Friday, November 26, 2010
It finally stroke - homesickness
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Consumer protection? Copyright? Patient safety? Never heard.
I don't mind that all movies and music sold in this country are pirates. I don't mind ordering Coca Cola in the most expensive restaurant and get an already opened bottle of so-called Coke, which actually is flat AlbiCola... Or buying a liquid detergent for washing clothes and it turns out to be almost water, in color and otherwise. But when it comes to products for babies – I get mad. I heard the other day that my local acquaintance's seven months old son was in really bad condition and was in a hospital, parents fearing of losing him. Why? They had fed him milk for babies.
Don't trust the best before or use before-dates. Not only shops sell old stuff but the dates may even be changed.
Don't get to a condition that you need a doctor if you don't want to give bribes. Or, at least don't get so bad that you need to go to hospital. If you do, bring your own clean sheets. And use a toilet before going there, unless you are a masochist and want to use a toilet with pee, shit, puke and blood everywhere. Well, at least there shouldn't be worry of getting nosocomial infection. Though of course you can get other nasty diseases just from going there.
I need to believe that some doctors are still good. Sometimes it's hard, just thinking the stories I've heard. Like about a doctor who was having a section on a becoming mother. He leaves the mother open on a table and goes to a husband, asking 250 € or the mother and a baby will die. The husband asks some time to collect the money and calls the police. He gets instructions to pay and take serial numbers of the notes he gives, and then the police will come. If they find these bills from the doctor they'll arrest him. And they did. This happened on Saturday. On Monday the doctor was back to work. Less dramatic but equally horrible was a story of a poor couple, mother giving birth. Hospital treatment should be free, but she had been in pain for three days because the couple couldn't afford paying a doctor to start the delivery. The couple was from a smaller town, and the husband couldn't afford traveling every day so he slept outside in a hospital yard.
You want to hear more about bribing and corruption? Closer than health”care” system, I have been able to follow what happens inside the education system. Now THAT is something unequal.
Yet, life is not miserable. Just DON'T end up in hospital. And don't study.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
2 Young 2 Furious
Environmentally Responsible Action (ERA) group in Facebook
Friday, November 12, 2010
Time flies
Monday, November 08, 2010
November rain
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
The moments that matter
Last weekend I spent some quality time with our executive director in the mountains. Beautiful spots where I hadn't been before, home-made raki, some hiking and some more raki.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
All Creatures Great and Small
Monday, October 25, 2010
Learning to learn outdoors
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Boys boys boys
Saturday, October 09, 2010
Tik-llakat
If I ever have hated something, it's this thing. Life in Peja has been peaceful, until around two weeks ago... streets started suddenly to fill with these things. They are strings with a ball at each end. And they make noise. And they cost 50 cents. You put that plastic ring in your middle finger and when moving your hand, balls hit against each other and make extremely annoying noise. It's tik-llakat, and its only function is to make irritating noise. And that it succeeds to do.
For me, tik-llakat represents everything bad, evil and disgusting. It is cheap, it's crap and it has no reason to exists. Yet it's so popular. Now, absolutely everybody has tik-llakat. Bunch of kids in the street have them. Youth have them. Roma people have them. A mobile operator salesman has them. A waiter in the café has them. A taxi driver leaning his car waiting for customers has them. A stray dog has them. And they make noise. They make me crazy. All the time, also right this moment, home, in my bedroom, I'm forced to listen that tapping noise as my neighbor's child has one. Though I'm not alone hating them. Also other neighbor's dog hates them. He barks. I just curse in my mind where all the silence in the world has gone.
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
One night in Prizren
As mentioned, it was raining. We didn't know where the hotel was located (except that it was quite far away) so a local guy promised to call a taxi for us. But then his friend Arijon was leaving to same direction and was supposed to take us.This guy left to meet the others and me and D. went outside to wait Arijon and his car. We stood under my umbrella, waiting. Waiting. Waiting. And at exactly same moment started laughing. It was clear that our driver had vanished.
