18 November:
Budapest: an election sandwich
The approaching of Thanksgiving is doing nothing good for my
food-blog reading habits. This is my first time hosting a thanksgiving,
even though my kitchenette isn’t exactly designed for dinner parties.
but I can’t wait. The guests, thus far: two other fulbrighters
(Malvina—living here in Tetovo, and Jake—doing research in Skopje),
Julie (aka Foto), Culi and Darko (another Loja volunteer, good friend of
Culi’s). I’m also going to invite Rezehana—my roommate, but I haven’t
seen her in over a week (I was in Budapest, she, I presume, is
overwhelmed with the Board Meeting—going on this weekend, and
“University Day” celebrations on Monday). Sometimes I feel like we’re
ships passing in the night. But there are little details which make me
nervous (alcohol—will that be a problem in mixed company? Culi and Darko
are the most easy going anti-nationalist Macedonians (other when they
jokingly rag on the neighboring town (sorry Village) of Gostivar*)), so I
can’t see that being an issue—but I just want everyone to be
comfortable.
*Gostivar is the neighboring town, and we (Malvina, Julie, Culi, visiting German artist Oliver and I) went to on Friday for an opening of an art exhibit. Gostivar is known for it’s baklava and for (in the eyes of Tetovo) being the biggest village in Macedonia. There’s a bit of a running rivalry going, if you cant’ tell. but it also has real night-life—something that only makes the Tetovarski (if that’s what they’re actually called) a little jealous.
So Budapest.
All of us ETAs from the Balkans met there for a Fulbright training/check in session—and, in addition to hanging out with a bunch of great people who love the Balkans (we’re a quirky bunch), it was so wonderful to hear about the experiences of other ETAs. Sometimes, especially earlier in the semester, I was a little uncomfortable with how little teaching I was doing, and much administrative work (or what felt like administrative work) I was involved in. Although I think I always knew in the back of my mind that I was involved in really exciting projects—sometimes I found myself asking “is this what a ETA is supposed to look like?” Seeing the diversity of projects my colleagues (is this a commonly used word back home? I feel like I hear it everywhere here), I felt a lot more comfortable owning the diversity of projects I’m involved in. and got so much needed inspiration from being with them. We spent three days together in trainings—but what was most helpful/important were all the conversations over breakfast and lunch and dinner (and in between) with the other ETAs about their contexts—projects, struggles, ideas, ambitions. Some friends in Montenegro want to stage the first ever Vagina Monologues in Montenegro this year—and we were all trying to brainstorm how to get the Embassy to get behind it. Being with them I also felt so much more a part of a community here in the Balkans—not some rogue english teacher.
On a side note: THE ELECTIONS ARE OVER! Both in the States—thank you to all who voted! I woke up at 6:30 in Budapest and watched Obama’s acceptance speech in the kitchen of the hostel (we arrived on the night of the 6th (here)—and polls were just starting to close) with the hostel attendant. I almost started crying.
but—the elections for student government are also over here at SEEU (thus the election sandwich)! It’s been quite a journey, to say the least and has given me a nice picture-window into local politics, and the position of the University within the community in general. But first I’ll start with the positives. One of the huge issues we struggled (and struggled and struggled) with in our hours of Friday afternoon meetings (maybe not the most productive time of the week) was how to ensure that the Parliament represent a diverse base of students. The University—I think I can safely say—is majority Albanian (defined by ethnicity—ugh! or language use—a little safer), and while women do make up just about 50 percent (or just a little less) of the student body, this is a markedly patriarchal society/community. Thus, we were both worried about ensuring that Macedonians (or other non-Albanians, Macedonia has considerable Turkish, Vlach, Roma, Serbian… communities) got elected (probably not possible if we just took the 30 people who received the highest number of votes) and women were represented in the Parliament. I won’t get into the particulars—and bore all of you non-Political Science geeks—but basically we (this feels strange to say) wrote into the Rule (governing elections/the Parliament in general) that additional seats could be made to ensure that 1/3 of the Parliament was made up of women and 1/6 of national minorities.
We had four days of elections to accommodate Masters’ Students, Undergraduate students, and the fact that the University has two campuses—Tetovo and Skopje, and Masters’ students only meet every other week (what a scheduling nightmare). The last of the elections was yesterday—which meant that Heather (chair of the committee, lovely Brit) and I spent 12 hours together in one room on campus, first conducting the elections and then counting the votes. it was a long day.
Amazingly it all went smoothly. There was a little concern that members of the previous student union would make a stink—we had to invalidate one person who applied to be a member of parliament because HE WAS NOT ENROLLED IN THE SCHOOL AT THE TIME HE SUBMITTED HIS APPLICATION (seriously dude?) but tried to fight (verbally) about it earlier. We were worried about voter fraud (and I find myself thinking “Voter fraud in student elections? really? would it really be worth the trouble?)—ballot box stuffing—but thankfully, none of that. although that doesn’t really mean that pressure was applied on students in other ways.
