My last day in Macedonia

Today I am sad to say goodbye to Sneska but excited to continue my trip. I have been looking up train schedules and getting prepared to go to Italy tomorrow. I will go from Skopje to Thessaloniki to Igoumenitso. From there I will catch an overnight ferry to Italy (Bari port). I am almost as excited about the traveling as I am about being in Italy, especially the ferry ride... I have heard that it is beautiful at night.

On my last night in Skopje, we are going to go out to a nice restaurant, one of Sneska's favorites, with some friends. I can't believe that it has already been three weeks since I have been here. Time just goes so fast. I have grown to feel very at home here... a really nice accomplishment (I think), since I am in a little known country in the Balkans where I don't speak the language. I have met so many wonderful people here and learned a lot about the culture, the tradition, the religion, just everything. I remember asking Sneska three weeks ago from my computer in Rentz, Georgia how Macedonia is different from the states. She said, "It is different, but I can't really describe it." There are so many small and subtle differeneces in the people and the way of life over here that I now understand exactly what she meant. I, like Sneska, don't know exactly how to describe it... It is mainly just a feeling... the feeling of being in a different culture, of living in a world that is different from the one that is familiar, of understanding that through all the differences humanity is the constant, and of appreciating where I am and where I can from at the same time.

Signing out until Italy...

Skopje by night

Pivofest in Prilep

Prilep is a small town with a big festival just south of Skopje. To be where the action is, we decided that we must be in Prilep... and we were not disappointed. We ate, we drank, we rode rides, we danced, we talked, we laughed. I tried some interesting foods including chocolate popcorn, these little sausage things (but not really sausage), and gyros (really good ones).

I met some more of Sneska's friends that were incredibly friendly, and, luckily for me, spoke very good English.



This ride was so fun, we rode it three times before we decided that if we rode it again, we would probably throw up! :) (Sneska and Elle)

The Old Town

Skopje is divided into two parts by a river: the old town and the new part. Sneska, and most Macedonians live in the newer part of town. The new town is not so different from a small town in the states. The old town is where to find the old churches and mosques, the market, and small cultural shops selling traditional handmade merchandise.

The market: The Wal-Mart of Skopje

There is no way to get a picture that can depict what the market is really like. It is set up somewhat like a flea market with people selling their goods in booths, some under a tent, some along the street. It overwhelms the senses... so many smells, sounds, people, colors... everywhere you look there are vegetables, shoes, electronics, children, jewelry, art, anything you could ever possibly want. It is crowded, dusty, and completlely full of personality.

Sunset in Ohrid

The beach at Ohrid

I asked for adventure, I got adventure...

Yesterday I grogily forced myself out of bed at an ungodly hour trying to remember what was worth getting up this early for. Then I remembered: Sneska's dad was going to show us "three forths of Macedonia" today. He works for a phone company and travels all over the country regularly. Today he was going to some particularly interesting cities and asked if we wanted to go along. I was immediately excited to get to see some more of the country outside of Skopje. Those of you who know me well know that I absolutely love the mountains, and most of Macedonia is covered in mountains and hills. We drove along through the countryside for a couple of hours and saw some great sites along the way. My favorite was the stone ruins of an old village, probably over 500 years old (most things here are). Anyways, we turned off the main road onto a smaller, windier road, and then onto a still smaller road, that actually really didn't look much like a road at all. But we continued on, at first only getting scraped by branches, then bouncing up and down over rocks until we came close to hitting our heads on the ceiling in the car. Still we continued on up the mountain. At certain points, we would have to get out of the car and move rocks out of the way so that the car could get over them. Then we had to start backing the car up, and weaving our way in and out and over and around the rocks that were the "road." Soon, the car smelled hot, but still we continued on, slowly but surely trying to make our way up the mountain. Finally, we got stuck once again on a rock, tried to back up, tried to go forward, nothing would happen. The car was broken. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and really quite a nice spot to be (it would have been nicer with a working car, but who am I to complain.) So, with nothing else left to do, we took a coffee break, and proceeded to push the car meter by meter (notice that I speak in metric measurements now) back down the mountain. We would push and rock the car until it got the momentum to move over the next rock, it would roll a few meters, and then we would push and rock some more. We finally got it to a place where we could turn it around, and did. From there it was not so bad, back to the main road where someone was coming to pick us up from Skopje. While we were waiting, we pretended that we had to survive in the wild and ate blackberries and some kind of nuts that grow on trees over here. We picked the nuts, and sat in the road and cracked them with stones... I felt like a real cavewoman! :) Anyways, even though the day didn't go exactly as planned, we had fun in spite of it all.

