More Interesting Prizren Sites by Annette

As the months go by, sometimes Frank and I almost feel like locals in Prizren; but, then again, each day brings a memorable or unexpected sight or adventure.   In this post, I want to share a few interesting or special things we've encountered in the past few weeks.

     This is my favorite seller on the streets of Prizren.  Sitting in outdoor cafes in the warm weather, you are constantly being approached by people begging for money.  Many of these are Roma, and it is a struggle to say no; however, there are many reasons to do so.  After living here a while, we have observed the Roma children who run around in small groups without any adult supervision.  Some are as young as 4 or 5 years old.  They are well trained in begging for money.  You can observe them begging one minute and then playing and running around the next.  We have come to learn that many of these kids are brought to the city from other places by adult men to beg,  and then they are picked up at the end of the day sometimes very late at night.  Some people say that some are part of organized crime elements.  The children have a lot of money to spend on snacks and drinks during the day.  I guess they are expected to earn a certain amount of money per day, but it seems they also spend money freely.  Some of the women carry babies, and an American friend said she saw a documentary about how the babies are drugged to stay quiet.  Recently, I have seen two or three mothers with babies, and the babies seem almost catatonic.  Their eyes are open, but they don't smile or cry or even move.  I like to give money to people who are trying to earn a living, so the guy pictured above is one of these.  He shuffles around town all day trying to sell kleenex or pens which probably cost 20 cent or less. I try to buy things regularly from him and not wait for change when I give him more than the price of the item. 

     Last week Frank was injured by what he called a Ninja Roma woman.  She was older and very small and eyed him as he was carrying my backpack with my computer and some sacks of copied materials for my classes to the university. ( I was already at the university.)  He saw her cross the street with her hand out for money and making a beeline for him.  She just kept on coming without stopping.  As we have written about before, we often have to walk in the street because there either isn't a sidewalk, or cars or parked on the sidewalk. This woman aggressively continued to come at Frank, and he was forced to sidestep not knowing that there was a curb, and ended up taking a tumble, with my copy work scattering all over.  He sprained his knee and got a very skinned elbow. He's been lying low the past couple of days trying to recover.  He says he wished he had a video of the whole affair just to see everyone's reaction to this tiny woman taking him down, and also to see what the woman did when it happened.  No one helped him up or anything.

     This is just one of the many fountains and springs found throughout Prizren.  The water is very clean and fresh.  It is safe to drink and is a real treat.

     We've toyed with the idea of weighing ourselves at one of these roadside places, but somehow getting on a scale in full view of passersby to get weighed seems like a bad idea.  I've actually never seen anyone weigh themselves even though numerous guys have scales like this in areas frequented by pedestrians.

      
     This is about 2 blocks from our apartment, and when school is not in session, Frank said it is the neighborhood hotspot for kids with pickup games of basketball going on (notice the basketball hoop).  Frank walks right by here on the way to the neighborhood bakery and butcher.

     Last week, we walked up to the fortress two times.  This photo was taken of a couple of guys with their horse and cart near the Maresh district about a quarter of a mile from our apartment.

     I guess this is a taxi although it's really just a small motorized vehicle with a motor like a lawnmower pulling a cart.

     This was taken on our block where there are many fancy dress stores.  The woman in the middle is probably from a nearby village.  They all wear these pantaloons with big prints - usually in black and white.  They also have a trench coat or jacket and a head scarf even if it is very hot outside.  The women accompanying this woman are probably daughters who don't choose to dress in the traditional way.

     A haystack being pulled by a tractor on our street - Adem Jashari, the busiest street in town.

   These kids are trying to get some sheep to cross a Prizren main road that leads to Pristina a couple of weeks ago. The sheep are obviously not thrilled about their environs.

     The kids eventually got the sheep all the way across the road after pausing a minute in the median.

A bucolic scene of a shepherd relaxing as his sheep graze inside of the Prizren fortress.  We took this last week on one of our walks up to the fortress.  Notice the beautiful red poppies in the foreground.  More photos of Spring in Prizren and the fortress in Spring will follow in a few days.

     We haven't posted any food photos for a while, so I am including the last few now.  We discovered a wonderful Turkish restaurant a couple of weeks ago in Prizren (Akdeniz; phone: 044 426 495). It is on the main road the leads to the bus station, and we have seen Turkish tour buses stop here.  The food is cheap and delicious.  This is a combination steak and chicken grilled platter.  The bread on the side is filled with a thin coating of hot peppery seasoning.

     A closeup. The meat is grass-fed beef, and the chicken is  free range (that's all they have in Kosovo - no big meat plants!).  The vegetables are always fresh.

