Here is the blog I kept of my trip to Europe. Many days are unaccounted for, due to intermittant computer access, time to write, and stuff to write about. Sometimes things would be happening and I would start thinking about how I would tell people about it, which really pulled me out of just being there, so I would stop writing at those times as well. I didnt even start writing untill 10 days into the trip, entirely skipping my first week in Paris!

About Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:29:16 Adventure takes its toll. I have not left yet. Fri, 28 Sep 2007 03:51:14 Thats right, I have not left. But I am figuring out how to use this bloggy thing. I leave monday oct 1 at 11am for Paris. October 10: Tesla would have invented more room. Wed, 10 Oct 2007 23:17:18 Today Nikola dropped me off in town near the Nikola Tesla museum, while he did his triathlon training. I checked out the first room of the museum and was told not to operate the demonstration machines when I began touching things. There was a great film about Tesla and he really came up with so much of the foundation of today's electricity and radio technology. This first room was nice, but I had to wait 15 minutes for the guy to demonstrate the models, so I went to a temporary exhibit of some of the magazines Tesla had laying around. That room took about 3 minutes to cover. I went for the stairs to enter the body of the museum, but was informed that there was no museum upstairs. That was it. Soon the guy got up and ran the demonstrations for me. At one point he handed me a fluorescent bulb, told me "dont get any closer" then left the room and turned out the lights. I was a little scared at this point. Then the sparks started flying and crackling and the bulb in my had lit up. Somehow, I remained safe. The magic of Tesla. Next I walked down the street and found a market/swapmeet which was my dream for my time in Serbia, but it turned out to be the lamest swapmeet. Kind of a distillation of all the stuff left over at a garage sale- broken wristwatches, unmemorable useless metal junk, and ugly leather jackets that smelled of cleaning product. I walked to the other end of the market, and finally stopped at a couple of the stalls that were trying to get me to buy honey. I was given a toothpick and tried some goodness. One jar I tried had lots of extra stuff mixed in, like propolis and pollen. I looked at an herb-seller's wares and tried to find licorice. This attracted a number of helpers, but none spoke english, so helpers might not be the right word. I was finally led to a health food store around the corner where they also didnt speak english. A woman was waiting behind me from Brussels who spoke perfect english, and we talked about how Belgrade is safe, safer than Brussels she said, and they love children. We also talked about the use of licorice by nordic countries, but she had no idea of the Serbian word and I left. Next, I detoured over to the largest Orthodox church in the world. There was a larger one in Turkey, but the Turks moved in and made it a mosque. Anyway, its sure big in there. And raw and under construction. Not by monks with wooden scrapers or something, there was standard construction scaffolding in there clanking around, a jackhammer in one corner, a forklift drove by, etc. All reverberating with a huge church hall sound. As 3 hours had gone by, I met Nikola at the designated coffee shop and we headed home and then out to a meeting in a great huge park. He wants to put 100 meter marks on the path for his running team, "Hermies". The park has a mini golf setup, water slide, summer-only Mc Donalds, an area for wake boarding, and a huge water area with 3 story judging building for rowing races. The other side of the park borders the Sava, where Nikola's parents have a floating house for weekends. Its really nice, very cute, 2 floors, great vacation vibe. I met Nikola after the meeting in the one lonely coffee place still open this late in the season. I sat behind the plastic walls with my tea and watched the rain fall, while the dance music played, the heater blew, and the employee went back to she soap opera he was following. We went next to a small town about 15 minutes out of town and met a friend of Nikola's and went into a cafe that was a converted traincar. It was really nice. The friend is one of the best ironman competitors in Serbia. They had a meeting. I went for a walk. Saw nice little stores, cute stray dogs and cats, and a broken down stone building with Gypsies. Next door was a new place with satellite dishes. On Nikola's direction, I got some spray paint for graffiti we are going to work on later. As it grew dark, 1000s of crows began to fly around the grain silos next to the old train area and I had to go out and watch them, beautiful making swirls and currents around the building and the trees across the river. Nikola was finishing his meeting with another guy who joined them, who is helping with the hypoglycemic division of the racing group. Then we went home, and had some great homemade food at his parent's place, 4 floors up. Too hard to describe the food. I nursed a shot of homemade apricot brandy. It had been distilled to waterclear purity, but still carried a very present and wonderful apricot essence. After watching "american choppers" on discovery channel, a story about Lee Harvey Oswald came on and that was enough. We came back down, watched my DVD, talked a while and now Im writing this. It is about 10 times longer that I wanted to write. But thats what happened. October 11, Chillin Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:41:35 Today's home hangout saves me (and you) from another looooong post about every detail. We stayed at home most of the day. Had a great lunch at his parents flat upstairs and watched a doc about Castro and a football movie starring Keanu Reeves. Such a typical hollywood movie, including being really moving and entertaining. We made some exercise movies. We took my phone to his friends shop to get it unlocked. Walked around, etc. Nikola told me that tonight we would be going out. So we did, to a big supermarket, a video store, a cemetery, and an ancient structure that I sort of graffitied. You can read about it here. See some movies over here. As Nikola is in constant training for really serious racing, especially triathilon, he is carefull about everything that goes into his body. Lots of fruit, bread without yeast, no salt added, no sugar added, no processed foods, organic. We have been eating really well. Tonight I had an arugula salad with whole wheat pasta and parmesan. Keifer with homemade jam in it for desert. Im eating better than at home for sure. -j Oct 12, Cave Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:27:22 We went to a great cave. It was beautiful. Normally, the tours are with about 90 schoolkids, which would have been intresting, but we were between busses so there were just the two of us on the tour. It was called Resavska cave. I love caves. This was a very cavey cave. We were not suposed to take pictures for copyright reasons, so I took them on the sly. About 30 of them. On the way back we met some nice cole miners outside their hole. They said we could go in if we got some boots and a flashlight, but we were headed home. Quickly. On the open highway, Nikola drives about 110mph when the road is open for stretches. After another great homemade dinner at his parent's flat, we watched a show about how crayons were made. I could watch factory machines all day. Also, there were robotic arms assembeling lawnmowers. On tv. Eventually, we headed into town for a little friday night action. Immidiately we saw the Rakia-fest, and Nikola said "Thats for you". I have been facinated by rakia since I learned about it. Its liquor made from whatever, usually plums or other fruit, and lots of people make it. Its also very inexpensive, and amazing. For $2 you can rent a little glass, and for $1 you can samle the drinks! Apperently, you are supposed to pay the $1 for each sample, but I got all the samples without losing my ticket. As a very amiture drinker, I like the very sweet mild liquors. There is a rakia that is uncommon but not so rare made from unripe walnut fruit. Its very intresting. I had some very special drink like this with honey, propolus, and herbs. It was amazing. One place I asked for a taste got crazy. They didnt just give me a taste, they gave me a whole unopened bottle! Its a rather nasty medicinal liquor that is made with some intense herbs. Ill post a photo of the description some day, its inspirational. The banner for Rakia fest was subtitles "Happy Street" and I began to experience that very soon, and