So I'm back in berlin, safe and sound! that was suuuuuch an intense trip. i'm exhausted. this will probably be a looooooong entry, but read it, as it should hopefully be interesting

i dont even know where to begin writing this... but i guess i'll start by saying that the pictures are all online! Go to the BALKANS albums (there are two)....

http://community.webshots.com/user/thatgregboy

So I guess i'll try to do this in chronological order. We left Berlin on Saturday, and flew to Klagenfurt, in southern austria. There, we sped across town to the train station, and eventually boarded a train for Ljubljana, Slovenia. (flight was around an hour and a half, train about 2 hours). We had about an hour in ljubljana, then we boarded a night train to Nis, in southern serbia. that's about a 14 hour train ride. So altogether, our first day involved like... 18 hours of travel, 4 hours of waiting around to travel. it was EXHAUSTING.

People thought it was weird to see Americans in klagenfurt (because well... who the fuck goes to klagenfurt?), but when we got to Nis, people couldn't handle it. Everywhere we went, people would just stare. We'd walk by a store, and the people working would put whatever they were doing down, and come to the window and watch us as we walked by. It was weird. Dick Mann has a friend in Nis, the VP of the Roma community in the city, named Rasko. He was our guide for our time in Nis, and took us around. Our first meal in Nis was INSANE. The Serbs are meat-crazy, but they're also just food-crazy. TONS of cheese, meat, bread, salads, little side dishes, main dishes, dessert, wine, beer, everything. TONS and TONS of food. but it was all REALLY good... we ate SO MUCH.

That night, we just wandered around Nis. There's an old Turkish fortress in the city... and it's been integrated into the city. There are like bars and stores in it, and this huge awesome park. It was pretty, and there were a ton of wild dogs. They were sweet, but kinda dirty, and also kinda fighting each other for attention. We probably should've stayed away from them... but i mean... they were so cute!

Later that night, as a "surprise," we got to go on Serbian Roma Radio. That's right... we finally got out big break! Answering questions about Roma and Serbia, in English, on a Radio station geared towards Roma in Nis, Serbia. I'm just waiting for hollywood to come knocking down my door. heh despite some MAJOR complaining (for no reason) from some members of the group, I thought it was awesome and a really cool experience.

So the next day, we met with the major of one of the municipalities of Nis. We asked him questions, got answers, etc. It was really really cool... he was obviously a politician (talking about how they've done so much for minorities, and everything) but came across as honest, and answered a lot about the city. We asked some really good questions and got some good answers. From there, we walked to this old Nazi concentration camp. It was a small camp... and they didn't kill people there (but shipped them to other camps to be killed)... but it was still really intense. We were the only people there, and it obviously wasnt a major tourist site. The place was pretty run down, and everything was written in Serbian. We got a tour, and a lot of the information was on the escape (at one point, about 140 people escaped from the camp and fled to surrounding villages... after that, they put another wall around the camp, and lined the top of the wall with broken glass). It was dark, and a lot of the camp hasn't changed since the Nazi's left (the coating they put on the windows, to keep inmates from seeing outside, was still there). It was pretty powerful.

Later that day, we had a talk from Rasko, about the state of Roma (or Gypsies) in Serbia. Most are unemployed, uneducated, and live in squalor in settlements. We visited a settlement, and while I didn't feel right taking pictures there, some of the other kids in our group took a few (and i'll show them to people when i get them at the end of the semester). It was sad, because the kids were barefoot, there was a lot of garbage everywhere, and you just felt bad to be American and have an education, and clean clothes, and paved roads, and everything. It REALLY reminded me of the poor villages in Guatemala, except these people weren't used to visitors (even the politicians don't go to the Roma settlements), so they weren't trying to sell us anything. They'd just follow us around, trying to figure out what we were doing there. It was powerful.

That night, we met a bunch of Roma college students. Rasko's son, Esko, and his friends/cousins. They're in the small minority of Roma that are educated, and we talked to them about like... how it felt to be Roma, whether they felt more Serb than Roma, discrimination, etc. It was cool to talk to them, and that night we all went out to bars and got drunk and had a good time. They were cool people. It was just weird to be talking to them, and have one of them be like "well when the bombs hit Serbia... i mean, when YOUR bombs hit serbia..." but overall it was awesome hanging out with them.

The next day (10-17-06), we met with the vice mayor of Nis. It was really cool to be able to talk to him and get answers to questions we had. We asked about Nis, Serbia, Kosovo, the EU, etc. Obviously he's a politician and we didn't get many answers, but he tried. (Our academic director actually called him a 'dickhead' because he wouldnt answer the questions... to me and tyler, not to his face, but it was still pretty funny).

Later that day, we had a few lectures about the Roma. They're one of the largest minorities in Europe, but don't have a homeland, and are pretty much screwed over by every nation. There are laws to restrict them, they don't get equal treatment, and people stereotype them and don't want to hire them. It's a vicious cycle. The few that DO get educated and get to lead successful lives often want to come to America, and lose touch with their Roma roots (they don't know the language, customs, etc.). Society is also really corrupt there... and whenever money is designated to help the Roma, it is stolen before it actually reaches the people. But no one is held accountable. More on the Roma later.

We also went to an elementary school situated in a Roma part of town. While very few Roma children go to school (they speak a different language, and schools are taught in Serbian, and they get made fun of, and their parents are illiterate so they can't help them, etc...), this school is 80% Roma, and 20% Serb. We spoke to the principal and also the English teacher. It was interesting to hear about the problems this school has, compared to other schools in Serbia. It was cool to see the drawings and posters on the walls (unlike American posters, these all had white people on them). It was awesome to leave the classroom and have kids be like "are you really american???" and "they're american!!". it was cool.

