Universal Message

We didn't get Thanksgiving Day off. The day is one of many American traditions that everyone around here knows from the movies but doesn't recognize. Regardless of the lack of awareness of those around me, I was determined to spread the message of the day to all I encountered. The more I'm away from family for the big holidays the more I find my own meaning for them. They are more than big meals, football and leftovers. When you don't have those familiar things available to you, you have no choice but to find something else meaningful in it all.

The night of the US elections a friend asked me if I'd help him cook a Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of the Frisbee friends. Getting my hands into the making of a Thanksgiving meal can be so much fun to me, I of course said I would love to help. For the entire week leading up to the day the two of us took trips to Bondsteel, the French, German, Italian and Danish KFOR bases and their PX stores buying turkeys, frozen pies, wine, Stove Top Stuffing and looking high and low for cranberries and canned pumpkin. For that which we were not successful, we were able to improvise and find local modifications. Some angel was watching and brought a donation of canned pumpkin to me from London that wasn't being used by anyone else. Saved me from having to cut up and cook an entire pumpkin. The turkeys available were frozen mini Butterballs. Our guest list became over 15 and we decided we would definitely need two of them. Seeing as two turkeys do NOT fit into an oven at the same time, we were up until 2 AM cooking the first one Wednesday night after Frisbee. It required a call to Grandma Helen for some tips and in the end bird #1 was a good test. We knew what to do to make #2 better.

For my class that day, I explained a little bit about the holiday and how it began. Pilgrims, Mayflower, religions persecution, difficult winter in the new world, native Americans helping out, and a final feast of thanks. I made a point of telling them that what was historically a celebration with religions intent, centuries later has evolved into a holiday celebrated in the US by every race, religion and nationality. Every culture that has immigrated to the country has created their own tradition around the day that has been set aside to recognize all of the things in our lives we are fortunate to have. The kids went on to make lists of the things they were thankful for. From family, friends and teachers to electricity, socks and the USA. Without the meal and without the TV on, these Serbian and Albanian kids got the message. We all have reasons to be thankful.

The rest of the afternoon was spent listening to music, cutting veggies and smelling the second turkey roasting to perfection with my cooking partner in crime. We had a blast preparing it all. And the icing on the cake was the Australian guest asking what a parsnip was, how you make stuffing and marveling at how pumpkin could taste so good. I've been here for two months now, and cannot begin to explain how thankful I am to have been able to spend the day doing something I love doing with people that I'm lucky to share a great day with. One more of so many things in my life to be thankful for!

Show me the money

Was on my way out of town with a friend and we got stick in horrendous traffic. We could see fireworks in the distance and wondered what the occasion was and why we weren't invited. Turns out it was the grand opening of a new shopping mall. A fancy 3 floor clothing store on the edge of town and it was PACKED!!! And the cars parked outside weren't your lowly 15 year-old VW Golfs. Brand new Audis, MBWs and Mercedes were prevalent. And just like the other shopping centers like it, inside are Polo sweaters, 7 Jeans, Esprit bags and jackets along with other expensive western brands. Ironically, not but a few hours earlier a student of mine was making a joke about how prime time TV in Kosovo is 7 - 9 AM because no one has a job to go to in the morning.

Every time I encounter this mysterious phenomenon of apparent consumerism with peaking unemployment statistics, I have to ask and try to make sense of it. Three answers prevail. At the end of the 90s when Albanians were being run out by Milosovic and the Serbs, a lot of them sought asylum in Europe and the states. They got jobs there that paid better than anything they could get here, and have never come back. Instead, their foreign incomes come back to feed their families and generally support the local economy. Another more obvious but less complete answer is how much the international organizations here employ the locals, which is true to a certain extent. However, the percentage of Kosovar Albanians that have the education and language skills to nab jobs in these organizations is extremely small.