We still standing outside and laughing, a boy who has been inside the building approaches us. We ask if he is Arijon. He doesn't speak English a lot, just a few words, but it's clear that he's not our driver. I'll try to explain the situation to him with my rusty Albanian, D. tries if he speaks Serbian. I put almost all my existing vocabulary there and yet he doesn't seem to get it. And of course he doesn't - he works for TV, not the organization we were visiting. They just happen to work in the same building.
The TV-boy leaves, and D. decides it's time for us to call a taxi. Of course we don't know any taxi company, so we go inside to search for the TV-boy. He seems to have vanished too. We split up and look for him everywhere. Finally he comes out from one room, next to the office we had our meeting. We ask him to call a taxi as he can explain where it should come. There's a lot of confusion when we don't have any strong common language, but finally it seems to be solved and taxi coming.
Both me and D. realize that we don't remember the name of the hotel. D. opens the door to the office to ask from our colleague who stayed there working. Immediately the same idea pops in our heads and we start laughing hysterically - all the time we tried to speak with the TV-boy there has been an Albanian speaker right behind the door! We can't stop laughing but manage to ask the hotel's name. We go out and the taxi comes. We hop in and tell our destination. The taxi driver is a young guy, he asks D. where we are from. D. tells his origin, I mention being from Finland. And the guy starts speaking Finnish! He tells that he lived in Espoo and worked in Helsinki for one year, in Eerikin Pippuri. I don't know the company but smile widely. He pronounces it perfectly. We arrive at the hotel. Kiitos. Hyvää yötä!
Friday, October 01, 2010
May I introduce my dear friend - headlamp
My house has been without electricity for 24 hours. Typically it turns off every now and then for technical difficulties with delivery. Now it's different. This neighborhood hasn't paid their electricity bills. Which means KEK (Kosovar Electricity Company, or something like that) has decided to cut the electricity until they pay. The problem here is that though households have their individual electricity consumption meters, the houses are still connected so that the company can't cut the delivery to houses separately but it has to torture the whole neighborhood. So thanks to my neighbors, my house doesn't have electricity either until they pay. Too bad that most of my neighbors seem to have a generator. Guess if I have one?
Thursday, September 30, 2010
I have the freedom to listen to any music I want
my baggage on my back
I left the city far behind
walkin' down the road
with my heavy load
tryin' to find
some peace of mind
father said you'll be sorry, son
if you leave your home this way
and when you realize
the freedom money buys
you'll come running home some day
I've been looking for freedom
I've been looking so long
I've been looking for freedom
still the search goes on
I've been looking for freedom
since I left my home town
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Cafe latte, please... and a brownie
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Not just anyone.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Kosovar etiquette
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Market Day
A sunny September Saturday in Peja. What to do? Let's go to Green Market.
So we went there with my friend. We walked through the bazaar, so it was one big market all the way to greens. Handcrafts, flags, music (even C-cassettes 0,50€!), clothes, traditional cradles, stoves and grills, tools and spares, chickens, firewood..
As the name indicates, Green Market is a market for green stuff. Such as cabbages. Cauliflowers. Zucchinis. And some vegetables with other colors too. Currently it's a pepper season. Everyone sells them – red, green, slightly orange colored, regular, hot and hotter. The plum season is just about to end and the plums don't taste anymore as good as they used to. Or maybe they are not so good because I didn't buy them from a right person. The watermelon season is passed as well – shame, I really loved that one. So now, enjoy the peppers!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Encounters 2
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Encounters
He also asks me when I'm leaving and where heading, because.... he has two opera tickets to Jakme but he can't go. Dammit! I haven't been in any opera or ballet for a long time. We talk a little more and he tells that his father is an opera singer. Shoot! Still I haven't asked his name. He asks mine (to keep the record of the people staying in the hostel). I hurry to meet some people in the center, he is also leaving home. We say goodbyes, and I tell him that I'm coming back in a few days so maybe we will see again. Or maybe not.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Happy man
There's a special man in my life. I have never seen him, but I think of him often. He is old, not the oldest possible, but definitely not so young either. He is from a village.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Does there always have to be a reason for travel?