everything looked wonderfull as we wandered on down the street. It was a great night. October 13 - Run and Rakia Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:45:01 This morning, we ran. We went to the water's edge and jogged for a while, then split up and i ran some more, and then I relaxed and met Nikola after his 50 minute maintenance run and we ran some more. It felt nice. Later we went back to have lunch at his mom's then we watched "Idiocrity" and then people began arriving for the party. Just a handfull of guys, we watched the Hawaii world champion ironman race, and ate good athlete food prepared by Nikola and Martina. It was fun. I got a ride downtown with some guys leaving early and looked for the rakia fest again. I hard big drums when I stepped from the car and I ran towards them. it was a samba band playing at Rakia fest! I loved it! I met some people from the band and they were all great and friendly, and spoke great English. It was really fun hanging with them and they friends and their friends- friends. So nice. Many ppeople wondered how I came to be in Belgrade, and a few of the people I spoke with had gone to school for some time in the US. It think that is great. Now its very late and I might have to get up early tomorrow. As it is the month of Gothtober, you might want to see some of the surprises on the Gothtober website. Today, the 13th, mine opened up and you can see the silly piece I made just a few days before I had to finish packing up. Ahhhhhhh!!!! Nikola has been updating his photos and videos of my visit. check out his Photos and videos. October 14 Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:16:01 Details of yesterday are vague, possibly because they happened yesterday and also because I just woke up. It was quiet, I got up late, and we took some trips around town. We stopped by Zara, the fancy Spanish clothing store, where Martina bought a hat. We walked around the ancient fortress that overlooks the meeting of the 2 great rivers here, its been used for over a century, built upon and attacked by various dynasties. We ate at a great restaurant, very folky and fun to the extreme, and the food was unique and interesting. We had a coffee with a friend of Matrina's, Tamara, the doctor who gave me a check-up when I first got here. I told Nikola that CalArts was one of most important art schools in the US, which is kind of a weird thing to say anyway, but it provoked a big discussion about institutions and what is important. It was a quietish Sunday. Belgrade visit ending Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:09:55 Last couple days in Serbia have been very good. Last night (monday) I was in Novi Sad and I met 3 men who are designers and 3 women who are spanish teachers. All spoke excellent english. I stayed in Novi Sad last night with a friend I met at the Samba drumming and met these friends of hers at a bar in town that was really great, except I walked out smelling like an ash tray. Drinks are crazy cheap- like, $3 for most things, beer cocktails, etc. The people I met are great, they would be my friends in LA if they lived close to me as well. It was easy to stay with this friend because she is already set up on couchsurfing.org , and is used to having people pass through and has facilities for that. I took the slow bus back to Belgrade this afternoon, through all the little towns and countryside. From the bus I finally saw some laces I would like to look for clothes. Just big cheap places with no style. That might be the only place I can get something around here that is interesting. But thats just me! Of course, the bus was just passing by them and so most of the garments inside were in my imagination. Last night I also met a designer friend of Nikola's that has made a web design company and has a very nice home office. We looked at his work. I like roasted chestnuts. Nikola thinks is a great business because you can just pick up the chestnuts from the ground in parks, and then just roast them over a little fire in a tin pail or something. Well they are great. I should write a full article about the visa situation here. Its the top thing on peoples minds. When we met the miners the other day on the side of the road, I was introduced as an American and the first thing they said was "can he get us visas?" Its a regular joke, and constant grim topic. People cannot go to almost any countries around here without a long, difficult, random, expensive bureaucratic process. Its because they are being punished for the war. Europe is really putting the screws on them. People here are so cool and doing all kinds of stuff, but can barely leave. The Spanish teachers escape to Barcelona for a month at a time, but cannot drive a few hours into Hungary without going through some process in advance that is a pain. They are stuck here, and even if they were not really going to leave, it bums them out a lot. Its a big part of why they got another aggressive president recently, people are really fed up with the visa thing. There are a few places that a re pretty easy to get into for them, like China and Iran. For Cuba, they do not even need a passport! Salaries are low here, about 30,000 dinars a month. $570. Tough to save to fly very far even if they could. Apartments in Novi Sad- Nice new building sort of 1 bedroom - $200/month? same kind with 2 bedrooms, about $350/month? Not sure on those figures. Its late and I have to pack. And then ride a train to Kiev for 2 days, and then hang out in Kiev, and then a little village south of Kiev. Not sure if there will be Internet for the next 10 days or more. -joel Uman internet cafe Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:27:42 Im in Uman, Ukraine. I just arrived here with Naomi from Kiev, by bus. We are going on a bus later to her village on the last bus tonight, so we can get a good taste of internet before we leave civilization. Actually, Naomi's place sounds very civilised- walls, roof, electricity, heating! There is even a well nearby with a bucket to pull up water! Actually, she is moving from one house to another next door, which she just bought. One has heat, the other electricity I think. There is a refrigerator. Milk down the road from cows, and vegtables from people with gardens. No one grows gummie bears, and there are no stores so there are not many other eating choices. But, I have not even been there. We'll see! I was in Kiev. Not a fun town for me. I saw almost no smiles, service people were really rude, its not a very safe city and there is no english. I saw a great museum of very tiny things, and a cave under a church with dead dried up old monks or something but it was really not a cave, just a small hallway and the bodies in the little glass coffins were all covered with nice fabric so you could not see anything, could have been a loaf of bread or a retired Elmo doll in there. Hard to inspire divotion if you cant even see one dried up old finger sticking out or something. We were at a great bar last night with people from Chetchnia, Georga (the country) Russia, and lots of locals. I liked that. Naomi had her little doggie as always, but it barely turned heads. Someone else had a crow! Then we went to a cool couple's house and hung around, it was nice, but there was little english, even though he has an english language school. I bought a blanket from a street vender of fine things. Not sure it was a good travel souveneer, its huge and heavy! But very very nice, fuzzy, and woll, made by the people who had the animals. Gentil odor of Lanolin. I like to smell the animal Im cuddleing with. I came to Kiev on the train, from Belgrade. I was on the train for 36 hours so I have a lot to say about it. It was about $150, for a 2nd class sleeper car. 1st class just ment that they only put 2 people per car instead of 3. (it costs 1/2 more). It didnt matter since it was mostly empty. We all had out own sleeper room. I was not really signed up on a train, it was just the one car that makes that trip. Our little car was shuffled around as trains were built and taken apart in various train yards, like a boxcar of wheat or iron filings. At first were were the last car at the back, later we were facing a different direction, and we were always rocking and creeking like an old sleeper car with lots of well used hinges and fittings. There was one attendent that didnt smile or help, and another in waiting, for the return trip I guess. There were about 7 rooms on the train, about 5 were occupied. You could sit in your room, go to the bathroom, or stand in the little back part for smoking, but there was no window there so it wasnt even fun to not smoke in there. I loved my room! It was lonely