Orthodox Christmas Day: January 7, 2013

Today is Orthodox Christmas in Macedonia.  We woke to a cloudy day that turned into morning snow flurries.  It is also Monday which means there is a Monday hike and an excuse to delay our packing one more day.

Dan and I joined two friends, Tereza and Tiesja, and drove to St. Nikita Monastery to hike through the mostly abandoned village of Chucer in Skopska Crna Gora located a few miles northwest of Skopje.  When we arrived there was still a light dusting of snow covering the ground and rooftops making the landscape look like a Christmas card.

We found that while many of the structures are indeed ruins and uninhabitable, there were a few homes still occupied.

 Resident of Chucer Village

The village across from Sveti Nikita

Santa Claus is not part of Christmas here and once New Year's Day was celebrated, the Santa gang quickly disappeared from the central square.  On the night of 5 January, with a nod to a pagan past,  bonfires were lit.  

We missed the bonfires, but we didn't miss the next tradition which occurs very early on Christmas Eve (called Badnik) day.  Just before 8:00 a.m. on 6 January, our doorbell rang and we could hear people singing outside the door.  This is kind of the Christmas version of Halloween.  The people on the other side of the door have bags into which you should put money or food.  Not being prepared for this event and having mostly emptied our cupboards and refrigerator of food in preparation for our departure, we did the best we could.  A few dinar coins here and food there.  

Another tradition for Christmas Day is bread (pogatcha) that is baked with a coin inside.  The one who takes the piece of bread with the coin will have luck the rest of the year.  

Tomorrow, 8 January, is our last full day in Macedonia.  We have arranged for a van to pick up us, our 8 suitcases, and Kali Cat and transport us to Sofia where we will spend the night in a hotel before leaving the Balkans on 10 January.  

While I look forward to going home, it is always so hard to say goodbye to those who have given me their friendship.  I will miss my friends, and many things about life in Macedonia.

Ciao Ciao Makedonija!

Gray Areas: November 25, 2012

Gray is what November has become as winter rushes toward us.  Fog, fog, and more fog.  It's gray when it rains and it's gray when it doesn't.

Night temperatures now hover around freezing so the fountain under Alexander the Great and his horse  is silent and gray.  There will be no more colored lights, choreographed water, or music from it until spring.

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray..... California dreaming on such a winter's day (California Dreaming by The Mamas and The Papas).

Our pursuit to stay in Macedonia legally is now in a gray, limbo status.  In early November the US Embassy sent a letter to Macedonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to announce our arrival and state that we were under the Rule of Law agreement cloak.  About a week later we heard in an email from the US Embassy that MFA did not currently have the ability to make the ID cards.  Due to their recent change of office buildings, the machine wasn't operating.  We were informed that MFA will not furnish us with a temporary "Get-Out-of-Macedonia-Free" note while we wait for the production of our ID cards.

This illegal status is uncomfortable for me.  Recently, I was taking a photograph for an online class where the assignment was "Justice" and the color red.  The word "justice" is hard to come by here.  In Macedonian, justice is (правда) pravda.  But, I found a line of graffiti that included "Justice" written in Latin letters.  While I was taking the photograph, which took some time to work out as it included me as a self portrait, the woman who lives in the apartment came out and began asking me questions that I couldn't understand.  Eventually, she said, "politcia," a word I could understand.  While I wasn't doing anything illegal, it seemed like with my precarious status, it would be a good time to leave.  

 Too Many Cops Too Little Justice

While confined to Macedonia, we continue to explore.  One Saturday, which was not gray, our plan was to visit the archaeological site of Skupi.  Skupi is located near the village of Bardovci which has become more like a suburb of Skopje.  Once there, we found the archaeological site closed on weekends.  But, perhaps more interesting, was the very busy cabbage market next door.  These cabbages are from Bardovci village.  Full wagons of cabbages are pulled in by tractor and empty wagons pulled out to be returned full.  One of the merchants told us that Bardovci cabbages are the best for eating and especially for pickling to store for the winter.  The season is October and November, and these cabbages are huge and heavy.  One of the sellers gave us a cabbage which we carried all the way back to the city center; it was very heavy.  There were also sturdy, waist-high leeks which stand in picket-fence-like rows.  These are also purchased in bulk and replanted by the buyer to preserve them through the winter.

 Bardovci cabbages in red Yugo

November has also been a month of social activities: Marine Ball, Macedonia Philharmonic concerts, Cinedays European Film Festival, art openings, IWA, a Roma Festival.  I'm not sure what that says about us that we can be so busy but still chafe under this "house arrest" of being unable to leave Macedonia without fear of expulsion.  

Friday night I had a dream that two men grabbed me and shoved me into a car.  I hope that's not a sign of what's to come.  