Overall Nis was a cool town... the market there was awesome, everything was cheap... they were also tons of shirts that just said "ROCHESTER" on them... and had ruffles. I was this close to buying one. (Plus I took a few pictures of the market and some guy started yelling at me and i just turned around and walked away while he kept yelling, it was awesome.). Everyone there was dressed like they were from the 1990's, which was crazy.

HOLY CRAP OKAY NIS IS DONE! on to kosovo!

So our group got a van and drove into Kosovo. While Kosovo is technically still part of Serbia, Belgrade has no control over what happens there. Kosovo is about 90% Albanian, and 10% Serb. Driving in was crazy, because you see so many destroyed buildings, buildings being rebuilt, and everything else.

Our guide for part of Kosovo was this psycho named Paul Polansky. He's lived with the Roma for about 15 years, and keeps trying to help them get equal rights, treatment, and recognition. BUT he's a psycho.

Our first stop was Mitrovica (pronounced Meet-tro-veet-sa), in Northern Kosovo. This is one of the most volatile cities in Kosovo, and there is a lot of fighting there. The South is Albanian, while the North is Serb. There is a river separating the two regions. There is a famous bridge in Mitrovica, where thousands of Albanians tried to cross into North Mitrovica, and take the north part of the city. There was a big standoff with police and everything. Across from that, there's a coffeeshop. We ate there, watching the barbed wire, UN troops, and police drive around. There were two cops there having coffee, and one was from Michigan and started talking to us. He didn't seem very friendly though. It was just interesting to like... see scars from when a grenade hit the building three weeks ago, and everything. it was crazy.

Also in mitrovica, we saw the place (in south mitrovica) where a settlement of Roma lived for many years. When the Albanians living near them forced them out and lit all their houses on fire, many of them moved to North Mitrovica. the UN set up a camp in north mitrovica for them... on poisonous ground. Paul Polansky kept trying to warn the UN that this land was poisonous, but no one did anything. Eventually, they moved the Roma to an old French base (about 30 yards from the poisonous camps)... a french base that was abandoned because the french soldiers were all getting lead poisoning. The Roma have been there since 1999, and all the children born there have birth defects or are stillborn. It's really sad... the UN advertised it as a "lead safer" environment. Normally you'd assume that means "lead safe"... now they're trying to move them to apartments back on the land they used to live on (they used to have houses, and their neighbors that burned them are still there)... it's such a rough situation. it's sad. Paul Polansky might be crazy, but we brought this up at an NGO in Mitrovica, and he confirmed that it's lead safER, not lead SAFE.

It's weird, because you have to change your license plates depending on which part of Mitrovica you're in. If you're in the Serb section with Kosovar license plates, they'll stone your car. you have to put on Serb license plates, or just take the plates off. If you drive into the Albanian section without plates on, they think you're serb, and try to shoot you. it was so surreal to be in that kind of environment.

We were only in Mitrovica for an hour and a half-ish. We then drove to Pristina, the largest city in Kosovo. On the way, a UN convoy (of tanks, armored cars, SUV's, etc) cut us off, and drove in front of us for maybe 20, 25 mins. It was crazy! Full army gear, guns, the works. People in Kosovo drive like madmen, too... passing when you cant pass, or when cars are coming... passing tanks and shoving into the middle of the convoy... it was crazy. On the drive to Pristina, I also noticed some weird billboards... with children holding hands, advertising democracy and stuff. I thought it was ridiculous... I mean these people are worried about war and their neighbors and everything, and putting up a billboard is reducing their suffering and hardships to nothing (in my opinion). I mean... if a billboard was going to solve their problems, how serious could they be?

Pristina was not what I was expecting at all. It seemed like a really big city, and honestly it didnt feel like Kosovo. It felt safe, it felt happy. The people there were all really nice. This one waiter was super nice to us, and I felt bad, because I realized that in a few weeks or months I'd be in Germany or the US, and he'd still be in war-torn Kosovo. He'd still be in a society that could break into war at any second, because Serbia is trying to amend their constitution to say Kosovo is a part of Serbia, and the UN is debating on whether or not to make Kosovo independent.

I'd say that in Kosovo, 1/4 or 1/5 of the cars were either police cars or UN trucks. It was INSANE how heavy the presence was. Everything was in English, too... and places used the Euro. it was so weird.

UN troops were staying in our hotel. When we were sitting in the lobby, waiting for our van to drive us to Macedonia, some UN troops struck up a conversation with me. They asked us where we were from, what we were doing in Kosovo and everything. They asked us what we thought on the conflict, and what we thought should be done. (I said that we didn't really have an answer for that... it would be arrogant for american students to just come into kosovo, not really know the situation, and try to suggest things to fix it... i mean people have been working at this for years, and we don't really know that much about the situation.) We talked about american politics (they were from egypt and one was VERY anti-bush)... they were saying how it's nice that even though our governments dont get along, we still can. it was a great, great conversation and they were nice guys... i was sad that our van showed up and we had to end it. It was weird how they kept asking me stuff (about 5 of us were sitting there)... Jacy came into the conversation about halfway through, and said I did a good job representing the group. The whole experience was awesome.

OH! plus i bought a pack of gum, solely because it said "+ Chlorophyll!"

that's the end of this one... i'll add about Skopje, Belgrade, and other parts of the trip in a new entry, either tonight or tomorrow.