for the first hours. I even wrote some stuff about that on a piece of paper. Then I opened the dinner Nikola's mom packed for me and had a party! It was fun. Dusk outside, the moon, a little fork and tupperware and napkins, etc. It was a nice evening, watching stars and dark trees going by from my bed, I listened to an old radio show (Gunsmoke) and some music on my mp3 player. It was energising. I went in and out of sleep. Untill I got the the border with Ukraine! At 11pm, we were boarded by a bunch of passport police who openend my door abruptly and threw on the light. Of course, in my doorway their legs are about 9 inches from my head. I gave my passport over and they left, and didnt come back. In Hungery that took about 10 minutes, but after 50 minutes thay hadnt come back, we started moving and I was pretty anxious. But it turns out were were just bumping around the train yard. Later there was a lot of heavy pounding on our wheels and undercarrage. We were switching the soviet rails or something, which are wider. They had to widen the distance between the wheels! After 2 hours my passport was returned and we left around 2am. When I first got on the train, Nikola translated the attitude of the train attendent- Get on here. Dont ask questions. That was a good idea. Especially since no one on the train spoke a word of english. The passport ordeal was a little tence because leaving Serbia I had to bribe the passport police! There is some old law that Nikola had never even heard of that visitors are supposed to register with the local police station if they stay more than a night somewhere and get a free little recipt. Since I didnt have it, the very friendly, polite, apologetic police officer and his boss was going to have to take me off the train to the judge and I would have to pay about $8. Then I would loose the train, of course. Im lucky, cause I could call Nikola who talked to them and then called his lawyer and confirmed this was a real law. Nikola reccomened that I see if they wanted a bribe or he could drive up and get me at the border station. Eventually I figured thay they wanted the bribe and I gave them $35 and that was fine. I tried to play it off like they were going to pay the fine for me and it was legit, but no, the officer really wanted to make sure I understood it was "unofficial" no cover story needed. The sleeper car was awsome, it looked like it was from about 1978, nice woodgrain, some fun stuff like a medicine cabnet with a light and a plug. I was really into the plug since it ment unlimited phone, music player, and camera useage. But I only found the receptical on for about an hour in the middle, and for a while at the end. Its ok, i had enough. The car was heated with coal, and the toilet "flushed" by opening to the tracks. What I take away from this is... dont walk down the middle of the tracks. The train was an amazing personal journey. It was a good length of time alone. It was neat, weird, mysterious, suspenseful, restful, and there was always something intresting out the window. It was a meditation. Ill be in the little town so I dont know if i'll get here to check internet for a while, but maybe, especially sicne I have to arrange the next part of my trip. Pretty hard to do from Uman, very difficult to do from the village. Once I figure out where Im going, I have to figure out how to get out of here and to there. I wont have help beyond this little town, and its a long way to anywhere from here. Serbia was so great, I really like the people I met there and times I had, so I might go back, although it will be very difficult. Maybe Ill fly, but how to figure out a ticket without language? I really depend on my friends here, and they are all incredible. I still have some more internet time so maybe Ill write more, but maybe I should figure out how to get out of here for later. Plus, this post is way too long!!! Oh well. No spell check either. Its natural. texting Sun, 21 Oct 2007 17:56:16 Still at the Uman internet cafe. Just wanted to say thank you for the comments! Thats the best. Also, if you are daring, you can try to send me an sms text. Its probably a little expensive and tedious from a phone, but you can also text from Skype if you know what that is. I have a french phone number, a serbian phone number, but Im currently using my Ukraine phone number, its like this- +380 982987188 I think the +380 is the international part. It costs me nothing to recieve texts and calls. Im a bunch of hours different, of course. My phone is very basic, do not send pictures! Its too expensive to text back- I just made a 2 minute call to Serbia and used up 1/2 of my credit. So, Im saving my remaining bits. Now its raining outside. Good thing I just bought a rain coat! I was going to buy a used suit for my visit to the village, but I chickend out cause i was not sure why I was doing it. I tried on a really nice very old traditional vest yesterday but it was just not something I would wear ever probably. Im kind of waiting here cause what else am I going to do on a cold sunday night in a small town before the bus comes? Friday in Kiev I tried to use the internet. I sent one email to mom. I was in a post office, and the internet was slower than dialup, a lot slower. I viosited a gem and mineral show, it was just like the ones I have seen at home. No biggie. I rode the subway, made a transfer underground through the labrenth to the blue line and finished the trip at the point where I switched to a bus. The subway was very underground at the point I started. I had to go down the 2 longest esclaters I have seen. Naomi mesured it, its 8 minutes down. No maps down there! Very tricky to figure out! Only 10 cents though! At the bus stop I heard a phone ringing in the trash, coundnt see it in there though. Later, I realised it was my phone in my pocket! I took the bus, with Naomi's help of course, and made it home. well, its time to go! Caio! Village Scene Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:07:27 Wait, did I mention that when I got in the Kiev taxi and put on my seatbealt the driver said, "Oh, american" because I was using the seatbealt? When I told him I was from california he said "Swartzinager!!!" and made machine gun sounds, then he started saying what sounded like "Eagles" and yes it was, because then we were singing "hotel california" together. I tell people I am from cailfornia. California has never bombed anyone, and everyone has seen baywatch. Allright, well anyway, Im living in the village that sounds like "Lahedsany" but its written like you dropped the letters on the ground and put the pieces back together the wrong way. Its a village, amazing, and I can feel the context of fairy tales around me. By this I mean, drawing water up from the well, nighttime, the forest, a fox in the chickens, village gossip, etc. Well, that might be a vague explanation but part of the village life is still touching the way people have lived the past 300 years. Sort of. Naomi's house is incredible, she just bought it, for $4000. Like any house in a village for probably hundreds of miles, its really a small farm. Because that is where food comes from, your yard. There is a nice house, and numerious barn-like builodings. One building is a summer kichen, with 2 rooms and an amazing ovensystem in the middle. There are 2 root cellers, in decent condition. An outhouse of course, no seat, just the hole in the ground. But, is has a window, deluxe! A longer building has many doors, some are smaller storage rooms, others are for a cow or two, pigs, etc. There is a hole in the floor for a couple of the larger stalls that go way down to a sort of celler, to push the poop into I guess. THere is another building like this, with a hay loft on top. It also has an addition of a garage, with stairs going down to the pit underneath to work on the car from down there. It was added later, when having a tractor or car was something people had I guess. I took 1 zilliom pictures, so Ill stop describing the layout. The walls are all clay, think walls of clay with straw in it, clearly visible straw in clay. Not all rough like adobe, but very smooth and clean corners. Its fun to use the well, because its really functional and that is the water. Its sort of a fixer-upper, and Im helping Naomi clean away some of the weeds and stuff, and we explored all the rooms which she had not done yet. Like any new-used home, there are 100 things to to take care of. A farm in disuse for a few years really needs attension. We got the stove over to the new house, got the heat working (gas retrofitted into the old wood system) and her refrigerator in there, so that is really living. This is how the grandmothers