Day 73 in Pristina, Kosovo

Yesterday I woke up early and headed out to the bus station to catch one of the many buses going southwest towards Prizren. It lies in the German KFOR zone which becomes rather obvious by the many German armored vehicles along the roads, German flags and the big KFOR base outside of the city.

Prizren immediately jumps out at you being far far more pretty than Pristina which is maybe worth a day’s time traveling. It holds the most Ottoman-era architecture of any city in Kosovo and is pleasantly situated on a small river surrounded by green hills. It’s a city of just over 100,000 and thus easy to manage and a relaxing place to visit. On arrival, with no map, I asked at a local kiosk how to get to the center. As is usually the case when the person asked doesn’t speak English, I was taken by the arm to nearby cab drivers who sputtered out a few phrases.

“This street, you go gerade, then left”Â?

Spotting the German word for straight, I switched into German which immediately got the entire group talking in decent enough Deutsch. Turns out many had lived in Germany at some point and we exchanged the usual info about who lived where and why and I listened to a chorus of praise for America. They added they liked Germany and the UK too but the rest of Europe was unreliable. After about ten minutes of friendly chatting, they told me how to get there and I set off. German has been very very handy in Kosovo and after English is by far the most useful.

I found my way to the river and followed it up to the main square which was filled with throngs of young people. School must have just gotten out I thought. The day before in a cafe, a 15 year old had told me school only goes until noon when I asked him why he wasn’t in school at this time.

I sat down for lunch at a small cafe on the corner and had a 2 Euro meal of meatballs and salad. From there I headed towards the nearest hill which the remnants of an old castle sat atop. Leading up was a slew of burned out houses and a few burned out Orthodox churches. In both 1999 and 2004, Albanians took revenge on the Serbian minority there killing some and burning their houses and churches. The 2004 incident was set off by the alleged drowning of 2 Albanian children who were being chased by Serbs, though what actually happened remains unclear. The Germans could have prevented much of the violence but failed to do so which caused controversy both in Germany and abroad as the reliability of the foreign troops was called into question.

People came and went, some stopping to drink from a fountain in the center of the square. A dirty middle aged man stopped and began taking colored plastic squirt guns out of a plastic bag and laying them on top of a cardboard box he’d brought. It was hot out and the sun unforgiving. His entrepreneurial instinct was good and dozens and dozens were sold immediately as teenagers began chasing each other around with them.

I hopped up and went up the hill watching normal brick houses turning into shells, some fenced off by barbed wire. I passed what had seemed to be a pretty orthodox church perched among wonderful green trees up on the hill. As I came up to it, it too was fenced off with razor wire and I noticed two German KFOR soldiers inside guarding it. As I found out, most Serbian churches were being guarded these days. The Albanians revenge could be as vicious as what Serbs had done to them.

I reached the castle and found a Kosovar family heading up too. Their two young children ran around playing on the road up and immediately took an interest in the foreigner who greeted them in an unfamiliar language. We walked up and I inspected what was left of hte castle walls though there was little to see overall. The views were incredible. Unlike Macedonia where the Orthodox domes and minarets signaled peaceful coexistence, here it had meant only violence.

Later after resting from the heat in a neaby cafe, I paid and walked up to three German soldiers on patrol. They were all armed and I was curious whether they were really on patrol or just heading somewhere.

I walked up and introduced myself in German and explained I was a tourist interested in the developments in Kosovo and the security stiuation. Were they on patrol? Yes. I asked whether it was necessary to be armed and they said only because they were working. Day to day things were fine. In fact, standing there watching people go by, the busy cafes, the designer shops and pop music, we could have almost been in Western Europe. There were no law and order problems and not much crime to speak of. However, they explained, as 2004 showed, ethnic violence could break out very suddenly and unexpected. It was that they wanted to prevent.

“So you’re basically just here to be seen”Â? I asked?

“Yes.”Â? they told me, “we’re not here as occupiers but we want to show the people that we’re here and in that way help to prevent things before they start. If there is a problem, we can move fast to stop it and help coordinate the response.”Â?

“Do you support the mission here? I know as a soldier you go where you’re deployed but do you feel you should be here?”Â? I asked.

“Yes. A lot of progress has been made in Kosovo, he for example,”Â? pointing to tall blonde soldier in sunglasses, “volunteered to stay here. You should ask him.

He’d extended is stay in Kosovo but said “There are other places that would be more challenging. There’s not much for us to do here. There are places were human rights are really being violated, where minorities are really oppressed and where there is more violence such as Somalia or southern Afghanistan.”Â?

I was surprised to hear him mention that as the German government had been resisting pressure from the US, Canada and the Netherlands to deploy further south where much of the fighting was instead of remaining in the more secure and uneventful north of the country.

“Would you like to go on more foreign deployments?”Â? I wondered.

“As a soldier, we are like doctors. When you become one, you dont choose what you do, or who you help. You go where you are needed. A doctor can’t say he’ll treat this person but not that person and a soldier can’t decide where he’ll go either.”Â?

In short, they were ready. Despite the hesitancy of the German people and government, the post-war values of modern Germany seemed to fit well with foreign intervention in the minds of these three soldiers. I was surprised and happy to hear it. Perhaps the Germans and Americans will have a brighter future working together than politics lets on.

They excused themselves as they had to continue working and I headed off towards a little shop I’d seen selling traditional clothing. After some bargaining for a shirt and a gift for my Dad, I was about to close the deal when two English speakers and a well dressed Kosovar walked in.

“Where you guys from?”Â? I asked, suspecting I already knew the answer.

“The U S of A”Â? they said, “And you?”Â?

“The same, from Georgia.”Â?

“Well we won’t hold that against you.”Â? they laughed.

“Oh no, you must be from the north.”Â? I shot back.

Turns out one was from Kentucky and the other from Washington state. They were contractors working for USAid helping to reform the court system. They’d been in Prizren for the day visiting the local court. I closed the deal with the old lady who gave me a KFOR coffee mug I’d said was neat. They asked me what I was doing here as the Washingtonian scoured the table for carpets.

We exchanged the basic where are you from, what are you doing conversation and they offered me a ride back to Pristina which I gratefully accepted. The one looking for carpets mentioned he was a real carpet lover and I said he should push for a trip to Afghanistan.

He purchased a few things and we walked back to the OSCE office where they’d parked a brand new SUV. The Albanian with them was head of the security for the court system and seemed to be the de facto interpreter for them although they also worked together. We rode back and chatted a little bit about their previous work abroad and about Kosovo. Both wine lovers, they constantly chatted about the various vineyards we passed and the quality of local wine.

Back in Pristina, they dropped me downtown and I headed back home.

I’ll leave tonight on a night bus to Montenegro. However, I’ll probably first head to Peja, a city about an hour away from here on the road in that direction where I can also get the bus from. Only problem is having to bring my bag with me the whole time. As its Saturday, and I head back to Germany Tuesday night, I need to get on to Dubrovnik now so I’ll spend tomorrow and Monday in Montenegro (probably Kotor and some other little town whose name I’ve forgotten) and then leave early Tuesday for Croatia which is a short drive away.

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