Location: home
Mood: reflective
Energy level: 68 %
Background music: Josh Groban
Passport. It is one of the biggest differences between me and locals. Mine is an EU passport. It has value.
A couple years ago there was a campaign All different, all equal. THAT ideology for sure hasn't reached this region yet. To be born in Finland is like to win in a lottery. I get usually great service at border crossings in Balkans, as every country wants to join EU. The other option for good treatment is that I'm just too cute. I had to recently check if Finns need a visa to Republic of Korea. And we don't. It's so easy to be a citizen of European Union. But it's not so simple all the time even for us privileged. The current situation of Kosovo makes my life complicated sometimes. When I need to go to Serbia, for example. Well,... actually that is the only example.
It goes like this: if I need to go to Serbia, I can't go directly from Kosovo unless the last entry stamp is Serbian. There is a simple reason for this. As Serbia doesn't recognize Kosovo's independence but considers it to be part of Serbia, it does naturally not recognize Kosovo's entry stamps either. If I don't have Serbian stamp it means I have entered Serbian territory illegally, which is BAAAAAD. Makes sense this far. If I have some other stamps, like Montenegro, that are issued after my latest Serbian stamp, in case I need to go to Serbia I have to first go out from Kosovo to some other country and then enter Serbia from “outside”. It's really logical. Coming from Serbia to Kosovo is ok, there's not even border control as technically you don't even leave the country. The only thing at the border is a some sort of “inner customs” check.
Another issue which makes me sweat at Serbian border is how they treat passports with stamps of Kosovo. Currently I have ten of them so I'm every time freaking out when I hand out my passport. I have read from some sources that it's not possible to enter Serbia if having any stamps of Kosovo. True or not, that's not the case in real life. I have heard a horror story of a border police ripping off the pages with those stamps (which is really scary as it would invalidate the passport) but as I don't have any primary source I consider it as an urban legend. Nevertheless, the border police may ask some questions that make you sweat before s/he cancels the stamps. Cancels them by either crossing them over with a pen, stamping over them with a stamp of Serbia, or by using a special “canceled” stamp and stamping Serbian stamps next to canceled stamp of Kosovo. The last one I have witnessed myself, others heard. My stamps are still safe. I try to be clever – last time arriving Serbia by train from Croatian border I put my train ticket between the passport's pages which had only Croatian stamps and hoped that the border police won't check all the pages. She checked the information page, stamped and then started checking some of the other pages. I noticed a minor lift of an eyebrow when she reached one page so it must have been the first stamp. Entries to Serbia: four. Number of canceled stamps: zero. Luckily, most of my Kosovo-stamps are in the last two pages. I wouldn't like to be there if they opened those pages!
In my case traveling is still easy and simple, like kindergarten. Ask how it is for locals -for Kosovar Albanians- and then we start to talk about true obstacles.
I went to a meeting in Slovenia in June with my Kosovar friend. We flew there because he couldn't go by land. Why? For simple reasons. Shortest route would be Kosovo-Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia. But – and this is the crazy part – no access to Serbia for Kosovar Albanians (and I mean completely blocked, totally no-no). Take a detour and go around Serbia then! Kosovo-Montenegro-Bosnia&Herzegovina-Croatia-Slovenia? One little problem in this scenario too: no access to Bosnia either for Kosovars as Bosnia&Herzegovina doesn't recognize Kosovar travel documents. Go around B&H then! It would be nice to take a bus along the beautiful Croatian coast. But – Kosovars need a visa to Croatia, and still it wouldn't work. If you look at the map of Croatia carefully you will see how the tail of Croatia cuts in south. That's the place where there is Bosnian seaside. And it' maybe 10 minutes ride in Bosnian territory. The only options would have been to go to either Montenegro or Albania, take a boat to Italy (where they need visa), and go from Italy to Slovenia. Or Macedonia-Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary (only three visas needed). That would be ridiculous especially when the meeting was just two days. So we took a plane.
