Coppermine Photo Gallery

Life in Kosovo is a mixture of the old and new.
You'll see horse-drawn carts holding up the latest model BMW on the highway. In Pristina, you'll find wannabe gangsters while in the village life is more laid-back and simple...probably the same it has been since as long as people can remember.

Children peddle everything from phone cards to cigarettes in the restaurants and on the streets. I don't advocate purchasing anything from under-age street vendors so I've included a picture of the "Vala Guy" outside Mission HQ. Walking the streets of Pristina, you can buy everything from knock-off Calvin Klein boxers to switchblade knives from the vendors who set up shop on wood slats carefully balanced on cinder blocks or cardboard boxes.

A big part of the culture in Kosovo is cigarettes and macchiatos. People here can sit in a cafe for hours (maybe days if the cafes didn't close at night) smoking, talking, and drinking coffee. Conversations can range from family to the ever volatile politics of the Balkans. Local girls are more used to international men inviting them for a coffee now but in the beginning, inviting a girl for a coffee was a serious invitation...basically having coffee equaled going out on a serious date and guys didn't understand why girls were always refusing them! But now, it is not unusual to see co-workers having a "friendly" office coffee downtown :)

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On 17 February 2008 at approximately 1530 CET Kosovo PM Haschim Thaci declared Kosovo "democratic and independent" and the celebrations began. Actually the celebrations started the day before with Kosovo Albanians displaying Albanian, US, German, UK, and other EU flags in abundance around Kosovo. Braving freezing temperatures and snow, revelers in the thousands poured out onto the streets to celebrate becoming the world's newest state.

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Photos of things or events that make one say something to the effect of "Only in Kosovo!"

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Pristina is the capital and biggest "city" in Kosovo. Before 1999, there were about 200,000 people reportedly living in Pristina. Today, there is somewhere between 500-700,000 people living in Pristina. With the sudden boom in population following the end of the fighting in 1999, the roads became congested and many houses were illegally occupied or constructed.
But despite the congestion, traffic, and crowded space, Pristina still holds an allure for those living outside. Internationals stationed in other regions complain that all the best restaurants and evening activities while the locals say that the most number of jobs in the difficult job market are available in Pristina.

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