict.  He gave me his card and agreed to take Frank and me on a tour of some of the buildings sometime soon.  I also saw the Chairman of the Board of a Pristina bank whom I had met last week at a reception in Pristina.  He is very kind and friendly and is a former Fullbright scholar in the U.S. - I think in Michigan.  He lives in Pristina, but is from Prizren and comes to Prizren on the weekends, so Frank and I will try to meet him for coffee sometime.  The other local at the lunch is the founder of the Prizren Docufest which is an acclaimed film festival of documentaries held in Prizren in August and famous throughout the region. 

On Saturday, Frank and I will celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary.  We are going to daytrip on the bus to Pristina since there is a Kosovo English Teachers conference part of the day on Saturday.  We hope to go to an international restaurant to celebrate...Prizren has some great food and great restaurants, but not anything international.  Because of the UN presence and all of the internationals living there, Pristina has a variety of good restaurants.  I'm thinking Indian food would be good.  On Sunday, Frank has signed up to ride in a 20km bike ride south of Pristina which is organized by a Swedish NGO.  A few of our friends in Prizren (Ilirijan, and Samir - a guy who teaches English at Oxford here and showed us a flat to rent ) are going also.  The event is free, and Frank has reserved a bike for 10 Euros.  They are sending a bus to Prizren to transport the participants to the event.  I will stay home and rest.  I wish I could go, but I tweaked my knee in a fall on uneven sidewalks in Pueblo in early August and the knee is still not 100%.

Miss you all, but we're having fun exploring!

Master bedroom in Prizren apartment

Master bedroom and balcony

View of medieval fortress from bedroom balcony

View from dining room balcony - mountain in distance is in Albania

Annette and Fullbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA), Ilirijan, in American Corner.  Ilirijan is from the Bronx and speaks fluent Albanian since his parents immigrated to the U.S. from Montenegro.  This photo was taken in the American Corner.  On Friday, September 28, we're going to have a Meet and Greet at the American Corner from noon to 2:00 p.m.

Farmers' market in Prizren

Farmers' market in Prizren

Farmers' market in Prizren

View of mountain in Albania from Prizren city center

River walk in city center of Prizren and view of Albanian mountain in the background

This is a typical kabob served in Prizen restaurants.  What you see here cost less than $2

Old Turkish baths which are adjacent to the American Corner in the library where Annette will work part-time.

Photo of the Catholic cathedral from our hotel balcony in Prizren

The old Stone Bridge which was reconstructed after 1979 floods.  Originally built in the 16th century.

Prizren Fortress on the hill - place of defense and refuge since prehistoric times, strengthened in Byzantine and Ottoman times, and used until 1912.

Recycling Kosovo style

Ristras in the city outdoor market

We're craving red and green chili New Mexico style.  Can't wait to get into our apartment and cook.  Annette smuggled some Chimayo New Mexico red chile powder in for cooking.

Street view of our apartment building.  Our balcony has the red Coca Cola umbrella on it.

Kitchen and dining area of our apartment.

Living room of our apartment.  The couches can be converted into beds.

Our street just a few blocks from the apartment closer to the city center. 

Living room of our apartment

Elise and Chrissy's room in our Prizren apartment.  Sleeping arrangements will be cozy.

This is my first attempt at adding something to the blog, so here goes...

Today was a good day since we finalized an agreement to rent a small 2BR 1bath apartment in the old central part of Prizren.  We will probably get the keys on Monday and move in on Tuesday.  It will be so nice to finally end our full month of homelessness and be able to wear socks that haven't been worn at least three times before.

I've been exploring all around Prizren for a few days and will add some additional photos when I can, but I'm going to try adding a couple now just to see if I can do it.  If it works you will see a view of the old stone bridge in downtown Prizren, with Koritnik mountain in the distance.  The mountain is about 8000' elevation and is on the Kosovo/Albania border.  I'll also put in a general picture of Prizren showing the minarets of numerous mosques in town.  The last picture is of Darko and Yada in their home, since I was lucky enough to visit them briefly in Zagreb before continuing on to Prishtina.