Turkish coffee and fortune telling, a charming tradition

The closest thing to the "regular" coffee that I am used to is referred to as Turkish coffee here. It is a bit stronger than Folgers, but not nearly as strong as a shot of expresso. I drink it in a regular sized coffee cup, and I am beginning to like it more and more. The thing with Turkish coffee is that the last sip in the bottom of the cup is this thick goo stuff that you definitely don't want to drink.

My best friend of Sneska's is Bokki, and she taught me this great tradition with the thick goo stuff at the bottom of Turkish coffee: When you are finished drinking the coffee, you turn your cup upside down on the saucer, so the charred black remains slowly drizzle down the sides of the cup. After that, you can read your fortune from designs left on the inside of the cup. I read Bokki's fortune, and from what she says, I am pretty good :) The first thing you do, is you look on the inside of the cup for shapes, designs, or animals... any type of symbol that you can put a meaning with. I found some dark patches that meant that she would go through some hard times; but in the middle of the dark patches were a lighter spot, meaning that she would have many friends to help her through them. You get the idea. After this, Bokki swept up some goo on her index finger and made three fingerprints on the outside of the cup. The fingerprint in the middle sybolized her and the two other fingerprints symbolized two other people (she wouldn't tell me who). Then I had to tell her about her relationships with the other people (whether they were looking towards her or away from her, how they feel about her, how she feels about them, ect.) I know this probably sounds silly, but it was so fun... Another possible profession for me: Rachel, the Turkish coffee fortune teller :)

Picutures as promised...

This is the view from the walkway by the water at Lake Ohrid. The area across the water is the "old town" with most of the historic churches and narrow cobblestone streets.



more Lake Ohrid



This is the view from the balcony of our room. When we arrived in Ohrid, we just walked around in the area we wanted to stay and looked for houses with signs out front that advertised rooms for rent. As we were walking around, several people approached us offering rooms in their homes. We followed a very nice old man on a bicycle to his home, which was beautiful, but we decided too far away from the main attractions in Ohrid. We finally decided on this place: a gorgeous room, great bathroom (the first bathtub I have seen since I have been here), and a balcony with this amazing view right outside our room. The room was simple, but clean and friendly. There were two small beds and shelves with nicknacks, pictures of children, and old toys. We shared the bathroom and the kitchen with a very congenial man and his family. He even allowed us to use his coffee in the mornings:) The prices here are unbeatable too. We paid 300 denars (roughly the equivalent of $6).



This is a picture of the garden in front of the house where we stayed from the balcony. As you can see, it is just gorgeous!



Lake Ohrid at night...



One of the 365 churches in Ohrid, a church for every day of the year

My time in Skopje

Today I took my first walk alone in Skopje. It was surreal to be walking around this strange, but somewhat familiar city, with everyone around me speaking in a language from which I only understand a select few words. I was walking and thinking to myself that if someone had told me about this moment five years ago, I wouldn't have believed them... but here I am, in Skopje, on the other side of the world, doing something I have always dreamed of doing. It is a pretty amazing feeling. Anyways, the past few days have been full of traditional Macedonian food, tons of playing cards and watching movies, and just hanging out with friends and having fun. It is a much slower pace than I am used to, but I am loving it and completely enjoying this this time of freedom.

P.S. I promise pictures are coming very soon... It is just taking a long time to upload them, and I get bored quickly :)

So, I could continue rambling on about how beautiful Ohrid is for another twenty pages, but I will do my best to limit it. The next day we went to a smaller village on the lake with a "beach"... not what I usually think of as a beach... It was made of rocks rubbed smooth from the water and there was only about 15 feet of rocks out of the water. We sat down there and watched the sunset and then an amazing meteor shower... It was completely dark and it seemed like we could see every star in the sky... Another amazing evening.

We caught a bus back to Skopje that night and have just been hanging out here for the past couple of days. I am getting to know her friends well and the town and continuing to try and learn some of the language... I am working on learning the alphabet right now and I can write my name in Macedonian (my proud accomplishment of the day :))

Tonight we are going to the park to just hang out and listen to some live music. Should be a good time... Hope all is well with everyone... Until next time... :)

Lake Ohrid... the most beautiful place in the world...