Despite that bad omen, we've made a decision to travel and take our chances.  Tonight after Dan's class finishes, we are flying to Istanbul for 4 nights.  We will take a copy of our one-sided letter from the US Embassy to MFA in hopes that if we are questioned, the letter will be accepted as our "Get-Out-of-Macedonia-Free" note. 

We've laid in extra cat food provisions--just in case.

Six Month Anniversary: July 12, 2012

Today, marks our six-month anniversary of living in Skopje, Macedonia.

I braved the daytime temperatures and went with Dan to the Ministry of Interior (hotter inside than outside) to find out what hurdles I'll need to jump to get my resident card.  The woman at the Ministry was very nice, spoke understandable English, and was helpful.  She looked at the three pieces of paper translated into Macedonian which Dan's lawyer erroneously told him to present at the Macedonian Embassy in Washington DC and said, "you need many more documents than this."

I showed her the other things I had accumulated: a copy of my passport showing the entry date that is consistent with my police registration card and a copy of our marriage certificate.  She associated the passport copy and the marriage certificate copy with two of the translated pages.  The third page is a translation of my US health insurance card.  She sent us away with a list of stuff we still must get:

1.  original marriage certificate or a notarized copy,
2.  my US health insurance card,
3.  criminal history and translation of same
4.  copy of Dan's resident card (lichna carta) which he will have on July 24,
5.  2 photos of me,
6.  our apartment rental agreement with an addendum that states that I also live in the apartment and it must be notarized,
7.  proof of payment of 3 fees (2,150 MKD, 190 MKD, and 50 MKD).  We're not sure why there are three or what they are for.

It's quite unfortunate that Dan's incompetent lawyer did not think ahead. As a result, we will need to re-do many of the documents that we had to obtain for him.

On the walk back to Dan's office, we were chatting about Ellen who is Dan's ABA Washington DC colleague who was visiting this week. We were saying that Ellen, who left last night, must be enjoying Montenegro this morning and the first day of her vacation.

But Ellen wasn't able to leave Skopje last night by bus.  According to the bus schedule posted on the the bus company's website, there is an 8:00 pm bus to Montenegro on Wednesday.  She went to the bus station about 7:00 pm to buy her ticket for the 8:00 pm bus.  The woman at the ticket counter said there is no bus on Wednesday.  Ellen told her that the bus schedule on the website shows a bus on Wednesday.  The woman just chuckled.

The ticket counter woman confirmed that there is an 8:00 pm bus on Thursday.  Ellen tried to buy her ticket, but she was told that tickets can only be sold on the day of travel.

Tonight, Ellen and Dan returned to the bus station.  This time Ellen was asked if she had a reservation for the bus.  She didn't because last night the ticket woman did not tell her that was possible.  Tonight, she was told that the bus was fully reserved but she could wait to see if someone failed to show. At 7:40, Ellen was finally allowed to board the bus because there was an unfilled seat.  

Dan and I have learned a valuable lesson about bus travel from Skopje.

Summer in the City: June 17, 2012

Last weekend Dan began teaching his Friday, Saturday, and Sunday training classes.  These weekend courses will run until mid-July.  He's on his second weekend now and has already figured out that working 7 days a week is grueling for him and boring for me.

Last weekend while Dan worked I accepted an invitation to go to Greece with our friend Angel.  Angel is a travel agent and he was delivering 12 clients and picking up 35 clients to/from a resort area of the first "finger."  Even though it meant 6 hours down by bus and 6 hours back by bus, I went because I wanted to see the area and I was bored.  Angel promised me lunch on the beach, but alas that was not to be.  He was occupied with travel agent duties during the entire 2 hours at the resort.  I sat on the beach under an umbrella with my legs exposed to the sun and then I walked to the center to grab a lunch before the return 6-hour bus ride.  No matter how bored I am I will never do that again.

Olivera was able to get a certificate proving she owns the apartment that we rent from her, so on Wednesday, Olivera and Dan went again to a Notary to have our rental agreement notarized.  They had success.  On Thursday, Dan and his Macedonian lawyer, Ivan, went to the Ministry of Interior.  The employee looked at them like she didn't know why they were there.  Dan said Ivan and the woman at the Ministry had an argument in Macedonian and then Dan and Ivan left.  This is not a good sign.  Next week, Dan and his lawyer will go to the Bureau of Labor for something regarding his work permit.  We remain illegal residents of Macedonia.

Kali, who is normally a very good eater (hence the diet) and always hungry (because she is on a diet), began leaving some of the Royal Canin wet food untouched in her dish this week.  During the week she was lethargic and also had some diarrhea and vomiting.  Friday morning she refused to eat any Royal Canin.  Fortunately, I had a Friskies packet of food courtesy of Olivera.  I put the Friskies in her dish and she ate it all.

