Hmmm...

American interests being attacked in Serbia, Bosnia and Slovenia. Maybe Kosovo is the safest place to be after all....

Oh, everyone should be happy to know I finally exercised some self restraint today, Peter and I went to the Harley store, and of course they had my bike sitting there. 2008 Harley Night Rod Special. Too bad I didn't have the $27,000 for it.

Kosovo is born!

OK, sorry for posting the pics and no explination. My computer died halfway through my story, so here it is.

KOSOVO IS BORN. That seems to be the theme around Pristina. Now, before you all start worrying about me having been in Kosovo, less than a week after them having declared independence, I should tell you there was not a lot to be afraid of. I planned this trip in place of a spring break trip, as I figured I would get much more out of it than being drunk with a bunch of friends. I was not wrong at all. Furthermore, I did have the foresight to go to the US Embassy in Prague (not recommended, they wouldn't let my insulin pump through security) and discuss my plans with them, and I was told what I had in mind would be OK. Furthermore, for a city of nearly a million, only a few dozen ethnical Serbs are left, and the unrest in Belgrade and Mitrovice is being caused by Serbs upset over the split. Therefore, a few dozen, mostly elderly, people were not going to be causing riots that I should be worried about.

Pristina is a war torn city. That is the best way to put it, at least the most non-offensive way of saying it. Years of war are still visible, even after nearly a decade of rebuilding. Gutted shells of buildings remain everywhere downtown. Any older person will point out exactly what damage the Serbs did while occupying Pristina, which is no small amount.

While the city itself is a mess, the people are the exact opposite. They are, quite possibly, the happiest people I have ever met. Children run and play, soccer in the city squares is a guarantee. Teenagers walk arm in arm from cafe to cafe, with no real destination in mind. Elderly guys sit on park benches for hours talking (about what, I have no idea). The best part? Everyone has a smile on their face. Everyone is excited, and certainly very happy about the future.

I must say, though, the food on this trip was amazing. Hands down, the best, and fortunately for me, the cheapest food I have had since I have gotten to Europe. The very traditional meat burek with drinkable yougurt will set you back 70 euro cents. I kid not, $1 for a lunch that filled me up. I had three lunches and desert at an upscale bakeshop near the UN complex, for under $10. Half of that went to the bakeshop, so in reality three lunches of traditional Kosovo cooking for under $5. Dinner was had at a very upscale, yet traditional, restaurant, once again by the UN complex. The clientel was mostly higher ranking US officials, who probably should pay closer attention to how loudly they are projecting some of their seemingly confidential conversations. Lamb in a yougurt sauce, 2 beers, a side order of potatoes (I got 5 baked potatoes), 2 loafs of bread, a glass of moonshine (moonshine is apparenly legal and common in restaurants here), and baklava for desert will set you back about $15 in a expensive restaurant in Pristina. Not bad at all. I should also mention that the only menu I ever seen in the country was writtenon a chalkboard in a few of the little shops. The cheap restaurants you look in a case and tell them what you want, and the expensive restaurants they tell you whats available, and you tell them what you want. Simple as that.

However, the best part of the trip for me, was seeing a completely different culture. The Czech Republic is great, and Poland was too, but in al honesty, they are a very western culture. Change their native language to English, and they are no different to me than the south would be. Kosovo, however, is different. Hearing the mosques broadcast the daily Muslim prayer a few times a day, was something I had never encountered before. Horse drawn carts existed in Poland, but they were tourist attractions, not a means of livelihood for some poor family. Poland and CZ both show some damage from wars of years past, but there aren't chunks of road missing from where a bomb was dropped 10 years ago. St. Nicholas' Serbian Orthodox church is right downtown, construction started in 1995, and it was never finished due to war and the expulsion of Serbs. It sits now as a hollow shell, with no one able to decide to do with it.
However, even through all the poorness and pain of war, the people are happy. That is what I take from this trip, how someone can be so happy with nothing. They are genuinely a nice people, who love what America has done for them. Not once was I treated with any disrespect, it would be inappropriate according to their culture for them to do so.

