hello, pristina

kool maudit · #1 Posted **Jul 4, 2012, 8:24 AM**

so i live in pristina, kosovo now; that has been the case since about midnight yesterday, and it will remain so until about this time next year.

this morning, i went to just pick a few things up from the dep and check out my current neighborhood (pejton), so i figured i'd share my first impressions.

this place is dense and urban, but almost entirely postwar -- which really sticks out. so far, the aesthetic is a kind of jumbled, chaotic, kiev-meets-los feliz sort of thing that i kind of dig.

the people here are friendly, urbane and -- above all -- YOUNG. this is a city of teenagers and young adults, and everything is geared to that demographic. birthrates matter, and this is not old europe.

it's also, for what it's worth, mainly islamic, though it seems about as hardline as any european christian city... which is to say, not at all.

still.... birthrates matter. the blowhard right-wing likes to talk about the gates of vienna and the crusades and "eurabia," but it's all really a bunch of (decadent/indulgent) scary story-telling if you're not having children.

and that's enough political/cultural dallying....

on to a few pics (more to come in the next days and weeks):

whatsthepoint13 · #2 Posted **Jul 4, 2012, 6:52 PM**

I wouldn't have ever expected to see Pristina on here, very cool. It looks incredibly dense and urban, and also a lot better than expected considering the wars that have been fought there. Thanks!

mike474 · #3 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 2:01 AM**

what's a dep?

Nineties Flava · #4 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 2:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike474

what's a dep?

He probably means the department store.

I look forward to seeing what you (Kool Maudit) have to show of Pristina over the next year, it looks genuinely interesting.

mike474 · #5 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 3:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nineties Flava

He probably means the department store.

trop cute

ColDayMan · #6 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 5:06 AM**

That is so random! What made you move there?

kool maudit · #7 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 6:01 AM**

thanks for the comments, guys. "dep" is short for depanneur, or corner store. montrealism i guess. you can take the boy out of quebec etc...

colday: long story, but essentially i am working as a journalist here.

kool maudit · #8 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 11:49 AM**

here are a few more, this time from the "dodona" area.

LSyd · #9 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 1:25 PM**

thanks for the pics. i was debating whether or not to visit here, but your pics convinced me i have to visit.

-

ColDayMan · #10 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 2:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool maudit

colday: long story, but essentially i am working as a journalist here.

Awesome. Looking forward to more posts!

Surrealplaces · #11 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 6:42 PM**

Nice photo tour! Great to see places not often seen.

giovanni sasso · #12 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 7:10 PM**

didn't see this coming.

kiev meets los feliz, just like you said. good luck with the goulash.

WanderingQueen · #13 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 7:20 PM**

It's great to see Pristina represented here. I spent 15 days there in 2001 helping with post-war property claims but that was right after 4+ years in Bosnia and I was a little burnt out on Balkan life at the time - really didn't take the time to get to know Pristina well. I'll be following this over the next year so I can make up for what I missed. Thanks!

Nightsky · #14 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 8:03 PM**

Nice photos. I can't say it looks beautiful but still a liveable place.

kool maudit · #15 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 9:07 PM**

best t-shirt slogan of the day: "PowerPrize North Dakota."

runner-up? "where is my starshoes?"

Buckeye Native 001 · #16 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 9:23 PM**

Fascinating stuff. Best of luck in your new city

Centropolis · #17 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 10:34 PM**

I'll possibly be flying into Pristina/Prishtina to attend a wedding sometime in January (I understand last winter sucked and it's hot this summer) in the countryside I think near "Skanderi," and I'm pretty fuckin' amped that my first impressions of Europe are going to be KOSOVO, like you know inside out. I've always wanted to go on those storied busrides where you are certain of death, but I probably won't do that in the winter. I look forward to more impressions so that I know how not to screw up really bad culturally and you know accidentally like smuggle in pork sausages to a countryside mosque or something. although yes they are totally not hardline at all. "bishkah bishkah?"

My friend always speaks like everything is far apart, and really it was/is, but when I looked at the map, it's a small place with what appears to be mid twentieth century transportation infrastructure, without the good trains. I definitely want to try to see Prizren. And the entirety of Europe, but I don't think that's happening. kind of jealous you will get to theoretically check out the "beachtown scene" in Albania...

pretty nifty, keep posting. i'll be interested in the cultural triangulating and stuff. and watch out for that grape brandy shit or whatever it is. at one time coldayman could vouch for me, i don't know anymore but a skyscraperpage forum meet in Pristina would be interesting.

Bill Clinton BLVD?

Centropolis · #18 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 11:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by giovanni sasso

didn't see this coming.

kiev meets los feliz, just like you said. good luck with the goulash.

muahah. looks like the dining room of a waffle house or something got spun over there in a cyclone along with like. the businesses along a slightly down market boardwalk like in hollywood florida.

i can't figure out what the fuck is going on with that part of europe, and it's awesome. it's like a good hearted filtration of a part of modern western/global culture that is errr, still working on it. these pictures make me pumped to go (i'll probably want to stay). mang yeah, this like cool. in the states here kosovars, albanians, bosnians (specifically the most visible group of immigrants here in st. louis) don't hesitate to turn a gas station into a nightclub in a completely un-ironic way and i imagine that's what it's like there...i can roll with that for some reason...

samne · #19 Posted **Jul 5, 2012, 11:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool maudit

best t-shirt slogan of the day: "PowerPrize North Dakota."

runner-up? "where is my starshoes?"

If youre talking about the graphics on t-shirts...I know what you mean.

Was just having this discussion with my wife the other day about how european t-shirts have complete nonsense written on them.

Her aunt brought a bunch of shirts for my kids with stuff written on them that make absolute no sense.

Good luck over there!

mello · #20 Posted **Jul 6, 2012, 12:13 AM**

I lived in Tbilisi last year from April through August and this reminds me a little bit of it. Not sure how Georgia compares to Kosovo economically. Too bad there isn't much historical stuff and the city looks pretty flat from what you have shown. Tbilisi got pretty boring after a couple of months but at least there was rugged terrain right there to look at.