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!!!