So, today, aftera about one hour of sleep, me and Sneska grogily forced ourselves to get out of bed... A friend of her dad's was driving us to Lake Ohrid, but we had to leave at 5:30am. We loaded our stuff in the car, me expecting to fall back asleep on the way. But the whole drive there was absolutely beautiful... Mountains and small villages on the sides of the mountains... old churches and mosques everywhere you look... After about three hours we arrived in Ohrid. It is a beautiful place as well, with cobblestone streets, gorgeous architecture, and a lake surrounded by rolling mountain hills... People rent out rooms in their homes during the tourist season, so we got a really nice room with a family near the lake. My favorite part is that we have a balcony that we can sit on and see for miles... from the lake to the castle on top of the mountain to the tile rooftops of this district to the gorgeous flower garden (roses, fountains, walkways, basically the works) that is in the front yard of this picturesque home. Needless to say, the first thing on the agenda was good food and a long nap. We got some pizza for lunch, which was very good, expect that they put ketchup on top of the pizza over here... very strange to me, but Sneska loves it :) After our nap, we met up with another of Sneska's friends and we are planning on sitting hanging out by the water... There is a beautiful old church that is lit up at night, and we may go sit and enjoy the view from there for a while... I will be here until Wednesday and then we are traveling to another city called Vitola nearby for a day. I will check in when I can, but don't worry if I don't write for a couple of days while I am here... We may be too busy working on our tans at the beach or eating American donuts (that's what they are called here, but we don't have anything like them in the states... strange... :) Anyways, hope all is well at home... I miss y'all a lot (and people who can understand what I am saying when I say "y'all" :)

Hanging out in Skopje...

Skopje continues to be a great place to be. Last night I got to taste Skopska (I have no idea how to spell it, but that is how it is pronounced). We met up with several of her friends and found a nice place to sit and hang out in the park (areas of the park are designated by nicknames that young people give to the statues). Anyways, I had a great time meeting all of her friends. One of her friends in particular doesn't speak much English, so she is trying to teach me how to speak Macedonian so we can communicate better. To me this doesn't make much sense since she already knows some English, but we had a lot of fun telling each other words last night. My phrase right now is: Dashakum Skopje (I love Skopje). I also know words for moon, straw, drink, matches, pretty much anything we saw while we were out :)

Macedonia at last!

After a long two days and a night of traveling, I have finally arrived in Skopje, Macedonia. Sneska met me at the airport and her friend drove us in his Yugo (a tiny cute car that used to be manufactured only in Yugoslavia) into the city. Everything is very different over here, but I have already learned tons about life in the Balkans. Her family is extremely nice... Her grandmother cooked a traditional Macedonian dish for us for lunch today. It was a flaky pastry with something like spinach and some kind of cheese in it. It doesn't really compare to anything that we have in the states, but it was delicious. Last night we walked around Skopje, and Sneska showed me some of her favorite places. I love this city already. We walked through this outdoor mall and into a park across the street with fountains and statues and tons of people just hanging out or taking walks or buying and selling food. We walked by an old train station famous for surviving an earthquake that destroyed the rest of the city. The clock on the train station stopped at the time of the earthquake, and that time is still displayed on it in memory of those lost in the quake. We walked through the new mall, and I felt like I was in a mall in Atlanta... everything there was very western. We walked through another park, a bigger one where there are live concerts every night. There was a zoo there and carnival rides and street performers and tons of nice places to walk with grass and huge trees. It was a really beautiful place as well. Then we returned home walking on a walkway by the river where there were tons of restaurants with outdoor seating and more people just walking around and hanging out. It was just gorgeous, a great atmosphere. It is about 10 degrees cooler over here too, so the weather was just right when we were walking around at dusk. I am loving it so far, and don't worry, I will take tons of pictures!!!

Today's the day!

So, I think I have crammed as much stuff as is going to fit in my backpack, done as much research as possible about Europe, and prepared as much as I possibly can for this trip. Now there is nothing to do but wait.......... I stayed up half the night playing with my new toy, a digital camera from my grandparents, and I have come to this conclusion: It is great!!! I know y'all are all sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for some amazing pictures :) ha, ha :)

Thanks everybody for putting up with my crazy adventures. I will miss yall!!

Signing out until I am in Skopje, Macedonia!!!

Last day in the states

Today I woke up thinking about all of the last minute things that I need to get done. I am suddenly thankful for my free coffee, free internet, and big room all to myself. But even though I am going to miss the luxuries of being at home, I can't wait to see what great adventures await me "on the other side of the big pond" as my dad says. Thanks everybody for all of the great travel tips. I have taken them to heart, and I promise to be careful. Bon voyage!

2 days til takeoff

The nervousness and excitement are setting in as I am counting down the days until my takeoff to Europe. This is my first time out of the country, so I have no idea what to expect, but I just have this feeling that this trip is going to be amazing! I am visiting two amazing friends that I worked with one summer... two of the most wonderful people I have ever met. So, I can't wait to see them again. I feel so lucky to be able to go on this trip. It is something that I have always dreamed of doing, but until recently it seemed out of reach. Wish me luck!