Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Gjilan

::Cassidy (6/11)


Today we visited Gjilan, the home of Fatjona who was the youngest Kosovar chica to travel to the States, 16 years old. Gjilan is smaller than the other sites we but it had the most advanced soccer programs within schools. We briefly visited a primary school to see their newly built gym while being swarmed by smiling kids. We had a meeting with the mayor of Gjilan who expressed his support for women sports in Kosovo. This was followed by lunch and macchiatos! I have now drank a total of 22 macchiatos in Kosovo and may be officially dependent on them. 

After lunch we went to a new soccer facility to play soccer with a ten day old club that Fatjona established. The club consisted of girls of many ages who were incredibly passionate and happy to be playing soccer. Women's soccer in Kosovo is currently facing many financial barriers but the pure passion and drive I have seen in so many girls makes it hard for me to believe that women's soccer won't succeed. We then drove back to the hotel and had the pleasure to listen to one of Visar's song on the radio, and then had the additional joy of hearing him sing along to it!

At 6 o'clock we played pick-up soccer on a basketball court with our friend Fikret who is the assistant coach of the Pristina basketball team. It was a blast but everyone soon got hungry so we left for dinner. While eating our lasagna and chicken fingers we watched the France v. England game and later got ice cream at a lovely gelato shop. On our way back to the hotel we stopped by a big concert in the center of Pristina and the night ended while we listened to Red Hot Chilly Pepper cover songs and fireworks.

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