ESL, Count of Montenegro, & Boy Injured in River

Advertising for Fall English Course
We're just about one week away from the kick-off of Qendra Qiriazi's fall programs. Next Tue. evening our English language (ESL) class for beginners will meet for the first time in the semester. Lacey is spearheading the course, and has put in long hours recently compiling the curriculum and creating marketing material. Practically, ESL is a gateway that brings young folks from all over town into relationship with the Qendra Qiriazi staff and students and into familiarity with servant leadership, the core of our vision. And English also happens to be a vital professional skill, that we happen to know very well! Below are the two posters we made and hung, with help from students, around town.

The Count of Montenegro
On Wed.-Fri. of last week we visited Kosovo's three-year-old neighbor to the West, Montenegro. Our current status in Kosovo is something like "non-resident alien" which means that after 90 consecutive days we need to exit and re-enter the country. Much of the trip was experimental, and we came away wiser, glad to be in Kosovo, but still glad we went!

We took a bus from the Peja station and transferred in Podgorica. Even though the journey was only 70 miles, it took us nearly 7 hours of twisting through the rocky mountainous terrain. Ugh. Thankfully the buses had AC and the roads were reasonably smooth.

In our destination city of Budva, we stayed with a local Montenegrin-Serbian lady that we met at the bus station there. (It's common for locals in Adriatic tourist towns to offer tourists a sort of "bed & breakfast" at cheap prices, and we wanted to try it out!) Lubica was a nice lady who spoke a lot of broken English. For no extra charge at "check in," she read both of our fortunes from our passport numbers... both of us are very lucky. She told us "Saturn is my boss" and we answered that, "God is our boss, and we read his thoughts in the Bible, not in the stars."

Budva is pretty enough to have a calendar made about it, but our trip was nearly ruined by the crush of hedonistic tourists. The highlight of the trip was getting 6 lbs. of fresh figs - Lacey's favorite - and getting her first haircut since moving here! There was also a great beach with rock formations to climb on, sand for laying out and cold, blue-green water for cooling off.



(L) Picture borrowed from: Flickr.com/photos/shrubin . (R) Sunrise over inland Montenegro on the return trip.

Boy in the River with Bleeding Foot
An odd thing happened Sat. afternoon that touched our hearts and seemed to bear spiritual meaning. A small crowd of kids on the bridge (pictured) was pointing and yelling toward the water at a little kid who had cut his foot. As the boy cried and his blood colored the rocks, several adults and kids yelled how he should walk toward the banks so they could help him. Within moments though, most of them would throw up their hands and curse the boy for stupidity because he just kept crying, "It hurts, it hurts!"

The crowd wavered between scorn and pity. I (Landon) stood there facing an ultimatum between the ice cream in my hand and the boy bleeding in the water. Before long, another boy climbed down to help him through the water and over the gravel to the bank, where I lifted him out. I then climbed down to get the the clothes he had left behind, but by the time I was up, the the police had taken him to the hospital. I had to leave them with some homeless Roma guys who seemed to know the boy (possibly a consequence of my lingering too long over the ice cream).

It was a picture of how stuck we can get ourselves in life and of the need for a gracious rescuer. It also reinforced in our minds that the most important event in our day might not be on on our calendars ahead of time!

Last Weeks of Summer, Ramadan On The Way

Qiriazi Center
Last Tuesday we offered a workshop for students on the basics of applying to American colleges. In a sense the workshop was at their request. A recent U.N. survey found that 44% of young Kosovars (we would have guessed a higher) intend to leave Kosovo to live somewhere else. That outlook on life combined with the troubled higher education system here, explains why many students have asked us for help getting into US schools.

Since we're not experts on US student visa policy, we stuck to the topics we understand quite well from recent personal experience. We tried to help the students brace for the multitude of decisions they'll have to make in system made up of nearly 7,000 colleges that are all trying to find good students and also make a buck. Our aim was to enable the students to use key terms like admissions, tuition, financial aid, merit/need-basis, major, int'l student programs, etc. to navigate college websites so that they can begin making these decisions.

Social Time with Locals & Expatriates
This week we had significant social times with both Kosovars and fellow foreigners. We visited the home of one of our students on Wed. morning and spent nearly 3 hours conversing with his parents and eating various treats they prepared for us. We especially enjoyed discussing his father's stories about leading underground education and social welfare programs in the 1990s when Kosovar Albanians were heavily and violently repressed.

