Kosova (Kosovo)

Kosovo, as it is known in Serbian, is considered by many to be the newest country in the world. It declared independence from Serbia in February of this year. Serbia has yet to recognize its independence. The country is run by the joint operations of the United Nations, NATO, and the European Union in cooperations with the independent Kosovar government. While Kosovo is about 90% ethnic Albanian there are still many Serbian enclaves in the region. The Gracanica Monastery is one such place. You can see by the razor wire that these enclaves remain heavily guarded. UN peacekeeping forces were stationed outside of the gate of the monastery. There have not been any recent incidents between the ethnic Albanians and the Serbs, but hard feelings still remain just beneath the surface and you would only have to scratch lightly to bring it out.

"Go and get wisdom..." Check! Now for contemplation!

Cohort 7 lost in deep contemplation--probing their minds to find the perfect direction for our ethnography. After gathering loads of interviews and information, we decided we needed the perfect atmosphere for our musing.

This is the village of one of our translators. It is a beautiful place. This village, however, was a site of intense bombing during the 1999 NATO campaign. There was a TV antennae located just about 500m from this spot. NATO fighter planes tried to bomb it on numerous occasions, but ultimately it was torn down by the locals in order to prevent an errant bomb from hitting the village. The second picture is of a family that invited us into their home for coffee and juice.

The Serbian Orthodox Church is filled full of murals. These photos are from the main church in the city of Nis.

"The stronger the people’s religion the stronger the church and the believers are. We have to preserve or traditions (icons, etc) and the things our fathers left for us. I see Serbia in the future as a more spiritual country. The practice of Religion and not split spiritual things with everyday life. This is a problem everywhere in this country money is their God. Many try to serve money and become Christian and it just doesn’t work. It is important that Serbia believe in Christ. In our history people believed in God and became stronger." --Orthodox Priest

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Conflict and Retaliation

This is the only mosque still intact in Nis. There is another mosque just a block from our hostel, but it was burnt down. The mosque in this picture was also damaged as you can tell from the missing top to the turret. It was burnt as a part of violence protests on March 14, 2004. Attacks had been taking place in Pristina, Kosovo and so some people decided to burn the mosques in Nis in retaliation.

*The picture below is from a BBC news photo report on violence in Kosovo. You can see other images by clicking here.

"Go and get wisdom..." so we went to Sofia...Bulgaria that is.

This is the group standing in front of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. It was an amazing place. The interior was dark but beautiful. On the walls there were mural depicting the life of Christ. The murals continued all the way to the front of the sanctuary and culminated with an image of God the Father shining in glory with Jesus ascending do him at the height of the dome. The second picture is the parliament building for Bulgaria. We would also like to say a special thanks to Michele's friend Toni for graciously showing us around.

Montenegro

Members of Cohort 7 letting loose on Jaz Beach, Montengro. Due to the long hours of interviewing and typing notes it was good to let loose for a bit.

Living on Flowers

"The lowest point is today because people don’t have money. I am 80 years old and I have to sell flowers to survive. The government doesn’t care. In my time there was a king before Tito (former communist leader of Yugoslavia of which Serbia was a part) I didn’t like him. He also didn’t think about people. In the time of Tito we could get apartment and jobs. Tito took care of all of that, but now is a different story. Young people today live very hard."

Cohort 7 Hard at Work

This is cohort 7 hard at work typing up our field notes. We have been getting some great interviews, but great interviews mean hours in front of the computer typing, sorting, coding, and trying to figure what some one actually said when you talked to them.

Meeting the Rector of University of Nis

It was quite an honor for us to meet with the Rector, Professor Milan Spasojevic. He gave Dr. Larsen a turtle which was the University's mascot. He had big plans to continue ongoing talks about partnering up with Union University in the future. 

History of Conflict

This is a monument to the victims of the 1999 bombings of Nis. The city of Nis was bombed in relation to the NATO (of which the US is a part) and Serbian conflict over Kosovo. NATO and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian population claim that Slobodan Milosovic (the Serbian President at the time) prompted Serbian forces to enter Kosovo and force the removal of over 740,000 ethnic Albanians from the province. The Serbian, however, see it some what differently. They say that Kosovo is a place where the ethnic Albanians have been oppressing the ethnic Serbs. Kosovo is also a place that was a seed bed of Serbia's religious history.
The victims of the bombing in Nis were Serbian civilians. The bomb landed just steps away form where we are staying. You can still see the marks from cluster bombs on the walls all along the street.

Here are some resources to help you understand the conflict more.
http://www.cnn. com/SPECIALS/ 1998/10/kosovo/ and cluster bomb video http://youtube.com/watch?v=BMYnWTd8v8M
and http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ju-Y73Qn05Q&feature=related
Some of the footage of the last video is graphic so please be aware if you choose to watch it.

Meeting new friends

A short jog to the market for supplies turned into an afternoon of making new friends. Tana, Jesse, Doug, and Josh went to the market intending to buy a few items and try using our very limited amount of Serbian. We stopped at a shop and Tana began looking at nail polish. There were two men talking and we struck up a conversation. One of the men knew no English, but could speak French, Italian, and Russian. Tana knows some French and began talking to the first man. The other man spoke a little English. We quickly used up our limited Serbian vocabulary, but continued to try to communicate with him. The man who ran the stand in the market invited us out for a drink and we weren't sure what he had asked and agreed to go. We stood there in a moment of confusion as we weren't sure what was going on and realized quickly that the men didn't mean going out later, but right there on the spot. We helped him pack up and went to a cafe down the street. We spend a fun two hours trying to communicate and learn more about the lives of these two men. I have provided a picture with one of our new friends Slobadan (not related to the other one). We are excited to see what every new day brings our way and what God has in store for us in our time here.

Don't drive drowsey

We had a longer than expected drive from Belgrade to Nis. You will have to ask us about it when we get back ;-) One of the stops we had was because a Turkish truck driver fell asleep at the wheel and somehow engulfed in flames. Nis is a popular drive through spot because it is the major highway that connects Europe with Turkey. Unfortunately this stretch of highway has many accidents because many of the Turkish drivers try to drive from Germany through to Turkey without stopping. The drive takes at least 48 hours so you can image the severity of sleep desperation here.

Nis our home away from home

This is an old Turkish Fortress just about 200 yards from our hostel. Directly in front of it is a river (not sure of the name yet). The city center extends from here across the river and about 4 blocks further.

This is our friend the tow truck. We were introduced to him on our trip to Nis. Our van broke down and we had to be towed. A few hours later we were on the road again in a new van, but it was not to be our last stop. We rounded a corner on the highway and just about 100 yards away was a truck on fire! (pictures soon to come) The fire trucks did arrive and about 45 minutes later we were on the road again. Our short 3 hour ride from Belgrade to Nis did end up taking about 9 hours. We however are doing well and have had a great time so far. Please just continue to pray for us as we are being introduced to our new surroundings that we will have open hearts and minds and that we will continue to work hard and well together.

Welcome to our site. We hope to keep this updated so that you can stay updated on all that is going on here in Seribia. First of all we have arrived in Nis (pronounced: Nish). We will post soon about our eventful journey.