Finally, the last thing that will always stay with me, is being at the bar saturday night, trying to thank the bartender for the free drinks (they really, really love Americans, especially American tourists), and having him tell me no, thank you for all American has done to help the people of Kosovo. That was one of the most touching moments of my life, and I still have the Kosovo beer bottle with the American flag label to remember it.

Outskirts of Pristina, horses are still used for work here, Martyr's Memorial, memorial and tomb of the last president of Kosovo: Rugova, road by my hotel

UN/NATO compound, Kosovo independence signs, staue of 15th century hero outside the UN building, National Library, Thank you sign

Kosovo

View of Pristina from Velenia Hill, Opening of new ProCredit Bank (Kosovo's President attended, he's in the middle of that crowd), traditional dance outside the bank, Bill Clinton Boulevard, St. Nicholas Orthodox Church

Krakow, Poland

Well, I realized this is my only journal of the trip, so if you don't want to hear about outside of school things, stop reading it.

Poland was a fun time, probably two of the best days I've ever had. We got in late thursday night, the train left Prague at 2:00 and got in about 9:30. We walked to our hostel, which was very nice (better than some hotels I've been in), then spent the next few hours looking for a restaurant still open.

Friday we walked around town. Old town here had the largest open square in Europe, excluding the museum thingy in the middle, St. Marys, which is the most decorated church I have ever seen, and a crazy street performer knight, who knighted Peter for his charitable donation. We spent some time at Wawel castle, which is amazing, but unfortunately we got there too late to see the armory and crown jewels. That night, we went to the bar in the basement of our hostel, played some card games, and the nice thign about travelling with 5 girls (maybe the only benefit...) is that the bartender/owner decided we needed lots of free champagne and vodka.

Saturday we went to Auschwitz concentration camp. It was very sad to visit a site of mass murder, but I was overall disappointed at how the place is run. It felt no different to me than visiting holocaust museums in America, which is not too good, because this was at the site. I got a much better visit, in my opinion, by wandering around the empty buildings and sites with a guide book than by looking at the exhibits.

Saturday night was much more fun, we went to this awesome Polish restaurant. People were singing and dancing, there was some guys playing accordian and violin, and cute Polish girls dressed traditionally that I really wanted to bring home as souviners. I tried some blood sausage, which suprisingly isn't too bad. Then my Officer's Platter came, which is a pile of meat. Everythign on that was delicious, except for one thing. It looked like a piece of steak, so I popped it into my mouth, and it turned out to have the most horrible texture ever. Think of the stringyness of meat with the consistancy of cheese. Turns out it was pig's stomach. I'll be sure to never order stomach again. The good point is, no one is ever going to grab a bite of anthing off my plate again :) Oh, I found I like pirogies too, as long as they are meat filled.

Sunday morning was the only downside of the trip. We were headed to the train station at 5:30am, so no one wanted to walk. We took a tram, but couldn't figure out how to buy tickets, so we just got on. Unfortunately, in Krakow, ticket inspectors check tickets at 5:30am, and we all got hit with fines. I'm willing to put that behind me, though, and say Poland is an awesome country that you should visit should you get the chance.

Now, I'm off to plan spring break.

Wawel Castle, Erin and Jordan jumping with a cute little girl from Texas (jumping pics were the theme of the trip...), Auschwitz, my new favorite restaurant (complete with plates of meat, singing, a guy playing violin and accordian, and some Polish girls I wanted to take home as souviners), and a cool gothic cellar that is now a bar.

Krakow

Old Town Square, Old Town with St. Mary's, inside St. mary's, a Polish paczki, inside Wawel Castle looking at the cathedral

School

Well, I was going post about the weekend trip to Krakow, but people want to hear about school instead.

Monday was the first day of classes. I had Czech history. The professor is a very knowledgable guy, has his doctorate in post-communist studies. His grandfather opened the Jewish museum in Prague that Hitler decided he was going to use for his museum of an extinct people. We covered class materials, then took a trip to Vysehrad, the site of Prague's first castle, to learn the myths about the creation of Bohemia and Morovia and its early rulers.