   Of course, we needed some beer to go with the grilled meats.  In the background is hummus served with shredded beef on top.  Efes beer is from Turkey, and Peja beer is brewed in a nearby Kosovo town.

Tirana, Albania

We spent last weekend in Tirana, Albania since I presented at an English Language Teachers' Association (ELTA) conference.  Frank and I were pleasantly surprised by Tirana and plan to spend another weekend there.  It is a bustling city of close to 1 million people and the architecture and art display a melange of its Ottoman, Italian, and Communist influences.  We stayed at a pension called Hostel Bujtina Shqiptare (address: Rr. "Bardhok Biba", 9/1).  It's also called Freddy's Hotel, but now there's another Freddy's Hotel competing which is further outside of the city.  This place was very basic, but in walking distance of everything and less than $25 per night.  It was arranged by the conference planners for me.  

The is the Skanderbeg statue - an Albanian national hero who established an independent Albania in the 15th century and kept it free for 25 years.  After his death, the Ottomans took over, but Albanians consider him to be the hero who saved Europe from the Ottoman empire. Skanderbeg won all 25 battles he fought against the Turks. After his death, the Turks invaded and Italy granted refuge to many Albanian Catholics in Southern Italy, and today their descendants are called the Arberesh.  

In the 1920s and 1930s, Italy heavily influenced the Albanian government and helped develop Tirana into a capital with Italian-styled government buildings.  There are many grand tree-lined boulevards in the center of the city.  The grand boulevards were the creations of Italian Fascists who held parades here during World War II. 

The Lana River

The Clock Tower (1822) is on the right. Next time we visit Tirana, I hope to climb to the top where there are supposed to be fantastic views of the cityscape.  On the left is Et'hem Bey Mosque.  Construction of the mosque started in 1794 and was finished in 1821.  Closed under communist rule, the mosque reopened in 1991. 

The Orthodox Cathedral which some people think looks like a nuclear power plant.

The Pyramid was designed by dictator Enver Hoxha's daughter.  Hoxha rules Albania for 40 years until his death in 1985.  The Pyramid was briefly a museum dedicated to Hoxha but now is abandoned. Kids climb  up the concrete side of the building and slide down.  Hoxha founded the Albanian communist party with 6 others in 1941.  He was a Stalinist who eliminated every possible rival through trials, executions, and forced labor camps.  During his hold on power, Albania was like the today's North Korea.  

A government building with a huge painted Albanian flag on the exterior.  Throughout Albania, Kosovo, and Albanian parts of Montenegro and Macedonia, you can see huge Albanian flags displayed.

Nene Teresa (Mother Teresa) Square and the Polytechnic University.  Mother Teresa is certainly the most famous Albanian of the 20th century although she lived in Skopje, Macedonia.

A McDonald's knockoff found throughout the Balkans.

Albania celebrated its 100th anniversary of independence from the Turks in November, 2012, and this painted bunker was installed to acknowledge part of Albania's past. The bunkers are a part of Hoxha's legacy and are concrete domes built throughout the country from 1950 to 1985.  They were built to fend off the threat of foreign invaders, and they can resist full tank assaults.  The engineer who designed the bunkers had to prove the worth of the structures by standing inside a bunker while it was bombarded by a tank.  The communist government claimed that there were approximately 700,000 bunkers installed (one for every four Albanians at that time), but today it is estimated that there were closer to 60,000 bunkers in Albania. The communist regime also built nuclear bunkers under every apartment building.  The structures are very difficult to remove, so some are painted and decorated.

As a part of Albania's 100 year independence celebration next to the bunker is a portion of the Berlin Wall seen to the right of the bunker.

Frank took this photo of me at the ELTA conference after I had presented my two workshops.

While I was presenting, Frank was babysitting 4-year-old Mauricio who is the son of Stephanie, an ELF who is assigned to Pristina.  Stephanie is a single mother and expected the conference organizer to arrange a babysitter, but there was no real plan, so Frank graciously offered to take care of Mauricio for about 6 hours.  Stephanie and Mauricio have stayed with us in Prizren a couple of times, and we often meet them for lunch or coffee when we are in Pristina.  Maurcio doesn't get much male interaction, so he loves being with Frank.  Frank took him to a playground and also to an amusement park.  They walked all over central Tirana.  They also spent some time resting in our room at the pension.  

Mauricio at the amusement park.

This is a French patisserie in the district which was formerly reserved for only a few of the communist elite.  Today, this area of Tirana is filled with nice cafes, restaurants, and shops. 

Mauricio with his mom in the background and an English teacher from Pristina. This was taken at an authentic New York Bagel shop.  

The menu at the bagel shop.  We haven't had a bagel since leaving Denver 8 months ago, and these were very good!