But we had more than 10 women elected on their own merit in the elections—really exciting. Minorities are a little bit of a more complicated issue as students didn’t declare their ethnicity/mother tongue on the application form—so we’re still working things out on that front.
Now we just have to get everyone trained (can I say herding cats?) and have them elect a president/officers, figure out how they will be paid/if they will be paid, and get things moving. I proposed to Heather that as a first action—to see how the Parliament could work, and experience “getting things done”—the Parliament could figure out how to ensure that all the bathrooms on campus have toilet paper and soap—because most (even staff bathrooms) have neither, or, if you’re lucky, one. It’d be an easy fix, students would be happy (probably it’s a rather uncontroversial move), and parliamentarians would get some instant gratification—literally and politically. Parliamentarians (might) learn that parliament actually is about the need of the student body, not political interest. and students might also get a taste of the parliament responding to student needs, and that they can both expect and demand that the parliament actually do things to improve the quality of student life. I’ll keep you posted on how it develops.
I might propose that this be my contribution to the PM training. I’d love to just see their faces.
But the darker side of the elections. I think it’s kind of safe to say that political processes aren’t the most well respected. A lot of things happen as a result of connections—and the local opposition political party has a lot of connections, and that the previous government used their connections to get things done (although what they actually got done is somewhat in debate). The son of the president/head of the local opposition party was the previous president of the student union. And let’s just put this in perspective here about what kind of politics we’re talking about (and this is not specific to this political party, I wouldn’t characterize Macedonian political parties as totally kosher): the head of the party can’t leave Macedonia, lest he want to be arrested for crimes abroad. His brother ([Mom please just skip this sentence! and more importantly—PLEASE DON’T TELL GRANDMA]—a prominent mafia don—was gunned down in a cafe in Tetovo two years ago (Yes, I still feel safe here). Not only are politics kinda dirty—but people also play dirty.
So—it’s still really unclear if/how the new parliamentarians will use their positions of power in the university to promote/play political games.
That was quite a honking-big side note.
Budapest.
Budapest probably has, hands down, the most beautiful McDonalds in the world. Walking through the city I came upon this beautiful brick, yellow, blue building with these amazing towers and all this glass and thought ‘hmm. I wonder if I could get married in this building.’ And then I noticed the golden arches. Perhaps I’ll reconsider.
Turns out it’s the train station (hence the McDonalds)—also perhaps not the best place to stage a wedding (no worries Mom, no plans up my sleeves). but it’s gorgeous. and the trains. This might be incentive enough to come back to Budapest by train—just to arrive in this station.
.
(just think—we can also take our bikes in it. could it get better?)
And that was the bulk of my reactions to Budapest—total awe of the architecture. It’s a stunning city—with history to boot.
and delight with the indian food. such happy happy tastebuds. the only things I brought home with me were cayenne (no surprises there folks), red curry paste (! I was salivating in the store looking at the siracha but didn’t want it to explode in my bag on the flight home), and a pair of shoes (imagine shoes Ines would wear). They’re beautiful and totally funky.
We also spent a day taking the bus out to Monument Park—where, after the fall of communism, they uprooted and replanted all the communist statues. It’s almost like visiting a Communist art zoo—all of these pieces that you wouldn’t expect to see together, but create this whole experience when juxtaposed. I was amazed by the range and dept of motion the statues conveyed, and perhaps this was amplified by seeing them all together, because I usually don’t feel that when looking at Socialst-realist sculptures. My favorite was a collection of people made out of shiny metal, with these soldiers charging forward.
What characters.
After that, Tiffany—the other ETA in Macedonia—and I stumbled upon a St. Martin’s Day celebration (all the restaurants had goose-themed menus in honor of the day)—a crowd of kids with hand-made lanterns following a woman with a cape on a white horse, with a community band trailing behind. Oddly everyone was speaking German—and if anyone has insight I’d love to hear it.
I also visited the Terror Museum. and I wouldn’t recommend going alone. It focuses on the victims of the fascist and then communist secret police in Budapest—and is housed in the actual building where the Fascist Red Arrows and Secret Police had their headquarters (talk about continuity through space—actually the same guy headed both organizations, which really begs some serious questions about the re-branding of repressive regimes). It was a really well designed museum—you start at the top floor and work down to the basement—where they have recreated some of the cells prisoners were held in. I only needed about four minutes down there before I got totally claustrophobic and needed to get back above ground, back into the light.
