FAQs

So I haven't updated for two weeks -- sorry! Take this as a good sign that I've been happy and busy and enjoying myself in Kosovo! Since my last update, I've done a lot of things: I've gone to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, discovered a bar with live music that plays traditional Albanian music every Monday, decided I will go to law school next year (!), ate a fabulous traditional Albanian dinner, and of course, made some new friends in Pristina.

For this entry, I decided to write a sort of FAQ about Kosovo and my life here. I will put up some funny questions people asked me about Kosovo, some general facts I think are important.

General Information: What do you call someone who lives in Kosovo?
-The population is about 2.2 million people.
-Around 90% identify themselves as Albanian, 7% Serbian, 3% Minority, such as Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian.
-Albanian/minority relations don't seem to be strained here: I've been to Ashkali villages where people speak Albanian and get along with Albanians, and everything is fine.
-The conflict is between Kosovar-Albanian and Kosovar-Serbians. The majority of people here do not say they are 'Kosovar' but rather that they are Albanian or Serbian. The establishment of the country of Kosovo does not eliminate old ethnic prejudices, in fact it only strengthens them.
-There are Serbian enclaves in Kosovo where mainly Serbians live, and they use the Serbian Dinar there as currency instead of the Euro (the Kosovar currency.)
-I haven't met any Serbians in Pristina, I don't think many live here.
-Around 87% of the population is Muslim; most Albanians here are Muslim, with a very small minority being Catholic. Most Serbians here are Serbian Orthodox. In 2004, some Albanian extremists threw grenades and destroyed Serbian monasteries, most of which are now under protection of NATO K-FOR.
-Most people I have met here say they are not religious. It is not Ramadan (pronounced Ramazan here), and the majority of my friends do not fast, or ever go to mosque, and I hardly ever see any women covered. Islam here is more cultural than religious, it is a way to separate yourself from the Serbians. The reason people in Kosovo are Muslim is because the Ottoman Empire was here for hundreds of years, and they adopted to the religion.
-On highways, the city names are written in both Albanian and Serbian.

Culture: What are people like?
-People here get married very young! A guy told me (in the nicest way possible) that when I turn 24, I will be too old to get married, as people will wonder why no man has wanted to marry me yet. I'll be an old maid by 25, and have to live with my parents forever. Well I think this was a bit of a conservative view (I've met people over 25 who aren't married of course), but many people here get married VERY young.
-Families are big! My friend Vigan has 7 brothers and sisters, and I've met a lot of people who have huge families.
-It is completely normal to live with your families until you get married, and even after marriage. People are always surprised when they hear that I went to college far away and that I like living on my own. Living is expensive here, so many people live together so they can afford the high rent. My 30 year old female co-worker lives in a house with her parents and her brother and her brother's wife and children, and she is perfectly happy like this.
-Women here are very feminine and always dress up to the nines. I feel like a slob here sometimes because I don't spend a long time putting on make-up every day and wear high heels.
-It's unusual for women to spend time alone at restaurants or cafes. Someone told me if I went out to dinner by myself, everyone would stare at me and wonder why I have no friends, and wonder what's wrong with me. It's true that people here do tend to stare a lot at anyone who looks different than themselves.
-They love dairy here. Someone told me, "I would die if I didn't eat dairy products!" after I said I didn't want to drink any yogurt. I already told you about drinking yogurt - didn't I? It's not really my thing.

