In the Print Media (Again)

There's a magazine that's put out biweekly by German KFOR. An Albanian version, Dritarja, and a Bosnian version, Prozor, are published. The content for each is identical. In the latest issue, Dritarja/Prozor ran an article about the book donation I gave to the elementary school in April.

The Albanian version:

Libra dhe posterë leximi për shkollën fillore në Palluzhë
„Ne besojmë në fuqinë e librit”

Më 24 prill, nxënësit e shkollës fillore „Sylejman Vokshi” në Palluzhë kishin arsye për të festuar, ngase iniciativës së tyre për krijimin e një biblioteke shkollore, të filluar së bashku me drejtorin e shkollës, i kishte ardhur ndihma edhe nga Amerika e largët.
Kirsten Mashinter, ligjëruese në Fakultetin e Edukimit në Prizren, kishte vendosur ta pasurojë bibliotekën e tyre edhe me libra në gjuhën angleze. Kështu edhe ndodhi. Mbi 250 titujve në gjuhën shqipe iu bashkëngjitën edhe 69 syresh në gjuhën angleze. „Ne besojmë në fuqinë e librit, i cili u ndihmon nxënësve në krijimin e ideve të reja”, tha Kirsten Mashinter gjatë dorëzimit të këtyre librave, posterëve dhe disa fjalorëve për gjuhën angleze, me një vlerë prej mbi 570 dollarësh. „Kjo nuk do të kishte qenë e mundur pa përkrahjen e shokëve, familjes dhe një librarie nga qyteti Reno i shtetit amerikan Nevada”, përshkroi vullnetin e mirë të të afërmëve të saj. „U jemi shumë mirënjohës këtyre njerëzve vullnetmirë nga SHBA-ja, të cilët me këtë donacion përkrahin arsimimin e fëmijëve tanë. Ne ju garantojmë që këto libra do të përdoren maksimalisht nga nxënësit e kësaj shkolle“, falënderoi profesoreshën amerikane Shpend Hoti, drejtori i kësaj shkolle.


The Bosnian version:

Knjige i posteri za školu u Poluži
„Verujemo u moć knjige”

Učenici Osnovne škole „Sulejman Vokši“ u selu Poluža kod Orahovca imali su razloga za slavlje 24. aprila ove godine.
Njihovoj inicijativi za osnivanje školske biblioteke, koju su pokrenuli zajedno sa školskim direktorom, na ovaj dan je stigla pomoć iz daleke Amerike. Kirsten Mashinter, predavačica na Fakultetu edukacije u Prizrenu, odlučila je da obogati školsku biblioteku sa knjigama na engleskom jeziku, što se i desilo. Pored 250 već postojećih naslova, biblioteci su dodata još 69 naslova sa knjigama na engleskom jeziku. „Mi verujemo u moć knjiga koje deci pomažu u stvaranju novih ideja“, rekla je Kirsten Mashinter prilikom predaje knjiga i postera na engleskom jeziku u vrednosti od 570 dolara. „Ovo ne bi bilo moguće bez pomoći mojih prijatelja, rodbine i jedne knjižare u mestu Reno u saveznoj državi Nevada u SAD“, istakla je ona opisujući pri tome dobru volju njenih poznanika. „Veoma smo zahvalni ovim ljudima dobre volje iz SAD koji svojom donacijom potpomažu obrazovanje naše dece. Mi garantujemo da će ove knjige biti maksimalno iskorišćene od učenika naše škole“, ovim rečima je na kraju Špend Hoti, direktor ove škole, zahvalio američkoj predavačici.



And the translated English version:

Books and reading posters for the elementary school in Palluzha
“We believe in the power of books”

On April 24, 2009, the students of the primary school “Sylejman Vokshi” in Polluzha had one more cause to celebrate. Because their joint initiative with the school director to create their own library has namely got support even from the far USA. Kirsten Mashinter, an English teacher at the Faculty of Education in Prizren decided gladly to enrich their library with English books, which in the mean time lists more than 250 book titles in Albanian language. “We strongly believe in the power of books to help students to create new ideas”, said Kirsten Mashinter by handing over the 69 books and many reading posters worth 570 dollar to the school director. “This wouldn’t be possible without the helpful support of my friends, family and a library from the town Reno/Nevada”, she confirmed the goodwill of her relatives. “We cannot say thank you enough to these generous people from the USA, who support the education of our children. We guarantee that these books will be used at maximum ”, thanked the school director Shpend Hoti the American teacher for her donation.