According to the ELF who lives in Tirana, the bagel shop quietly employs abused women escaping from bad marriages and tries to help them get established. It is very unusual to see a woman working in a restaurant in the southern Balkans.

We went to this lovely restaurant near a beautiful park in Tirana. 

The restaurant looked like a castle.  

View from our table on an outdoor balcony at the restaurant.

Danielle, the ELF in Tirana.  She is originally from Pennsylvania and is an attorney.  She teaches legal English to law school students.

Danielle (3rd from left) and I with some English professors from Moldova.

After the conference, the conference planners took the presenters to a traditional Albanian brew pub, Kaon Brewery.  This is how they served the beer - in towering carafes with taps for pouring into glasses.

Here it looks like I had a few too many glasses of beer although I only had 2 or 3 over the course of about 3 hours.  The restaurant was great.  It was in an old industrial part of Tirana and supposedly catered to the factory workers when it first opened.  It is a brew pub, but the food is also delicious. We started off with cheeses and homemade bread.  Next, we had a beautiful mixed salad.  This was followed by what you see here - two kinds of pasta and a creamy chicken breast dish.  I was full after this, but we still had the steak, pork chops, and grilled chicken to eat along with more bread and cheese.  For dessert, they put huge platters on the table with panna cotta, tres leches, and an assortment of fruit. There was a band playing traditional Albanian music that I really liked.  I asked one of the Albanians what kind of music it was because it didn't sound at all like the Albanian music we have to suffer through on bus rides or on many TV stations.  I guess the music played in Kosovo and other Balkan countries has more of an Ottoman influence and sounds Mideastern.  This music at the brew pub sounded like it had an Italian influence.  I tried to get Frank to join us, but he was too pooped after taking care of Mauricio all day. I hope to return to the restaurant next time we're in Tirana.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, but Danielle took these last 3 photos for me; otherwise you would have seen photos of each dinner course.  

Prizren American Corner Earth Day Activity

To celebrate Earth Day, I helped a group of students at the American Corner plan an activity for Saturday, April 22.  We met with the Mayor of Prizren, and each of the students presented a part of our planned day which included cleaning up City Park and then celebrating Earth Day with refreshments and games.  

Here I am talking with Mayor Ramadan Muja.  One of my students is a guy in his 40s who is the Director of Protocol for the municipality, and he helped set up the meeting.  To my right is Shykran, the American Corner Coordinator.

Each of the students presented in Albanian except for one Turkish student who presented in English.  Sitting on the couch with Shykran is Ilirjan, the Fullbright English Teaching Assistant. He is an Albanian-American from the Bronx and speaks fluent Albanian, so he translated what the mayor said for me.

Students signing a release form so that I can forward photos of the event to be used on the U.S. Department of State's website.

One of the students brought me a ladybug, not knowing how meaningful that was!  Frank, the girls, and I have a thing about ladybugs.  It's a long story, but basically I feel Nana Sabo's (my Mom) presence when we have a ladybug on the scene. Ladybugs have shown up in the weirdest places throughout the years!  It always makes me feel like my Mom is there with me having fun.

Some of the volunteers.  The one on the left is Elona.  She is a senior in high school and dreams of becoming a pilot. The one in the middle with the blue sweater is Miranda.  She is also a senior and wants to become a psychologist.  The other two are their friends.

Anesa, on the right, is a senior English language major at the university.  She is student teaching and these are some of her students.

Besmir (third from left) is another regular at the American Corner.  He is a senior math major at the university.  I just finished completing a recommendation for him for a scholarship to the University of Sheffield in Thessaloniki, Greece where he hopes to pursue a M.S. in Computer Engineering. He is also student teaching this semester, and these are some of his students.

Frank with Lum ("River"), one of my university English students, on the left, and Besfort, a high school senior on the right.  Besfort is going to study chemistry at the University of Pristina next year.

Group photo of the volunteers that Frank took.

This is Durim with me.  He is a senior in high school from a small village near Prizren.  He is also an American Corner regular and hopes to become an opera singer.

Ilirjan (Fullbright ETA) and I with the two t shirt contest design winners.

After cleaning the park, we walked as a group back to the American Corner along the Lumbardhi River that runs through Prizren.  Notice the white t shirts on the right and the fortress on the hill below the tall mountain.

Marigona with the snacks at the American Corner.  She is a business graduate of a university in Macedonia and is currently applying for graduate programs abroad.

Some of the junior high students who volunteered with me.

Volunteers playing Twister on the rooftop terrace of the American Corner with the fortress in the background.

The two winners of the t shirt design contest.

More volunteer photos.

Volunteers on the rooftop terrace of the American Corner.  A mosque minaret and the Prizren city center are in the background.