Independent Kosovo

A little over a month ago, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. Obviously, the Serbs are not happy about the situation; however, among the ethnic Albanians living here in Macedonia, there's been an almost universally positive response. On the night that independence was declared, there was a large celebration in the old part of Skopje and J., R, and I all went to see the festivities.

It was somewhat chaotic, with lots of people dancing around and singing. There was a giant stage set up with a big Albanian flag hanging as a backdrop. It was night, so you can't see the flag too well in this picture, but it should give an idea of what it was like.

One thing I noticed during the celebration was the number of American flags being waved around. There were quite a few people carrying both Albanian flags and American flags. There was even an American flag mounted on the statue of Skanderbeg, who is the national hero of Albania.

That red blur you see on the horse is an American flag.

I think the celebration went on all night, but we only stayed for about half an hour. This was because at a certain point someone started to fire his or her machine gun in the air in celebration. That was my cue to leave. I generally try to avoid being in places where bullets might rain down on my head.