They even ripped off Big Bird! Is nothing sacred?

I was flipping channels on the TV one day and came across this. They even have some little fuzzy characters who mysteriously resemble Elmo and Grover and the rest of the gang. I guess this is Turkey's version of Sesame Street. Actually I don't know for sure if the channel is from Turkey....it could be one from Croatia. I just know it didn't sound like Albanian and it definitely was not German.
Funny thing is the stupid TeleTubbies is the same version we get at home. Lucky me. I can't understand them in the English version.
Another weird one is The Simpson's in German. It's just not the same without Julie Kavner's voice for Marge. Homer sounds pretty bland, too. But Mr. Burns sounds just about the same. Hm.

Minus the golden arches

To my knowledge NO ONE from Kosovo or the surrounding region has the last name of McDonald so I have to believe these people are just trying to cash in. This is the only business establishment I have seen that has used a name in its possessive form. Observe the second hamburger place. This is the way they do it here.
And as an aside, does Hamburger Suzi look like a place where you would want to eat???

Move over Rugova

Well, the European news has been non-stop since Saturday about the death of Slobodan Milosevic. More on him later. Here is a photo of a billboard downtown with Ibrahim Rugova's picture. He died and was buried here in Pristina in January. His tomb has to be guarded because he had insisted at one time that the KLA was some form of Serbian consipiracy. Albanian politicians had pressed him to call for demonstrations or anything to get the attention of the world and he simply wouldn't do anything. So as a result, the old KLA people don't like him being buried in the martyr's cemetery. Without a guard the tomb would probably be blown up. Here's a picture taken a couple of weeks ago when Tom took me there to see it.
The people you see in the photo at the tomb are some local people paying their respects. There were a lot of people there that day. Those flower things in the background are kind of interesting. They're kind of like a big giant frisbee covered with silk or plastic flowers and then the entire disk is shrink wrapped. You don't see big sprays of fresh flowers here at cemeteries. The ones shown here were sent by other countries.
Tom met Rugova the first year he was in mission. He said Rugova chain smoked through the entire meeting. And that's why he is in the tomb now......lung cancer.

Welfare Barbie

All right, I confess that this is probably just one of those things that was lost in translation. And it also doesn't really say that it is a Barbie, either, but it looks like one, doesn't it? I wonder if I bought one of these I could turn around and sell it on eBay for something more than I paid. I bet I could.

Sorry it's not a very good picture. I had to take it from outside the store. But you get the idea.

The bride wore ....

I haven't had the use of our camera for more than a week. Tom had to use it at work for a big project he was involved in. Besides that, the weather has been awful so I wouldn't really have had much of a chance to get out and take new photos, anyway. I would love to have a photo of a typical wedding shivaree that they have here. They have the bride in one car with several other women, the groom is in another car and they are driven from the ceremony to the bride's new home. It's difficult at first to figure out which car has the bride because any women who attend the wedding will wear their wedding dresses if they got married in the last year or so. Economical, huh?

Usually, the bride joins the household with her new mother-in-law. This is bad news for her on several fronts. The worst of it is that she becomes her mother-in-law's "slave"....literally. She has to perform all the chores in the house including laundry and cooking. If she is married to one of the younger brothers in the family she is really in for it, because in all likelihood the other brothers and their wives live in the household, too. She had just better hope that there is a younger brother to get married someday so she can get off the hook.

Anyway, here is a photo of a traditional Albanian wedding dress. The brides I have seen all wore gowns much more similar to what we see in western countries.

I'll get a photo one of these days of a wedding shivaree. Oh, another interesting deal ..... all the cars have towels stuck under the windshield wipers. I thought at first that they were gifts for the bridal couple, but it is the other way around. The bride gives the towels to the guests. Don't ask me.....I don't know, either. But at least it's something a guest can use ..... not like those little tissue bags of Jordan almonds you get at weddings in the States.

News items from around Kosovo

Here are some news items I culled from the UNMIK Police Press releases. None of them are all that remarkable. I just like the way some of them read. Here ya go:

ROBBERY
Ropotovo Village – 04/03- 0201 hrs. A male reported that two suspects came to his shop to steal some drinks and in the process one of them slapped him while the second suspect pointed a gun at him. No arrest was reported.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Ferizaj - 04/03 - 1500 hrs. A female reported that she was beaten by her husband on 22.01.2006 and was taken to hospital by her son. The reason of beating her was that she did not have good relations with her daughter-in-law.

DISTURBANCE OF PUBLIC ORDER
Kamenica– 03/03 – 1625 hrs. Police reported that one male offended and attempted to assault a male in a restaurant. Both persons who were under the influence of alcohol were brought to the police station. No arrest was reported.

