First Visitors :-)

We welcomed our first visitors over the Easter break. It was a pleasure having Julia’s mom (Julia), sister (Georgia) and nephew (Baxter). The treat lasted for nine days and involved a road trip through four countries, a service project at a local school, LOTS of ethnic food, plenty of laughs. They were able to get a taste of our daily routine here in the village and also venture to the big city to visit the high school. They met several of our neighbors, humorously struggled with the language (as we do), endured power outages and weathered snow & rain.

Baxter’s 5th grade class in California (Green Valley Elementary) collected toothbrushes and toothpaste along with money to put together care packages for an elementary school near our village. Berganice is a village school with 65 students spanning eight grades. A trade of smiles and an embrace of friendship – these were really the exchanges that day.

The two daughters and mom sure enjoyed being together. Daniel and Baxter were constantly active. We are thankful for their safe travel and feel energized now that we’ve shared our journey first-hand.

Rubbing Elbows

OK. Raise your hand if you’ve ever met the Prime Minister of a country. During first period yesterday principal Don came in my room to announce that he would be meeting with Prime Minister Hashim Thaqi at 10:00 that morning. “Would you like to join me?” he asked. I thought to myself…that’s during my Geometry class and today is the last day prior to Spring Break…I had some important things to say and mid-terms are right around the corner…do I have time to prepare some notes for whoever covers my class…dang, I’m wearing jeans today…”Sure, I’ll go.”

Four students, two teachers, our facilities supervisor and our principal were sitting in a private conference room at 10:30 talking to Deputy Prime Minister Huci. He chaired the committee of 22 people that authored Kosova’s constitution. Mr. Thaqi came in from his adjoining office, greeted each of us, then sat next to his deputy. Don gave him a letter from Pristina High School offering our congratulations for Kosova’s independence. He explained that our goal was to establish a school with high standards and help equip students to be responsible citizens of Kosova. Our meeting lasted about 10 minutes; I said very little. Thaqi mentioned that education was very important and that they were working on getting a computer lab in every school. He said he was grateful for the American school we were establishing. He seemed a bit preoccupied which is understandable – his government has a buffet of challenges right now. We took a group photo and were on our way – back to school by lunchtime.

Pi Day (3.14159...)

Well, the entire school sang Happy Pi Day (to the tune of Happy Birthday) at 1:59pm yesterday. Yes, no math teacher worth his/her salt would let March 14 pass without working the school children into a formulaic frenzy. My counterpart, Mrs. Dunham, and I did our part to raise the awareness of the ever-famous ratio that has been used in calculations since 2000 BC. Oh, and March 14 is Albert Einstein's birthday too - betcha didn't know that.

The last two periods of the day we had several math/circular related games set up in the cafeteria. The students eagerly (really, they were eager) walked from station to station playing games and collecting round "chips". They eventually put their round chips into one or several cans that sat in front of prizes they could win. Throwing a pie at Mr. Palmer was a popular prize, but not as popular as throwing a pie in principal Don's face......Hey, 50 digits of pi (12 font) stretch 10 cm. How many km does one billion digits stretch? Be careful with your dang decimal point.

Ping Pong

Last semester our PE teacher organized a table tennis tournament for the entire school. Three weeks of play culminated in a double-elimination tournament. All games were played during lunch time (everyone gets a 45 minute lunch). It was quite popular with the students and several staff members entered too. The "old man" (me) held his own. My geezer finesse had the young guns off balance at first - they eventually figured out my weaknesses. I came in a respectable 4th place.

We're Fine

The only demonstration we've seen here in our village is the school children marching down main street to celebrate Kosova's independence. The US Embassy that has been attacked is in Serbia. The ruckus within Kosova is mostly limited to the northern regions, 60km from us. There are 17,000 NATO troops here in Kosova, 35 countries make up the peace-keeping forces. While we are wary, we feel the violence will not grow due to their presence. Please join us in praying for a peaceful transition here in the Balkans.

Independence At Last

“Thank You USA” is what the coffee was saying to us, but the entire country of Kosova is also saying it. They have deep gratitude for America here, especially on Independence Day. The US was instrumental in the UN campaign to drive the Serbs from Kosova in 1999. Today they consider America the key to their successful bid to become a country.

To witness the announcement on TV yesterday, Julia and I found ourselves in a local restaurant with our friends, John and Ruth. It was a sunny, but cold afternoon and a generous 6 inches of snow covered the ground. Several men and a few women had gathered to watch the prime minister and president. There was a meal, drinks, dancing, fireworks, toasts, clapping, speeches and plenty of laughing. Occasionally a man would walk out the door, fire his automatic pistol in the air, then step back into the party. One man from our village said to me, “there was a song here, back in the early 80’s when we were oppressed. It consoled us saying, don’t worry mother you have a son in America. Now America is here and we can’t believe it.”

After a couple hours we went back to our friend’s home to celebrate with our children and watch the TV reports (CNN, BBC, etc). It was fun watching folks celebrate in downtown Pristina. We played some traditional Albanian music, danced some more and ate cake.........we slept in late on Monday. We are certainly lucky to have experienced Kosova's indepencence day.

So, how many countries are there now?
A. 193
B. 195
C. 213
D. 388
E. Hard to say

Independence Close?

We may witness the birth of a country this weekend. It appears our new prime minister, Hashim Thaci (Tha-chee) will declare independence in the capital city of Pristina this Sunday. Serbia is still very much against it, Russia too. They have no leverage as most of the EU countries support the Kosovar Albanians and their desire for secession from Serbia. However, the political ramifications stretch far and wide.

There will be a great deal of celebrating Sunday and all week. Our school will not have classes Mon - Wed. The Palmers will not venture into Pristina until Tuesday (maybe). No need to join in the serious revelry which involves shooting guns into the air (we're told). We're very happy for our Albanian friends here. Their joy will spill over, no doubt, but they are still concerned about unemployment, corruption, electricity, food prices, etc. Life will go on one week from now.

Tensions are a bit high. We do not expect any violence, however, there are Serbian paramilitary groups that could cause trouble at the borders. The UN troops and the police have already become more visible the past few days. When you know the history, recent and past, it is hard to understand how anyone would disagree with the Kosovar Albanians' wishes to have a land of their own. Serbia, of course, is passionate about this portion of their sovereign land - they don't want to lose it. It is emotional and raw. Please pray for a peaceful transition.