Money, How much do things cost?
-There is 40% unemployment.
-If you have a steady job, the average income is 150 Euro a month. If you have a great job, like a doctor, your income will be around 350 Euro a month. My apartment's rent is 350 Euro a month, and that is quite cheap for here, so how people could ever live alone is a mystery to me.
-At a nice bar, one beer costs 1.5 Euro. At a nice club, a beer costs 2 Euro. Outside of the city, a beer costs around 70 cents.
-There is a traditional Albanian restaurant which is quite nice, where you can get a cooked trout, vegetables, and bread for 5 Euro, and it's delicious! Food here can be very cheap.
-A gourment sandwich (yes! i found a place!) costs about 2.70 Euro! Though they aren't quite as good as Carma's (the best sandwich place ever, in Baltimore), they are still pretty good, and one of the only places I have found Turkey here.
-One makkiato (latte) costs 5o-70 cents at a cafe. People here drink coffee all the time, and sit for hours relaxing at outdoor cafes.
-A taxi anywhere in the city will cost you less than 4 Euro, unless you are traveling from the bus station, which is outside of the city center, into the city. I've actually only taken a cab once, because the city center is really small.

Water, Electricity, Daily Life: So do you sit in the dark a lot?
-My water is now (mostly) hot! I don't know what was wrong with it before, but everything has been great for the past two weeks!
-Last week my electricity went off every single day. Outside of Pristina, this is quite and people don't have energy more often than they do. When my electricity went out, I would just take a nap, there isn't anything else to do. The electricty also went out when I was grocery shopping, when I was at a restaurant (so we ate in the dark of course!) and when I was at work.
-My co-worker lives outside of the city and says he only has water at night, and this means his wife has to cook and save all the water just at night so they can use it during the rest of the day. Imagine a whole day without water, and every night having to guess how much you will want the next day.

Nightlife: So what do you do at night?
-Pristina has an amazing nightlife! For a country that is extremely poor, people here sure know how to have fun! I go out a lot, even on weeknights (EVERYONE does!) Many streets in the city center are lined up and down with cafe/bars. Pubs don't really exist here - but people always sit outside at little tables and relax.
-At midnight, most bars close, and people move to clubs. Clubs stay open really late, and usually you have to pay 2 Euro to get into the "cool" ones.
-There is one street here, Mother Teresa, which is a pedestrian street, and at night it is teeming with young adults, teenagers, and kids. Since teenagers can't go to clubs, they literally walk up and down this street all night. It's a place where you can pepole watch, hang out with your friends, it's really the place to be if you are anywhere between the ages of 7 and 18.

Work: What do you do at work exactly?
-Well you know a little about what my organization does. As I am the only international, and everyone else here is Albanian, my English skills have come in quite useful. I spend a lot of time reading over grant proposals and editing them. I've learned about the way organizations run and how you get funding. A lot of it is about balancing your organization's goals with the goals of your sponsors, and it is very useful knowledge for me, as I would like to continue working with NGO's.

Overall, Kosovo is not like you would expect it to be. Most people think this is a place of war, and a lot of Europeans have extremely negative stereotypes about Albanians. This of course has been the exact opposite of my experience here. The nicest people I've ever met has been here - everyone is friendly, loves foreigners, and want to help you with anything you need. I really want to work to reduce Kosovo's negative image and the stigma attached to the world's newest country.

As much as is a misunderstanding about what life is like in Kosovo, there are also funny views of what life is like in the US. One of my co-workers told me that a cup of coffee from Starbucks was $9. As expesnsive as Starbucks can be, I've never paid that much! She assured me though that she was right, and I was wrong, and she knew it was that much. Well, as I would say, that must have been golden coffee.
When I asked someone here if I could drink the tap water, and she said yes, she then told me that it was safe unlike the dangerous water in the US. I asked her what she meant, and she replied that when she visited New York, she didn't drink tap water the whole time she was there. She thought that the water was unsafe and would make her terribly sick if she drank it. I thought this was really funny, seeing how usually we obsess over water quality when we travel, but I never thought about how foreigners, especially from a developing country, would think the same thing about the US.

Well I think this is enough for now, I can't talk about everything this second, then you'll be in danger of not hearing from me for another two weeks. I am going on a day trip this weekend to another city in Kosovo, so I will be sure to have something for you sometime next week!


PS: The information included in this entry is from personal experiences, conversations, and what I've read, some of the numbers may not be 100% accurate, but they are what I've been told.