I woke up this morning in Kosovo and it was snowing!

Good Morning Everybody!

I'm in Kosovo right now for a two day Social Issues conference directed by the American School in Kosovo.  The school is located in the capital city Prishtina - and this morning we woke up and a blanket of snow covered all the rooftops and the ground and flakes are still gently swirling down :)
     It is beautiful, and reminds me of all the Christmas feelings :)  To everybody back in Portland, I hope that you are also enjoying your winter storm that blew in!  I hope that it doesn't last a week, because in exactly a week from today I AM COMING HOME!  At the beginning of the year Christmas seemed like an eternity and it literally feels like the time has passed in only a few days.  Although I do not want to leave Mostar, and all the amazing new friends and family that I have there - I am really looking forward to coming home.  Because there is no place like home for the holidays.
    The conference here is very interesting.  Students from all over the Balkan region are doing research presentations on social issues in their region.  Shaked and I did a project together titled, "Educational Reforms in Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina."  We had a successful presentation yesterday, even though there were minor technical difficulties with power stopping several times.  The educational system in BiH is a central topic of discussion, especially at UWCiM because it is very segregated and georaphically separated between the three ethnic groups (Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs).
   While in the conference,  I realized that these presentations are great - but what really needs to be done is to take the suggestions each of these students make to improve the situation AND PUT THEM INTO PRACTIC.  Students are not too young to make a difference.  So, even though plans are still in the pre-infant stage I want to organize a youth conference with students from all ethnicities to come together and discuss how the education system can be reformed.  Hopefully we could cooperate with the OSCE, and there would be presentations, debates, and most of all lots of discussion - finally concluding with some sort of unified statement about what students think about Educational Reforms.
    I also learned a lot about the history and current affairs here in Kosovo.  This state only gained independence from Serbia in April of 2008, but Serbia and several other countries still do not recognize its indepdence.  The US has played a huge role here over the years, first when President Wilson created Albania and then secondly, and more recently when President Clinton saved Kosovo in 1999.  Because of this people here I can truly say are obsessed with the US.  They have a street named Bill Clinton street.  They have statues of US presidents.  American flags fly from flag poles.  And students dream of studing in the US.  The majority of people speak English and people know the current affairs and history of the US really well.  The capital city Prishtina is an interesting mixture - trying to be "American" but it is also very undeveloped and run down in many ways.  Kosovo is one of the poorest countries in Europe.  But there is a sense of optimism running through the people here.  Even though currently there are many trials, economically and political corruption, they still have a lot of hope for a better future.  Now we are going on a tour of Prishtina to see the historical sights, like the Newborn sign, and Bill Clinton street and then off to another day of Presentations.
   I am here with Shaked my roomy from Israel, Isabelle my good friend from Holland, Ana Filipovic from BiH, Marko from BiH, and two teachers Mr. Raymond Lewis (Economics teacher from Wales) and Dzenan (pronounced Jennan) the history teacher from BiH.
   Last remark, Happy 17th Birthday Fiona!  I wish you all the best, Hilary motto - dream big, and then turn those dreams into reality :)

Yours Always,

Hilary