“Punch the air, punch the air, punch the air, & turn!”
Yep — you know what that is — it’s flash mob practice, & I was actually participating.
Some of you just peed yourselves a little bit because you’ve seen me dance & the thought of me in a flash mob sounds like Elaine Benes rocking out with no regard to the people being taken away in ambulances after the human domino effect leaves them maimed in her wake.
If you want to see the 1st few seconds of the dance (you can only find me in it if you know exactly where to look — it’s a brief sighting!) then you can check out https://youtu.be/XQ2CJ3FU9NI — it’s literally only the opening part where we’re clapping & my friend Mia is giggling 🙂
So yeah — totally out of my comfort zone. I am still humiliated from the last time I danced in public at my best friend’s wedding & nearly took out the bride and the maids, all captured in digital high definition for years of good laughs for the couple when their marriage starts to get a tad boring on a Friday night.
But this is the Race & ministry often means going out of your comfort zone. & not just like Cleveland out of the zone — we’re talking like Turkmenistan out of my comfort zone.
**although as a side note, I would actually probably go there, but you know what I mean**
But yeah — the public dancing was very Turkmenistan-ish to me. I probably looked like a cross between deer in the headlights & a bull in a china shop, but I did it. I flash mobbed because apparently that is something that works for starting up conversations in Europe, & that’s what we do — start conversations so that we can get to know people.
Now that part I do like.
I don’t know that I met anyone particularly because of the flash mobbing, but I did get to meet some really great people when Chelsea & I were passing out fliers for an event we were hosting. I wish I had more pictures because we really loved these people, but sometimes when you’re just having a good time you don’t really think about taking pictures — you just want to be together.
I especially wish I had a picture of our first new friend. He has a tent just off the main square in Pristina where he sells all kinds of interesting things. His son makes most of the traditional costumes that they sell, which I think is pretty cool, & then he sells everything else from the typical magnets & postcards to cool antiques & jewelry. His English was decent & we just started chatting. I loved it. He’s just a normal guy who was happy to share about his life & hear about ours. Another friend without any photographic evidence was this guy at a print shop whose English was excellent & was just so sweet & eager to converse about whatever.
Then there was Leonard who owned the bakery next to the church. That guy is THE sweetest! We would meet him in the morning & just chat before ministry…he is one of the loveliest souls I’ve ever met. He even gave us free samples or his delicious baking & I probably put on a few pounds getting breakfast there because it not only was cheap but so so good! He even made Maggie’s birthday cake for her!
Bonus — when it’s your birthday in Kosova, they pull your ears as many times as you are in years, so that was a little bonus getting to watch Maggie receive all the ear pulls all day long 😉
Our other breakfast (or sometimes lunch) buddy was the local burek guy. He only makes burek so it’s hot & delicious as soon as you order it & we maybe ate a gajillion of those while there as well. He was always so sweet to us & we were glad to know him.
& that’s honestly what’s gonna be different when I come back to the States. I’ve always had an aversion to talking to people — I’ll wait for the self-checkout line so that I don’t have to awkwardly converse with the underpaid, stressed out lady with fake nails in line 12 at Walmart.
But not unlike the Grinch, I’ve been utterly shocked to find that my heart may have grown a few sizes larger. I’m not saying that I won’t gravitate back to that self-check out at times, but I am saying that I’ve grown in my awareness of how much people in regular jobs need to be treated like regular people. They don’t want to be checking out the month’s worth of groceries I’ve purchased out of hunger because I’ve had nothing but baking soda & a half rotten grapefruit in my fridge for 2 weeks. They just want to do their jobs & bring home a pay check. I used to be fine with that, but now I want to give them more.
Not everybody wants to have a conversation, but everybody wants to be seen & this is a small something we can give them.
I thought I already knew this — I have a very clear memory of what it was like to work at a McDonald’s drive thru & receive the wrath of the poor soul who had to endure the personal hateful gesture I inflicted on her by accidentally giving her a sandwich without extra pickles. The horror.
I also thought I’d learned it from being with refugees in Bosnia & seeing how much dignity it gave them when we just gave them time & love.
But this month I was reminded that the working man is not without need of making his day more than just work. I am really thankful that I came to see this by way of getting to know some really great people & I really do want to take that home. But more new friend stories in a minute — I should tell you a little more about the ministry in Kosova.
Refugees? Orphans? What other exciting thing could it be??
Folding clothes.
**Cricket chirps**
Yep. After all the excitement of our flash mob, meeting people, & inviting them to our big event — we had the event — & then went back to regular life for the church we were with. & regular life meant helping with their regular ministries & doing day in day out things needed by the church. & guess what that looked like.
A lot of sorting.
We inventoried, categorized, & re-shelved the church’s library. The bulk of the rest of our sorting was used clothes. This church has multiple second hand shops where they employ people in need & they give clothes to people in great need. There was an entire warehouse to sort, bag, & box, so that’s what we did.
Serving God is often super not glamorous & neither was our month. But. It doesn’t really matter because we were able to serve & get so much done during the day & then make relationships with people in the evenings.
One non-sorting thing we did get to do was cooking for some very poor families & hosting a lunch for them at the church. We don’t speak Albanian so the conversation was limited, but we were glad for the opportunity to serve them. We also got to package up some food bought for them by the church & send it home with them. It was only a brief part of our time but it was sweet.
It really can be very simple, but serving where we’re asked & just loving people is pretty much what we’re about, & that’s what we did this month.
Chelsea & I were just about heading home one night when these 2 girls approached us. They were sisters & wanted to know if we were from the US. As soon as they found out we were, they nearly exploded with excitement. They just wanted to meet us & practice their English. We were surprised but happy to speak with them & they were absolutely wonderful. We planned to meet again & invited the 3rd sister who hadn’t been with them at that time.
Sometimes in the States I can’t even get people I know to come out with me, but these are a people very eager to be together & I loved it every time. The girls were especially sweet & I wish we had more time with them, but I was grateful for what I got.
The last group of friends I have to mention is our guy friends who we also met on the way home one night. We met them because they were standing at the window of their apartment across the street from where we live & they just said hello. Five minutes later we were grabbing our friend Maggie to help us communicate because she speaks German & so did they & then we were off for coffee — at 10PM!
& it’s not the only time we went for coffee with those fellas at 10pm. They drink it like water & the time just doesn’t matter at all. So we went with the culture & had our late night coffee…it was a blast 🙂 Maggie & I stayed up talking till 0330 after that, but we’re night owls anyways so we can’t really blame our friends too much 😉
I wish I had more time to write about the history of Kosova & about what a truly special country is…it’s a baby country & I have to tell you that I am cheering for them big time. But what I will encourage you to do if you’re interested is to read the extremely well written blog of my pal Maggie who has done an incredible job of capturing the complicity & gravity of what you need to know. Her blogs “Exposure” Part 1 & 2 are absolutely worth the read & way less wordy that mine. Check it out at maggiecooper.theworldrace.org — I promise you won’t be disappointed.
& that’s the short version (even though it’s kinda long) of my month in Kosova! Unexpected but good things came even from my uncoordinated participation at the beginning 🙂 There may be a SHORT blog about Macedonia because I went there for the weekend, but then on to Romania!