The third, and maybe the answer that applies to most is that the affluence seen here has a lot to do with the local Mafia whom historically, the US has supported. I have a hunch this mob culture spreads out across this entire country. Organized crime culture is a way of life that has existed here for a long time and has proven to be a viable means of survival. As a result it permeates. Even if one is not involved directly with mob activity, the family and doing whatever means necessary to protect the family is the bottom line to people here. There is an unwritten code - the Code of Dukajini - which states that if an individual from one family kills a member of your family, you have every right to retaliate on any member of the murdering family with murder, regardless of who was actually holding the smoking gun, so to speak. Every one of your actions is seen as an action done by the family. The code goes back in Albanian culture for years, having nothing to do with relationships with Serbia or any other neighbor. And when money is concerned, every penny one makes is a penny for the family. They are all in it together.

The picture above is of a Kula - a structure built to protect one family from a neighboring feuding family. There is even a room isolated and removed from the rest with a wood-burning stove - the only one in the house. Women were not allowed in this room. It was for the men only, to hide out from whoever wanted to kill them on any given day. These places are now turned into bed and breakfast places and often visited by internationals for a bit of culture. that's why I got the picture.

Feels like I bring up this topic over and over again, but I can't help it. Day after day questions I ask about the dichotomies that exist here give me the same answers. Illegal, corruption, Mafia, laundering, revenge. The US and NATO came here to save the Albanians from ethnic cleansing done by Serbs. Then, according to others, the US helped Albanian terrorists perform their own form of ethnic cleansing on the Serbs. And clearly, cultural norms that existed well before any international organization even looked at the area have a huge influence on the efforts toward independence that are being made here.

Needless to say, I go into these shopping centers and give them my business. It's a setting familiar to us internationals and we like being there. And, I have to admit my I got a bit of the New York City China Town rush when I looked at the price of those jeans that would have sold for $180 at Macy's and saw that here they were no more than $30. They don't have to be as covert here as they do in China Town. There really isn't anyone here to bust them for selling fraudulent goods. So, they build their shiny malls with bright lights and big windows showing that someone here has money,

The Military

They are here in all different forms, from all different countries, each country claiming it's own territory of the province to look after. They are few, they are definitely proud, and this weekend the 6 US Marines in Kosovo held their annual Birthday Ball. You've got to know someone to get tickets for the thing at the cost of 30 Euro. The Frisbee team network proved fruitful in the search, so myself and 4 other ladies equally intrigued by men in uniform snagged ourselves seats.

A cab took us to a hotel just outside of town where we were greeted by the soldiers. So polite and obviously happy to meet five new ladies. They took our coats and we entered to the bar area where the servers were walking with trays of cheese and meats, fruit juice and shots of vodka and whiskey. A sign of what was to come, no doubt. For the next hour the space filled with women in proper ball gowns, men in uniform and tuxedos along with military men and women in the camouflage fatigues. Into our second drink, Laura and I mustered up the courage to break from the Frisbee contingent and mingle with the others. Clearly the military men had not seen women in civilian clothes in quite a while. They are confined to their base for the most part - Bondsteel - and rarely get out to experience life in P'tina. They might have every US comfort at their fingertips - Doritos and Twinkees at the PX - but by no means do they have a chance to have a normal life. Clearly by the name the base is quite secure. People like us can only get on with a military escort. Well, needless to say we had quite a few invitations by the end of the night. From what I've heard about the PAX, I might be able to get my hands on those baking supplies before Christmas after all!

After cocktail hour, we moved up to the dining room and sat down for the ceremony. This is where the Marines showed their stuff with their marching, calling out, rifle handling and cake cutting. Yes, the major part of the ceremony was the cutting of the cake with a sword and feeding it to the oldest marine in the room. He in turn handed the first piece of cake over to the youngest marine in the room. I, the American, along with the Brit, Canadian, Irish and Swiss women with me found it a bit strange that a cake was the center of the ceremony, but I guess it was a birthday celebration.

After the ceremony, we were fed chicken or beef, bottles of wine and some good laughs with the other guests at our table. They were all Americans either working for the US Mission or US SivPol, the international police force here. Then, in typical wedding reception form, the DJ started spinning the tunes and the dance floor lit up. After dancing the night away with the marines - not one taller than 5' 8" and no older than 24 - we grabbed our souvenir wine glasses and headed back to town. Definitely an experience worth having.
Dress - $30
Shoes - $20
Hairdo - $4
Dancing with 6 marines in full uniform - Priceless!!!