there live, and its fading fast. In 10-20 years, I dont think anyone will draw up buckets for water, or grow almost all their own food. Some old folks there do not even have gas, but the houses are built very well for this. The way heat is used and distributed is very effective, as everything is for that lifestyle. Well, thats all pretty boaring to read about I guess. We visit the babushkas, (grandmothers), and other folks. We were in a beautiful house with indoor bathroom, shower, kitchen sink, the works. Lots of people have that around there I guess, the younger generation. But people dont have much money, a full university professor in a city makes only about $300/month I am told. Many make a little extra on the side selling grades. Fields strech down from Naomi's farm, and I walked down there to the edge of the trees, where the wild things must live. Someone must have been harvesting the alfalfa the past couple days, cause their scythe was laying there with a sharpening stone. Not an old relic scythe like Im used to, its a new sythe, and I tried it and it was very light and nice to use. I was impressed. We went to the bazzar yesterday, pretty fun. Im getting tired. We are coming back to this cith tomorrow for the really BIG bazzar, so maybe Ill write more then. Not sure what else to say, because its really more about the photos, which I'll put up when I get back. I was going to return Nov 1, but im going to try to extend my trip a couple weeks. No use rushing out of this fairytale, and there is more to see in Europe, right? Today we rode into town in a funny old russian car. There are lots of motorcycles in the village, almost all have awsome sidecars, but no one ride in them, the second person rides in the back for some reason. We keep a pocketfull of sunflower seeds and spit the shells on the ground, its what the uncooth people here do. Hard to get a green vegtable this time of year, besides cabbage. I have a big old black jacket they found in a barn. Its pretty clean and doesnt smell almost at all. Very warm and severly out of style here, as it was the kind everyone had when they didnt have a choice years ago. I cant remember much right now, Im falling asleep.... But Im having a great time, just living, and meeting lots of folks who do not speak english, walking, seeing things, eating things, etc. Its nice on the farm. Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:09:05 Last night, after the internet, we took the bus home, and went to Baba-Hania's house. Baba is short for babushki, or grannie. We houng out with her while she milked her 2 cows, and goat, then wen in for dinner. We had homemade soup, bread she baked, fried eggs from her chickens, stuffed tomatos she grew and pickled, pickels she grew, and Vodka she distilled there in the kitchen. The vodka was very high proof, and absoluely clear. There is one way to drink it around here- you have it in a shot glass which you throw back, and then take a bite of bread or something immidiately after. Always with food. You always have at least 3 shots, the first one must be full, but the next 2 can be partly full. Each shot is a toast, the third one to love! Today was the bizarre,and we bought a lot of little stuff for the house and the like, lots of fun. I also was just calling Delta airlines via Skype from this internet cafe. I was trying to change my flight to a couple weeks later. To do this was going to be $622! That freaked me out. I checked buyng a round trip from Paris to LA and its about the same price, so Im just going to abandon my Delta flight. That is also disturbing, but a good idea it seems. Now I can get my flight whenever. Even buying it 4 days in advance is only $688. It looks like Naomi and I are going to Lviv with the grannie and her family in a few days. Its really hard to do anything from the village, and I cant get any transportation without a lot of help. Well, at least Lviv is moving me West. :) Im out of time here. Bye! Lviv Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:34:57 It might look like a mis-spelling, but its actually the coolest town in Ukraine. Definitely stop here if you are... well I dont know what circumstances would bring you near here and I would really recommend a bunch of other places first, like Paris, Ojai, old growth redwoods, Japan, etc. But for the Ukraine, this place is really rockin. In cities, (mostly meaning Kiev) the style here is 1987++. By this I mean they stayed with the 80's style, but they have really explored it and it shows in womens boots. Kiev must have the highest density of stiletto heels per capita. And they are tall boots, with lots of straps and zippers and junk all over them. Guys are dressed lame, like conservative 1987. They didn't get into the 80's gay colors here. Lviv, on the otherhand, has some punky looking folks, some kind of 90's looking folks, its very soothing to see them. Cause lots of boring black and gray sweaters and stuff causes a kind mental scurvy to set in. You need some fruits! Naomi and I arrived here yesterday, and we are staying at a really cool hotel, the George. Its old, grand, beautiful, incredible, and the shower is down the hall. Yesterday I bathed for the first time in... 7 days? Who knows. Hot, running water gets a star by it my book. The room is $46/night. oh, here they are http://georgehotel.com.ua/ The site has pictures, sorry I'm not posting any myself. Its great to travel with a friend, even better if they speak the language, and she has shown in 2 film festivals here and so she has fun friends here too! We met some yesterday afternoon. They were about 20 years old. A guy and 2 girls. They are really fun. We went to a bar that was modeled after a bunker for the Ukrainian Partisan Army. That Army is intense, check it out on wikipedia or something. Pretty hardcore group I think, and still celebrated. The bar was way underground, the walls lined with rough bark, lots of army stuff all over, including guns and the like. It was 2 small rooms. You could put on the army clothes and play with the guns and take pictures, as a bunch of giggling girls were doing for a while. You could even shoot some of the guns! Im sure they were loaded with blanks, it was intense to have a gun go off in the little bunker. Food was served in mess kits, servers wore army clothes, etc. We got a liter of honey vodka served in a ceramic pitcher. Looked like water. As a general non-drinker, I have been doing pretty good with drinking vodka with the grannies in Ukraine. I did good last night as well, because I went in to the bathroom at the kid's flat and threw up 5 times, and suddenly started feeling better. Today- no hangover! Naomi wasn't so lucky. She is sleeping now. Happy Haloween! Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:51:41 I celebrated by going into the one place with Halloween decorations- Mc Donalds! I was going to try to post an actual picture, but operating a computer with a Russian Windows interface is just to tricky for some things. Today we visited the Pharmacy museum, really amazing place. I had a lot to say about the past 5 days, and the whole trip but cant remember much and Im almost out of time here at the internet place, not enough to tell you about how strange it feels to travel for a while, and live in a village for a week and then not know what I am doing or how to figure out what to do or something. Things dont matter they way they used to. I have not been homesick one bit, but I do have some travel fatigue, changing places is stressful, getting the train ticket for tomorrow seemed alright, but I think i was a little stressed inside and I felt a little ill. But, no biggie. Its over. Ill get on the train for 24 hours and its pretty mellow in there. Ill bring a lot of water. Its time to sign off. Caio! Novi Sading Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:03:01 Just a note to say, Im back in Serbia, staying with a friend I met here last time, in a safe, quiet comfortable apartment. With internet access. Im taking a vacation from my adventure. Its really nice. I might even be able to put up pictures, if I can figure out the computer stuff. Im going to try to find another friend or two to stay with, see some more places before I head back to Paris and home again. I dont think I want to just go alone to a hostel or something somewhere, the social experience is where the adventure really is. I skipped my flight back, so Ill just buy another one when I run out of places to visit. I checked. Even with only a few days notice, a round trip back to LA from Paris will only cost a little more than changing my original flight! And its so nice to be free of the pressure of the flight scedule. Actual