The puppy on the terrace at Tiffany's

The puppy at Tiffany's

Thursday, September 13

I had one of the most memorable dinners of my life tonight.  Frank and I walked to a hard-to-find restaurant called Tiffany’s which was only about a 10-minute walk from our hotel.  It is on a hidden street and the restaurant is unmarked.  As we approached, we saw a few armed guards with a Humvee and lots of cars parked on the street.  The restaurant had a lovely garden area where we were seated, and as we settled in, a sweet small black and white dog appeared on a raised terrace which had a lawn and bushes right next to our table.  The dog was a mixture of Kona and Daisy – she had a sweet face and was thin like Daisy, but was colored black and white like Kona.  She would get up on her hind legs and waive her front paws occasionally as in begging, but never barked or made any sound.    The dog obviously felt at home at the restaurant and didn’t leave the terraced grassy area until we left and it walked to another grassy area in the restaurant.  It never tried to jump off the terrace and approach other tables on the patio.

We were told that the restaurant doesn’t have a menu – the chef gathers whatever is freshest at the local markets and creates for that day.   Dinner started with wonderful bread that was like pita but more risen and fluffy.  This was served with three types of cheese spread – somewhat like creamy feta with flavorings and also a ajvar (red pepper) sauce that was exquisite – it started out sweet in the mouth then finished with a pleasing burn.  Next we were presented with a scrumptious salad – the freshest I have ever had.  It had a few leaves of lettuce, chopped fresh beets, and mandolin-thin slices of carrot, onion, purple cabbage, and cucumber, and a little chopped parsley with a very light amount of oil and vinegar. Next, we shared two entrees – a veal and cheese casserole and grape leaves stuffed with beef.  The only other place that makes my taste buds react so happily is Rancho de Chimayo in New Mexico.  At both places, each bite brings a unique and delectable taste that makes one want to take time and enjoy a mixture of the flavors offered.  Along with the meal, we enjoyed a bottle of Cabernet that is from a winery just about 20 miles from Prizren.  It was very good, and we’re hoping to visit the winery sometime soon.  We ended the meal with macchiato coffees.  The coffee here is wonderful.  The cost of the entire meal minus the cost of the wine (15 Euros) was $30 – not much more than a dinner at a pho restaurant in Colorado.

The entire dinner, Frank and I marveled at the wonderful food we have had in Kosovo and the low price every time we have visited a café or restaurant

Wednesday, September 12

By the time I landed in Frankfurt, I was pretty out of it since I had been traveling since early Monday morning.  The signage was confusing to me, but after walking about 10 minutes, I found a guy who spoke English.  It turned out that the gate number printed on my ticket for my flight to Kosovo was different than the actual gate, and I had to backtrack.  At least I didn’t have to go through customs.  I was hungry since I really didn’t want the roll or most of the breakfast served on the airplane – I just drank some hot tea and had a few pieces of sliced fruit.  I found a “bar” near my gate which had table service and breakfast, but after sitting over 10 minutes and being ignored by two waitresses, I got up and left.  I ventured further down the corridor and found a nice place for breakfast….nice, but expensive.  I think the entire breakfast, including tip cost me around $30, but it was worth it because I had several hours to kill and the food was good.  They had different breakfasts – “French Breakfast”, “German Breakfast”, “American Breakfast”, etc.  I opted for the “Italian Breakfast” which was an omelet with a fresh salad, and I had two cups of hot tea.  That was enough to revive me, and I went to the gate to wait for my plane.  I flew on Adria Air, a Slovenian airline to Pristina.  The flight took a couple of hours from Frankfurt.  They served a small brie sandwich and drinks.  Flying over Montenegro, the mountains were amazingly rugged with no roads in sight.  I arrived in Pristina around 11:30 a.m. local time and was met by a driver from the U.S. Embassy who took me to my hotel.   Everything seemed very different.  The driver talked about how Pristina had changed a lot in the past 50 years – first with the Communist architecture that displaced many of the historic buildings and structures from the past, and then with the recent construction booms that took place without any regulations or codes.  He asked me about the U.S. and whether everyone had election fever.   I said that in Colorado, everyone was sick of the election ads since both sides ran negative ads.  I arrived at my hotel and informed them that I now needed a double since Frank was scheduled to arrive just before midnight.  I arranged for a driver to take me to the airport to meet Frank and took a cab to visit my friend and fellow ELF (English Language Fellow), Stephanie, who is from Ohio.  It was fun visiting Stephanie and seeing her spacious up-to-date 2 bedroom apartment that she rented for just 450 Euros.  She is a single mother and has a cute, four-year-old son named Mauricio.  We had beer and snacks.  Len, a Fullbright fellow from Seattle who is a little younger than I, came and joined us after his evening class.  He is from Seattle and teaches business and accounting at the University of Pristina.  I left Stephanie’s apartment about 10 p.m. and headed back to the hotel just in time to go to the airport with the driver.  Unfortunately, Frank’s plane was almost an hour late, but we were reunited and headed for the hotel and some much needed rest.

