I am sorry if I'm overloading you in one day but we actually have reliable internet right now so I have to blog about yesterday and today while I can. Don't forget to read my post from yesterday if you haven't already!
I find it interesting people are extremely different when it comes to sleep. When I sleep I need darkness and no sound. I ended up waking up extra early yet again this morning and it reminded me of my early mornings last year. I got up did a little reading and then went on a run in the cool morning breeze with a few of my newfound friends (Landry, Peyton, and Katelyn). Last year I got tired of running in circles, so we ventured out around the town and of course people stared at us. #1: We were running. #2: We had on shorts and they hardly ever wear shorts. #3: We are American.
Breakfast was quite delightful again. The chef learned to make some pancake/tortilla things and had them for us this morning. I ate some cereal again though!
After breakfast we got to have some cool experiences meeting some of the people from this area and then headed to lunch. Most of the team at ate Venicia. It is another newer restaurant and had a large selection of food. I chose carbonara and couldn't believe I passed up a chicken salad. Valdete said it's the best one she's ever had. I tried some and I liked it, so I know that's going to be another one of my "go to" places to eat a salad.
Don't you love the tables?
In the afternoon we went to Prizren which is a city 30 minutes to the west of Suhareka. It is home to one of the fortresses that stood against the Ottoman's and was later rebuilt by them when the local population was put down. There are about 90,000 people who call Prizren home, so it's quite a bit larger than Suhareka. Amongst some of the ruins are older church buildings, which were built by the Serbs and destroyed during the war. We climbed up to the top of the fortress, and then climbed down through back exit of the fort.
From the top of the fort you can see all of Prizren and far into the surrounding countryside. We explored a small piece of the catacombs from which the defenders escaped and ran to another fort. The entire site is fed by water from the mountains, which is very pure coming straight out of the snow banks. The old aqua ducts still work providing water in several places around the fortress allowing for our students to refill their water bottles after the climb up.
Peyton-- "Jeremy what you don't taking a picture of me?"
Cameron-- "Here's the best face I can give you."
New friends (Hope, Morgan, Ana, Valerie, and Regan)
My family group with Prizren in the background.
Oh Gabe the hipster!
Prizren from above.
From the top of the fort
We are thankful for an amazing tour guide (Berat) that explains everything to us!
Landry and Cameron (Yay- a picture of a real smile!)
This picture started off with Katelyn saying she wanted a picture with me. More and more people joined in and then I got picked up!
Zach filling up his water bottle with fresh water
After the climb it was time for dinner, so we stopped at Cafe Aurora. We had all kinds of food from Bureck (which is meat pastry) to Doner (which is a shredded chicken or beef sandwich) to Pizza. We spent an hour eating dinner before the students were allowed to go out in groups and spend some time in the city. There are many mosques with beautiful minaret's all across the city, and we were able to take some really great pictures. The students danced with some people drumming on the steps next to the river and they played with some children who were there as well! We packed up and headed home around 8:30pm.
Burek
Peyton loved her pizza!
I love these ladies!!!
2-3 month-ers
Symbol of embarrassment!
Connor- "I love this city!"
Krislynn and I have had some amazing covos the last few days and we just got here.
Once we got back to the hotel we called it a night, and sent the students to wind down before bed. Around 10:00 however we were treated to our first black out while here in Kosovo. The entire city went dark and Rozafa was dark for a moment, until the hotel staff turned on the generator and we had power again. It was interesting to look out the window at a darkened city and see the night sky not fighting with city lights. Power was restored right around 11:30pm, so I am able to finish this blog post under regular city power. All the students are asleep now, and I think I will be joining them now as well. Good night!
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