Friday, March 1
We have arrived and Kamenice and have met our host family. The family is wonderful and the house is big (I think) by European standards. There are our four members of the family in our house: Selver (the head of household), Ganimete (his wife), Amar (their son), and Andina (their daughter). Selver and Andina came to the community center to pick us up. They have hosted Peace Corps volunteers before and are quite comfortable with hosting. They were very welcoming. Their house actually has four floors, but Amar has told us that the fourth level is storage. The garage comes in to the basement, but they use it as a gathering place with couches for sitting opposite the car. The adults in the family smoke and it seems they do not smoke in the house, so they smoke in the garage or on an open porch.
Our room is on the second floor. We have a room next to Andina and Amar plus our own bathroom. There is a kitchen, living room (salon), and master bedroom on the main floor. There is another bathroom there.
Selver and his family are appreciative of the American support that lead them to freedom. People in Kosovo are especially fond of President Clinton (more on that later). We were told before we arrived that Kosovars like Americans and this is supported by the warmth of our family here.
Amar and Andina are both working on their English. Amar believes that having English and German, may help him to get a job later. He was extremely helpful all evening. Today was his birthday and his is just 15 years old. Andina is 13. This is our immediate family, but Selver's two brothers live in a row next to our house. They often spend evenings together. We met Imeri and his wife, Fatimja, tonight. They have three children. The youngest is 4 years old and is very cute. His name is Anuari (boy), Rajana (Girl), and Rejani (boy).
We had a chance to get settled in our room, but also spent some time sitting with the family. We have two hours of language tomorrow and then a tour of the city.
Selver installs tile floors and Ganimete makes a traditional Kosovar dish to Flia which she sells. Flia is a pancake batter which is baked in thin layers and then brushed with cream. It is then served with butter and sour cream. I have asked her to teach me how to make it sometime.
Ganimete knows that I don't eat meat or dairy. She made bread with no milk for dinner , beans, and a salad. We have found out that they don't eat breakfast in Kamenice (or maybe it is all of Kosovo) and they only eat two meals a day; one is a brunch and the other is dinner. If tonight is any indication, they do snack through the evening.
The family is Muslim and they let us know tonight that they will be fasting starting in March. Our Peace Corps language teachers let us know that they don't expect us to fast as we are going through training and we have a very intense schedule. They have told us that some families may actually think it would be a bit strange if we fasted, as we are not Muslim.
I look forward to seeing Kamenice tomorrow. We will have a tour after language classes.
Amar and Thom entering our house
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