From Blue Sky Days to Blackbird Fields: A Week or So in Review...

The lack of water continues to be an issue in Kaçanik. We did have a couple of nights of rain in the mountains and it was a little better for a few days, but the lack of rain and the increased population from the diaspora, means that we are randomly without water several times a day. The water is always off between midnight and 6 am.

On Sunday, August 4, we walked to Guri i Shpum Restaurant for lunch and it is indeed opened. It is a really beautiful spot and it was cool and comfortable sitting in the shade. I love their space, but we will wait to see if the food gets better over time. The outdoor seating is surrounded by rosemary, sage, and other herbs and flowers.

We also walked to were the collection of trash and bottles has piled up alongside a bridge. The bridge has fallen tree branches underneath blocking passage of the debris and along with the low river water a huge pile of trash continues to collect.

Most of the pile is empty water bottles thrown or washed into the river

Another view of the pile of trash

I spent Monday and Tuesday morning in Ferizaj at the English Language Camp and that went pretty well. There were less students this time, but there was still the big age gap to deal with. I tried a few different games and they seemed to really like games that I created with lots of pictures (especially the younger students). I did a game of "Stand Up, Sit Down", where students stood up when the agreed with a statement and sat down when they didn't. Having pictures in a PowerPoint for the younger kids along with the words for older kids, really helped. We also did a picture version of Four Corners. Students would pick a corner based on which ever of 4 related objects they liked the best such as baseball, soccer, basketball, or volleyball. We did some relay races and the beach ball game. For the beach game, I write a different questions in each of the balls colored sections. We stand in a circle and toss the ball. Which ever color the students right hand lands in, that is the question they must answer. All four of the groups liked this game. I have been using whiteboard markers to make the questions and then I can erase and change the questions for the next day.

English Camp -- Spoon and Bean Relay

I didn't have a lot to do for the rest of the week, so I started working on some rock art that I am doing. I found some acrylic paints in Prizren and rocks make a good canvas and are easy to find laying around.

My first few attempts at rock painting

The week before last I had coffee with a teacher, Mirvetë, from school. I really enjoyed talking with her. She has had a busy summer of family visiting from abroad. She said she thinks there may be some teacher work days, before school starts in September and she will let me know when they are.

It continues to be pretty noisy around here as weddings are any day of the week. With weddings, you get honking horns, loud music (until midnight) every day for four or five days, and fireworks. The weather is very comfortable at night, so people stay up late and the kids play in the street until 11 pm or midnight.

Fireworks on Sunday night, probably from a wedding

August 10th is Martyrs Day in Kaçanik and this year is the 25th year since three fallen martyrs died heroically in a nearby village. One was Besnik Begunca, who was freedom fighter from Kaçanik and was also a good soccer player. His nickname was Fikshat and the soccer team in Kaçanik is called the Ultris Fikshat. A mural was painted along the train tracks over the last two weeks in honor of Besnik (Fikshat). Saturday, people met in the square to honor Besnik and other fallen martyrs. They wore t-shirt with 25 years Fikshat and walked around to the various parts of the city where the fallen are remember and had a moment of silence. Some had a banner that they carry around. Around 11 pm, the Fikshat supporters lit flares throughout the streets of Kaçanik all at the same time. It gave the streets an eery red glow and we could see them on the hillside facing our apartment.

Some painters working on the mural

Part of the mural design

The mural is big and it is hard to get a photo of the whole thing

At the square Saturday Night

A group in the middle wear black t-shirts, waving flags, and shouting chants

Fikshat banner

Flares on the street not far from our apartment

Street view taken from our apartment balcony

The street right below our apartment

The intersection down from our Apartment

Sunday morning, we left with the Kaçanik hiking group at 7 am for a hike to Konjusha Lake and Konjusha Peak. We arrived in Prevallë to start the hike at around 8:15 am and we notice smoke from fires in the forest above Prevallë. Fortunately, the fires are on the mountain peaks opposite where we are hiking. Ekrem from the hiking groups told us that they had crews working to control the fire, but we could tell it was worse by the end of the day. Occasionally, the smoke made it to where we were hiking and my throat became very irritated, but mostly the smoke was going straight up.

Morning picture of the fire near Prevallë

Smoke from the fires as we left for our hike

As we walk back, there is more smoke than this morning

The fire is definitely spreading

It was another beautiful hike starting off at the same point as the hike to Bistra. This time we hike a trail that went west of Bistra and towards the spring that feeds the Lumbardhë River in Prizren. It was beautiful day and cool when we hiked although the sun is still really strong and warm. It is much dryer than it was on our last hike here and it is easy to see that there has been little rain on the peaks. The blueberries were plentiful and very good. I even found a few red raspberries on the hike down. We had some young people on the hike. One was visiting from Germany where she moved after finishing nursing school. She is from Kaçanik and the other four young people were her cousins. The youngest was still in high school. Another one just finished a graphic design program and is taking a break before looking for a job. While another one is working on German language with the plan to move to Germany and go to a university there. Three of them stayed by the lake and did not hike to the peak. Enis stayed back at the lake with them and the rest of us hike to the peaks. We were once again on a peak that borders North Macedonia and we could see peak after peak in almost any direction.

First group picture of the day

At our first stopping point on the hike -- coffee time

A rock scramble along the way

Refilling water bottles at spring fed stream

The spring fed stream is oasis of green

Picking and eating blueberries along the way

Along the trail on the way up -- photos are a chance to catch your breath

Konjusha Lake drying up

Our group in front of Lake Konjusha

Another pic in front of Lake Konjusha

To the peak

Looking back where we came from

Photo at the second peak (maybe Guzhbaba peak)

At the Konjusha Peak with our flags and the USA Kosovo Flag

Rock cairn on Konjusha Peak

Konjusha Peak with the nurse that lives in Germany

After lunch break

Heading down the trail

Another spring fed stream

It was another great day for a hike, but it was tiring and we enjoyed relaxing at home in the evening while watching the closing ceremony of the 2024 Olympics.

A few more photos from the week