Pictures from an Elementary School

Today's elementary school visit was good. This is the same school that I was at last week to donate the children's books. All of the kids were very happy to see me. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the second shift of kids, grades 1-5, started. Since my student was teaching the older, first shift of students (grades 6-9), I wasn't able to do any hobnobbing with the younger set. I managed to go to each class today for one of their English lessons. It was great.

This is the 6th grade class. The room is tiny. I was standing at the very back.

Students were able to immediately use Crayola markers I gave to the school.

If I had views like these from my classrooms, I wouldn't be spending much time paying attention!

This is the library in action. The principal pulls out a bunch of books and places them on a desk in his office. Between classes, students come in, sift through the piles, and choose books to check out.

Washoe County Library donated a handful of old "Read" posters that they were no longer using. The school's principal put one up in each of the classrooms.

Traveller Beware

Last night I was on a bus travelling from Prizren to the village where I had an observation to do early this morning. I spent most of the trip looking out the window, enjoying the passing landscape. However, about 20 minutes before I needed to get off the bus, I caught a glimpse in the rear view mirror of the driver sucking on a big 'ol can of Efes. Imagine being stuck on a bus while your driver knocks back a 16 ounce can of Turkish beer. Sigh. Travellers to Kosovo beware.

Më Fat Bajrami: Or How I Spent My Tuesday

Monday was the last day of Ramadan and Tuesday marked the first day of a three-day bajram or celebration. The first day of this bajram is a huge holiday in Kosovo. It's like Christmas, Boxing Day, and Halloween all rolled up into one. It's like Christmas because everything is closed and people go home to be with their families. It's like Boxing Day because people go around visiting their friends and family members. It's like Halloween because kids go from door-to-door soliciting candy.

I went with a friend to Polluzha, which is a small village about 90 minutes by bus from Prizren (there are three busses per day that go to Polluzha directly). It was nice to escape both the city and the morning call to prayer. Some photos:

Per usual, I enjoyed good food. On Monday night we ate homemade soft cheese with baked peppers, fried fish, tomato salad with cheese (the tomatoes were f-a-a-a-bulous...store bought American tomatoes cannot hold a candle to these), freshly baked homemade bread, and homemade wine. Absolutely delicious.

There are lots of vinyards around the Polluzha area. When asked what kind of grapes are available in the US, I said, "Oh...green grapes and purple grapes and red grapes and black grapes." This response brought up two points: in Kosovo, grapes aren't called 'green,' they're white. Also, Kosovars are more specific when speaking about grapes. The above picture is of the Hamburg variety (I think). I didn't really know grapes came in varieties, aside from the wine varietals which aren't sold at Safeway (are they?).

I ate, learned about grapes, and hiked. I walked to the top of Mount Koznik (the Mt. Koznik in Kosovo and not the one in Serbia), named after the goats that used to graze the mountainside. I was told that the hill was about 1700 metres, but it didn't feel that tall. It took about 3 hours to hike up and 2 to come down. The weather on Tuesday was perfect for a day hike: slightly breezy and slightly warm.

This is the view from the top of the hill. From my vantage point, I could see a lot of Kosovo (keeping in mind that Kosovo is a pretty small place that's not too surprising).

On the way back down to Polluzha, I snapped what I thought was a particularly striking red gate. I was also taken by the fact that there isn't any garbage in front of this particular house.

I was quite surprised to see a turtle hanging out in some underbrush. Was it released? Is it endemic? Where did it come from? Where is it going?

The village of Polluzha is quite picturesque. The nearest mosque is 4km away, so it's quite quiet, too. It's a farming area and I have some students who come from here.

What else should one do after a day's hike besides eat cake? This is a three-layered number. At first glance, it looks like the middle layer is some kind of meat (like tonkatsu or fried pork), but it's not. It's a darker pound-like cake flanked with top and bottom layers of pound cake. It was sweet and tasty.

The bus ride back was on a typical Kosovo ride: shabby, loose seats, old...but as long as I get to where I need to go, it doesn't matter so much.