At Ljubljana International Airport in Slovenia we went through passport control. Or I went. A border police opened my passport, looked at it for less than a second, closed it, gave back, smiled and said “Kiitos”. He even thanked me in my language. How great is the idea of free movement inside EU! Then it was my friend's turn. He showed his visa (which he naturally needed for entering Slovenia, not the easiest procedure). The border police started to ask questions with very rude tone. “Where are you going? Why? When will you leave? Show the return flight ticket.” I came back to the desk and asked if there is a problem. He is with me. So he got a stamp to his passport, thank you, goodbye. I felt bad. Why I should be treated like I was when this young boy had to take and just accept all that mean behavior, and convince the other country once again that he has all the right to step with his feet in to this piece of land?
I started to make a list of all countries in the world that thanks to the fact that I happen to be a Finn I can access without any visa procedure. And next column for Kosovars. Sad statistics. For example Europe – I can go anywhere except to Russia without a visa. And a Kosovar without a visa? Nowhere – in the whole world – except Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania. And no access at all to Serbia, Bosnia&Herzegovina and Russia (China could be in this list too, I'm not sure). How fair is that?
To be fair, life is not that simple for Serbs of Kosovo either. To some places where Serbs from Serbia don't need visa, Serbs who live in Kosovo are still required to have a visa, though they have Serbian documents. Serbian documents. From Serbia. Just because they happen to live in this area.
Getting a visa. In an easy case, such as Slovenia, you need only two trips to Prishtina. Before that make sure to collect all the necessary documents, such as your original invitation letter from Slovenia. Fill the application, get a passport photo, get an insurance, pay the application fee. Tadah, next day you have a visa. IF the embassy hasn't decided to refuse that. Without any special reason. And guess what? If they do that, it will also be recorded. When applying again, better not to have any refused visas in your “account”. And a hard case may require several trips to Macedonia. Applying, interview, collect a visa. It used to be possible to enter Macedonia without passport if there was a proof of going to the embassy. It's not possible anymore, so getting a visa means staying in Macedonia. OR as I've understood in the worst case you may need to go to the embassy in Belgrade. In Serbia. Where you can't go. At all. How fair is that?
Through my empiric studies and discussions I have recently discovered that the whole world, at least the whole Europe, seems to hate Albanians. I'm curious to see if this all this visa-related hassle is any easier for Albanians of Albania. If it's easier, I'm happy for them. If not, it shows one aspect of the horrible idea that we lack the respect of humanity towards them. And it's happening right before our eyes. Inside Europe, towards other Europeans. How sick is that?
Disclaimer: The situation here is not unique. Similar things are happening elsewhere too. Like between Armenia and Azerbaijan (Entry to Azerbaijan will be refused e.g. to citizens of Armenia and to all foreign citizens of Armenian descent and ancestry and those with Armenian names and surnames, as well as any products made in Armenia and with Armenian labeling... or any evidence of visiting Nagorno-Karabakh (Wikitravel)). Georgia (Abkhazia)-Russia. China-Tibet. Wild guess that also Chechnya-Russia. How much hatred can fit into this planet?
Saturday, September 04, 2010
An invitation to marvel
Location: couch-bed, home
Mood: deep in thoughts
Energy level: 99 %
Background music: World of Warcraft – Arthas, my Son
If I traveled in time about seven hours to the future, I would have ten more minutes before alarm will ring and I should wake up and prepare myself to a meeting in Prishtina. So perhaps I should go to sleep. But no no, thanks to the combination of coffee, a brilliant movie that made me think and overdose of sugar from juice I'm not sleepy at all.
