Nothing Has Changed

After 10 days away from Kosovo I came back to find that basically nothing has changed.  Well I take that back actually, the thing that has changed is that traffic seems to be even worse than it was before I left due to someone's brilliant planning skills.  As I often joke with my friends, "LA, Pristina, what's the difference, same traffic just less people here!" 
Let me elaborate a bit...last year in the fall just before the weather was due to turn to winter (which even I could have told the planners after spending some time in Kosovo!) the Kosovo Road Works or whatever they call themselves tore up the shoulders of Bill Clinton Boulevard going out of Pristina towards the airport.  They then placed little metal poles and wood barriers in an attempt to keep vehicles from plunging off the several meter drop-off but that hasn't helped much as I've seen some good accidents with vehicles skidding off onto the shoulder...oh wait, there's no shoulder anymore!

Moving on now to the present...the Kosovo Road Works has decided to take up work again on the road after leaving everything untouched for basically the last five months.  But someone decided that they should not just work on the shoulder area but they should work also in the median area in the middle of the road to replace the curbs with absurdly high blocks meaning that the traffic lanes are blocked on both sides.  In fact in one location near the UN Admin HQ you must move from the right lane into the left lane due to work on the shoulder and then immediately move back into the right lane because they are working on the median just 10 meters down the road!  Brilliant!!!

MTCowgirl's Kosovo News

• Britain to send 600 troops to maintain public order
• UN expects to stay on in Kosovo
• Transfer to EULEX "far from certain"
• Two Kosovars face charges of witness intimidation in the Hague
• Large weapons cache seized near Macedonian border
• Police seize explosives from Serbs in North
• Kosovo eyes 2015 accession to EU

MTCowgirl's Interesting Articles/Commentary

• Chief Military Liaison Officer for UNMIK criticizes Kosovo policy
• New borders condemn hamlet to turn into ghost town
• Kosovo PM admits to healthcare problems in Kosovo
• Three theories on the origin of pollution in Kosovo
• Four Kosovo films debut at LA Film Festival
• Got Mail, a look at the snail mail system in Kosovo
• Kosovo starts building "highest building" in the Balkans
• Rumor or news??? -  UNMIK Chief to relocate to NY
• Confusion & Corruption in Kosovo