Leaving the Republic of Serbia. Goodbye.

Said the sign on the border between Macedonia and Serbia. My bags were packed and loaded in the boot of Davor's car, I had said farewell to the staff at Generator, played with Davor's new puppy, returned the cell phone and keys to my flat and office, and started on my last trip out of Vranje as an EWI research associate. It most likely will not be the last time I visit this town- Davor insists that Dea and I visit once the house is completed - but after spending such time there, it was a bit hard to let it go.

Probably should have linked this earlier, but here's the wikipedia entry on Vranje

Completely drained at this point with the juggling of everything I have and had to do. Fortunately I just keep getting one thing done at a time, completing one mission after another, and things aren't too bad.

One positive: Now that I'm in Skopje, I've got much stronger internet connection. Apparently Dea could actually see me crystal clear for the first time in 9 weeks. I've also many times more co-workers, though I've already started to miss the rapport I had with Davor. Lost power already once since I've been here, forgotten how unstable the grid is in Skopje.

On a completely unrelated note, want to thank everyone for keeping up with my blog. When I read the comments or hear someone mention it to me, it makes me forget about the work I'm supposed to be doing.

For at least a minute or so.

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Final Paper for UACS - First Draft Completed
Feasibility Study of Free Trade Zone Creation in the GPKT region - Under Review
Edit Phrasebook created by GPKT Youth Project - Completed

Copyright? There's no Copyright in the Balkans!

So one of the many things that I have discovered this summer is the lack of copyright here in the Balkans. There have been many instances in which I've seen bootleg DVD sellers just on the streets, offering the latest in TV and Film for you to purchase. (I was lent a copy of Last King of Scotland that I discovered to be bootlegged once I looked at the bottom of the disc). It doesn't stop there - Disney characters adorn the walls of pre-schools and shopping centres alike. But
perhaps the best moment in copyright infringement was during my visit to Pristina. The extra-legal "Green Market" aside, there are shops open at night that you can rent films from on DVD, or just simply buy them. 0.50 Euros (less than 75 cents) a night, or buy it for 1.50 Euros (About $2.25). Think of Blockbuster, but with no membership card and more closet sized.

So how do they manage to rent and sell at such crazy low low prices? You guessed it - Burned DVDs. If they don't have it in stock, they can just burn you one there, and you can pick it up in an hour or less.

One has to wonder how exactly these businesses will fare if EU membership talks take place. Somehow I doubt the MPAA will take kindly to EU members blatantly disregarding copyrights....

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Project Status
Feasibility Study of Free Trade Zone Creation in the GPKT region - Final Draft
Edit Phrasebook created by GPKT Youth Project - Completed
Final Paper for UACS - First Draft Phase, 4/20 pages completed

Tough Love

Actual email conversation with a family member about my bee sting:

Family Member:
Why did you kick the bee? That was dumb. Take some benadryl (Diphenhydramine) or an equivalent antihistamine. Google bee sting and see what comes up. I hope you feel better, and don't do anything else like that.

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My Response:
I didn't do it on purpose. I was walking along the side of the creek, and all of a sudden my foot had a sharp pain in mid step. Realising that there are no such things as invisible rocks, I look down to see what happened. There were like 15 bees buzzing around, all trying to drink, and angry that some human was walking through their creek. So I think I must have kicked one (or 3) by accident.

It's still really red and swollen, so if it doesn't clear up by tomorrow, Davor is going to take me to the clinic so I can get a shot of antihists and steroids like WebMD told me to. I know I'm still having reaction because my body temp is all crazy now, and I am get the whole light headed thing.

And I'll try to keep away from bees in the future. Told my Dad that this would have all been avoided if he had taught *me* how to pet a bee....

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Family Member Response:
Then why are you telling people you kicked a bee? You are making yourself sound not so bright and frat-boy-ish. Much better that it wasn't on purpose. Okay, wear closed toed shoes next time you are walking around in the great outdoors. Didn't you ever go to camp?

The bee would not have been happy with you trying to pet it either, so don't try it. :)

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My Response:

Because I did kick it, just on accident. But I'll clarify it next post, never fear.

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So, to clarify, I kicked the bee on accident as part of my natural gait, while wearing Davor's sandals after wading out of the knee-high creek to make sure his kids had not drowned each other yet. I did not try to go all Bruce Lee or "Kung Fu" on it (besides, Master Po never asked Caine to "kick the bee from the sky, grasshopper. Pebble from hand, yes. Bee from sky, no.)

So there you have it. Consider it clarified. Thank you, anonymous family member, for making sure I'm ok, and I'll attempt to not do anything else as dumb in the next few weeks. :-)

When the Dog Bites, When the Bee Stings

When I can barely walk...

