Kosovo day trip. Returning to long-term travel.

I awoke early with the sun, and my hostel is still silent except for a quiet hum of appliances and cars passing outside. Sitting on the couch with my cowboy coffee, the sun highlights my hair through the window. I relish this solitude. Today I'm off to Ohrid, which is south from Skopje, still in Macedonia.

This trip is like coming home. Home to the world, where I have time for strange people and strange places, where I see new things, where I speak two languages, where time is not so essential. My days in the clinic feel like a distant memory, in a place where often time and space stood still. Since I've previously done long-term travel, it's easy to relax into my new-old life. It feels comfortable, like an old shoe. I know what to do.

Travel is my nature. I'm grateful to be set free in the world. To be without a schedule. To have no constraints. To rely on the kindness of strangers. To watch. To tell the story of who I am with my whole heart.

KOSOVO:

Kosovo is still a country-in-repair, but interesting and diverse, in a more extreme way than Macedonia (ok so I prefer Macedonia). It feels very developing, but the people were nice, and many spoke English or German so getting around was no problem.

I wondered where they get these old ghetto buses, but then I realised probably from nicer countries' leftovers.

This old man (he is sleeping, not dead, even though he looks like it!) bought me an orange drink and shared his Twix. He was from Bosnia. We did not share any languages but it was ok.

Pristina is Kosovo's capitol. This is the main pedestrian way, which felt fairly modern, but then side streets were still crumbling.

The town is infected with NATO and American forces, but they like us there. So it is ok, even good to be American.

Yugoslav-era hotels here are not recommended, even if they say 5 stars. It is a hoax!

After hearing a saxophone wafting, I saw the Audio Lab, and was happy.



Here is a street cafe overlooking rubbish.

I grew up in Minot, ND where the town slogan was, "Why not Minot?" I used to spend a lot of time thinking of all the reasons why not. I am not sure that "Why not" is the best slogan.

The first time I have seen a street of this name, I think.

And a statue of Bill in a foreign country. Funny as.

I took this to remind people: a small thing you can do is to hang your laundry out- and your clothes smell so good, not burnt out of the dryer... Just a thought. I've been doing this for about six years now. It is a nice small thing.