Tuesday was Art and Architecture. Went on a walk of the city to see some cool old buildings, to study how construction of the buildings changed over time. Unfortunately, we won't be convering any of the engineering aspects of the buildings, which would be sweet.

Wednesday was Reading Prague and Politics. I decided to drop the reading class, it doesn't count for anything for me anyways, and if I keep it, I have 8 hours of class with one 15 min break. Which means, by the time the politics class is half over, I am not going to be able to pay attention, and since I need politics and it is a much more interesting class, that may be bad. Sorry to disappoint anyone.

Anyways, politics is a cool class. It is taught by a former ambassador of the Czech Republic to Italy, who is very knowledgable in world affairs. Seems to speak about 20 languages, too. He is a very nice guy who wants to encourage us to research topics of our choosing rather than a set topic, and encourages travel as the best way to learn. I guess those trips will be school related, so I can talk about them here when I go.

For anyone that would like to see the Poland pics, they'll be on Facebook. I'm just talking about school on this blog from now on.

HC Sparta

Well, appraently The Prague Sparta is the hated team around here, cause I've almost started two fights by just wearign the hat that I bought. Seriously, They take more offense than someone wearing a Northern hat around Houghton. Anyway, hockey isking around here, and yes, I actually went to a game. People are more crazy than at Tech games, which, if youve been to a Tech game, you know is ridiculious. Anyways, the landlord deciced to feed me about 7 shots in a half hour (something about the Soviets being able to drink) and I need to go to bed, so I'll talk later.

More pics

Wenceslas Sq from the National Museum, by the train station, Republic Sq, looking left and right out of my apartment window, left to St. Agnes covenant and right to an old church

New Pics from this weekend

Well, the first shows that they got Aunt Sherry in Prague (take a close look at the symbol on the car), next three are Old town Square, the last is one of the State Theatres, where Mozart composed and directed.

Krakow....

Well, I'm headed to Krakow, Poland for the weekend. More details to come when they are available, as well as pics, but we're leaving Prague around 2:00 Thursday, getting there around 9:00 at night, ad staying till Sundy morning. I'll finally have the chance to see the Czech countryside, and another country. Unfortunately, it also means I won't get much time to talk to my sweetie on Valentines Day (sorry, Sarah).

Coffee!

Finally found a place with American coffee. Just plain, black coffee, not lattes or espressos or Viennese coffee. Not that I'm a huge lover of coffee, but I'm definitely not a huge lover of espresso. Kavarna u Lucerny is the place, convienently two blocks (well, as wels you can count a block here) from my home. Plus, it's obviously got internet. Cause we still don't have any.

One lst thing.....

Read the other two posts for sure. But, I'm hating Galaxy sports broadcasting ni Czech. GRRRRRrrrrrrrrr............

Oh, and how do you tell the Engineering student in Prague.....

When this pic is the collest thing he's seen. Not the awesome castles and such, the tow truck that picks cars up. That's what amazes me aout this place.

So the moral of the story......

...is when you drink with a bunch of girls, don't expect much, except for the only taken person in a group of seven to get hit on. Actually, she was only looking for a light for her cigarette, but she talked like she liked me. But it didnt matter, cause I gots the beautiful Sarah, and wasn't interested.

Anyhoo, me and my roommate Peter started the night out at the Harley bar, at 1am. It was good, my kind of place, but expensive. No draft beer, only bottled. We left, and met up with the girls who were heading to a drag show. Got there, and there was a ridiculious cover charge, so we went down the road to Al Capones. It obviously isn't his bar, but just named after him. I had two whisky sours, and pretty much three more beers cause we finally found a Czech beer that isn't good, but since I love beer, I couldn't leave sitting on the table. We ended up by the Tesco, which is the European version of Wally world, and which has a stand of Smazeny Syr, fried cheese, by it. Finally everyone went their seperate ways, no random girls ended up in random beds in the apt, which is a complete other story, but I ended up at the close bar watching New Jersey and Anaheim play hockey. Its 3am, I'm halfway drunk, blogging, watching American Hockey, loving Prague and life, and planning my trip to Stockholm, Sweden. But anways......................