Abandoned Serbian Orthodox Church begun by Milosovec just before the war but never finished.

Clinton's statue on Bill Clinton Boulevard in Pristina.  There's also a George Bush Boulevard.  Americans are held in high regard by Kosovars.

Historic Building on the main pedestrian mall in Pristina that is being restored and turned into a hotel.

A major intersection near Hotel Begolli.  Small mosque on left.  We hear the call to prayer daily starting at 6:00 a.m. and about four more times each day.  The mosques use microphones and a man sings in Arabic.  Since there are several mosques near our hotel, they all happen at once.

Annette here....hopefully Frank will post on the blog soon.  He had a very interesting day in Prizren today, and I love how he describes his experiences!  I realized recently that not all of you knew that not only did my first flight from Denver get cancelled, but the week before, I was informed that my planned layover in Zagreb was going to cost me over $2000 more than just a ticket to Kosovo.  Since my ticket was payed by the government, I had to fly to the site of my work - Kosovo.  I had hoped that I could just fly to Zagreb and make my own way with Frank to Kosovo, but that was not allowed.  As a result, I had to scrap my plans to visit my cousins, the Stiperskis, until a later time.  Frank, however, already had the Mileage Plus-arranged ticket to Zagreb, and his flights went smoothly. He spent 1 1/2 days with Yada, Darko, and Nada and had a wonderful time.  During that 1 1/2 day period, I was still trying to get to Kosovo as detailed in my earlier posts.  We are still catching up on our posts, so just be patient... hopefully in a few days, we'll be posting up-to-date descriptions of our experiences.. 

 Annette at breakfast - Hotel Begolli in Pristina

 Hotel Begolli, our hotel in Pristina

Frank near our hotel in Pristina - mosque in background

Annette's posts - 9/10-9/1 travelogue

Monday, September 10, 2012

Frank and I got up at 5:45 after only about 4 hours of sleep.  We had to get to the airport since we had a rental car to return.  Frank took our Outback to Barb Karlinger’s on Saturday since she graciously offered to let us store it in her garage.  I rented a car on early Saturday morning so that I could go to Aunt Carol’s funeral in Cheyenne.  Getting to the airport was easy, and I quickly returned the car while Frank corralled all of our bags.  I have two 29” suitcases and a medium size suitcase to check.  I also have a very heavy backpack with books and my computer inside and a small rolling suitcase as a carry-on.  After we got through security, I was so exhausted and stopped at the first attractive place to eat – Pour La France for a latte and a cheese sandwich.  We figured we had a lot of time, so we didn’t hurry with breakfast; however, when Frank went to check the status of my flight he said that the flight wasn’t listed.  After standing in a long information line for United Airlines, I was informed that the flight was cancelled for maintenance and that I would not be able to get to Europe by tomorrow as planned.  They sent me to Washington Dulles and said that the following afternoon I would have a flight to Frankfurt and then on to Pristina getting me into Kosovo just before noon on Wednesday.  United Airlines was not very customer-service oriented.  They didn’t offer me anything when I was informed of these changes, and I was frustrated because the first ticket agent who weighed my bags gave me a boarding pass for a flight that had already been cancelled.  If I would have known, maybe I could have found a flight to Pristina on Tuesday, but by the time I found out, all of the flights to Europe were booked.  We couldn’t print our boarding passes the day before because the computer said we needed to show a passport.  I ended up getting to fly on Frank’s flight to D.C. thanks to an efficient United worker (who said she was really Continental) named Michelle.  Frank and I didn’t get to sit together and when we arrived in D.C., Frank had to rush off for his flight to Frankfurt.  I followed him since he said he didn’t have a green scapular and I wanted him to carry one in his passport folder.  We kissed goodbye and I took the long exhausting walk to the baggage area since they had checked my carry-on on the D.C. flight.  I found my baggage even though I was late and it was just put with a bunch of bags next to the carousel.  I also went to Lufthansa to try to get a boarding pass.  After a hassle with an inexperienced agent, a really nice ticket agent approached me and asked if she could help.  She ended up giving me my boarding pass for the following day and provided me with an aisle seat which ended up being primo since no one was seated right next to me on the flight and I had the use of two seats.  I also had to go to the United ticket agents to get a voucher for my hotel and dinner.  They gave me a hotel voucher and only $15 for dinner.  The shuttle ride to the hotel was quick, but the hotel – Dulles Marriott - was not very nice.  It was a huge maze and to get to my room I had to take an elevator to the lower level and walk down three very long hallways nowhere near the lobby area.  The room was okay, but the hotel was disappointing.  Since the room service seemed too pricey, I ventured to the hotel restaurant and it was just as pricey.  I had a couple of $10 vouchers from Michelle, so I ordered a pasta dish with chicken parmesan for $18.  I also ordered a martini for $10, but the United voucher could not be used for alcohol.  Ultimately, United’s change of itinerary cost me a lot.  I also had to pay $12.95 for internet access which I absolutely needed and tips to the shuttle drivers who handled my luggage.  I talked to MT during dinner then went to my room and sent emails regarding my changed itinerary.  Then I took a nice, long hot bath and called Chrissy.  I went to bed around midnight and set the alarm for 8:30.

