DATELINE: Budva, Montenegro

Author: Sam

lots to cover in a little span. so, i havent added my 2¢ in a while. we intended on spending a couple of days in pristina, but upon arrival realized that that would be about 24 hours too long. our hotel was smack in the middle of the hammered aluminum and used vcr district, which lent itself to scenic views, and painfully noxious air. with that said, it was pretty cool to be in the capital of the world's newest country. there is a real aura of hope for the future and ive never been to a place that so dearly loves the american people. since there isnt so much to see beyond the statue of bill clinton and the museum dedicated to how awesome the united states is (it was at one time filled with priceless archeological treasures but the serbs borrowed them a few years ago and dont want to give them back), we thought it would be a good idea to go try and talk our way into the nato base, where we heard there is an awesome thai restaurant. the soldiers at the base were amazingly friendly and accomodating and the greek soldiers at the gate were really rooting for us to get into lunch, even going so far as to pull over some american soldiers to escort us onto the base. unfortunately, we needed 72 hours notice to get security clearance, so we got indian food instead. not that they'll see it, but thank you to pfc santiago and everyone else who helped us out and answered out questions about what exactly nato is still doing in kosovo. (as an aside, the base was built in an area called film city, which apparently was the old center of the eastern european porn industry.) we headed out to motenegro later that night for an overnight trip through the mountains. the police at the border gave us a little bit of trouble because our passports werent stamped when we crossed into kosovo. apparently it was our, rather than the original border guard's responsibility to get them stamped. who knew? the trip was also eventful in that i sat next to a kosovar gentleman called esset who has been living in sheffield england for the past 11 years and was back visiting family. we spoke for four hours about life in both pre and post war kosovo and his and his family's experience prior to, during, and after the war. long story short: americans are a bunch of softies who have pretty much no reason to complain about anything. ever. but we are also blessed to have been born in a country that, despite its myriad problems, by and large offers the opportunity of education and personal betterment to pretty much every one of its citizens.we are now in budva, montenegro, the adriatic's answer to the jersey shore. it's a cross between margate and wildwood, with much nicer architecture, beautiful cliffs, and only slightly more russian spoken. also, it's nice to know that there are both men and women hairier than myself here.