photos Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:14:53 Just a note to say, I finally was able to put up pictures! http://flickr.com/photos/17896883@N07/sets/72157602988212297/detail/ Some day Ill make an album with many more pictures, giving a broader look of things and such. So, it will probably be boaring. Better enjoy these. Plus, they have titles and stuff. It was kind of a lot of work. Especially since Im lazing around here all day. Got change not, going to some music show. I have to change out of my pajamas. I got a really ugly pair at the market, the worst, it was all they had. But then I found a second hand store, and found some really nice jammies. Now Im lounging in style. Which is pretty much that way you want to do that. SerbStories Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:01:36 From my friend Peja- One year there was runaway inflation in Serbia, but like a crash. It began slowly, the Serban Dinar began to fall in value then faster and faster. Soon you had to take your euro (stable currency) and trade it in for a wad of cash 2 inches thick to go to the club that night. Later it was worse. Because the exchange rates were in such freefall, when you got to the club, the amount you took out in the morning was only half the price now to get in, and you had to go begging from people in the line for another few million Dinars or whatever. The end came when they were finally printing 500 billion (500,000,000,000) Dinar notes. There just wasnt enough room for any more zeros after that! its really world record kind of inflation. http://www.rogershermansociety.org/yugoslavia.htm From Nikola and Peja- The Mc Donalds in Belgrade is huge, it seats a lot of people, and was so popular it was the most profitable Mc Donalds in the world. Its pretty expensive by local standards, as well. When the football team from Belgrade played 2nd biggest city, Novi Sad, the Belgrade crowd had a song they would sing, and the words were, "We have a McDonalds and you don't!" Later, when NATO started bombing, they took out the bridges in the middle of Novi Sad over the Danube, a huge river maybe a mile wide. Then when the football teams played eachother, the Belgrad crowd's song was changed to "We have bridges and you don't!" I took a long walk yesterday, out to the edges of town, and along a grassy path came upon a darker skinned guy with 2 small girls and their goat on a long rope. Its noe of the first non-Caucasians I have seen in Novi Sad. I said "hello" in Serbian and he seemed shocked, and tried to talk to me. "I dont speak Srebski, no Serbski, only English" I told him. "Tony Blair Tony BlairTony Blair Tony Blair Tony Blair Tony Blair!" was his reply, He kept trying to talk to me for about 15 minutes. "No Tony Blair, not English,Im from California" Never heard of California, or Los Angeles. Finally I gave in and said "United states" "George Bush George Bush George Bush George Bush George Bush George Bush!" Later he expanded into some westernmusitions I have not heard of, and then Michael Jackson and John Travolta. I told him many times my name was "Joel" but he just kept calling me "Jonny" and his name was something muslim, and he sang a phrase in arabic about Allah that included his name. Allah, did I know? Yes, I know about Allah, Allah is great. I wished I remembered that phrase in Arabic. I asked him why his 2 small girls would start crying when I looked at them, and he said something about "terrorism". He also tried to tell me about his father related to France, and VietNamVietNam VietNam VietNam VietNam. He also invited me to have tea at his place. I declined politely. Later I thought about his girls, and wished i had gone with him. Their home looked nice enough, and what was going to happen? Well, the 2 girls and the rest of the family would talk to a real "American" and I wouldnt try to eat their liver or whatever. I was having a good time and very relaxed and smiling and optimistic, and everyone can use some of that. They were probably Gipsys, and regardless of their culture elsewhere, the ones around here are not particularly theivey, they tend to take from the trash instead of pockets. Not much Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:19:49 Yeah, I haven't been writing for a while, Sorry about that, mom and dad! Im in Belgrade, Serbia, and today Im finally leaving. The past few days I have not done a lot. I saw the movie "Invasion", which was really terrible, a couple presentations about diabeties in Serbian in an auditorium, went with Nikola on errands, read "Fast Food Nation" etc. Seeing the movie really made me feel like I was home, because it was a hollywood movie, and because it was so badly done I could feel the struggle of everyone involved with the production. Here is the serbian number I have been using for the past weeks and will contiune to use for a while- +381 640 148306 Im headed to Ljubilana, Slovenia tonight on the bus. I could take the train but I had problems at the border on the train last time so now Im taking a terrable bus, leaving at 9pm arriving at 4:30 AM. Its comfortable here in Belgrade, but its a little stagnant for my development, I want the challenge of traveling. And, gosh, there is so much out there to see! In Slovania, Im going to go to a huge cave, one of the biggest and most famous in the world. I wish some of you were here, at least so we would have the required 3 persons to take one of the 5 hour adventure tours where you get dirty and crawl all over to different parts. I peeked into a lonely planet guide for the country at a book store yesterday. Wow, those are sure handy! But the are also $35+ each, and Ill just be there for some days. Staying with a native covers a lot of what I would find in the book anyway. In Ljubilana Ill stay in a hostel the arrival morning, then with a friend of Nikola's, this woman (and her husband)- http://www.exstat.org/ Ill have to get new money. Im already carring 5 different kinds. And a phone with chips for 3 different numbers. This is nothing new in Europe, but its kinda weird for me. Sleeping in cell 119 Sat, 17 Nov 2007 01:34:33 So, Im in Ljubljana, and Im sleeping in the coolest hostel in the world. According to Lonely Planet, and Joel Fox. It was a jail. Im in a cell. Its a huge art piece, and a piece of it can be yours for about $30/night. I arrived by miserable bus the morning at 4:30am, and checked in by 5 to sleep some hours before 11am checkout. I didnt sleep well though, because I was so excited about the room. Maybe you can see it here? http://www.souhostel.com/en/360.html?what=c119 http://www.souhostel.com/en/ Now Im actually staying in room 109, not the artpiece that the first room was, but great in any case. The rest of this place is a visitors paradise, but thats not very interesting to read about. But come here and stay, its the best in the world. Its pretty obvious when you get here. And guess what? I took a few pictures of the room and then the morning my camera fell and its too broken inside now to take pictures anymore. Oh well! Maybe Ill get a cheap film camera. Today I walked through town with some nice folks Nikola put me in contact with, its a really beautiful city. Im going to stay some days here, its so nice. Got to get some rest tonight because I didnt get any on the bus, I dont sleep in bus seats, never have. I could have had some memorable rest though, if we didnt pass through a bunch of border checkpoints during the night where all the lights came on, and we gave passports to police and such. We even all got out of the bus twice. Entering EU Slovenia at about 2am, the immigration guy saw my passport and asked with humor, "How did you get on this bus?" I said, " in Belgrade" him,- "Where's the girl?" as in, chasing a girl was the only reason strong enough to have been in Belgrade, or to leave on such a lousy bus. I just want to say that I did a really good job and packing for the trip I planned. The shoes are perfect for October, the jacket worked out, I thought I would pick up some huge old one in the Ukraine and that is exactly what the grannie gave me. The clothes were perfect, 2 pairs of pants, 3 snap shirts, etc. The baggage was perfect, with a little room to add stuff along the way. I even figured I could get an $8 duffel bag along the way if I got too much stuff along the way. I got that yesterday, for $8. The only problem is that I stayed longer than a month. But things are still working, and I added some more underclothes to take me between washings. Gosh, this is incredibly dumb! Sorry. Living with people speaking foreign language is really relaxing. I dont have to pay attention, and they switch to english when there is something I need to know about or funny. I