Kosovo life
Travelling
- Skopje, Macedonia: Went to visit Alexander, the intern in the Swedish Embassy there. We saw the MANY and crazy big statues that the Macedonians build of historical people from other countries to create their own history. Something that bothers especially Greece. Then we walked through the pretty old town and went out partying with his nice friends.
- Ohrid, Macedonia: Stayed at a really nice hotel by a big lake to work with representing Sweden at a conference for experts in food hygene. Our task was to serve Swedish vodka and "snittar med gubbröra" and talk a little bit about Sweden. But we also had time to take a swim, go on a boat tour, get in several digital cameras, go by a bus that had to tie the door shut with a rope and that stopped for food in the middle of nowhere where all you could buy to eat was "fried dough".
- Thessaloniki, Greece: We got to join someone in the Embassy who goes down to Greece for flying lessons every now and then in her car and didn't want to miss out on the free trip. The stay mainly consisted of good Greek food, a lot of shopping (love H&M :-) ), a visit to the grave of Alexander the Great's father and a failed visit to the old town.
Work
- Opening of Anna Lindh Street: I went to the gorgeous town Peja to join in when the head of Mission in the Embassy was present and giving a speech during the opening of Anna Lindh Street. They have named several streets after famous politicians in that city, but this was the first Swede, so we were proud of course! At the same time a twinning agreement (vänortssamarbete) was signed with Hörby municipality, so I also met a lot of municipal politicians from Sweden, and one of them was from Orust originally, from Mollösund! The world is sometimes small... :-)
- Conferences and TV apparences: I've joined in on quite a lot of conferences discussing various subjects and visited by big politicians. So on almost all of them there has been a lot of tv cameras, so I've been told that I've apperad on the news (from a distance in the audience) a few times. It feels like I'm really in the middle of where things happen!
- Writing reports: I'm mostly spending my days writing or translating reports on various topics. But it's interesting and I learn a lot, so when I write something now I find it much easier than in the beginning when I didn't know anything about the political situation here. Now I've come to know a lot more and understand the situation here a little, even though it's a loooong way to go to get full understanding, if it's even possible.
"Life"
- Gym: We have both been going to the gym quite a lot, about 2-3 times a week, and it's nice. The gym is a nice place with good machines, classes once a day and most the people we know go there. I've also got into the running now, ran almost 8 km in an hour - so Mikael watch out! ;-)
- Partying: Since we've been out of town for the last three weekends we haven't done that much partying in Pristina. But we changed that yesterday when we had a pre-party at our place, went on to a bar and talked to interesting people and ended up in Maroon dancing for a few hours! A fun evening!
- "Fika": We've visited some cafées, mainly accompanied by the Norweigans, but I think the main one has come to be Amelie, that has several branches in the city. It's very cosy, and the best, the prices about 1/3 of the Swedish ones so you can always afford it! I've also tried the macchiato here, which doesn't really taste coffee at all, but I hope that you get pleased with that information mum! ;-)
- Dinners: Both me and Ella are kind of lazy when it comes to cooking, and with the cheap restaurant prices here (20-50 SEK) it's affordable to eat out a lot. So we do that quite a lot, which is a nice way of meeting friends! Since we need to get up early for work every day it's nice to go somewhere directly after work.
The beautiful view in south of Kosovo, on the way to Macedonia.
The crazy big statue of Alexander the great in central Skopje. Both a very expensive investment for a poor country and annoying to the neighbouring countries.
The beautiful lake outside Ohrid.
Me and beautiful Ella in Ohrid.
Thessaloniki!
Dinner at an Italian restaurant with Dutch Karlijn and Swedish Marika. A very nice evening, with very expensive wine. Lesson for next time; don't just order a bottle of wine, ask for the price! ;-)
Me and Norweigan Thea at our party yesterday. (And the dress is a very much needed buy in Greece... :-) )
Me, Alexander and Ella
With Armend, who works with us.
Me and my sweet flat mate!
Norweigan Kristine, with the apartment in Paris, me like! ;-)
The people hanging on the coooold balcony!
So I hope you got some insight in my life here with this! :-) Othwerwise what's on my mind at the moment is the future (as always I guess). What to study in the spring? What to do in the summer? And the fall? Sweden, Europe, US? So smart people with good advices, give me a call or write me an e-mail! That'd be appriciated! :-)
And some great news, sweet Linnéa is coming here in a couple of weeks! :-) So other people, we have a huge apartment with a guest room, come and visit! :-)
Wow! I think I will visit this place too!
