Country #109: Kosovo

I know what you are saying, dear fictional nitpicking reader. Is Kosovo actually a country? Like, for real? Well, they did declare their independence on 2/17/08. Out of the 193 UN member states, 111 recognize this declaration. The other 82, namely Russia and China, still see it is as a province of Serbia. The fact of the matter is that while crossing the border from Macedonia, it is a Kosovo stamp that I got in my passport. I did not actually want this stamp, as it may cause problems if I ever want to enter into actual Serbia in the future, but I had taken a crowded jitney-type bus from Skopje and the customs official had us all pass up our passports and off he went. I had no chance to make my "no stamp" plea. 

While this stamp business may cause me some headaches in the future, I was glad that the customs process was relatively speedy since it was getting late and I had to be at the National Theater at 11am for a free walking tour of Prishtina. As it was, I kept sending them IM's as to my whereabouts, lest the tour leave without me. Other than "visit new country", I really had no other set plan for this day trip.

Thanks to a mad dash across town during which I just kept repeating National Theater in a variety of accents to my cab driver, I was able to run up and greet my guide, Astrid at 11:05. I'd like to think that he had been waiting for me but in actuality, he was also waiting for a film crew that would tag along with us to film a promotional video for the city's tourism board.

They followed us for about half an hour until we visited the city's Ethnological Museum, which is situated in an 18th century home. The museum aims to show the visitor how it was that people lived back then. 

After our guided visit was done, the camera crew took turns interviewing some of the participants and the museum's curator stood outside chatting with the rest of the group. Upon learning that there were a couple of Americans in the group, he enthusiastically proclaimed his love for all things US. He wasn't just being polite, this is actually a common sentiment among the people of Kosovo. In 1999, as the Serbians were bringing their campaign of "ethnic cleansing" further into the country, Bill Clinton led the NATO bombing strikes that eventually repelled the Serbs and paved the way for Kosovo's independence. The US then provided aid for the re-building and 7000 peace keeping troops. The day after Kosovo announced its independence, George Bush declared his unwavering support. As a result of this assistance, you can now ask someone to meet you at the intersection Bulevardi Xhorxh Bush and Bulevardi Bill Klinton.

This gratitude is so ingrained in the national psyche, that even in a predominantly Muslim country, the museum's curator refused to speak ill of the current orange piece of shit man-child occupying the White House. I assured him that as a blue passport-holder, I was 100% ok with him saying what the rest of the world is thinking. A Portuguese guy in the group was more direct, pointing out the US is fucked up but this just led to a more passionate rebuttal from the curator, who had lived through the war and seen what the Serbs had done in Bosnia. 

One of the most literal signs of their relatively recent independence is, well,  an actual sign. The Newborn monument has been frequently repainted, at one point with the flags of all the nations that recognize their statehood. This summer, the paint job in intended to celebrate their 10th anniversary. And speaking of celebrations, I had just missed what looked like a pretty raucous beer festival. Sadly, I was only able to witness the clean-up which left a bunch of trucks parked directly in front of the monument, resulting me only being able to get a couple of awkward shots.

Across the street is the much more sobering Heroinat (heroines) monument. Where most testaments to war show men astride horses or bravely doing battle, this one speaks to the sacrifices made by women. More specifically, it speaks to horrific use of rape as a weapon of war. It is estimated that over 20,000 Kosovar women were raped by Serbian troops. This didn't happen because there were some errant assholes using the impunity of war to commit atrocities. It was done systematically, to women young and old,  in order to shame them and disrupt their families through subsequent ostracization. This tribute aims to remove the stigma and to see the women for the victims of the war that they are.

Given their history, it is wholly understandable that there is still a lot of tension when it comes to  Serbia. As we continued to the grounds of the University, we saw the unfinished Serbian-Orthodox Church of Christ the Savior.  Construction began in 1995 but it was never completed due to the war.  To the Kosovars and majority Albanian population, it is a reminder of Milosovic's reign and they want it destroyed but since the Serbs believe that once the ground is consecrated, it becomes a holy place, they fear that it would be seen as provocation to knock it down. Suggestions to turn it into a war museum or even a disco have so far gone unrealized so now it just sits there until they can figure out what to do.

Better to turn around and take a look at the not-to-be-missed National Library. The work of Croatian architect, Andrija Mutnjaković, it has the dubious honor of being featured in many  "Ugliest buildings in the world" lists.

Personally, I find the combination of Byzantine and Islamic architecture pretty cool-looking. Between the honeycomb window cages (which, no joke, inspired me to knit a hat) to the domes, which represent the very different Albanian plis hats, I think it does a great job of combining disparate elements. Plus, it looks like aliens might have been involved in its construction, which is alway a plus in my book.

A building that should probably be more controversial is the nearby Mother Theresa Cathedral.  It is a massive church smack in the heart of a city where less than 3% of the population is Catholic. Part of its reason for being and why President Rugova, a Muslim, laid the ceremonial foundation is to show the international community that despite what others would have you believe, Kosovars are very tolerant of all religions. It's kind of a long way to go to prove a point, but the view from the church tower is pretty great and best of all, it is only a 1 euro elevator ride to the top.

One of the few churches to have stained glass windows showing living popes, here we have the Nazi Pope hanging with Pope Francis

And speaking of the cathedral's namesake, I'd already seen statues of her in Albania and Macedonia. Kosovo was no different, where she stands in the middle of Mother Theresa Boulevard.

As we concluded our walking tour, someone suggested we all go grab a drink. Astrid gamely led us to a funky local bar where we all proceeded to throw back many an icy 1 euro Peja beers. It is for this reason that I once again found myself frantically running through the city, this time in danger of missing my bus back to Skopje.

I almost regretted the fact that I made my bus, knowing that my new friends were all hitting the town in Prishtina that evening (and keeping me posted via Whatsapp) but I was grateful for the chance to  visit vibrant country #109. And yes, I am absolutely recognizing their sovereignty and counting them as a country but if you want to be both wrong and pedantic about it, while I have been to Belgrade when it was part of Yugoslavia, I have never been to the country of Serbia. Therefore, regardless of how you look at it, I'm still at #109.