Where in the World is Sunkist Miss?

Readers have been asking exactly where I am located / traveling, and seeing as I don’t have much to report today, I thought I’d provide a few answers.

I am currently in Pristina, capital of Kosovo. And was previously in Belgrade, capital of Serbia (where I will be returning later this journey). Back when Yugoslavia was a country, it was made up of 6 republics – Slovenia, Croatia, Bonsia and Hercegovina, Serbia, Monetnegro, and Macedonia. All of those are now successor countries. Serbia itself contained two autonomous regions, Kosovo and Vojvodina. Vojvodina is still part of Serbia; Kosovo is a separate entity, though its country status is disputed. Okay, so all of these countries which made up the former Yugoslavia are in South Eastern Europe, located on the Balkan peninsula, which has Greece at its bottom tip, and is surrounded by the Adriatic, Ionian, Agean and Black seas.

View Larger Map

It is in the UTC+1 time zone, the same as most of Western Europe (except the UK and Portugal which are UTC). So, that is +6 hours from EST or +9 from PST for those playing along at home.

Of course, the political status of the Yugoslav successor states has been a complex issue, and Kosovo is the extreme example. I’m not going to review the whole history here as it's much too long and complicated for the purposes of this blog post. Suffice it to say that when the UN and NATO took control, they separated it from Serbia but did not grant it full independence, leaving status to be decided later, and in 2008 Kosovo declared independence. While it is not currently a UN member-state due to the contentiousness of this claim (there are concerns that China and/or Russia would veto), it is a member country of the World Bank and IMF, and has been recognized by 75 UN Member States, including the US, almost all EU and OSCE members, and all of its neighbors except Serbia. (This makes for some interesting travel issues as Serbia considers the border an internal administrative boundary not a port-of-entry, so there can be visa issues if you enter Serbia from Kosovo as you will not have a Serbian entrance stamp. This is resolved if you entered Kosovo from Serbia and are going back to the same place – hence my taking the bus from Belgrade and back again.)

Of course, places with contentious political status often have contentious naming / linguistic issues as well. See for example the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which entered the UN with that full long name because Greece opposed it being called simply Macedonia. So, in Serbian, Kosovo is Kosovo (Latin scrip) or Косово (Cyrillic); in Albanian (the primary language here) it is Kososva (or in some circumstances Kosovë). Pristina, is Приштина or Priština in Serbian, Prishtinë or Prishtina in Albanian. As you will have noticed, I have stuck with Kosovo and Pristina, as they are the standard English language spellings and as such are used by international organizations, just like I have used “Belgrade” for the capital of Serbia rather than the more accurate “Beograd”.

Existential Lyrics

A friend recently posted a lyric to the recent Shakira song, Gitana, on facebook:

"Yo soy quien elige como equivocarme."

I am the one who decides how to make (my) mistakes.

I actually read it wrong the first time, however. A simple dyslexic error. I read it as:

"Yo so quien elige como evocarme."

I am the one who decides how to evoke myself.

I mentioned this to the friend who posted it, and she responded, "how existential of you!"

Actually, I think both the original lyric and my (mis)read of it are existentially interesting and empowering. I choose my mistakes. I choose how I evoke myself. I choose how I project myself. I choose who I am.

(Aside: This lyric by the way, while it is part of chorus of the Spanish song, is not included in the English version, Gypsy. The songs are not exact translations. And, as with many of Shakira's songs that have been made in two languages, I find the Spanish version much more interesting and poetic.)

Vivir para contarla -- Living to Tell the Tale

When Vivir para contarla, the autobiography of Gabriel García Márquez, was published in late 2002, it made a big splash internationally, despite the fact that it had not yet been published in English. In fact the English translation would not be available for a year, yet the Spanish version was selling well even in the US. A few months later, the LA Times published a book review of it … also in Spanish.

Editor's note: Recently, Alfred A. Knopf, in a move unprecedented in the U.S. book world, published the Spanish edition of Gabriel García Márquez's long-awaited memoir in the United States, a year prior to its appearance this fall in English. Without benefit of reviews or publicity, "Vivir para contarla" found its way onto The Times' bestseller list. Book Review has decided that a review, in Spanish with accompanying English translation, is in order.

- “Gabo Habla”, by Gioconda Belli, Los Angeles Times, February 16, 2003.

The full review is no longer available on the LA Times website, but can be found online here.

I was a college student in Los Angeles at the time the book review was published. In fact, I was majoring in Spanish-language Literature (part of a double major with international relations). And I was impressed. But I did not have time to read the book at that point. I was after all working on two theses – one for each major. But I promised myself that I would one day do so. This year I finally fulfilled that promise by reading the book. It was a challenge (probably more than it would have been 7 years ago), but ultimately an interesting read for anyone interested in Latin American literature and familiar with Gabo’s novels.

Sunkist Miss: Your friendly neighborhood translator

Today, after spending the ride home chatting with yeshivaBoy, I stepped off the T and into an alternate identity. Meet Sunkist Miss, your friendly neighborhood translator and local Latina.

I went to CVS and was minding my own business, when a little old lady came up to me and asked if I spoke Spanish. I rapidly recalled the last time this happened in CVS, but decided she probably wasn’t proselytizing and really did need help. This was the right decision. I helped her find the medication she was looking for. Mission accomplished.

[Note: the story referenced is from before I started the blog, I just posted it so you have the back-story if you are so inclined. I think it's entertaining.]

IR != Infrared

As a student of international relations (IR), I have been well aware of the over-abundance of acronyms and abbreviations in the field for many years. One of the best things about my class on Relaciones Internacionales de América Latina y el Caribe, many years ago now, was that I learned the terms of art all over again, en español.

Aliza recently posted about the need for translation in pharmacies, and in medicine more generally, something she knows from work experience.

In my world things like this are very important if you are going to be professionally fluent (Spanish --> English):
ONU = UN
OEA = OAS
EU = US
UE = EU
ONG = NGO
TLC = FTA
PIB = GDP
ADM = WMD
APL = SALW
MTA = APL

Grad school, of course, takes the acronyms to a whole new level. But that's a subject for another day.

Proselytizing en Español

[Disclaimer: As noted when I started this blog in November 2007, I already possessed a file titled "If I only had a blog", beginning in November 2006. While I am not planning to post all those proto-blog entries, I will post and back-date any that are relevant to future posts on an as needed basis.]

Well, today I had a unique experience. Not that having someone hand you a piece of paper telling you their religion is the right one is so unique in the US, just this particular incarnation of it. First of all, normally I spot such people coming and put on my I’m busy don’t bother me attitude, and it generally works. However, today I was in CVS looking at shampoo, and thus off my guard. What happened is this: a little old lady approached me in CVS and asked “¿se habla español?” I responded affirmatively, expecting that she needed help with something, which after all is normally the reason people ask me if I speak Spanish. Of course, why they pick me to ask is another question. Sure, I speak fluently, but how do they know? Any Jewish person can pick me out in a heartbeat. But also, in my experience, many Latinos pick me out as one of their own...mostly they think I’m Mexican/Chicana. (More stories on that subject another day!) This is particularly true in LA. Today was a first in Boston. Anyhow, without missing a beat she handed me a paper to read on the fact that the end of the world is approaching and we all need to find the true religion now. (This was all in Spanish, so I’m summarizing the jist of the headlines, since that’s as much as I read). Actually, I found this less grating than other experiences of proselytizing I’ve had, probably because I didn’t feel targeted by being Jewish. After all, she probably was assuming I was Catholic!!