Nov 07 2009
Turn it on again
SOFIA, Bulgaria — Sticking to a rakia-fueled promise to return to the region by year’s end, I’m back in the Balkans. Although not as a permanent thing yet, I am slowly working toward this pipe dream.
Archive for the 'Balkans' Category
Mar 16 2009
Albin
Albin picks up. The 20-something Pentecostal Renaissance man (a former or current pastor, depending on the source) who believes that the Rapture is near cannot come to dinner. He’s at church, in the middle of a service, but will join us at the bar later. Thank God for the cellular phone.
Mar 15 2009
Visoki Dečani
In quick succession, the black-clad monk administered a holy trinity of beverages: water (father), espresso (son) and raki (holy ghost) accompanied by chocolate and poppy seed cookies. A kamilavka hat concealed abundant gray hair that matched his beard whose length reflected what were most likely decades of celibate life in one of Serbian Orthodoxy’s holiest sites, Visoki Dečani monastery, in western Kosovo. This was a hardcore holy man, and his appearance made me think of the eerie footage of Serb paramilitary forces being blessed by a priest before they went on to perpetrate in Srebrenica the worst atrocity of the Bosnian civil war.
Mar 11 2009
The infant’s teething
1. Packs of wild/stray dogs roam the streets, but it’s all good.
2. The power goes off a couple times a day, but it’s all good.
3. Toilet paper, soap and clean water are privileges, but it’s all good.
4. Pavement is optional, but it’s all good.
Mar 09 2009
12-hour Pristina night
Only in Pristina: Drinking and dinner included a former KLA fighter turned venture capitalist who thinks I should invest with him, two hired Roma musicians, a 27-year-old Vermont state representative, a Kosovar born-again Christian rocker and other assorted folk.
Mar 08 2009
Kosovo
It was a long road of crazy Albanians, but we’ve finally made to Kosovo after an epic drive through progressively backward Balkan backwaters. (This helps explain the lack of Internet chatter on my part, since widespread Internet access isn’t exactly a cornerstone of second- and third-world Europe.)
Mar 05 2009
It’s on
“Nate, man, can you please pass me the slivo,” Bashkim said, referring to the bottle of plum moonshine next to me in the backseat of his 1998 Opel Corsa. This wouldn’t have seemed out of the ordinary had my Kosovar Albanian friend/fixer/translator/driver not been at the wheel of the his European hatchback as it braved the Croatian toll road somewhere between Zagreb and Split amid rain and violent winds about 3 a.m.
Jul 21 2008
The crazy-haired psychiatrist not so elusive anymore
Balkanized Brunch’s three-month hiatus has paid off: Former Bosnian Serb leader and accused war criminal Radovan Karadzic was arrested by Serbian authorities after spending more than a decade on the run. Could Ratko Mladic be far behind?
Apr 01 2008
The elusive, crazy-haired psychiatrist
The hunt for Bosnia’s most-wanted war crimes suspect, Radovan Karadzic, is showing signs of life. Today Bosnian Serb police searched the residences of two former bodyguards less than a week after EU and NATO forces raided the homes of his wife, daughter and aide. However, given that the Bosnian Serb wartime leader has evaded capture [...]
Mar 19 2008
Kosovo finds more love
Croatia and Hungary (aka Kolbaszorszag) have joined the growing list of countries that recognize Kosovo’s independence. Naturally, Serbia responded by recalling its ambassadors from both countries. Hopefully this won’t screw over the few hundred thousand Hungarians living in the Serbian province of Vojvodina. At least Magyar State Secretary Marta Fekszi Horvath has their back:
We think it is [...]