I just saw the movie Into the Wild (2007). It's based on a true story. If you haven't seen it, go and watch it. It reminded me of one episode of the best tv-series ever, Millennium. Luminary is the episode, from season 2. (And now when I checked it, actually the book Into the Wild was inspiration for this episode.) There, Alex (!) Ventoux, who went to Alaska (!) says: Some day, some kid will tell Ian: “You're an idiot. Just like your brother who threw his life away, walked into the woods and died.” That is my favorite episode along with Goodbye Charlie. Another quote from the same episode: Imagine, for one second you could drop in on a past life. What would you like to find yourself doing there? What would charm you? Make you proud? Ask yourself that. And the question what to do in this life becomes so simple it's terrifying. Just to do that thing that would charm you. It would make you say: yes, it's the real me. Do that and you're alive.
Both the movie and the episode catch something that is out there, a feeling of not fitting in to those boundaries that have developed in the society. There's something else. Something that constantly drives us to go out and try to find ourselves. Something that gives a hint of an ultimate pleasure if it is ever to be found, something that sets barking dogs after us to tear us down if we ever dare to stop searching. Standard life is for normal people. What about us who can never stop?
I love this song (from the movie): Society
It was that moment when I turned my back to everything - and felt peace. One day, I will go to Alaska.
Friday, September 03, 2010
-Do you miss home? -No. -Why? -Because I'm already there.
Flashbacks – Slovenia. How great team of young Albanians I had! I received so many kisses, I-love-you's accompanied by looking straight to my eyes, hugs ans smiles from so many, just for the sake of seeing me.
And summer camps. This nine years old boy, before learning to say “I love you“ in English, came to me, smiled widely and said “te dua”. (Well then he learned some English and started to ask me if I'm crazy).
This (as well as many other things) made me think. How hard is it to open your mouth and talk about feelings? Extremely hard. Have I ever told my family that I love them? Not that I recall. Would I loose anything if I did that? No. Did I have to go 2200 km away to realize that? Apparently. Should I do something to fix this? How hard can it really be?
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Giving and getting
After two intensive weeks in the mountains with a bunch of people, after many frustrating and drastically outnumbered great moments, the cook of our summer camps said to me (not word to word, translated from Albanian, written down weeks after): “You are the best here. You are the best because you didn't change. You remained the same. You came here as yourself.” I was moved. Regardless our limited conversation because of the language barrier she had just said aloud something that I had been thinking. She had seen through me.
I'm not good at all to bring gifts or souvenirs. I didn't bring anything to my best friends when I visited Finland. To my family I brought only candy. But all my life I have had a passion – passion to give. Not material but overall to give from myself. When I was a child it had a different undeveloped form. It has driven me not only to several years of active voluntary work in humanitarian and environmental organizations, but also it has pushed me to edge of having some relatively deep thoughts about the whole concept of social responsibility as well as selfishness. (By the way I'm not going to reveal them here.)
Why to give? What do I get from giving? Do I have to get something? Young et al (Governing, leading, and managing nonprofit organisations – New insights from research and practice. 1993) have identified six motivation and satisfaction categories for volunteers.
1) the knowledge function (to learn new skills and gain new awarenesses)
2) the career function (to enhance one’s job prospects)
3) the value-expressive function (to make a difference in the world)
4) the social-adjustive function (desire for acceptance and approval in certain social groups)
5) the ego-defensive function (a need to escape personal inadequacies such as guilt)
6) esteem enhancement (growth and self-actualisation needs)
I would love to think that my motivation that has made me to come here falls to the category 3. In reality, it certainly is an interesting mixture of all the categories, and maybe more. I consider myself to be a selfish person. The more risks I take, more passion I feel. The more I give, more I feel alive. More I get.
Getting. It's all about giving.
Misunderstandings
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Carbon footprint
My carbon footprint. Every time I test it I'm assured to have huge feet. Though being environmentalist, in past years I have become to be a hell of a consumer. And yes, I feel guilty about that. And no, I haven't changed my habits as much as I'm capable to change. But it's been a while since I have filled any on-line questionnaire about my consumption.
