…So as we proceeded to work, you know, I was living in a house up there and it was, it was interesting for me because when I looked out the back window, from my bedroom, I was looking down on what I later found out was the Faculty of Architecture for the University of Pristina. You know the parallel university, and I could look down into this unfinished building, it had no windows, you know it was just the concrete and the red bricks. You know that was all it was, but there was no glass and the students were sitting on benches inside this unfinished building, bundled up in coats and hats and gloves during the winter, and they had their drawing boards and t-squares and everything. And I would just stand up there and watch this and think, ‘you know, my God, how can they want to study so much’

When I first got to Kosovo, it was my first experience having my own security detail. It was the first country I had lived in where that was necessary, and these were very high-end professionals, military units that have gone on to become quite famous for other reasons. But I never felt, maybe because of their presence, I never felt unsafe. I think there was the potential risk that someone might try something, you know, so that’s the reason they were there. But as far as the Albanian people were concerned, they would have protected me long before my security detail needed to. I never felt unsafe at all in that way. There was a landmine risk, unexploded ordinances and all of that, so you knew you had to be careful where you walk, and going out into unknown meadows was not something very advisable. No, but overall, I liked it from the very start. I felt good being there. We were welcomed, obviously, I felt the work was rewarding. God knows it was challenging. Especially in the beginning, it was like living in this single room. […] it was great, it was exciting, it mattered, it was front and center of Washington’s attention. I mean, for a professional career diplomat, it was not a better place to be.

So, it’s called Travels in Blood and Honey. Becoming a Beekeeper in Kosovo. So this one really tells the story of, from I first arrived in Kosovo in 2006 to 2008 like when we left Kosovo, the last chapter is us leaving Kosovo. When we thought that, you know, Rob had a job back in England and we thought that our time in Kosovo was coming to an end. Little did we know (laughs) that was just the beginning. But… that’s, that’s, it’s got a very different feel in my opinion because it’s about becoming a beekeeper but it’s also about learning not just beekeeping. But, learning Kosovo’s history and its traditions, its food. You know, it’s got recipes in the book for what to make with the honey.

It’s a very sweet, very lyrical book. I think it’s kind of, it’s a lot about the landscape, the countryside, the villages, and, and, it’s kind of a love story about me, you know, falling in love with Kosovo. And, and, so I, you know, I love that book because it’s, it really tells that, that journey. But, I remember there was one review of it that said it was uncritical of Kosovo and I suppose that’s true, I mean, I didn’t want to be critical, and, but, also I perhaps hadn’t got, you know, deep, I hadn’t met the community in Fushë Kosovë to see some of the problems and frustrations. So, yeah, it’s a love story, when you’re in love with someone, you’re not critical (laughs).

The first very physical feeling in Kosovo, because of the way the conflict developed, was a wall. This is a wall, and the international community is not going to overcome it. And that was politically a different feeling, because you work in very difficult circumstances but you kind of try, or here you understand that’s a wall, and you can’t do anything, I am talking about the relationships of Albanians and Serbs, honestly. And that determined a lot of the political world, work. Anyway, safety, coming back to safety. I wasn’t quite sure how I am going to be seen as a Russian, because of all the biases. Well, I kind of thought, ok, the Albanians are going to say, ‘She is Russian, she is Russian.’ Am I safe? Am I going to be well taken? Am I going to be able to do my job? What? What? These are the questions, which are kind of in your head, which are normal human.

So, my reaction was a funny one, because standing, checking in, I don’t know, somewhere, I don’t know, there was like a short line, I think I turned my head and there was a guy standing behind me and asking, ‘Are you also coming?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Where are you going to stay in Pristina?’ And I told him, ‘Why don’t we live together?’ I don’t mean live together in any terms, but I guess it was my protective side, like, why not, I don’t know, couple with somebody. That was a very nice feeling, because it turned up in a very unexpected community, and I am going to talk about this international community in Kosovo. The guy, my friend Antonio, was from Brazil. He was working with IT and with the website, that was just developing. Well, I told you in Bosnia that was the first website that we created. Yes, actually I got to Kosovo because somebody whom I met in Bosnia, Simon Haselock, who was the spokesperson, the head of public information for the Office of the High Representative, moved there and he called me and that how the transfer happened.  […] I have Spanish background in the sense of language I speak six language, and I studied a lot of Spanish literature. We ended up in a nice company of these three Latin American guys and myself. Lots of fun, one was Peruvian, one Chilean, Antonio was from Brazil, and myself.

And in 2000 [2004], when they burned the church? I was here. That was another really dirty business. I am sorry, I must say this. At 7:30pm I hear some grenades, all the young people, nobody was at home, they were all outside. At 7:30pm I decide to close the restaurant, send all the kids home, until about midnight  I stayed here. At 2am a call arrives from the Italian Embassy, they say, ‘Antonella, run, run there is a big fire, there is a big fire next to your restaurant.’ Before going back home, before midnight, I saw the priest run away with his daughter, fortunately the police pick them up and took them away.  At 2am the Embassy calls, ‘Run run, there is a big fire.’ I come here alone, I take all the garbage cans, I fill them up with water because as the crow flies, this is an old house, as the crow flies it is two hundred meters from the church, and the bell tower was on fire, it was really a huge fire.