dont even notice it anymore. Also, they have complete privacy in their conversations right in front of me. Im glad to provide it. I smell like an ashtray. Not as bad as in Novi Sad. Serbia does not have no smoking zones, and people smoke a LOT. But there is no smoking indoors in Slovenia. I caught plenty of it in my jacket here anyway. I better get my rest, since I didnt last night and tomorrow we are going to a labor protest in the middle of town, among other things. NewYork Times reporter on Slovenia- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE3D8113DF936A3575BC0A9679C8B63 Caio! Bled! Sun, 18 Nov 2007 21:33:44 Thats Bled, Slovenia. I came here last night. Ill be back in Lujbjinia later, but a friend was coming over here and I wanted to go to the mountains and the apiculture museum. Thats the museum of bee keeping! I thought it would be pretty cool but it was way better than that. It was an incredible place. Staying in hostels is really great! Of course, The first one was the best hostel in the world, and this one is Bled is one of the best most of the rest of the others here have seen. Most people I meet now are really travelers. Most have been traveling for 6+ months, and few are heading home soon. Some have had long stops, like teaching english on an island in Vietnam, or 4 months in Turkey. Wow. Im having a nice time in Slovenia, but I think Ill be heading home soon. Well, in the next few weeks? I could keep going, but I wasnt expecting to, and Im kind of looking forward to going home. Thats a good sign its about time. Also, it snowed today! Dang its cold! I was really not planning on being in the snow either. It got all over me and said "Maybe you should go home now or get some serious pants." I could also follow others I have met and go south, to Morroco, Austraila, South America. But I think Ojai would be really great! I got a new camera, a nikon s200. I had an hour at the biggest retail center I have ever seen, and I found the cameras for sale, and it was confusing and there were no specifications to look at. I wanted a cheap film camera, but no one sells them now. I finally got this mid priced camera. I looked it up on the internet and saw that its half the price (only $150) in the US. I turned it on when I got to Bled last night and found that the interface is lousy and I hate it. I used it today and it was fine. Thats how it is movin west. Mountain House Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:11:02 From Bled, I went to a town near another lake at the foot of the Slovenian Alps. I went with a couple friends I met in the hostel and we hiked up 1500 meters in the snow to a mountain house. Its a rather modern place that can bed 80 people! We were the only guests. There was a lady at the bar who got us drinks and made us the most delicious soups. Mmmm. Even homemade chocolate cake, like I have never tasted before (and I didnt like very much). There were 3 other guys up there building a "new disco". I had to ask a few times to confirm that is what they told me. Later, we go to go check it out, and it was really cool. Its small, has an old painting of mountains on one side, and a tiny run down old bar in there. It was on the end of a separate building from the main one. The rest of the building is full of water. They collect the rain and snow, because there is no other water up there. There is a cable that they can use to pull up beer and supplies from the bottom, but there is no road. In the winter the rest of the network of mountain houses opens and people cross-country ski between them and stay different places. Sounds really fun to me. Im back in Lujbjana now, not sure what to do next. I have some ideas, but Im not sure how to fit them together nicely. I hope there is a surprise tomorrow to help me along. Happy Thanksgiving! Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:43:39 Dang! I knew the thanks day was coming up, and it turns out to be today! Wow! Well, I celebrated by going to the most beautiful place I have ever seen underground. Well, thats not a very big list, but it was incredible. Wow. Double Wow. http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/ http://dheera.net/photos/thumb.php?q=europe/skocjan http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/Burger/SkocjanskeJame_Notranjost.html I was checking the address and schedule this morning, and found the last cave tour was at 1pm, and checked with the desk person who informed me that the train that would get me there almost on time was leaving in 10 minutes. I ran up and got my bag and stuff, and ran to the train ticket booth, and then the train, and got it. After about 2.5 hours, we pulled into the station, 15 minutes late. I now had 10 minutes to get to the caves, and its a 35 minute walk. So I ran, and ran, and made it there 8 minutes late. Dejected, I asked of there was anything else, sat on a bench and looked pouty, and the ticket lady got the souvenir guy to drive me down to the cave entrance, just in time to join the group going in! I was super sweaty! Afterwords, I had a nice dish of noodles with veggies and sauce on it and then tried to get to the little military museum down the road. The cave staff checked the website and told me I should just hitch to the next town where it was, and one of them gave me a ride halfway there! The museum was closed. :( It was in a small tower, and at the bottom was a bar, and folks there tried to help me, and one young guy insisted on taking me to the train, but in an hour. He even called his girlfriend a few times and asked around to confirm the train time. After another drink or two and 2 rounds of darts, we went to the train and I made it and Im home at the celica hostel, safe and sound. Im in room 107, the wall has a really nice mural of dreaming on it. Im getting a 2 person room for the 3 person room price, for some reason. Havent met the other person yet. I had a bunch of other stuff to write, but I dont remember what now. I have a lot to do, making your trip while traveling is a lot of administration. I didnt eat today till 4, I was running between everything up to that point. But I did brush my teeth. And I ate a handfull of gummy colas from my backpack in the cave when no one was looking. Oh, and I had a chocolate muffin I helped make at a friends house last night! Mmmm. Happy Thanksgiving! Department of Tecnical Museum. Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:34:16 After writing last nights post, I met an acapella group in the hostel lounge. I herd them earlier practicing traditional folk songs in the meditation/prayer room. One of them went behind the bar and made me a fancy drink and they ended having me at their table to sing me some songs! They also wanted me to buy their CD, which I was happy to do. Being with their singing was really deep. We looked eachother in the eyes as they sang (and I joined them on the last one). Later I some people from the hostel dragged me out to an old bicycle factory that people have taken over and now its a crazy space for parties/shows/whatevers. Not much was happening there last night. Ill be going back tonight after I take a nap. I already knew about the place. Cause I have friends in Ljubljana. Im cool. Today I tried to get some people to make a big underground trip to the caves, the 50 euro trip that is rated difficult and takes you all kind of special places for 5+ hours! But you need to reserve the guide a few days early and I just couldn't find 2 other people who would be around and interested. So, I went to the Technical museum of Slovenia. It was soooo big! Here are some of the technologies exhibited, in depth- Waterwheels, powering all kind sof heavy machinery in working order fishing, lures, reels, rods, flies, etc Papyrus, parchment and paper making, ink, early printing, making lead type, to xerox. Bicycles, from the very old to the very new, over 100 Im sure the automobile, gasoline and even the mecanisms inside gasoline pumps. fibers, how natural ones are produced, man-made ones are made, hand looms to huge machines. Electrical generation and on and on and on! With great design, english, videos, interactive things, everything. Not just pictures of these objects, rooms of them, to industrial scale. In an ancient church grounds with the rivers channeled for the waterwheels. Here are some pictures from a car enthusiast- http://www.photonhunter.co.uk/photos/events/technology-museum-vrhnika You can tell he liked the collection of Tito's cars. Tito was the ruler of Yugoslavia after WW2, and he had some nice caddies and such with 4 inch think glass windows, they were amazing automobiles. Getting there and away was tricky. I got off at a tiny station, at the end