Rock Hard Cafe and other stories - December 25th

Morning.

-Waking up at 8 PM (actually 15 mins later because my sleeping bag was too comfortable)
-Trying to catch 'The Professor', the owner of the guesthouse I'm staying in, for an interview. I talked to him on the phone but he said that he didn't want to because he was not ready to be interviewed. All attempts to convert him failed. Fair enough.
-Leading a lost American (not the chopper guy) to the bus station (although I didn't know where this was). This guy was hitchhiking around the world, was travelling for a year and only ate vegan food (something that has to be really hard in this part of the world). Actually we got there on time, and I caught a bus to the southern Kosovan town of Prizren.

This is where it started.

While sitting on the bus I met the chopper guy, the UK Indian and the Estonian-Russian girl, who were also heading to Prizren. They went out the night before all together while I was working and now seemed like close friends. (And yes, I worked on Christmas eve)

They were also accompanied by this interesting Bosnian-Kosovan guy who is working for a financial enterprise that co-operates with the EU mission. He found it interesting what I was doing. He even said that he had written an essay about the economic future of Kosovo, that he was going to send me via e-mail. His name was Emrin Redzeporgic.

"Kosovo has the most fertile land in the region, so I see that as the main opportunity for the future. But the country quickly needs investments, from abroad and from Kosovan enterprises. The Kosovan government can give small credits to the population, which they can use to invest. And of course we need a final status. BUT, I want Kosovo not to become independent without EU-supervision. The political world is also mainly dominated by older politicians, I think that Kosovo can change faster if the many young people here can participate more in the political world."

Prizren

When arriving in Prizren, a young man, who was sitting 2 seats behind me, where I was from. When I replied 'Belgium', he started to speak French to me.

Gentian, 16 years old, used to live in Brussels for a few years. He even went to school there. He proposed to lead me around in Prizren, as he and his shy friend, who didn't speak English or French, had lots of time to kill.

"I just came back to Kosovo with my parents. We are going to live here."

When I asked him what he tought of the future of Kosovo, just being 16 years old, he didn't know actually. Instead, it was clear that this guy was much more in fear of a new war.

Because of his young age. And, there it is, because he had his uncle and father fighting for the UCK during the war. When I asked him if he had a weapon at home, he almost proudly replied that they had "A working AK-47, ready to use when necessary." And that most Kosovans were prepared to new fighting.

Now, I think it is because of his young age that this guy had these more radical ideas. He found himself also not be able to live with Serbs. I can't judge his feelings. Nor can I have a slight idea of what war really means or what this one says is true. He was the first Kosovan I metthat was this radical. But as you may not expect, we had nice talks. I taped him on the top of the old Kale fortress, overlooking the city, and with a beautiful view towards the Sar mountains, that are bordering Macedonia. (Prizren isn't that far from Tetovo, the city I visited some 4 months ago). Gentian and I had lunch in a nice Bureqtore, Burek filled wiht cheese (fillough pastry filled with cheese or meat) During lunch he proudly presented a film on his mobile phone showing a Serbian tank during the conflict in 1999 that was blown to pieces by UCK forces.

Now I'm going to shut up about Gentian. I give him the chance of being young, and not talking about him like he is some kind of guy ready to slaughter any Serb with his bare hands.

He was nice and showed me much in Prizren. The museum of the League of Prizren, an Albanian national league in 1903 that fought against the Ottomans. The house where the museum was in was beautiful.

So, back In Prishtina I had dinner. Phoned some people for interviews. Had a drink at Jon's where a Kosovan living in Switzerland joked "We Kosovans are the smartest people in the world, because we speak more different languages than you can imagine. Welcome in the United States of Albania!" Fatmir, the owner, agreed.

I was left with thoughts. It was a bright day, full of journalistic challenges, full of personal challenges. I was able to analyse all things I had heard the previous days. But you have to wait for that, because I've already written too much today ;-)

And 'Rock Hard Cafe'? That is the name a funny one invented for his cafe, along the road from Prishtina to Prizren.

Goodnight.