And so begins my life in Kosovo. I arrived a couple of days ago, yesterday being Orthodox Christmas.
At the moment I still feel like a cat that has just been shipped to a new home - someone needs to butter my paws! But I thought I might get down some first impressions of the place before all the things that make me go ‘oh my!’ and ‘wha-huh?’ become a regular part of everyday life.
As I sit curled up on the couch, nice big fat flakes of snow are drifting down outside, dusting the red-tiled rooves and oily streets of Gjilan (my new home town for the next bit). Our apartment is small but cute and cosy with lots of little windows offering interesting views. Out of one I can see minarets of a mosque, out of another an orthodox church. From the lounge room there is a view out over a small hill – the Hill of Martyrs - with a monument on top dedicated to Kosovo independence fighters.
These are some of the moments that have made up my
experience so far
·
Watching a group of be-robed monks entering the orthodox
church next door on their Christmas morning
·
Listening to the imams sing the call to prayer
every couple of hours
·
Cooking pasta for lunch yesterday, with sausages
bought from the US Military Base (pig-related meat is hard to come by in these parts)
·
Trying to order a drink in a cafe and
realising that I don’t speak a single word of Albanian, or Serbian for that
matter. "Hot chocolate" didn't translate. "Hmmm. Coffee?" the waiter kept trying. I ended up with a mint tea. So hard!
· Walking down a street packed with shops selling
bridal wear that made me go both 'oh my!' and 'wha huh???'. Lots of tulle and shiny white satin. Lots of big puffy sleeves and plunging sweetheart necklines. Lots and lots of bedazzling. I subsequently got chased
away by the owner of one of the dress shops when I tried to take a photo of
some of her truly spectacular creations in the window – I guess she thought I
might be trying to steal her designs.
Not likely, lady!
·
Being amazed by the enormous mountains of
cabbages for sale at the market.
Cabbages and ... well.... that seems to be about it really.
·
Visiting the supermarket and realising that aisles
packed with cheap, tacky, sweet biscuits seem to be a staple of any developing country
(but then again maybe Arnott’s Family Assorted looks cheap and tacky to
foreigners as well)
·
Watching a story on the local news about a ‘kanguru’
in ‘Australi’ that had been ‘arrestuar’ at an airport (see – I am picking up a
few Albanian words already. Too easy!)
·
Realising that as a ‘foreigner’ I
am going to stick out spectacularly in this town. I don’t think tourism is a mainstay of the
local economy and Romain estimates there are probably less than 20 expats
living here. Might need to learn more
than ‘kanguru’ to help me integrate a bit.
·
Feeling happy that my obvious status as a foreigner has so far been met with bemused smiles and crinkled brows, rather than pitchforks
and angry chants.
Tonight – an adventure to a local restaurant. I have been promised meat and meat. And more
meat. And maybe a potato, just to make
the plate look pretty.
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