I searched the internet to see if there were any new reports of tainted pet food and I found a site (consumeraffairs.com) listing May and June complaints originating in the USA and Canada about Royal Canin food.  The pets all had the same symptoms as Kali.  Some pet owners reported that once the food was changed, the symptoms disappeared, but some said the animal was so damaged that it had to be put down.  I contacted the Royal Canin distributor in Macedonia and their vet wrote me that my cat was old and all cats have digestive issues.  She said it wasn't their pet food that was causing the issues.  I realize that all the complaints so far are anecdotal, but now I have no confidence in Royal Canin's products and Kali is getting Whiskas and Friskies packets of wet food.  I returned all the Royal Canin to the pet supply store where it had been purchased.  Kali has returned to her old self--fortunately.

Last Saturday I went to a charity bazaar on the pedestrian street.  I bought 10 raffle tickets for about $20 from which I won 3 prizes.  1.  I won 1 ticket to the performance of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra here in Skopje.  2.  I won two vouchers at a "Salt Medical Clinic."  Olivera and I went yesterday to find out what a "salt room" is.  After sitting 45 minutes in a room covered with salt (walls, ceiling, floor) and breathing salt, we are still puzzled.  The "salt room" literature broadly states that it is good for respiratory system problems.  Anyway, it was a nice escape from the outside heat.  3.  And, best of all, I won a cell phone.  It is a Samsung S3770.  I'm not completely sure what it can do as all the written literature is in Macedonian, but it is definitely a step up from my other phone.

This week we had our last IWA meeting until September.  Many of the members leave Macedonia for the summer.  Next Monday will be the last "official" Monday hike for the same reason.  Fortunately, there seem to be a lot of events going on in Skopje.  On Wednesday night, Turkish Folk Dancers from the Kirklareli Province in the Marmara Region of Turkey performed in Ploshtad Makedonija.

Last week, there were still clouds and rain, this week the clouds have disappeared and it has been hot.  Most days it reaches a high temperature in the 30s (91-93F).  By the end of next week the forecast is for 36C (about 97F).  The coolest place to be during the day is next to the fountain under the Alexander the Great statue or on my little balcony sipping homemade mint-lemonade.  Cheers!

2012 Mass Quadrille Dance Parade: May 18, 2012

How do I find out what's going on in Skopje?  I hear the noise or I just get lucky.  This morning I heard the noise and saw a huge line of high schoolers wearing either red or black T-shirts heading up the pedestrian street toward Macedonia Square.  I followed.  

It took a while to figure out the reason for this mob of teenagers, but eventually, on stage, a Radio Slovenia broadcast was turned on.  This is a Dance Parade for a new world record for simultaneous dancing.  This year, the Dance Parade is happening simultaneously in 58 cities in Slovenia, its Balkan neighbors, and in the Ukraine.  It happens every year with more participating cities and countries.  The participants are graduating high schoolers.   At 12 noon, the Dance Parade officially began with a  mass quadrille.

A salsa ended the Dance Parade

These newly graduated high school students came from cities all over Macedonia for this event.  The mass quadrille event has already broken at least six Guinness world records for synchronous dance since its inception.  This year?  Yes, another world record.  It's certainly more fun than the world's highest flag pole.

Travelogue Starata Čaršila: May 14, 2012

Yesterday we had a lunch date with  friends, Dean and Kristina, who currently live in Kosovo. Dan and Dean worked together in Tbilisi for the ABA.  It was nice to catch up and hear about their adventures in Pristina, Kosovo.

Today, Sunday, Dan and I had no dates so we explored a little farther into the Old Turkish Bazaar (starata čaršila) part of town.  In this part of town the architecture is a mishmash of pre-Columbian Islamic structures and post-1963 earthquake modern. The above photo is of the rooftops of the bazaar (Bit Pazar).   Because it was Sunday "no-work day", there weren't many people out and most of the shops were closed.

Minaret of Murat Pasha Mosque

 Murat Pasha Mosque in its modern form (hidden behind the shops) was built in 1802.

Dome of Čifte Amam National Art Gallery

Čifte Amam is a former Turkish bathhouse built in the first part of the 16th century.  It was badly damaged in the 1963 earthquake. Now restored, it is part of the National Gallery of Macedonia. The next photo is of Daud Pasha Amam Gallery located near the Stone Bridge. It was built by the Turks in the 15th century as a bathhouse. Then, there was a side for women and a side for men; now it houses changing exhibits of modern art.

Daud Pasha Amam Gallery

Pela Antique Shop

Obsolete? Not yet!

Arasta Mosque

Farther still, we found a wonderful market of flowers, trees, and vegetable seedlings.  Despite the changing weather, this is where the shoppers were.

Nearby, we visited several old mosques.

ISHAK BEY MOSQUE (Aladja Mosque)

The Ishak Bey Mosque was originally built in 1438-39.  Restored in 1519 and again after the damage it suffered in the 1963 earthquake.  Alajia means decorated, and it must have been stunning in the 15th century.  Next to the mosque is the beautiful, original tomb (Turbe) that retains it original shape and blue-colored ceramic tile decoration.

