Time flies

The countdown has begun. My EVS-time in Kosovo is ending. I have less than three weeks "normal" life (whatever it is) before I start some maniac traveling. Prior to that, I need to pack my life into a suitcase and couple boxes and to move to a corner of a room in my boss's apartment.

First there will be a weekend in Switzerland (thank you Easyjet for opening new routes to Prishtina!). Then back in Peja for a couple of days. A trip to Boston for Christmas and New Year, via New York. Back in Peja, for... three days, I think, before saying adios amigos and moving back to the land of lakes, snow and Sauna.... for a month or so. Until I return back home.

There are certain things to do before the travel season (aka things that I have had, what, 10 months time to do but still haven't accomplished). Such as:

- visiting a mosque

- visiting the ethnographic museum of Peja

- baking Karelian pasties

- at the "rush hour", arms linked with at least two other people, walking from one end of Korza to another, turning around, walking again, turning around and continuing this some time, and making sure not giving way to anyone

- going to the city to check if someone happens to be there and randomly going for coffee

There are more small things and some bigger ones too, mostly something to do with mountains, but I won't stress because of them. This time, there will be next time.

One night in Prizren

The title may be a bit misleading. It was only a half an hour adventure and we made it to the hotel before 21:30. Alcohol was not involved either.

I was in a coordinating team in SALTO SEE's study visit in Kosovo, in this case in Peja, Klina and Prizren. After Peja and Klina, we arrived in Prizren, accommodated in a hotel, went to the youth center to eat flia. After dinner, participants headed to the city center to continue evening but the coordinating team decided to have a meeting and join the others later (at 21:00, to be sharp).

The meeting took longer than we originally thought, as we started to have ridiculous problems with a really small practical matter. Discussion went further and further and at one point everyone was just laughing and laughing. At the end, we found a simple solution to our problem. It was time to join the others. Except... a couple of people decided to stay at the office, and as it was raining and we being tired, me and D. decided to go to the hotel.

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!

Encounters 2

I went to the same hostel. I met him again. No one had used the opera tickets. It's Sunday evening and markets are closed. I'm planning to hunt some food and ask some directions. He is just leaving home and offers to show me a couple of places. We talk more on the way. He tells about the cat who sits in hostel's garden. I laugh. He seems to be a really nice guy. We reach the place and he helps to order as the language is weird for me. He asks when I'm leaving. Tomorrow morning, early, I will go home to Kosovo. He won't come to work before I leave.

Maybe we will meet again some day. I eat and start walking back to the hostel, smiling. I still don't know his name.

Encounters

Breakfast. The guy working in the hostel shows me how to make coffee (by the way, why didn't I ask at least his name?). We start to talk, and he tells me that he is always afraid when hearing any Nordic person is in the hostel. Recently a Swedish guy committed a suicide in one of the rooms and this guy found him. He shows me the door to the sealed room.

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.

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?

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.

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.