I like to think that I am invincible, that nothing can really slow me down. I got over the nasty bug in the first few days of my project, consumed various dishes including those that make "Haggis" look like ice cream, and even learned to say "No problem" in 3 languages. What could slow me down?

Apparently, a bee sting. Remember last post when I mentioned I kicked the bee and it stung me? Yeah, about that. My toe has swollen up to nearly the size of the Big Toe to the left of it. (I have a photo of it, but I'm kinda hesitant to put up a picture of my toe on the web... just feels... weird..)

It has swollen to the point I can't really bend it at all. And it itches like crazy, even after taking antihistamines for 2 days straight.

I feel very silly at this point. I feel like I'm the guy when everyone is comparing war stories at the VA hospital, I'm in there for appendicitis.

Maybe Davor will have some Bosnian or Croatian medicine for this too.

In other health related issues, I'm now going to blame every stiff muscle I get not from the lumpy mattress or my advancing age, but to "The Draft." Tune in next week as we explain this and other interesting facts on Medical Malady Monday!

Off the beaten (goat) path

And we're back! After a very busy day involving disassembling the entire office, reassembling the entire office, and then having to repair the phone lines for ADSL, we have both A/C *and* Internet at the office! Living the life of luxury, that's me. Also, a warm welcome to all of those visiting from blogwatch; the fridge is to your left, so help yourself.

So now that the internet has returned, I figured I should update with what is going on. The party in Pristina was fun, met many internationals there, swapped stories and songs, talked about free trade (yeah, I've become an Econ-Geek..) and generally had a good time. Monday was a trip to Skopje where I met with my supervisor over lunch, discussed my moving there for a few days in July as I finish my paper. Tuesday began the great exodus from the old office to the new office as we made a giant fort of binders that I could barely see my coworkers over. After bombarding Davor with balled up bits of paper for a few minutes, we started to take down the furniture, losing most of the cam shafts in the process. Started making small trips in Davor's car with the basic items, which only took two trips due to the fact we were waiting on the Land Cruiser to bring the desk and table parts.

Land Cruisers in a town where everyone drives compact cars is a hilarious site. I know what a Monster Truck Driver must feel like. took the parts of the 3 desks, 2 tables, enclosed shelves, 5 chairs and the filing draws all in one trip.

And looked very cool doing it, thank you very much.

Set up a meeting with a student of Public Health from John Hopkins for this upcoming week - he's doing work on crisis preparedness, so we're helping him connect with NGOs and municipality people. Cuz we're nice people.

After an intense week like this, we decided we needed to take a break. So Davor invited me to go on a picnic in celebration of a feast day with his family. So me, Davor, his wife and kids loaded up in the car and met up with Davor's brother-in-law and family for a fun picnic lunch next to a really nice stream.

Highlights included breaking the language barrier with his 4 year old son using sign language (thumbs up, high-five, and the Rina famous 'pound') and the hat game (which was basically him throwing his hat to me, me throwing it back.

Davor's daughter tried to teach me some Serbian words and I taught her the English equivalent, with some help from Davor.

Played football with his 14 year old nephew (which turned into 1 on 1... I scored one goal though!)

His 5 year old niece asked if I would bring her and her grandmother to America with me, then scratched my beard and kissed me on the cheek, to the amusement and "awws" of everyone there.

Kicked a bee's arse, which also means I got stung on the toe. Still aches.

Waded in the stream to keep said bee-sting cold.

Tried a new beverage that's pronounced "bamboo", and entails mixing wine with either water with gas (if the wine is white) or with cola (if the wine is red). It was very refreshing.

Ate food cooked over a fire for the first time in ages, and remembered how much I missed cooking chicken on a spit back at camp.

But perhaps nothing so impacted me as yet another lil old lady story. Different lil old lady, this one dressed like she stepped out of a fairy tale storybook. Our campsite was next to a path that was mainly traversed by goats. Sheep and cows sometimes also used it, but mainly we saw goats. Then this lil old lady comes over and asks if she could join us. So we give her some juice and some bread, and the 5 year old sits on her lap and talks to her, and generally just share some company with her. After she goes on her way about a half hour later, I ask Davor about it, and if it is customary to let lil old ladies join you for food. He thought about it for a moment and said that it was, a long time ago. But now people sometimes forget about the elderly. This lil old lady in particular probably had children living in the suburbs of Vranje, too far for her to walk to an visit, and without income she probably can't get on a bus and travel. They might visit her once a month or so, but even then that's doubtful. So it made me feel really good that we got to share some of our bounty with the lil old lady. Keep earning my karma, thats what I say.

So that's all for now. Keep it tuned here for more misadventures, and feel free to check out the blogs of some of my classmates through the various comments left around. Comments on this post, as all posts before, are very welcomed.