Tuesday, September 11

I got up earlier than my alarm and got ready to go to the airport.  I still had two $10 vouchers from United that had to be used within 24 hours.  At the airport, I bought a muffin and coffee at Starbucks.  I also bought a huge bottle of water, but ended up giving it to an airport worker when I realized that I couldn’t take it through the security checkpoint.  When standing in the security line, I suddenly realized that I didn’t have my Santa Fe Opera sweatshirt with me, which I knew I had at the hotel.  It is white and probably looked like a bath towel when I left the hotel.  I just didn’t think I could lug my backpack and carry-on suitcase all the way back to the hotel even though I definitely had the time.  After going through security, I called my sisters, Jeanne and Mary, who had left messages on my phone.  Then I called the hotel, and the women at the front desk convinced me to try to get my sweatshirt.  My only other option was to have it mailed (at my cost) to Elise.  We decided that the shuttle driver could bring my sweatshirt to the airport and then I wouldn’t have to go all the way back to the hotel.  Everything worked out fine….I got my sweatshirt and it only cost $2 to tip the shuttle driver.  I still had a $10 voucher to use, so I got a couple of burritos (rice only, no beans).  I thought I’d eat one and take the other on the plane.  I ended up throwing the second one out in Frankfurt since I never felt like eating it.  The vouchers are tricky because you don’t get any voucher or money back, so you have to try to spend the entire amount at one place.  I had the whole day to wait for my flight – it didn’t leave until 3:00 p.m.  I just read and relaxed. I was ecstatic to find out that I had an aisle seat in the center row of 4 seats.  The only other person in the row was a guy in the other aisle seat, so we each had two seats to stretch out in for the entire flight.  The flight was long, but Lufthansa had excellent service.  The food (a chicken and rice Asian dish) was okay, but they offered free wine with dinner – I had two glasses of Spanish red wine.   After dinner, the attendants came around and offered brandy or Bailey’s Irish Crème – I opted for the latter.  We were also served a light breakfast before we landed at 5:10 a.m.  I didn’t sleep on the entire flight.  There were several 70-something couples seated near me, and they were quite noisy and unaware that others were trying to sleep.  Once when I was just about to doze off, the guy in front of me yelled, “I can’t get out of this thing!”.  Mind you, this is in the middle of the night, the lights are out, and everyone is quiet or sleeping.   I agree that it is difficult to get the tray to stay up on those German planes, and the space is tight – I usually just swung my left leg over the armrest to get out.  The man’s wife tried to quiet him down and help him get out.  A while later, a guy one row behind me and to my left yelled, “I can’t get the damn thing off!”  This probably sounds rather interesting to you all, but I knew he was just talking about the light.  The light above was too high to reach, and it was confusing to figure out how to turn it off.  I had discovered that there was a light bulb button you pushed on the armrest controls to turn it off and whispered to him and his wife what to do.  He continued to grumble and ended up pushing the “Call Attendant” light, which ended up solving his problem.

Welcome to our blog!

Hello Family and Friends!

Welcome to our blog.  We look forward to sharing our experiences and photos of our time in Europe on this blog.  Updates will follow!