Feb.19: Skopje - Tetovo - Pristina
(Returning mission, The First Glance, OS Problem, Pristina City, PC Invasion)
Tetovo
- Ferizaj (Urosevac)
- Pristina
The 'Returning Mission'
The 19th of February was the day when MW got into Kosovo for the first time. (at that time, we were supposed to arrive at Pristina, but when we WOKE up, it was Prizren, 77km south from Pristina). The same day, we head for Kosovo again.
There are 2 ways to get into Kosovo. 1 is the main border from Skopje (Blace) and the other is the way from Tetovo. Since we're quite familiar with Blace and we know the fact that there is 30km tailback, we took the way from Tetovo. There are 3 buses from Tetovo; 1000, 1500, and 2000. Until sunset everything can be seen, therefore we took the bus at 1500 with camera in stand-by mode.
The bus was crowded with Albanian people and we had a tiny warming-up with Albanian music.
B U T the bus was heading for the familiar road... to Skopje!!! Then the bus passed the outskirt of the city, we saw lots of tracks... then fell asleep until the officer in BLACE wake us up. No problem with our 2-month-stay.
Probably the most crowded place in Europe
UNMIK... who's land is this??
The first glance
Though the 'haven' (parking for transporters: since 1999.12) in the Blace border definitely reduced the time to pass, it still took 80mins. to pass there. When we got into 'Srbija', it was 1730, the night has begun.
The first strange thing to be mentioned was 'The city is lighting...'. It is strange for us to recognize the city with illumination. Because...
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Before the war, the bus rarely goes after 1800. usually 1730 was the last one.
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Time after time (from July 1999), the traffic are increasing because of KFOR, international organization, NGOs and significant increase of local cars. (after 2/23, also see cars)
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Because of 2, the time for transportation takes much more time. The roads in Kosovo are not ready for heavy traffic (max 2 lines) and before the time, the road was always evacuated. Therefore, we had no chance to see the city at night before the war.
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After the war, there was always shortage of electricity. It was impossible to see whole city with light.
The 'line of tale-lights' heading for the illumination looked as if we were in a different country. At least, the fact itself was strong enough not to recognize that area as Kosovo under Srbija. We've come back to the 'fallen territory'. Time after time, when we saw the pile of bricks, the military construction vehicles under strong search-lights (which Serbian army could never have) rebuilding roads, or the hotels/motels/restaurants for increased drivers, the feeling has increased.
No Picture
Matter of the Operating System
Since we're in Macedonia so long, used to the language and loved it so much, we tend to react in Macedonian. However, Macedonian and Serbian are quite similar and though they could recognize the difference, Albanians hate the language. There was an extreme case in Pristina that a Bulgarian guy was killed simply because he replied the question 'Koliko e sati? (What's the time?)' in Serbian.
Then, our case, when somebody asks I tend to reply 'Kako?' ('how' or 'what' in Serbian/Macedonian), or 'Sto?' ('what?'), 'Thank you' = 'Fala (MK)' (NB. 'hvala' in Serbian. what is more, 'faar' = 'excuse me' in Albanian), and 'Yes' = 'Da'. If we're conscious, we can manage the reaction and so far (now it's 1000, 2/20) we've done a good job. Nevertheless, we found that if something sudden happened (like car is rushing towards us, or watching our PC together) we sometimes say 'Pazi!' ('Watch out!') or 'Cekaj' ('Wait'). Furthermore, if we're in a good mood, we often sing no matter where we are. Again... the sings in our brain are:
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'Igra Rock'n Role Cela Jugoslavija (all Yugosavia is playing Rock'n Role)',
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'Ovoj me (please color me)',
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'Macka so tebe' (I'm not sure about the title... something like 'The kitten in the night'),
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'Jas sum kralica' ('I'm the queen')
The biggest problem is Albanians can also identify these songs. (IDentify that they're in 'Serbian' language.) It was a hard procedure to convert them into:
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'Sympathia' ('Love') or
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'Kosovare, Kosovare' ('KosovA girls'), or
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'Te duar, te duar, te duar'('I love you*3')
then we started singing Japanese songs and the problem was solved.
It is amazing and disgusting to see human's capability to fit in the condition... after 18 hours, our OS was already in Kosovo mode even after 2 months life in Macedonia.
No Picture
the first gains the most
login password
in Albanian
It was around 1900 when we got into the city. apart from the 'lighter' city, there were several changes. First, there is a petrol company who managed to merge most of petrol stations in Kosovo. (Kosova Petrol... pictures will come soon). Then the autobus station was rebuilt. Also the bus-company fixed its opening time (600-2000). More than 50% of cars have got new table (number plate). Line buses need a license to be in the public station. Though ID was not published yet, the system is more and more organized.
As for shops, more elegant restaurants, shoe shops, boutiques and medicine shops were found. Now we can even buy the washing-liquid for lenses. Even some souvenir shop were opened. Less International people were found on the street and the city looked much calmer. This territory seems to be the most 'westernized' form of Albanian society. Since less people tried to made fun of us, we instantly thought that 'wealth provides moral', but the idea was betrayed.
The biggest and best change will be the 2nd internet cafe (click) in Dardanija. The conventional price of the net was 10DM/hour for terrible connection. But 'click' provides satellite connection with 6DM. They even have charging program (though it causes problem with my 15mins. use). The only problem is they have minimum 30 mins. unit (for 3DM) therefore, we must sit until 30mins. have passed to utilize the money.
As for ruins, now they've almost fixed the bus station and the damaged restaurants. (pictures will come by 2/23)
Wealth!?
don't play too much...
Finally we knocked my friend's door then... After saying "happy New Year", our friends do nothing but play a German 3D shooting game until 300 (we arrived around 2100). They said they ought the PC (P3, 500MHZ, 10GB) for 2500DM 3 days ago. We wonder if they've sleep enough... They seemed as if they were doing only games. They cleared 12 stages within 4 days (When we left for Podujevo, the ending was running...)