Caroll

I took an UNMIK tour to Paralia, Greece. The bus trip over was not too long and I met three young women who I wound up spending quite a bit of time with over the weekend. We became travel buddies! We stayed in a hotel right on the Aegean sea. Waking up in the morning and going to the breakfast buffet where we then ate at little tables right on the beach was amazing. Breakfast was pretty good too. After breakfast, I took off my shoes and waded into the water. It was too cold to swim, but I enjoyed Skyping with my parents from the Aegean sea so much that I woke them up to do it. It felt amazing being able to share that experience with them. Me and my new friends decided to ... read more

I may be fast approaching the point where jet lag is no longer an excuse, but I slept most of the morning. This afternoon, I felt like if I stayed in I would just sleep more so I decided to go out. I wanted to buy a clothing iron, and I'd been told of an appliance store that was just down the street from my usual walk to work, so I decided to give it a shot by myself. I quickly found and bought an iron, but why should I go back so soon? So I decided to explore the new area. And I found something awesome! An open air green market (with excellent looking produce!) that led to a mass of flea market type tents. It was amazing! It reminded me of the big open ... read more

So, I wound up having a nice day on Sunday. I was not perfectly better, but I was good enough to enjoy more of the city. I had coffee in the morning, and some bread, so not the sumptious breakfast of the previous day in an effort to help with my stomach complaint. It worked, so I went back to the main street and turned the opposite way than I had before. I saw many interesting shops, which I took pictures of, and did more shopping. However, when I got near the end of the street, I found a museum dedicated to a Bulgarian Renaissance thinker and an Orthodox church from the same time period. I went to the museum, and it was absolutely deserted except for me and the guy running it - it was ... read more

...so I've been eating! Oh, and doing other things too! I've had so many wonderful experiences these past couple of weeks, it's hard to name them all. I have a new office-mate, Fiona, who is absolutely awesome. We've had lunch a couple of times. I ran into Leurata after work and we went out for coffee and went clothing shopping. I didn't buy clothing then, but later I bought socks and I hope to get some t-shirts and scarves soon. I also bought some amazing silver earrings, but they are going to be gifts for people so I'm not going to upload pictures of them yet until they've been given (probably end of March after I come back to take the MPRE and then return to Kosovo). For those curious about the price of handmade silver ... read more

So, this was an interesting weekend. I decided to go out and see some sights. I bought a lonely planet guidebook which described some places I wanted to visit, but I worried that I would get lost on the way. However, I wound up being able to find my way around nicely. All I had to do was always know where the street "Agni Ramadani" was. As long as I knew that, I knew how to get back to my apartment. I went down to the city center and visited the Kosovo Museum. Some of the museum seemed to be closed, or they had switched exhibits between what my guidebook described, because instead of general cultural artifacts they had two exhibits: an exhibit on a specific family's life in Kosovo pre-war and their sacrifices during the ... read more