Question: What best describes the climate zone you live in? If you are not sure, the dominant climate for your country is already selected.
I didn't know that I live in tropical and wet climate, including rainforests. Well, technically I'm not living in a country that no longer exists (Serbia & Montenegro). Though I'm living in a country that in a way doesn't yet exist. Questionnaire, we're even?
Or actually, at least according to one website, Montenegro has some jungle, so maybe it counts. (And I had to check dictionary the other meanings for jungle to believe that fact.)
Question: Please enter the number of kilometers you travel per year for each mode of transportation:
Automobiles, including personal vehicles, taxis, and carpools
Bus, including metro and long distance service
Rail, including subways, inner-city light rail, cross country trains
Air travel
Hahahahaha! How easy. Let me think...Only for past two weeks I have traveled at least by jeep, car, van, plane, train, taxi, bus, tram, (you name it!) as well as by foot and bike (after making up some round numbers and clicking next, I get an ”Error:0” sign).
"Congratulations, you are living an ecologically conscientious lifestyle. If everyone lived like you do, we would need only 0.47 Earths."
I don't believe this. Let's check the statistics. Yeap, I was right. In ¾ sections my answers show zero. I know the truth. I overconsume, and badly. Mostly due to my passion to explore and vagabond.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Random thoughts
Location: Office couch, rainy Peja
Mood: Good
Energy level: 88 %
First of all, I'm lazy to write diary. Secondly, I really don't care to share my feelings in public. Anyhow, after seven months in Kosovo it feels it's finally time to start. Here I am. This is me. Or part of me. I will never reveal everything. How could I when it's not clear to myself either?
Today I found a stranger in our office. I sat in this same couch, alone, checking my emails and sorting some random thoughts in my head when I saw Him. But later about that. First, I want to tell you something about myself. I am an EVS volunteer.
---
Two last months have been quite hectic, especially previous four weeks. Summer camps x2 and all the hassle that is linked to them, one preparation week from which I decided to dedicate half to myself in peace and quiet but ended up being hosted by an Albanian family for two days, leading ten Kosovar youth (yes yes yes, Albanian but I'm referring to nationality in passport in this case) safely to Slovenia and back, training in Serbia, guests in Peja... great times and yet so tiring. But mountains – I could praise those mountains for hours. Or no, I wouldn't. I would just be quiet and let them take over me.
Accursed mountains. Coming and going up and down to the mountains sometimes with a van full of kids, sometimes squeezed in the backseat of a jeep with more or less random people and sometimes, some parts, by foot – with 20 kids, with a friend (happens to be my boss too) or alone. Sleeping in an abandoned (and by the way never used) school, in a tent, in a cabin, or just under the stars. The last one was the night with Perseids (google if you don't know the meaning), cheap vodka (in reasonable quantities of course), and some serious talk with the executive director, followed by quality sleep. Mountains. It's clear that part of my heart will be there where ever I'll go. I'm in love. I'm in love with the mountains.
And now we have a mouse in our office. We had at least two, I think. I found one in a pink plastic bag, wrapped in folio eating and enjoying life until I came into picture. And enjoying life after that too, as I let it be. But my colleague wasn't as cooperative and took it out. The pink plastic bag, the folio, the mouse, everything. I hope that mouse survives out there. After couple hours, one curious and brave tiny creature appeared to my vision. Another mouse. It was so tiny. I felt a bit sad. The family had lost one of its members. Maybe it was looking where its friend was. I don't think they will ever find each other again.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Who?
Position: EVS volunteer, Environmentally Responsible Action (ERA) group
Current location: Peja, Kosovo
Can be found: somewhere in Balkans, rarely home, most likely in Accursed Mountains
Home nest: In the land of forest, lakes, snow, swamps and tar, Finland
Roots: undetected, forest people
Interests: Everything.
Curious. Passionate. Caring. Detail-oriented. Analytical. Introvert. Strong. Sweet. :)