Multi-ethnic holiday party

What do you get when you bring a Serbian Orthodox priest, an American soldier, Christian and Mulsim kids and an Albanian Muslim Santa Clause together around a Christmas tree? A lot of good laughs!! One of the extra projects that was placed in my lap when I got here was to plan a multi-ethnic holiday party for 8-12 year-old Albanian, Serbian, Roma and Egyptian kids from Prishtina and surrounding areas. I was told everything my predecessor did, how great it was, how much money she raised, how many volunteers she had and how great everyone felt about it. The pressure was on to make it as good as it was in the past, yet I had no idea how to go about any of it. It took up until two weeks ago for anyone to shed any light on how to organize this. So with some last minute adrenaline, a lot of help from volunteers and the wise insight of Naim a.k.a. Santa Clause, we were able to pull it off.

US KFOR donated some school bags and transported a bunch of kids. After several emails and meetings with the American and Kosovo Chambers of Commerce, I was able to get donations of food, drink, school supplies and money in order to buy supplies for crafts. The volunteers at the American Center worked their behinds off cutting out ornaments, painting materials for picture frames and actually printing out the pictures the night of the party so the kids could take their photo with Santa Clause home with them. So the kids arrived, made their picture frames, sang some songs, ate some pizza and sat with Santa. On their way out they were each given a backpack full of pencils, pens, scissors and rulers and left with huge smiles on their faces.

The whole process of planning this event was about as stressful as any event planning experience I've had. I somehow find myself with these tasks while never really asking for them. But after all the headaches, it was of course worth it. It usually is. I mean, look at that picture!!!

Ultimate Mission in Kosovo

Thank God I found Ultimate Frisbee. Not only has it introduced me to an extremely fun past-time, it has introduced me to a wonerful group of good friends and an even better activity than bowling to bring people together. So when thinking of something to top the day of bowling with my Serbian and Albian high school kids, Ultimate was a logical answer. Someone suggested getting these 40 kids together to play soccer, which I shot down immediately. Of course they all know and love the game. Some of them live and breath it, which is exactly why I didn't want it to be the vehicle for peace here. Because some of these kids take the sport so seriously, it would automatically open the flood gates of competation and hot heads. Like bowling, Ultimate is a game where everyone can be equally crap, start from the bottem and figure it out together. As far as I'm concerned, that's exactly the kind of experience these kids need to have with each other.

So the field was reserved, the kids were transported and the games began. With the help of six Ultie friends and a December sun bringing the temperature to about 50 degrees, coaching 40 kids how to throw, catch and play the game by the rules all worked out perfectly. For about 20 minutes the coaches took the kids through drills as if they were coaching these teams for the World Cup of Ultimate. It was beautiful! These kids were naturals and had a blast. I saw them work the Frisbee up the field together, cheer each other on, laugh at their mistakes and congratulate good plays. "Good game, Teacher," was said by most of them and they all wondered when we could do it again.

This past week I went from teaching just one group of these kids to teaching two. It looks as though teaching high school kids remains in the cards for me. This whole ACCESS outreach project is for two-years. I'm the teacher starting it here in Kosovo and I'm finding myself getting to a point of wanting to be the teacher to close it as well. These kids are just starting to get to know something and people they have likely grown up being afraid of. They they've volunteered to open the doors and explore. We've just started it all and I'd hate to think about them finishing without me. From Ultimate Frisbee to dinners at each other's homes? We'll see and hope.

Good-bye

Gave my first Kosovo farewell today. In a crowd of internationals working for government organizations, good-byes rank up there with death and taxes on the list of inevitables - actually, higher than taxes since most of those living abroad manage to avoid them. Thor, the big Scandinavian teddy bear, was the first person I met here. On my first night in my apartment he called me to see if I needed help with any settling in issues. The St. Olaf connection bound us together immediately. Because of Thor, my first two-and-a-half months in Kosovo have been full of things to do and a crowd of people with whom to do them.

In this past week leading up to Thor's departure, I've been very aware of the fact that adjusting to this place has been extremely easy. Theories of culture shock say that you will most likely have a downward mood swing early in your time abroad, once the initial thrill of being in a foreign country has worn down. Aside from maybe my first week here when I wasn't working much, a night has not gone by where I was sitting home alone wishing I had someone to call or a reason to go outside. Thor and his Thor-ganizing of events, dinners, Frisbee games and road trips saved me from the feelings of homesickness and loneliness of living abroad.

Three of us met at Thor's place at 5:30 this morning to escort him to the airport. He has been saying good-bye for the past week and has shed his share of tears for the three-and-a-half years of energy and emotion he's put into his job and his friendships here. He has been a literal social and professional icon here for a long time. He's leaving quite a bit and there are several people who have been with him through the best and the worst. He's lived in a lot of places and said a lot of good-byes and knows that he will see again those that matter because of the past they all share. I feel a bit of a void without him here. Probably leaves some room for the loneliness to finally set in. I'm about due, I guess. In the mean time, I'm counting on Olaf to be the tie that holds me to Thor. I just might be seeing his Nordic face strolling on The Hill some day.