Mitrovica

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Before I say anything, Mom, just be clear that even though the place I went to today is considered one of the most dangerous place in Kosova, it’s not NEARLY as dangerous as walking down the street on an average day in Guatemala City. So don’t freak out when I say all this stuff. Some of it may not be all that true, but I’ll just tell you all what I know about it.

This week, one of the 10^th grade students, Muhammad, invited a bunch of us teachers up to visit him in this city in the North near Serbia called Mitrovica. Muhammad lives there with his family and travels about 45 minutes every day to come to school. Now, US citizens are warned not to go there, but heck, they’re warned not to go anywhere it seems nowadays. So we weren’t too worried (more about this in a minute...).

We arrived in town by bus (only 1.30 euros) and met Muhammad and had a coffee. He showed us around town for a bit. Took us to some shops, showed us some statues, and then brought us to the bridge. Everyone in Kosova knows about “the bridge” in Mitrovica. Let me give you a short history lesson here on Mitrovica:

Since it’s close to Serbia, there are many Serbs in this region. Somehow, over time, and I don’t know how, the Serbs have all moved to the north side of the river, and the Albanians/Kosovars moved to the south. We, obviously, were on the south side. Now, a few years ago, you used to be able to cross from one side to the other just by showing your passport. Not sure if Kosovars could cross, mainly because I don’t think they would want to. Anyway, since earlier this summer there were some conflicts near Serbia, they have added more soldiers to the bridge to guard it. On the north side of the bridge there is a 10-15 foot high barrier of rock and dirt, created to stop anyone from crossing. I believe it was the Serbs that built it to stop the Kosovars from “invading,” but I could be wrong.

Back to my story… so Muhammad had talked to his dad about visiting the bridge, and he made it sound like his dad said it was safe and we could go out on it. Still, we were a little nervous. Muhammad had told me that if he were to go across the bridge, he would have been shot by someone on the other side. Now, I don’t know if that’s just a biased, Kosovar belief, or if it’s true, but I wasn’t going to risk anything. We approached the bridge and could see tons of Serbian flags flying in the background—they obviously wanted to show their “best face” to the Albanian side, the side we were on. At first we were very cautious and didn’t really know how far to go. We walked up to the first set of guards—these guys were from Italy. Well, Ben, being the worldly guy he is, wanted to practice his Italian, so he talked to the guards. They said that it was a quiet day, nothing bad happening. Not sure if the guy told Ben this or not, but Ben came back and said we could go forward on the bridge more, but he told us to speak English quietly, since we’re not on the best of terms with Serbia, since we bombed them and saved the Kosovars ‘n all back in 1999.

We got closer to the next set of guards and spoke to them for a minute. They were very nice and one even posed for a picture with us. Muhammad and I posed for a picture, and then Muhammad asked if we could go back. He didn’t say this, but Ben and I think he was a little bit nervous being out on the bridge. I don’t blame him. No point of endangering himself just to go stand on a bridge.  So we walked back to where the girls were standing (they didn’t want to go out on the bridge I guess). It was a unique feeling being out on that bridge—I can’t really describe it. Part of me was nervous, part of me was excited, part of me felt bad that this bridge even had to be like this. That one group of people can hate the other ones so much. And I’m not just talking about the Serbs—the Albanians do NOT like the Serbs either. The animosity is shared, no doubt. I’ve read a story that a Serb was killed while on the south side (the Albanian side) many years ago, just for speaking Serbian. Obviously there was probably more to it than that, but either way, it’s too bad that such a beautiful place has to be a war zone with such high tensions. I don’t think this area will ever change—these people have such a strong passion and desire for their own kind. I don’t know where/how it started, but I don’t anticipate Serbia and Kosova coming to any sort of peace agreement anytime soon. But who knows… I can be kind of pessimistic sometimes… :-)

I’d like to go back to Mitrovica someday, maybe in the spring, when it’s more green and nicer out. Or maybe if they were to ever open up the other side, I’d like to go check out some things on the Serbian side. I heard that their side of the city is in much nicer shape, but who knows. There also is a huge castle up on a nearby hill, but that’s on the Serb side, so I can’t go there. The rest of the day we walked around a little more, Muhammad and his dad (who later met up with us) took us to this really nice restaurant. Muhammad’s dad paid for it all, which was so nice of him. I guess that’s the Albanian thing to do. Muhammad earlier in the day bought our coffees/drinks at a café, and he told us “this is how we do it here---you are my guests, you came to visit me at my home, so I will take care of you and pay for you.” In the US we definitely have some people like that, but I don’t think most people would do that in the US. We went to a small mall, did some shopping, then were going to go to the bus station to get a ride home, but Muhammad’s dad decided he’d drive us all back to Prishtina. Once again, what a great family! The drive back took about 45 minutes. And that’s where my story ends. Probably one of the more exciting days I’ve had here in Kosova, mainly because of the “fear” factor that went into it, but like I said right away, I was probably much safer on this bridge than I was told. There’s no way these guards would’ve let us go out there if it wasn’t safe. We even saw a few people go from one side to the other, so I was kind of confused as to whether we can cross it or not.

I think next weekend we’re planning on renting a car or 2 for like 30 or 40 euro/day, and driving to Tirana, the capital of Albania. We have a 3-day weekend because of some Muslim holiday, so we’re going to find somewhere fun to go. I’ll probably update you all on that trip after it takes place. Until then, go Pack go, and hopefully Bucky can pull out the win tonight (well, 2 am here in Prishtina) vs. Ohio State. I’ll probably stay up and watch it, just cuz I’ve got nothing else to do tomorrow. Ta ta for now!