Mar 19 2009
Venet
The devout Muslim buys me a beer.
“It’s all about love, man,” Venet, a bartender, says in a thick Albanian accent between sips of Schweppes Bitter Lemon.
Archive for the tag 'Pristina'
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 13 2009
Where everybody knows your shame
Pristina is a small place. While respectable in terms of population and geographic area, it is nearly impossible to walk around without drawing the attention of friends or acquaintances every five or 10 minutes.
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.)