A Day in the Office
Now that I've been working at CLARD for a few weeks, I've started to settle into a routine. In this blog post, I'll walk through what a typical workday looks like for me, hopefully giving some sense of what working here feels like:
I'm staying in a neighborhood called Pejton, which is near downtown Pristina. When I leave in the morning, I take a short walk to a nearby bus stop. Pristina is very walkable in general, and in theory, I could walk to work in about thirty minutes. However, I prefer the bus because it saves me some time and keeps me from walking the whole way in the summer heat.
After reaching the bus stop, I wait for the right bus to arrive and get on board. Once I'm on the bus, I stay on until it stops right across the street from the CLARD office. When I get out and cross the street, I usually go straight upstairs to the office. However, occasionally, I see my coworkers having espressos at the cafe downstairs, in which case they invite me to join them before heading up and starting work. There is an espresso machine in the office, too, though, so there's plenty of caffeine available even if I don't stop at the cafe.
Inside, there are two main rooms: Anton's office, and the larger room that Edona, Nedzad, and I share. I mostly work independently on my research, although my coworkers are available to answer any questions I have. Anton says that he knows I'm here to learn, so he wants me to take my time to really understand everything I'm researching and ask all the questions I have, and not to feel like I need to rush. From what my coworkers have told me, they mostly work independently on their own projects as well. I've gotten to know them all pretty well by now. We often have conversations about Kosovo's laws, history, and culture while we work, and I've learned a lot from listening to them.
For lunch, there are many small, relatively inexpensive places around the office that I can get food from. I like to use this as an opportunity to try more of Kosovo's cuisine. One of the places I've gotten lunch from several times is a small byrektore on the same street as the office. A byrektore is a place that sells byrek, a savory pastry that can be filled with cheese, meat, or spinach. It's usually served with a yogurt drink. Nedzad recommended this particular byrektore during my first week, and I've come back a few times since then. The owner is very nice and already recognized me on my second visit.
After getting lunch, I finish the rest of my day in the office. Although I work independently, I sometimes see people come in to meet with my coworkers. Some of the people who come in are clients, but some are not. For instance, the other day, a couple of people came by in the morning seeking to interview Anton. Another time, the man who's working on updating CLARD's website—and also happens to work in the same building—stopped by. My coworkers say that summer is a quieter time of year for them, so they have fewer people coming to the office now than they would at other times. There's still plenty of work to be done, though. Espresso breaks in the afternoon also occur every once in a while, usually at the cafe downstairs. These provide more opportunities to get to know my coworkers and learn from them about Kosovo.
When my work day is done, I walk to the bus stop and take the bus home. Twice now, the same woman on the bus on the way back has recognized me and started a conversation with me in English about what places I should visit while I'm here. That's one thing that's stuck out to me about the culture here: from the byrektore owner to the woman on the bus, the people here really pay attention to you and remember who you are.
Of course, not every day is a typical day. As I've written in previous posts, some of my workdays have also included attending events in other places. I'm sure that I will continue have plenty of opportunities to learn and try new things while at CLARD this summer, both inside and outside the office.