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  I’ve had many friends and family members ask about my day-to-day life in Kosovo. All I can say is that life here is basically the same as it is in the States. You get up, get ready for work, eat breakfast and head out the door. After work, you make your way home, figure out what you’ll eat for dinner, relax a bit and crash. Sound familiar? The mosque across from my apartment. Of course there are a few minor differences for me. For example, my apartment is across the street from a mosque. It isn’t quite completed yet, but in use. There are advantages to living so close to the mosque. (And no matter where you live in Prishtina you are close to a mosque.) The one advantage I readily recognize is that I don’t need to set an alarm clock. The morning call to prayer that is broadcast over a speaker system for the neighborhood usually wakes me up between 5:15 and 5:30 am. Perfect. Another advantage is that since this particular mosque is in the “being built” stage, it serv...

I met a woman on the steps of my apartment building yesterday. She was holding a tiny baby. “How old is she?” I asked. “Three weeks.” The baby was born three weeks ago? She arrived in Kosovo the same time I did. She fidgeted in her mother’s arms. I know how she feels. I feel like a newborn here. I look in the smiling faces of people. They seem eager to help me, but their language is strange. I’ve been quite dependent on others. I’m just learning to get around on my own and when I go to the grocery store I look at the pictures on the labels of packages because I can’t read what’s inside. Night Sky: A View From My Balcony Yet, it is amazing what you can learn in three weeks. I’ve learned enough Albanian to greet people, say please and thank you, and order a macchiato at the school cafeteria. I’ve been to the market, the park, church, and on a very long bus ride (if you missed that one, you can catch it HERE ). I manage to get to school on time and make it home ...

Except for the tall ceilings and balcony my classroom might look like any other in the USA Classes have now started at Prishtina High School. With fifteen students, I have the largest class in the elementary grades. Ten girls and five boys. I am learning how to pronounce unfamiliar names and listen carefully to the children who carry with them the accents of their homeland. Most are Kosovar Albanians, a few are Americans, and a few have one parent who is Albanian while the other is from somewhere else in the world. They are an interesting and fun group. Curiously, two of the boys in my class moved here from Tampa, Florida, my old stomping grounds. A view from one of the classroom balconies. Never in my classroom experience have I had so many bilingual children. Of course they all speak English in class as we are an English immersion school. They use a mix of Albanian and English on the playground. The children raise their hands and say, “Miss?” when they address m...

My mother loves to tell the story of my first day in first grade. We lived in Arizona. My mother was excited for me as I began this lifelong journey of education, but when the school bus arrived at my bus stop at the end of the day, I wasn’t on it. I’m sure she panicked. Her only child was missing. The school was able to confirm I was okay. I was on the wrong bus but they would make sure I was delivered safe and sound as soon as possible. My mother waited. Now her concern was how I would handle the situation. The thought of her daughter lost and alone made her chest tighten. Was I afraid? Crying? Anxious in any way? Much to her relief, I hopped off the bus happy as anyone could be. “I told the teacher that wasn’t my bus. But oh, Mom, I saw so many beautiful things and places I never would have seen!” What does that have to do with my life now in Kosova? Everything. It is an experience I can draw from when things don’t go just right. Like yesterday. Yay! The big yel...