Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Pejafest 2004

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Wow, so what’s new in my world…. Lots I guess. I finally started teaching this week, and despite my fears of sucking at it, I’m truly enjoying it. My students are really bright and want to work hard – at least that’s what I’m finding in the first week. Let’s see if anyone actually does their homework assignments. I guess that will give me a better idea of whether or not they’re actually going to work hard, or if they’re just saying that to appease me.

Last weekend was Pejafest 2004 – Travis had Phil and I down to his place in Peja. I’ve posted a few pictures of this town before, but they just didn’t do it justice. Peja is situated at the foot of some big mountains(2,500 meters) that seem to spring out of nowhere. A five minute walk out of town and you’re in the mountains. We took good advantage of that Sunday morning and took a 2 hour hike up to into the foothills that overlook the entire city. Heavenly! On top of that, there’s also Rugova Gorge that runs through the middle - a newly repaved, winding highway drives along the edge of breathtaking cliffs and tree covered hillsides. We got up Saturday morning with the intention of hiking through it, but since it was raining for the 6th straight day, we drove instead. I am kind of glad we did, as we got to go all the way to the end. Since it is October, and the dead of autumn, the trees are all changing colors. With the fog and mist from the rains, everything around us looked like an impressionist painting – fire tipped tree branches and all the colors melding into a swirling mass of natural wonder. Everywhere I looked I wanted to reach out and feel the texture of the paint, but I came away with only fingertips wet with mist and a feeling of awe for my first true autumn in many years. I can only hope that winter will be as inspiring, and not miserable. When we reached the end of the paved road, we were in a tiny village. Some of it had to have been Serbian, as there were burned out buildings there too. Din, Travis’ Albanian counterpart at the school where he teaches, took us walking through some of the local trails. I’m not sure if they were actually hiking trails or not, as we had to climb a couple of fences, and there were horses grazing in one of the pastures, and a shepherd and his flock in another. Whatever, the trail took us up and over some hills and back down along the river. I took some amazing photographs, and intended to post them today. However, the internet connection is down at my favorite little café, so it will have to wait until another day. Damn it. Look for them soon though. Here's a sneak peak...


Burned out house in a tiny village in Rugova Gorge

We learned another lesson during Pejefest – women are not welcome on the pool tables in Kosovo, at least in Peja. Friday night we went out to one bar to have a beer, and as soon as we walked in it was as if you could hear the needle screaming across the vinyl on the record player to a dead silence, and all eyes turned to us. Hello, Kosovo! We had a quick beer and decided to find other entertainment, which is how we wound up in the pool hall. When we first walked in, everyone was very welcoming, inviting “us” to play. It didn’t take long to find out that “us” meant Travis and Phil. I played one game, partnered with one of the Albanian guys, who wasn’t doing so well. I kept telling him “nice try”, or something encouraging. But every time I missed a shot, it was “Jo mire, jo mire!” (no good, no good) If he had been joking around, fine, but the guy was just plain being rude – to the point where his friends were even telling him to chill out. I played one more game and decided it just wasn’t worth being treated like crap just for a pool game. The rules here are screwy anyway. How’s this for asinine: whatever pocket your last ball goes in, that’s where you have to shoot the 8-ball; slop counts; and on a scratch you can’t move the cue ball from the spot and you have to shoot at the bottom half of the table. Of course we didn’t know any of this when we started, we just got lectured after we broke a rule. Oh well. I guess my game is going to get progressively worse this year. Dammit.

This weekend is full of promising entertainment as I'm heading back to Skopje for JazzFest. Saturday night is a latin jazz combo followed by a rave-type drum and bass DJ set. Wahoo! I'm a little disappointed to be going away this weekend, as it is the Parliamentary Elections. On the same note, I am glad to be going away, as who knows what might happen. What's the happs on elections States side? I hope you all are going to vote!

Ok, gotta run, have rehearsals for Salsa tonight. Look, Mom, finally a dance recital you don't have to go to! :D

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