ArdianTH
Regular Member
- Messages
- 11
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- Location
- CH
- Ethnic group
- Albanian
- Y-DNA haplogroup
- J-L283
- mtDNA haplogroup
- H
Seeing a thread about what people would like to change about their language, this idea about a thread in which we talk about what bothers us about our people came to my mind.
I was born and raised outside of Kosovo, yet I do have strong ties to this land as many of my relatives still live here and we used to visit this place a lot during my childhood. Being part of the "war generation", I witnessed the destruction that took place (on the land and on the lifes of the people) which only strengthened that bond during my early teens, when I was almost obsessed with the Albanian culture, history and heritage. Luckily, this absurd nationalism faded as I grew older and met people from the other side of the borders, especially while pursuing my academic career.
Now, with the rose-tinted glasses taken off, I notice a great deal of things that actually really bother me during my stay in Kosovo.
1. The driving. I don't quit understand why it seems to be mandatory to overtake cars that are actually going way above the speed limit already. And while their is no possibility to overtake, you just tailgate the heck out of the guy in front of you, until he's so afraid that you might end up with your Audi logo pressed against his rear windshield that he'd rather just park his car on the side of the road only to get rid of you suicidal maniac. Ten seconds later, he witnesses that you overtook him only to take a right-turn on the next junction. An other thing is going onto the road, knowing fully well that you'll make the other car heavily break... just because you couldn't wait another 5 seconds.
2. Having (or not having?) a personal space. Went to an ATM. A guy was already withdrawing money, so I kept some distance. For some reason, a middle-aged woman thought the space I created between me and him was for her to fill in. Or going to a store and suddenly feeling your lumbar spine being dry humped by the shopping trolley of the family behind you.
3. Public service. Parked my car inside the parking lot of the bus station of Prishtina. Went to the office to pay the pay and display ticket. The person working there took it, looked at it, turned around to talk to the young (and quite charming) girl behind him (private convo), turned back to me after two minutes, only to tell me that he's not responsible for cars and I should go to a different desk.
4. Littering. The landscape here is incredible. There are mountains, beautiful forests, vast green fields and blue lakes, yet everyone looks at nature as if it was a huge place for their garbage disposal. When I was out with the guys and refused to throw my trash into the local canal which is supposed to be used to water the field, they looked at me as if I was an alien. And what is up with the plastic bags in stores? Why do I get a plastic bag for a bottle of water that I'm going to drink right away? And why do they look so surprised when I don't want a plastic bag (or mutliple plastic bags, as they'd never put food items together in one bag with, let's say, condoms)? Don't get me wrong, I'm not the guy that washes the tin foil he wrapped his food in, but this?
Dear fellow Albanians, please don't feel offended. I just think making a country function starts with simple things like the ones mentioned above which, though, are only symptoms of bigger issues. However, artificially "cleansing" our language from Turkish and Slavic loanwords should have a very, very low priority on anyones to-do-list (talking about the thread concerning what anyone would change about their language).
I was born and raised outside of Kosovo, yet I do have strong ties to this land as many of my relatives still live here and we used to visit this place a lot during my childhood. Being part of the "war generation", I witnessed the destruction that took place (on the land and on the lifes of the people) which only strengthened that bond during my early teens, when I was almost obsessed with the Albanian culture, history and heritage. Luckily, this absurd nationalism faded as I grew older and met people from the other side of the borders, especially while pursuing my academic career.
Now, with the rose-tinted glasses taken off, I notice a great deal of things that actually really bother me during my stay in Kosovo.
1. The driving. I don't quit understand why it seems to be mandatory to overtake cars that are actually going way above the speed limit already. And while their is no possibility to overtake, you just tailgate the heck out of the guy in front of you, until he's so afraid that you might end up with your Audi logo pressed against his rear windshield that he'd rather just park his car on the side of the road only to get rid of you suicidal maniac. Ten seconds later, he witnesses that you overtook him only to take a right-turn on the next junction. An other thing is going onto the road, knowing fully well that you'll make the other car heavily break... just because you couldn't wait another 5 seconds.
2. Having (or not having?) a personal space. Went to an ATM. A guy was already withdrawing money, so I kept some distance. For some reason, a middle-aged woman thought the space I created between me and him was for her to fill in. Or going to a store and suddenly feeling your lumbar spine being dry humped by the shopping trolley of the family behind you.
3. Public service. Parked my car inside the parking lot of the bus station of Prishtina. Went to the office to pay the pay and display ticket. The person working there took it, looked at it, turned around to talk to the young (and quite charming) girl behind him (private convo), turned back to me after two minutes, only to tell me that he's not responsible for cars and I should go to a different desk.
4. Littering. The landscape here is incredible. There are mountains, beautiful forests, vast green fields and blue lakes, yet everyone looks at nature as if it was a huge place for their garbage disposal. When I was out with the guys and refused to throw my trash into the local canal which is supposed to be used to water the field, they looked at me as if I was an alien. And what is up with the plastic bags in stores? Why do I get a plastic bag for a bottle of water that I'm going to drink right away? And why do they look so surprised when I don't want a plastic bag (or mutliple plastic bags, as they'd never put food items together in one bag with, let's say, condoms)? Don't get me wrong, I'm not the guy that washes the tin foil he wrapped his food in, but this?
Dear fellow Albanians, please don't feel offended. I just think making a country function starts with simple things like the ones mentioned above which, though, are only symptoms of bigger issues. However, artificially "cleansing" our language from Turkish and Slavic loanwords should have a very, very low priority on anyones to-do-list (talking about the thread concerning what anyone would change about their language).