Sunday, May 06, 2007
Wednesday was a rushed day. Renee drove in from Ottawa to visit before I left for Newfoundland. I had initially hoped to go to Ottawa myself, as I wanted to drop off extra luggage [which turned to be much more than I could have ever carried, so it was good she came in], but I remembered hearing something about there being a strike on Via Rail trains,so I decided to stay in Montreal, just in case there were problems with me getting back to catch my flight. It turns out, it was a CN strike and not Via Rail...oops :) ...
We updated each other on our lives at a great sandwich cafe in the Village, called Kilo, where Renee pointed out the incredibly tall waiter was eyeing me. It was flattering, but I didn't really need his eye-flirting. :)
An outing with Renee to find an Iranian grocery store in the Anglo part of Montreal turned into a long drive through the super-rich part of the city. It was incredible how perfect everything looked. The dogs were perfectly groomed, their owners jogging in Lululemon athletica sports suits. The streets couldn't be cleaner and the day couldn't be more beautiful to drive through Westmount, Montreal's Fairview.
We got a pound of Turkish tea, which my mom asked me to get for her, and then, we drove back to the residence, only to find out that Ren had missed a conference call. I was sad/happy to know that she had forgotten a call because she had so much fun with me...I tend to give myself a lot of credit these days.
Leonard had said it would be good if we could all go to the new Albanian-Turkish resto, but when I called him on Wednesday night, the instructions were so complicated that I told him to just meet Renee, Miranda B, Baroness Phoenicia and myself at Juliette and Chocolat. He said he'd bring Artan with him.
Ren and I showed up at the coffee shop, where Baroness Phoenicia had already arrived, eagerly looking out for us. I was slightly nervous, as I didn't know how my friends would get along, since they had not met before.
In short, it was a good mix of discussions ranging from French TV comedy to Baroness Phoenicia's likeness to Trinity in the Matrix, to Arabs being stupid. This latter comment is not mine and I would not like to take ownership for it. Rather, as something that Leonard said, I'd like to put it in the context...and the context I don't remember, so I will shortly say that Leonard, who wasn't overly fond of some of the discussions going on about the state of Lebanon after last year's Israel bombing, stopped and said "It happens because you guys are stupid" [or something like that]. Then, realizing he just made an awful realization, he said "but we're stupid too...We're all stupid"...and we all laughed.
I don't know how comfortable everyone was, and had I written this post the night after the coffee shop meetup, I could have been able to describe much better some of the interesting remarks made, but now, four days later, I am slightly lacking in memory.
I said goodbye to Miranda, who called me an hour later to say a proper goodbye because Baroness Phoenicia doesn't like goodbyes and therefore, she wasn't able to say goodbye the way she wanted to.
Ren and I were at a pizza place for a second, then we changed our minds and went for Lebanese.Alas, the place was closed, so we picked up something fast, ate it and within five minutes of lying down, we were fast asleep...
The next morning, we went for breakfast at a nearby cafe that served tea with one tiny cracker [what do i do with one cracker?] ... I loaded the tons of things I had in Ren's car and gave her my movie collection to watch until June, since I will see her in Ottawa then...She doesn't like my taste in music, so she just might not like my taste in movies either...What's up with the world? Few people like my taste in music...
I still made Renee an eclectic mix of the best [or everything I could come up with in 5 minutes, as Renee was getting ready to drive back to Ottawa] dance music I could come up with, so she wouldn't fall asleep.
Well, whatever, I will continue to resist classic and indie rock, which Renee seems to like...ewwww to those both.Labels: chocolate, coffee shops, friends, Montreal
I don't know what happened to me on Tuesday and Wednesday. Somehow, I fell into a big packing frenzy and felt like, after days of packing, I obviously needed a break, or boost, whatever you may call a hot chocolate break. So I met
Leonard for hot chocolate at
Juliette & Chocolat for some hot chocolate. A gay couple next to us thought we were together and Leonard noticed it...
He didn't, however, do anything.
Instead, he said something that made me want to come out to him. He said how cool it is that people feel free in Canada to be whoever they are and how in Kosovo, holding hands at a table would have been considered a no-no and probably followed by something worse, like a homophobic comment or worse,a beating. I told him I agreed and that was it... I didn't really feel like starting a whole debate on being gay, I was far too tired.