I don’t want to analyze the exhibition too much—or downplay the repression of religious figures by these regimes—but I found it interesting how prominently religious figures (particularly Catholic) featured in the remembrance—granted, not much of the exhibit was in English—so my information is limited other than my impressions (like the big lit-up cross in the floor of one of the exhibition halls. a subtle signal I know). I don’t really know enough about the WWII history, but Budapest also had a significant Jewish community—and I don’t know if they aren’t considered “victims” of this branch of terror, but it’s certainly something I would love to examine further. except that I’m not sure I’m quite ready to jump back into the Terror Museum. it was a bit of a heavy space.
Well. I had all these plans to do pre-Thanksgiving cooking today (the test kitchen) so I should boogie.
thanks for reading,
lovingly,
claire
*Gostivar is the neighboring town, and we (Malvina, Julie, Culi, visiting German artist Oliver and I) went to on Friday for an opening of an art exhibit. Gostivar is known for it’s baklava and for (in the eyes of Tetovo) being the biggest village in Macedonia. There’s a bit of a running rivalry going, if you cant’ tell. but it also has real night-life—something that only makes the Tetovarski (if that’s what they’re actually called) a little jealous.
So Budapest.
All of us ETAs from the Balkans met there for a Fulbright training/check in session—and, in addition to hanging out with a bunch of great people who love the Balkans (we’re a quirky bunch), it was so wonderful to hear about the experiences of other ETAs. Sometimes, especially earlier in the semester, I was a little uncomfortable with how little teaching I was doing, and much administrative work (or what felt like administrative work) I was involved in. Although I think I always knew in the back of my mind that I was involved in really exciting projects—sometimes I found myself asking “is this what a ETA is supposed to look like?” Seeing the diversity of projects my colleagues (is this a commonly used word back home? I feel like I hear it everywhere here), I felt a lot more comfortable owning the diversity of projects I’m involved in. and got so much needed inspiration from being with them. We spent three days together in trainings—but what was most helpful/important were all the conversations over breakfast and lunch and dinner (and in between) with the other ETAs about their contexts—projects, struggles, ideas, ambitions. Some friends in Montenegro want to stage the first ever Vagina Monologues in Montenegro this year—and we were all trying to brainstorm how to get the Embassy to get behind it. Being with them I also felt so much more a part of a community here in the Balkans—not some rogue english teacher.
On a side note: THE ELECTIONS ARE OVER! Both in the States—thank you to all who voted! I woke up at 6:30 in Budapest and watched Obama’s acceptance speech in the kitchen of the hostel (we arrived on the night of the 6th (here)—and polls were just starting to close) with the hostel attendant. I almost started crying.
but—the elections for student government are also over here at SEEU (thus the election sandwich)! It’s been quite a journey, to say the least and has given me a nice picture-window into local politics, and the position of the University within the community in general. But first I’ll start with the positives. One of the huge issues we struggled (and struggled and struggled) with in our hours of Friday afternoon meetings (maybe not the most productive time of the week) was how to ensure that the Parliament represent a diverse base of students. The University—I think I can safely say—is majority Albanian (defined by ethnicity—ugh! or language use—a little safer), and while women do make up just about 50 percent (or just a little less) of the student body, this is a markedly patriarchal society/community. Thus, we were both worried about ensuring that Macedonians (or other non-Albanians, Macedonia has considerable Turkish, Vlach, Roma, Serbian… communities) got elected (probably not possible if we just took the 30 people who received the highest number of votes) and women were represented in the Parliament. I won’t get into the particulars—and bore all of you non-Political Science geeks—but basically we (this feels strange to say) wrote into the Rule (governing elections/the Parliament in general) that additional seats could be made to ensure that 1/3 of the Parliament was made up of women and 1/6 of national minorities.
We had four days of elections to accommodate Masters’ Students, Undergraduate students, and the fact that the University has two campuses—Tetovo and Skopje, and Masters’ students only meet every other week (what a scheduling nightmare). The last of the elections was yesterday—which meant that Heather (chair of the committee, lovely Brit) and I spent 12 hours together in one room on campus, first conducting the elections and then counting the votes. it was a long day.
Amazingly it all went smoothly. There was a little concern that members of the previous student union would make a stink—we had to invalidate one person who applied to be a member of parliament because HE WAS NOT ENROLLED IN THE SCHOOL AT THE TIME HE SUBMITTED HIS APPLICATION (seriously dude?) but tried to fight (verbally) about it earlier. We were worried about voter fraud (and I find myself thinking “Voter fraud in student elections? really? would it really be worth the trouble?)—ballot box stuffing—but thankfully, none of that. although that doesn’t really mean that pressure was applied on students in other ways.
But we had more than 10 women elected on their own merit in the elections—really exciting. Minorities are a little bit of a more complicated issue as students didn’t declare their ethnicity/mother tongue on the application form—so we’re still working things out on that front.