On Thur. evening we had a picnic in the mountains at a camp that some friends are building. We spent the night in tents, and the next morning pitched a few hours with the ambitious construction work that was underway.


Ramadan Begins this Week
Sometime late this week (depending on when the waning moon is sighted) the Islamic month of Ramadan begins. Kosovo's many Muslims will join Muslims worldwide in observing this month with fasting during daylight hours, practicing charity toward the poor, and seeking spiritual purification through prayers and and meditation on the Quran. We anticipate that during this month folks may be less active and less patient during the daily fast, and that there will be an indulgent, celebratory atmosphere in the evenings. We will also probably have a lot of conversations about the tenets of Islam and how these compare with the tenets of Christianity.

Everyday Life
We made two noteworthy purchases this week: last Sun. we got houseplants, four of them, at a nursery outside of town. We're very proud to report that they are all alive and well 7 days later! The second surprising purchase was a pair of great hiking/snow boots for Landon for €5. They were on display in a shop in one of Peja's old Ottomon-feeling neighborhoods, but the shopkeeper told us he actually imported used/overstocked clothes from Germany. As they say, "the world is flat" even over here!

"Promotion," Swimming & Home Improvement

"Promotion" - On Wednesday Dr. Mark Bryant, professor at a local private college and Qiriazi Center's director for the past year, returned home to the US. The end of his year here came fast, but there's no questioning the big strides forward that his students and the Qiriazi Center took during that time. Our board of directors planned for this day at a meeting in July; as Mark transitions to being a board member, I (Landon) am replacing him as the center's acting director. It is an exciting opportunity to oversee the Center's operations and continue growing its effectiveness in developing servant leaders!

The Uni. servant leadership camp staff, with Mark at bottom left.

Swimming - On Tuesday, Mark's last day, we spent the afternoon with some of our high school students at Peja's newest pool. For a €1.5 entry fee we got gorgeous views in every direction and a huge pool full of clean cold water, perfect for the August heat! The students almost spent the whole four hours we were there trying to dunk or push one another into the pool... but we did also manage to have some deep good conversation about faith/religion (and a bit of politics).

Home Improvement - We've also passed some milestones this week in home decor, and, in my opinion, crossed the threshold of homeyness, even though it's still in progress. We replaced two bare light bulbs in the hall with fixtures to match the golden color paint Lacey put up earlier in the month.

Today we fixed choc. chip cookies and had our landlord's family over for their first visit and so that they could take away their stuff that was filling our second bedroom. In Lacey's words "I just made some chocolate chip cookies using a bag of Nestle chocolate chips that another American left behind :) The butter here is a bit...farm-y and there is no brown sugar--but I think they are going to turn out well. Our landlord and his family are coming over, a bit to visit and a bit to move some of their things our of our second room...finally :), so we'll host them 'Albanian-style' with tons of snacks, sweets, coffee, and juice."

A rainbow at sunrise!

Yesterday (8/7) morning we got a sprinkle of rain at sunrise (around 6:45 - while Lacey was on her jog) and a rainbow! These pictures show the view from our balcony. The white minaret is the closest of several mosques that serenade us 5 times each day with their call to prayer.

Uni Camp Done Too! Post-Camp Excursion Was Today.

Hi again everyone! We've officially crossed the hump in our summer schedule - both leadership camps now done.

In the last six weeks many visions and plans of work here have been replaced by actual experiences. And incredibly, the realities have almost all been more positive than the anticipations.

We're in a transitional stage now. Several of our coworkers - both temporary volunteers and permanent staff - are returning home to the US and we're both adopting some of their responsibilities. In planning for fall, we're looking to continue some of the Center's standing activities and also to expand its impact with new activities.

We'll leave it somewhat vague for now until we get more time for a detailed update. : )

Enjoy these pictures from our excursion to Mirusha Falls today with students who participated in the University camp!


Lacey jumps from the lowest waterfall (L), while our group watches from their rock perch (R).


Lacey walks the path to the first waterfall.


A group of sweet little troublemakers sidled up to Lacey when she offered them snacks. Later they escorted us back to our vehicles and helped us pick up the blanket of litter beside the path.


This is the rock face on one side of the lake (footpaths are hidden throughout). Large plastic pipes supply a waterwheel (bottom R) that generates power for a boom box and refrigerator at the concession stands down near where we sat.


A student and Landon both enjoying the technical solution. If only Kosovo could harness natural forces to get reliable power for the entire country!


A partial group picture.