BURGLARY
Mitrovica – 03/03 – 1445 hrs. Two male suspects were arrested and one escaped after they tried to burglarize three houses. The Police noticed that boilers, toilet wares and faucets at the houses were missing. (Niki's note: Is this something you would want to steal....toilet wares??)

ASSAULT
· Krojmir – Lipjan – 01/03 – 1700 hrs. Two male suspects assaulted a male victim because they had some misunderstandings. The victim sustained unspecified injuries and was sent to an emergency center. No arrests are reported.

THREAT
Strpce – 01/03 – 1500 hrs. A female reported that a known male suspect threatened her. She was threatened to sell her house to other person with a price he wanted. No arrest was reported.

PRISTINA AIRPORT
· 01/03 -11:50 hrs. One male arrived as a deportee on a flight from Zurich. At the deportee office he presented a totally faked Italian resident permit of stay. The document was seized. After positive identification the person was released.
VRBNICA
· 01/03 - 03:15 hrs. An Albanian male tried to enter Kosovo. He presented his passport. He seemed to be mentally ill. (He pretended to be a special agent of the German Secret Service). During his body search a huge hammer was discovered inside a pocket of his jacket. His entry was refused and he was handed over to the Albanian authorities.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Gjakova– 27/02 – 0025 hrs. A female reported that her husband asked her to make coffee, but since he was told to wait he got furious and threw a knife at the victim. The knife didn’t reach the victim and the suspect offended her. The suspect was arrested.

Kosovo High Tech

Oh, in case any of you have been thinking that maybe I get bored during all these power outages, not to worry! We have a battery so I can watch television for several hours without benefit of KEK. That's the "Energetic Kosovo Corporation" just so you know. I wouldn't vouch for how energetic they are there, but that's what they call themselves. I saw a KEK guy on the local Prishtina TV station the other day and he seemed pretty laid back.
Anyhow, this is the battery we have....you notice how artfully we have it displayed in the corner of our living room. Yes, that is a tractor battery. How does it work you ask. I have no idea. All I know is that periodically, Arten, our landlord shows up and adds a bottle of water to it! Just add water and presto....you can watch TV!

Winter is back

After enjoying fairly mild temperatures yesterday, winter made another appearance today. These pictures were taken out my window. The one, of course, is the mosque across the street and then other is looking to the east. I heard on the news yesterday that Germany and Switzerland were experiencing record snowfalls so I figured it was just a matter of time before it arrived in the Balkans.
Happily the power has been on for several hours today so I'm trying to get caught up on my emailing, blogging, laundry, etc., before I am plunged into darkness. Okay, that is an exaggeration....we have lots of candles here!
While there is light I have been putting together a jigsaw puzzle.....thank you Grandmother Davis for instilling in me the joy of puzzles! I'm actuallly making a little progress.

Shume Katastrof

Shume katastrof basically means "disastrous". I used that because I don't know the Albanian words for "pass the Pepto-Bismol".
A week ago last Friday night Tom and I and Marcia and Kelly went to dinner together at one of our all-time favorite restaurants, Bella Vista. They have absolutely the best pepper steak you could ever possibly imagine. We shared some starters and we all had various entrees. Saturday morning Tom reported that he thought he was coming down with the flu. By that night he was wretchedly sick, throwing up, body aches and so on. By Sunday night I was pretty sure I was coming down with it, too, but I was hoping I was just having sympathy pains.
Nope, Monday morning I barely moved off the bed other than to let Tom in when he came home for lunch. I must have made quite a sight for him......dragon breath, hair plastered to my head and skin the color of wax paper. By that night I was in a fetal ball praying for the sweet release of death.
I didn't feel much better the next day, either, but we found out that Marcia and Kelly had spent the weekend sick, too, so we decided we must have food poisoning. I really was hoping that wasn't the case because I knew I probably wouldn't go back to the Bella Vista and I love the place.
Anyway, we all recovered but it took each of us several days to feel like we were among the living. I thought I was over it Wednesday when I had about a four hour reprieve. I made the mistake of eating something and had a major relapse. Us girls all reported that Friday was the first day we could really say we were well. And we celebrated by going to dinner...this time at OSCE headquarters where they have a dandy restaurant on the top floor. There is no smoking allowed and there is a great view of the city. I had the BEST Greek chicken salad ever. Maybe I was just happy to be eating and not feel queasy, but it sure tasted good.
The good news is that we can continue to go to the Bella Vista. Several of Tom's co-workers and friends have (unfortunately) come down with this "bug", too, but most of them have not been to the Bella Vista.
I got all caught up on the housework and laundry over the weekend as best as I could. The electricity here has been a major issue for several days. Sometimes we only have one hour on and then three or more hours off. I'll be back to posting more stuff here now that everything is right with the world.