of a little road that just goes to a gravel mine. So, I hitched and the first car (after 5 minutes of no cars) picked me up and took me to the museum. Afterwords,I decided to to to the other station which was the bigger one, and the lady at the souvenir shop confirmed that it was hard to get to the museum or away. I enjoyed the walk for a little while, seeing the old village and up a trail to a little ruins, all under a beautiful sunsetting sky. I had to get going to catch the train, so I hitched again and the first car picked me up again, it was the lady from, the souvenir shop. She took me to the train station and I had time to walk around under the beautiful sunset sky and look at some stray cats. Well, got to get to that nap! Milan! …(cave) Mon, 26 Nov 2007 10:06:26 Yes, Im in Milan, suddenly. I got an email from my friend Miltos that he and his girlfriend were going to be here about 5 days and I should come and see him, so I got on a 2am train a day later and arrived at 10am, $75 poorer. Which is nothing compared to the ravages Milan will do in your wallet during even a brief stay at a friends house. The take out chinese we got last night was $75, for 3 of us, and it was nothing spectacular. However, the gelato is amazing. We spent a couple hours at an antique/whatever market that lines the streets along the river, much like an antique flea market in the US except more range of old stuff. The gelato I got in a little shop was Green Apple, (and tasted of fresh apple, which it was full of, including bits of bright green peel) Coconut (full of coconut, like eating one) an Yogurt, which frozen yogurt places in the US should taste and they could get some ideas. The night before I was caught in the rain walking around Ljubjuana, (thats pronounced at 2 syllables, by the way) cold and miserable and had to do laundry and try to rest at the Hostel without being a guest so I could get dry and stay healthy. The night before that I was dancing an hanging out at the bicycle factory until 6am, but I pre-slept that night from 8pm till midnight to get ready and recover from the whole previous day's adventures. Stuck in there, between the sleepy details, I spent Saturday at the #1 tourist attraction in Slovenia, Postojna Caves!!!! Take a look if you want.... http://www.burger.si/Jame/PostojnskaJama/2005/seznam_pespot.html WOW!!!! I came to Slovenia because I heard they had some of the best caves in the world. I had hopes, ideas, maybe I would see something like I remember in Carlsbad Caverns as a kid. Maybe it would be even bigger. Maybe twice as big! Well, I was measuring my ideas in the MINIATURE TRAIN RIDE out of the cave, and I think the Postojona caves are about 30 times bigger than my biggest ideas of what I had hoped to see. Its that big. We rode in to the cave system onboard a little tram/train, many passages so small we all ducked or leaned to the side to avoid getting hit by cave walls, inches from our heads (or so it seemed). To the left, to the right, above, below, or all the way around the little train would open up corners, pockets, or vast chambers of stalactites, funny driplings, weird shapes and such. Wow. I wish the train was going slow, but we were really jamming through that place! An it didnt take 30 seconds, or a minute, we went in over a mile. Yeah, it was crazy. SO many rooms, so much stimulation, it went on and on. And then we got to the place where we started walking for an hour through the BIG stuff. Woah. I wasn't sure if I should take a bunch of photos, or just try to absorb the place. I got to do both, cause after about 15 minutes of taking pictures, you just give up with the camera. Its overwhelming. I didnt give up eating gummy bears though, I ate a lot on that walk. Maybe it was the anticipation of seeing the famous "human fish" that lives there. They looked very gummy. More Pictures Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:16:10 Its 6am, and I just finished putting up some more photos! http://www.flickr.com/photos/17896883@N07/sets/72157603328334405/detail/ Now Im going back to bed. Or back to cot, to be precise. If it was a bed, I probably would not wake up at 4am. Status: Italy. Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:06:03 Every week I get a few emails, "are you back yet?" and the answer is, no. Im not back to california. Im really far away, in fact. But I do have an idea about coming back now. I think it will be in a couple weeks. I was pretty close to visiting Morroco, which would have pushed me pretty late, into the Christmas zone, which is also expensive zone for flights. Unfortunately, its not an ideal set up there- Brianna just moved into her new family's house and doesnt know Berber yet, its better to go when she has her own place I guess and is settled in the community. And really, I realise I feel like coming home. I miss everybody, and want to start some more living. I could keep visiting people in other great places where I have invitations- London, Santiago de Compostela, Madrid, Finland, and spend more time in Ukraine, Paris, Serbia, and Ljubjulana. I think I better come back here and say hello some more. Hopefully Ill plan for it more next time, instead of surprising myself by staying 2 1/2 times longer than expected. Or, Ill just know I dont have a plan! I guess that works anytime. Anyway, I have been checking out Milan a lot. Tuesday I went and saw the cathedral at the center of town (the Duomo), an astronomy exhibit, the museum of natural history, and a beautiful walk in a park. Today I saw 2 more museums, and visited with Karen and Andy, creators of "This is not a Magazine" and "This is a Magazine". That was great, we spent hours talking about aesthetics, animals, web programming, projects, and the flow of work and art. I have been trying to eat all the inexpensive, good Italian food I can. Tonight that cost me $30. But, I have most of a leftover pizza from the experience. Last night I went out to look at shopping stuff on the funky clothes street. Didnt see anything to buy, but had great experience anyway. I got some pizza and a big beer from one place, which was mostly preparation for the crape I had with homemade pistachio gilato inside! I wandered home, thought old neighborhoods and past the cathedral, down fancy shops street. Many of the streets are lit up for the holidays. Its beautiful. When I say fancy shops, I mean the top fashion makers of the world. Their window displays were stunning. Tomorrow Im going to the Leonardo De Caprio National Museum of Science and Technology. I guess they have scale models of all his inventions, like the Titanic and the Spruce Goose. Dec 13 this blog ends. Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:37:00 I just bought a ticket home, and it really freakes me out, as usual. I got thursday, Dec 13. Should I have come home Saturday instead? What the heck would I be doing for days in Paris? Um, maybe those 2 extra days would have been good. No, its time. Dont dottle. I have seen plenty of Paris. Ill be going to Ljubljana tomorrow, see friends there, then I have to get to Paris, maybe through the Venice airport, then hang in Paris and go home. Allright, thats plenty of time. No rush. I have been around here long enough. Yesterday evening I arrived in Gorizia, and found a street festival. I put my stuff down at the friends house I came to visit and went out there and got into the fest! I had a hot veggie panini, carnival style, fries, and a fried bread with sugar on it. The fried bread was the best part, it had some lemon or somehting in the batter that turned it from fried dough to magic mouth surprise. Before all this dirty food, I found the carnival. There were some rides, but really all the lights, pumping jams and phat graphics were coming from "EROS EXPRESS" and there was a big croud. I got really close and saw people putting money down so I just did the same and suddenly, without thinking, I was locked in to EROS EXPRESS. Its a little rollercoster that goes in a wavey circle, and features all the features featured above, and a canopy that periodically folds over the cars. After spinning you really fast so you are all squished together, I guess the canopy gives you the privacy to make your move. Also, the strobes help, and then they try complete darkness. Wow. I made out with my digital camera. it was hot. Well, got to go, my ride is on the way, didnt have time to tell you about finding hundreds of Swarovski crystals on the ground and ashtray in front of the aquarium in Milan, but it was dazzling. Night flight to Kosovo: a special report Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:41:13 Allright, its not really so special, but I am in Kosovo, suddenly. Yesterday