Now we just have to get everyone trained (can I say herding cats?) and have them elect a president/officers, figure out how they will be paid/if they will be paid, and get things moving. I proposed to Heather that as a first action—to see how the Parliament could work, and experience “getting things done”—the Parliament could figure out how to ensure that all the bathrooms on campus have toilet paper and soap—because most (even staff bathrooms) have neither, or, if you’re lucky, one. It’d be an easy fix, students would be happy (probably it’s a rather uncontroversial move), and parliamentarians would get some instant gratification—literally and politically. Parliamentarians (might) learn that parliament actually is about the need of the student body, not political interest. and students might also get a taste of the parliament responding to student needs, and that they can both expect and demand that the parliament actually do things to improve the quality of student life. I’ll keep you posted on how it develops.
I might propose that this be my contribution to the PM training. I’d love to just see their faces.
But the darker side of the elections. I think it’s kind of safe to say that political processes aren’t the most well respected. A lot of things happen as a result of connections—and the local opposition political party has a lot of connections, and that the previous government used their connections to get things done (although what they actually got done is somewhat in debate). The son of the president/head of the local opposition party was the previous president of the student union. And let’s just put this in perspective here about what kind of politics we’re talking about (and this is not specific to this political party, I wouldn’t characterize Macedonian political parties as totally kosher): the head of the party can’t leave Macedonia, lest he want to be arrested for crimes abroad. His brother ([Mom please just skip this sentence! and more importantly—PLEASE DON’T TELL GRANDMA]—a prominent mafia don—was gunned down in a cafe in Tetovo two years ago (Yes, I still feel safe here). Not only are politics kinda dirty—but people also play dirty.
So—it’s still really unclear if/how the new parliamentarians will use their positions of power in the university to promote/play political games.
That was quite a honking-big side note.
Budapest.
Budapest probably has, hands down, the most beautiful McDonalds in the world. Walking through the city I came upon this beautiful brick, yellow, blue building with these amazing towers and all this glass and thought ‘hmm. I wonder if I could get married in this building.’ And then I noticed the golden arches. Perhaps I’ll reconsider.
Turns out it’s the train station (hence the McDonalds)—also perhaps not the best place to stage a wedding (no worries Mom, no plans up my sleeves). but it’s gorgeous. and the trains. This might be incentive enough to come back to Budapest by train—just to arrive in this station.
.(just think—we can also take our bikes in it. could it get better?)
And that was the bulk of my reactions to Budapest—total awe of the architecture. It’s a stunning city—with history to boot.
and delight with the indian food. such happy happy tastebuds. the only things I brought home with me were cayenne (no surprises there folks), red curry paste (! I was salivating in the store looking at the siracha but didn’t want it to explode in my bag on the flight home), and a pair of shoes (imagine shoes Ines would wear). They’re beautiful and totally funky.
We also spent a day taking the bus out to Monument Park—where, after the fall of communism, they uprooted and replanted all the communist statues. It’s almost like visiting a Communist art zoo—all of these pieces that you wouldn’t expect to see together, but create this whole experience when juxtaposed. I was amazed by the range and dept of motion the statues conveyed, and perhaps this was amplified by seeing them all together, because I usually don’t feel that when looking at Socialst-realist sculptures. My favorite was a collection of people made out of shiny metal, with these soldiers charging forward.
What characters.
After that, Tiffany—the other ETA in Macedonia—and I stumbled upon a St. Martin’s Day celebration (all the restaurants had goose-themed menus in honor of the day)—a crowd of kids with hand-made lanterns following a woman with a cape on a white horse, with a community band trailing behind. Oddly everyone was speaking German—and if anyone has insight I’d love to hear it.
I also visited the Terror Museum. and I wouldn’t recommend going alone. It focuses on the victims of the fascist and then communist secret police in Budapest—and is housed in the actual building where the Fascist Red Arrows and Secret Police had their headquarters (talk about continuity through space—actually the same guy headed both organizations, which really begs some serious questions about the re-branding of repressive regimes). It was a really well designed museum—you start at the top floor and work down to the basement—where they have recreated some of the cells prisoners were held in. I only needed about four minutes down there before I got totally claustrophobic and needed to get back above ground, back into the light.
I don’t want to analyze the exhibition too much—or downplay the repression of religious figures by these regimes—but I found it interesting how prominently religious figures (particularly Catholic) featured in the remembrance—granted, not much of the exhibit was in English—so my information is limited other than my impressions (like the big lit-up cross in the floor of one of the exhibition halls. a subtle signal I know). I don’t really know enough about the WWII history, but Budapest also had a significant Jewish community—and I don’t know if they aren’t considered “victims” of this branch of terror, but it’s certainly something I would love to examine further. except that I’m not sure I’m quite ready to jump back into the Terror Museum. it was a bit of a heavy space.
Well. I had all these plans to do pre-Thanksgiving cooking today (the test kitchen) so I should boogie.
thanks for reading,
lovingly,
claire
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