Awesome landlord.....

So, I dont know if I mentioned that my landlord is awesome lately. I hear music as I'm leaving the apartment last night, and figure there is a private party going on, as he seems to do those a lot. He shouts for me to come over, and says 'Czech country music' (he doesn't speak much English). So I sit and watch for a while, thn he drags me over to the bar to get me pear schnapps and, as he likes to put it, #1 quality wine in all of Czech Republic.

Alcoholic landlord who refuses money for booze, apartment one of the oldest (I'm told by the director of the program) buildings in Prague, in a very historic district, and for $30 less a month than everyone else :)

Oh.....

Two addendums to the last post.

1) Hockey is on TV in the Czech! Yay! And, I'm watching the Superbowl right now!

2) There are 7 pages of Novaks in the Prague phone book!

Thats all!

The land of the fried cheese....

Well, it's 4:30 a.m., you're running around town from one bar to home (or perhaps to the next bar), where do you go for food? Wenceslas square, and the street vendors, for a fried cheese sandwich. I kid you not. The Czechs took mozarella sticks to a new level, made them into a flat patty, smoothered them in mayonase and put them in bun. And they are good. I may open a fried cheese sandwich stand on College Ave when I get back to Tech.

Anyhoo, computer took a crap on me again, it may not make it past Prague. Hopefully it makes it all the way through, or I'll be sad.

Class is going fine, I'm learning about as much as anyone is. Which isn't a while lot. I still can't pronounce the number four (Čtyři).

Everyone will be happy to know I finally sang karaoke, That Smell by Skynyrd. And, apparently I'm good. So maybe I'll go back this week, and do you Never Even Called Me By My Name :)

Friday night was interesting. We tried going out as a big group, and that lasted as long as the first tram stop, when half of us got left. So a few of us wandered around the city for a while, and eventually we all got to the same spot. I went to the first club I have ever been to, and had I had my camera, I could have gotten Schuette his pics. Actually the whole club was foreigners, getting drunk Brits and Irish together always turns out for a fun time. The Irish are a fun bunch, the Brits more so a bunch of rich boys acting like punks in large groups.

Saturday we tried the big group thing again, which is apparent that it isn't going to work. One minute 20 people in a room, the next there are three of us (none of which actually lived in the apartment), going where is everyone? I've made up my mind that from now on, I pick one person ou of the group, and whereever that person goes, I go.

Today I went to the Prague Castle, which is old and nice. It was the first sun we've had since pretty much I got here too, although, it is getting cold, finally down to freezing. Very nice place, guards got guns I have never seen before and that I want, the cathedral is amazing and the view of the city is outstanding.

Internet will be in my apartment in 6-7 days, according to the landlord, who is an awesome guy. He owns a wine bar downstairs, and invites us down for Czech wine often. Czech wine is pretty good, and very dry, and you all might get some when I come home. Went to pay the rent yesterday, and before we start doing anything, he pulls out a bottle of Czech pear liquor, and gives us a shot. Do the payment, adress concerns, etc, get one, and finish off with another shot. Very nice guy, despite not speaking English, very easy to get along with. But moral of the story is, when I don't have to go to a bar to get online (yeah, big problem, I know), I'll post more frequently

Anyhoo, thats all I think I got. Catch you all later, and keep the comments coming. Schuette, I'll work on the request, but it might be a few months before they start shedding the winter layer.

Dobrỳ Noc!

St. Vitus cathedral, indside, Prague lit up for dusk, and back of St. Vitus at dusk

Astronomical clock in Old Town square, keeps track of time, date, star positions, sunrise, etc and was built in the 1400's, transportation I get to use every day, transportation I wish I could use everyday (or even just one day), me at Prague Castle, view of Prague from the castle