We chatted about many things with Leonard, including how thick the chocolate was. For the first 15 minutes, we kept looking around. I don't know Leonard for long, so it wasn't like I knew what his interests were.
Eventually, we started talking about his past. He told me he had opened an Albanian restaurant a couple of years ago, but, since it was on the outskirts of Montreal, few people found out about it. He closed it down, only to sell it to another man who opened an Albanian-Turkish restaurant in the same place. Apparently, the owner is an imam from Kosovo who, upon coming to Montreal, found out imams weren't paid positions here (in Kosovo, they are). So, he opted for the next best and logical thing to do for an imam: Start a business. After all, selling a message and selling food aren't things very different from one another.
Leonard talked for most of the night, except for when I talked with him about my opinion on Kosovo's pending independence. I mentioned how the international community, UN being the representative, have created a rogue government that controls many of the institutions in Kosovo, part of the reason why Kosovars want the independence so badly. In the last seven years, UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) has created ministries and departments that have all been controlled by the international bodies of the UN, not allowing much local and regional development. It's a sort of a bamboo plant metaphore: You can shape the plant any way you want, you just have to allow only one source of light, and the plant will follow by growing that way.
In the same way, the UN thought that if it controlled the ways of functioning for the Kosovo government, many of the wanted human rights and economic/social reforms would take place. Unfortunately, groups like Vetëvendosje (Self-determination) were created, groups which sometimes want nothing short of independence,and they want it now, without any negotiation.
The delay in reform, including the silence behind close to 2500 missing from the war, has caused many problems in Kosovo. It has also brought home a problem that didn't exist before, one of international trafficking of women and drugs. These are "needs" expressed by the rich KFOR [NATO peacekeepers] soldiers who can afford to pay hundreds of Euros for trafficked women from Moldova and Bulgaria or Romania.
Most Kosovars just want the international community to give the power to the local politicians, instead of having them play around the world like little puppets, playing with wording like "diversity" and "multiculturalism" and "tolerance" [yes, i said tolerance and not "acceptance" or "respect"] in front of foreign officials.
It is important to think of the international community (EU, USA, Arab & Muslim world, Australia etc.) as those who changed the situation from war to relative peace in Kosovo, but to what extent does this merit give them the right to control Kosovar institutions? It was something that Leonard and I discussed for a long time and by the time I noticed my hot chocolate was now cold, it was already 11:30 pm [we met at 8:30].
I forgot to mention that Leonard is going through a mid-twenties crisis. He is, in fact, in his late 20s, but is afraid no girl will marry him because he is getting old. In Kosovo, most guys his age are married and have kids.
This last pic here is by Damir Sagolj, one of my favourite photographers. It was taken on a cloudy day in Prishtina, Kosovo.
Photos: Missing Persons, Prishtina, Kosovo - Rachel Geylin / Blackcrows - Damir Sagolj, Reuters
Labels: albanian, chocolate, coffee shops, friends, journal de montreal, Kosova, Kosovo
Sunday, April 15, 2007
[yesterday at the tennis club, two straight men in their mid- to late- forties talk after a game]
Clint Eastwood: Hey, Corleone, I meant to bring you some chocolate yesterday. A friend of mine who lives in the north came up with this amazing recipe... [is interrupted before he finishes]
Don Corleone: huh? Why would you bring me chocolate? I'm not your boyfriend or anything.
Clint Eastwood: [obviously feeling humiliated] Ummm, I just thought, I haven't seen you since Easter. It was just a late Easter greeting.
Don Corleone: Ok, ok, bring it. Chocolate is chocolate
[this morning at the tennis club]
Clint Eastwood: Arbër, could you take this chocolate, chop it up and leave it on the table, please?
[1.5 hours later, the game is over. Corleone and Eastwood come back. Don Corleone looks dumbfounded]
Don Corleone: Oh, so now all the members are your boyfriends?
Labels: chocolate, funny, Montreal, tennis
Wednesday was a rushed day. Renee drove in from Ottawa to visit before I left for Newfoundland. I had initially hoped to go to Ottawa myself, as I wanted to drop off extra luggage [which turned to be much more than I could have ever carried, so it was good she came in], but I remembered hearing something about there being a strike on Via Rail trains,so I decided to stay in Montreal, just in case there were problems with me getting back to catch my flight. It turns out, it was a CN strike and not Via Rail...oops :) ...
