As some of us (those who chose to recognise it) got another country this week, the situation in the Southern Balkans seems to have improved for some, been emotional for others, enraging for the hard-liners and a lot more complicated for the rest.

The press here tend to relay the same Russia is bad, Serbia is bad, Kosovo is unique stories so it’s quite easy to start thinking that the whole place is going to hell in a handcart. This may still turn out to be true but, so far this doesn’t seem to be the case.

An Albanian friend of mine from Pristina wrote to say “My knee is better now…I can dance something at least 😀 It`s a pity that you haven`t been here to celebrate….was very nice :D”

and, an American friend of mine (Bethany who studied the CELTA course with us in Ljubljana) has started a new blog which shows that, despite the TV coverage – things aren’t as bad as they appear in Serbia proper: http://www.bethanygallivants.blogspot.com/.

and if you’re interested, TOL published possibly the best article I’ve read on the situation this week. You can read it here.

In case you were wondering Oxford is OK too. There were a few pro-testers in town, but I don’t think it’s going to reach the global stage 😉

Posted from: www.bearder.com