Week 1 - Settling in

 Week 1

Monday the 1st of July, my first full day in Pristina. Today we met up with Professor Doctor Linda Gusia, our placement organiser from the University of Pristina, and head of department of Sociology. We walked through part of the campus past the National University Library, that had a brutalist architectural style (see to the right), and through to the Philosophy building. Linda gave us a run down of what we would be doing and some advice on where to go in the city for food, drinks, sight seeing etc., then passed on my contact information to the Oral History Project. 

It's lucky I enjoy a coffee because the number of coffee shops was instantly noticeable, so I thought it would be rude not to get one and indulge in the coffee culture straight away.  The rest of the day consisted of exploring the city, we walked into and through the centre, which consists of one huge street (see below) with adjoining roads on both sides all the way along it. Later on we found a restaurant and sat down for a meal and a beer. I knew it would be hot but after a full day here I now realise the heat is going to need some getting used to. 

After a slightly uncomfortable nights sleep and receiving a few mosquito bites, I got in contact with my new colleagues at the Oral History Project. Jeta, one of the senior members of the team, asked me to come into the office to discuss my role further. I arrived at the office later in the day and Jeta greeted me outside, we introduced ourselves and she walked me into the office which was a large block of flats in the city centre. The office itself was small but cosy, I was then introduced to Anita, one of the main interviewers, and Ana, the camera operator and editor. They were all lovely and welcoming, Jeta made me a 'Turkish' coffee, I'd like to say I'm a coffee drinker but that almost blew my head off. 

I had already done some research but Anita and Jeta gave me some insightful background into the post WW2 history of Kosovo, mainly being their oppression under the Yugoslavian state rule and the rise to Kosovan independence through resistance and war. They also explained the current project they were working on, telling the story of the 'school houses' system that was set up in the 1990s as peaceful resistance in the form of education, through interviews with teachers that help set up the regime. I was asked to focus on their existing project about former political prisoners of Yugoslavia, they showed me their spreadsheet of completed interviews and asked me to look into ways to format it into an easier way to follow. We discussed that this could be my first job and that I would likely be proof reading the English of the translated interviews. They then let me go and told me to return for my first official day tomorrow. 

I arrived at work the next day, set up my laptop at the desk and Anita let me get on with formatting the spreadsheet of interviews. Using Excel, I was able to order the interviews into dates of arrest, this involved dividing interviewees that had been arrested multiple time - which was a lot of them! I then separated the reasons for their different arrests and colour coded each one from first, second third arrest etc., to highlight when they arrests happened in relation to each other. I was then asked to begin reading through the English translations of interviews from former political prisoners to proof read the English grammar and spelling, pick out interesting talking points, and to identify the activist groups that they were a member of. I ended the working day by selecting interviews of unidentified activist groups. 

An interesting event was the 4th of July celebrations for the USA (they are big fans of the USA due to their involvement in the war and years after, not to mention the British, so they were happy to see us!). A live band performed some Kosovan rock, and after a DJ took over who played remixes of famous American songs. The front of the dancefloor was going crazy, so naturally I couldn't help myself but get involved. Whilst speaking to a few locals towards the end, we realised we were dancing with the major of Pristina! 

For the rest of the working week I read through the interview of Afide Topalli Kuka. A long interview of someone with an extremely interesting but distressing life. Arrested three times from 1981 to 1988, enduring oppression, violence, torture both physically and psychologically, she was forced to flee the country twice as she was a part of organisations to free Kosovo and Albania from the tyranny of Yugoslavian/Serbian rule. I identified her time in the Marxist-Lennist organisation, proof read the English, and made a timeline of her life with quotes, using the transcript of the interview. 

I learnt much in my first working week. The history of the country, the feeling of the people now, their relationship with other countries, and all the information I could take in from the new people I'd met giving me advice about what to do around the city, country and neighbouring countries. Not to mention how a different culture functions, the one thing I can definitely say is that everyone I have met so far is super nice and helpful, so I feel hopeful for the rest of my journey. 

Weekend of 6/07/24

For us, the main event of the weekend was the England vs Switzerland football match, the quarter finals of the Euros. We found the fan zone next to the Saint Mother Teresa Cathedral, which was a huge screen for everyone to watch the football. I learnt a lot that evening, the deep love for Switzerland was slightly unexpected – many Albanians live in Switzerland, and they have quite a few ethnically Albanian players in their team. England won on penalties, and we were probably totalled a third of the England fans, which made our celebrations slightly awkward. After the game many people came up to us congratulated us, it was all very gracious and friendly – unlike what you may find in England and other parts of Europe. After the game we decided to celebrate by going to one of the clubs that a new friend, Riga, had suggested to us. I was still wearing my England shirt and had a joke with a group of lads we met in the line that it may not be a good idea to wear out. Of course everything was fine but we realised that the clubbing culture is slightly different to England, it definitely seemed more of a way to show off money rather than to just get battered and dance - I don't think pre drinking is quite the same here! On to week two!