Getting to know our new community...

Saturday, April 20

We arrived at our site placement yesterday afternoon and we are really pleased.  We stopped at our apartment first.  It is really nice, even though there are a few things not working.  It belongs to the sister-in-law of my counterpart, Gazmend.  We have not met him yet as he is in Tirana until tomorrow.  We have met his wife, Teuta and their three kids.  They have a 14-year-old girl, 12-year-old boy and 3-year-old daughter. 

Our apartment is on the 6^th floor and is a two bedroom, however; they  are using the second bedroom for storage.  It is roomy with a kitchen, dining room, and living room combo and a nice balcony.  The balcony has planters ready for plants and I will fill those as soon as I can.  It is basically furnished but there will be a few things that we will need to purchase.  We, also have a washing machine and drying racks for clothes.

The kitchen in our apartment

The hallway between the bath, bedrooms, living space, and entry

The living room, dining room and kitchen

The dining area

Our first dinner here -- tortilla wraps and salad

The entry way (the left some stuff behind, but it will go into the second bedroom

The bathroom

The laundry room

The bedroom

The view from our balcony

After dropping our stuff at the apartment, we went to Teuta's apartment for Turkish coffee and then for a walk around the city center.

The walkway along the rivers has benches and trees

Historic old masque near the city center

A view of the mount side and the highway bridge in the background

Walkway and bridge to course to the otherside

Today, we took a walk to the south side I think and a dog started following us.  We were meeting Thom’s (Sami Stagova) counterpart at 11 am at a coffee shop, but we did some exploring first.  We were sitting outside at the coffee shop, but the dog was still bothering us, so we went inside.

 

The view from our balcony in the morning with the sun shining

The dog on our walk

Remains of a factory

View of the river

Confluence of two rivers

A martyr from the revolt

A view of the old mosque on a sunny day

 A cafe by the river area

The NGO that Thom is assigned to is called Gjethi (the Leaf) and the primary field of operation is planning, protecting, and improving / developing the environment in the Ferizaj Region and in Kosovo.  From Kaçanik, there is access to the second highest peak in Kosovo.  Gjethi helps to ensure that trails are maintain and that they community is taking care of their green spaces.  While the area near the river and the city center is pretty much litter free, there is still a lot of litter and garbage around.  The group is doing an Earth Project on April 29, to clean up garbage and to plant more trees.  The other two staff members showed up as well, Valon Raka and Remzi Reka.   Valon’s English is very good, because he teaches English to the military.  Remzi speaks no English and lived in Switzerland for 40 years.  Remzi took us out to lunch at a restaurant called Uda where we sat outside and viewed Mount Ljubeton.  Because it is a small community, the manager at Uda knew Remzi and he came and sat with us.  He spoke English.

Signage about the trails

The cultural house where Thom has an office

Inside the cultural house

The theater inside the cultural house

The dog was still with us

An area with invasive Japanese Knotwood

The space invasion mosque
  

Another view of the old mosque

The dog is back

After our late lunch, we headed back to the apartment briefly.  Then we wen5 to check out the ETC Market and the Viva Fresh.  We also walked to the school that I will be volunteering in.  We had dinner in the apartment.  We did a little cleaning and fixing things, but it is basically ready to go when we get back on Monday, April 29th after the swearing in ceremony.

 Feriz Guri dhe Vëllezërit Çaka (The school I will be at)

Lastly, on our walk yesterday, we found the "Second Hand Stop".   The sign is hard to read in the photo, but is a nice little second hand store that I will be able find things for the apartment.  Just a little further down the street, we found the coffee roaster.  He heard us talking on the street and called us in.  He roasts the beans in his shop and can do pour over or drip coffee grind, which is harder to find here.  Looking forward to a good cup of coffee when we get back.

A very nice feature of our apartment -- full glass windows to the balcony