Welcome

What makes a person welcome? I guess you could start with an invitation. Maybe a good history with someone will make you more likely to open your doors for them. Often times, one will be welcomed out of obligation. Duty requires one to offer an invitation when the reality is that the other is not welcome, just there because someone else ordered it.

The United Nations Mission in Kosova (UNMIK) has hit a point with a lot of people here of overstaying its welcome. Although not often stated outright, it's definitely felt in conversations with a lot of Albanians. Although many of these locals are employed by UNMIK and other international organizations, there is a sense that, after seven years, their presence has lost its purpose. One of the obstacles is the corruption that, like a cancer, has infected the independence efforts and spread into the veins of these organizations. It's halted growth and those here to make things run sm oothly aren't doing anything about it. Although still in love with Bill Clinton and the US - seen as the saviors of the Albanian people and Kosova - the Albanian locals' affection for the UN is quickly dwindling.

And of course the Serbian population, as small and isolated as it is, never wanted and still largely fight any contact with the international community here. As I went out to interview and meet the Serbian high school students that applied for my Access class in Gracanica, their disdain and indifference toward multi-ethnicity was clear from the director, to the teacher and to most of the students. On our way there, my Albanian colleague, Ardian, was dreading the visit, calling the director an asshole that only wants to be angry and hate the Albanians. Neither of us had met the guy before, but we heard about his encounter with Craig and Wendy last week. I wasn't expecting a warm welcome from the guy, but I didn't think he'd close the door on us. "You're early. Go wait outside." When the teacher found us, she immediately gave excuses for students' low English level. "Because of the bombing they did not have proper schooling . . . " I could feel Ardian's temper heat up with every word she said.

Got a new Prishtina arrival this week from Michigan, Dee the fellow ELF. She's a last minute fill-in for a guy that backed out of the program this fall - affectionately named Bob the Bailer by Adria and myself. Dee was an ELF in Turkey and Macedonia before coming here to Prishtina. She also lived and taught in Guatemala for a bit before joining the order of the ELFs. Sounded to me like an interesting woman . . . until I met here. In all actually, Dee is quite the opposite of interesting. This woman has made a living standing in front of a class, teaching them how to effectively use a language, but you'd more likely peg her as a life-long employee of the gift-wrap department at Bloomimes. Communicating with human beings is clearly not her forte. And I can thank Ardian in the US office for finding her an apartment in my building. She now lives four floors below me and when coming and going from the building, I keep the stair lights off and bold by her door as quickly as possible. At this point, my goal is to introduce her to as many people as possible in the hopes that someone else will willingly welcome and so she has other phone numbers to call other than mine.

The best open door I've found so far was the Sunday brunch buffet at the Danish KFOR base. In order to boost morale, the Danish military here offer their soldiers an amazing breakfast buffet every Sunday. They have extended the invitation to any international living in Kosovo, military or civilian. A group of us took the 45 minute drive, gave a passport to the heavily armed security guard and walked directly to the mess hall where we payed 8 Euro for one heck of a spread! The hall was filled with Swedish, French and German military as well as randoms like us. Would the US military welcome people in like that? I think not.

As a whole, I have felt very welcome here so far. Albanians, most Serbians and the international community have found reason to open their arms to this stranger from the states, for whatever reason. All of these communities can be very selective, however. To not be welcomed by any one of them could get in the way of quite a bit of life here. Makes me realize that eventually it will be my job to be welcome to people that come here. Keep the Karma positive.