morning I met Nick Wood, who is the New York Times reporter for the Balkans. Super nice guy, about the same age as me. He was looking for a person to accompany him to Kosovo. I would have to miss my Wizz air flight to Brussels, and get a new ticket to Paris from Belgrade sunday, So thats what I did and a couple hours later we were on the road. So, Im in Priština, Kosovo, instead of Paris Disneyland like I was trying for. It smells like coal. Like the title of this post, it seems like the air would be filled with tension and energy, as it hs threatens to declare independence from Serbia in 3 days when the UN peace talks are formally over. There is a Serb enclave to the north, and graves of young soldiers in the park behind me from war that was fought with Serbia some years ago. But really, like this blog post, not much is happening, and they are probably not going to be any bold moves from anyone in the next few days. More like a slow transition to formalise the reality of a separate state as is already exists on the ground. sleepy;;; Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:59:33 This moring I woke up in Pristina, capitol of Kosovo, and now Im going to bed in Paris. Took in the Eiffer Tower tonight, as well. Yesterday was the most complex day of the trip, concentrated like some tourisim bullion. Ill try to post the events tomorrow, because I need some sleep. I wrote about yesterday lqst night, but then the server hiccupted and it didnt get posted. I cant fix it now cause I had only 4 hours of sleep lqst night, and the night before was only 3 hours. I cqnt keep the words strqight, especially with this french keyboqrd laqout. Better turn in now, Im getting next to ... I cqnt even finish q sentence without falling asleep.... Saturday was Kosovo day. Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:03:26 But friday was a good Pristina night. After playing with some kids by the railroad tracks making a bonfire, I went out with the local photographer guy and his girl. First we went to cafe and met their friend, a woman in charge of media regulation in Kosovo. All 3 were locals, and a little younger then me. Then the camera crew from Greece showed up and thast when it started to get crazy. We went to another bar where they gave us the room downstairs and we had great time. Only one of the camera crew was actually Greek, the others were a French, a Belgian, and a Kosovar. The Greek, was about 50 and owned and operated the satellite truck. He was especially interested in me, how I drank, if I was sitting macho enough, if I had a big enough dick. After crouching through the attack on Baghdad, he thought the "war" that happened in Kosovo was just some kids throwing stones around. I mentioned Macedonian tobacco and he stood up and made a big deal, "California, if you say that word again, I will not be your friend, Im serious" etc... Eventually we went to a club that was almost all guys, no one dancing except us, general dance beat music. Then taxied home around 1:30am. But this was Pristina, I couldnt waste it by sleeping! So I walked back into town to a club Nick told me about, a small concrete box under the stadium. The music was so great interesting stuff, not very loud, fun people, lots of dancing. Wandering home at 4am through the center of the capitol was so nice. So, sorry for the diversion. I better just stick to the facts now. Friday morning, (a few hours later) Nick, the local photographer, and left in Nicks great 4wd car to a village to look for a guy Nick picked up hitching months ago. Nick didnt remember the name and we went around asking farmers and people in the village if they knew the guy who hitched up through Serbia looking for work. Its a rather dangerous thing for a Kosovar Albanian do, he had a lot of kids, no money, just a wallet of phone numbers on scraps that night lead to work. No luck finding him, just so many great interactions with everyone else. Then we went onto Mitrovica, a special town in the north. It is a divided city- on one side of the river are the Kosovar Albanians, on the other the Serbs. With both sides killing each other in the very recent past, the way the city works is very delicate. There are a few bridges that cross the river. There is a very small neighborhood that is mixed. Like, maybe a few blocks. We visited a store that sells Serb nationalistic stuff, a kind of souvenir store. The stuff is kind of a joke to everyone, except its real when things get hot. Next we visited a cafe in the Serb part run by one of Nicks friends. Nick came in joking a bit in Albanian and his friend immediately shushed him. This is a barometer for Nick of atmosphere of relations. We had intense discussions in hushed tones in the back. Very interesting conversation including a map made with sugar grains and packets to illustrate their different views of the current situation. When we got back to the car, the photographer tried to take a picture of a Putan poster on a ladys stand outside and she went ballistic yelling and started calling to report the lisence plate to the "Big Guys", local nationalistic bullies. We left. Next we continued north, past the huge smelting factory that piles its wastes into mountains along the river, past small villages, then drove up behind Nothing Hill. Its a KFOR base, (the nato force) and they took photos of a helicopter taking off. Nick dint get permission in time to take pictures there, so as we left 3 American troupes stopped us and asked what we were doing and no more pictures, etc. Moving north to the border we encountered French troops delivering water to some locals who were repairing a water line across a dirt street. The troops had a big transport truck and a couple jeeps, they were hanging around and everything was really relaxed and not much happening. It looked like they delivered a few boxes of bottled water, less than would fill up the back seat of a Yugo. People were joking around some untill one of the guys living there just got really angry that pictures were being taken and started yelling and left. The party was over. Finally as night fell we made it to the UN border checkpoint and stayed for about 45 minutes. Its a collection of people from all over the world who applied for a job and got one, living in Kosovo and standing around briefly checking papers of each car that passes. They come for 1 year trips and it looks pretty boarding. I hung out with a guy from Poland and another from Nepal. Had some coffee in the office. Later we headed back to Pristina and Nick and I went out to a neat restaurant and then I went out on my own. I walked around for a bit and then heard bangs going off in the city center, I hurried over and saw fireworks and a big crowd. That day had been the national elections and supporters of the winning party had a party. They were a couple hundred or so and setting off roman candles for about 15 minutes. But more exciting were the big traditional fireworks that rocket up and make a sphere of points of light. Many of them seemed to be shy of rocket fuel, and dipped back down over the audience before going off! Some didnt even make it off the ground. It was exciting to see the crowd, laughing and giddy, rush out from the center to be followed by a hemisphere of red flaming points. They moved to the sports complex and had a party in a big hall there; pumping music and lots of flags waving. The next morning we left Pristina, drove to Belgrade, and I flew to Paris. It felt pretty strange to be back, especially after waking up in Pristina. Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:06:19 I REALLY like Paris. I have decided that if you are not working and you are letting your money spill out for everything, its really nice in this city. But I better get out of here. Im going to be in the negative digits soon if I dont. Last night I invited my host out for a modest meal at a bar kind of place, not fancy at all, and it was the equivalent of $75. Today I brought $50 of cheese to take home, spent $35 on museums, and got a box of macaroon cookies, a marshmallow, and 3 chocolate bars for another $35. Mmmm. . . cookies good. I also bought dinner and drinks again tonight. All right, Im going home. The Natural History Museum of Evolution is awesome, the Museum of Hunting and Nature is just incredible! caio. Im Home. Fri, 14 Dec 2007 09:41:45 If you have a chance to take a trip, say yes to most everything, try things that come along and try everything for the first time and listen to everyone and everything around you... do it! If you don't have a chance to take the trip, you can just do it all wherever you are. I dont know what is going to happen next but i know its going to be great.Joel