This tombstone is decorated with the ancient symbol for the sun.  We've seen this same decoration in Georgia and Iran.

Saat Kula

The Saat Kula is the last remnants of the old city wall built in the mid-16th century.  The top half of the clock tower was originally wood and it held a clock procured from Hungary.  In the early 20th century, the wood portion was changed to stone/brick and the clock was also changed.  Its style of architecture looks so clunky and strange next to the graceful, pencil-shaped Turkish minarets.  The minaret behind is part of the Hjunkar Mosque (Sultan Murat Mosque) built in 1442.  It is on a hill and the gates were locked so we were not able to get closer to the mosque.

Gazi Issa Bey Mosque

Gazi Issa Bey Mosque built in 1475/6 by Issa Bey (who else), and it was restored after the 1963 earthquake.  The grounds of the mosque have beautifully manicured rose gardens.  The lovely plane tree was planted when the mosque was built--536 years ago.  When built, this mosque housed the first library in Skopje.

The above photo is a view of the bazaar with the Mustafa Pasha Mosque in the distance.  The Mustafa Pasha Mosque was built in 1492--the year Columbus was credited with discovering the New World.

It began to rain just as we reached our apartment, and the shorts we were wearing didn't seem as weather appropriate.

Cairo to Skopje: May 2, 2012

This is our last morning in Zamalek.  Zamalek is such an oasis of calm in Cairo.  It is lovely, tree lined, filled with great restaurants and shops and generally gentrified.  It is just across the river from the turmoil of Tahrir Square but it has remained tranquil.

Our hotel, Hotel Longchamps, was very gracious.  They did not charge us for our first night--the one we were forced to spend in Istanbul.  They did not charge us for the driver's trip to meet our missed flight.  Gabby, the day desk clerk, pursued our lost luggage like a pit bull.  She was as happy to see it delivered as we were.  Their driver took us back to the airport.

It took over an hour to get to the Cairo Airport.  Traffic in Cairo has always been bad, but it is much worse post-revolution.  One cause of today's slow traffic was an altercation in front of the Defense Ministry between protestors and people initially described as "unknown assailants."  According to news reports, many of the protesters were "hardline Salafi Islamists" upset that their presidential candidate was disqualified.  Protestors were also concerned that the military would not bow out after the president was chosen.  By the time we drove past the scene, the fires were dying down but several people had already been reported dead.  We were on an elevated road and we could see spectators lining the adjacent elevated highway watching the scene below.

At the Cairo airport all went well.  We boarded a beautiful, seemingly new Egypt Air airbus, and found that our seats were in the premium coach cabin.  What a luxury to have room for our knees and legs.  After all passengers were on board, the pilot announced that we would need to delay our departure because the air traffic in Istanbul was jammed.  We left 30 minutes late.  Once in the sky over Istanbul, we circled for about 30 minutes because again the airport was too busy to receive us.  Fortunately, we had two hours between connections.  Aboard Turkish Air for our flight to Skopje, the plane left late--of course, it was Turkish Air and we were flying out of Istanbul.  How can they say they are "The best airline in Europe."  Who voted for them?

In Skopje, all our worries and setting in place a Plan B for Kali Cat were unnecessary.  At immigration, the officer asked me how many times I had been to Macedonia.  I answered "twice." Dan said "three times."  We were stamped in.  I guess the computer system isn't so good at catching illegal aliens.  And, our baggage arrived with us on the same plane.

One False Step: April 22, 2012

Dan's first training class of Macedonian defense attorneys began on Friday, and today was the last day of the 3-day course.  On Friday, I took photos of his distinguished visitors, the US Ambassador to Macedonia and the President of the Macedonia Bar Association, welcoming the students.  Yesterday, I picked up trash.  Today, I walked to City Park to take photos of trees for the Digital Photography School assignment: Landscape with trees.

The weather was beautiful and I walked all over the park taking photos of trees, shadows, the stream and the small pond.  I planned to return in the late afternoon when the light was better and golden.

I took the above photo from a small bridge over the stream, and I was thinking about how to shoot the next photo while I took my next step.  My next step was a big one.  I hadn't noticed that a plank in the bridge was missing because I was not watching where I was walking.

My foot fell exactly where the plank was missing, and the gap was just big enough for my foot to fall through twisting all the ligaments and tendons in my foot as my toe scraped past the other plank.  So, my right leg went all the way through and I was stopped by my left hip.  I lay there assessing the pain I was feeling with conflicting hopes: 1) hoping someone would come and help me and 2) hoping that no one saw me go down.  No one came.

Eventually, I was able to pull my leg out of the hole and rest on my back for a while.  I was quite deep into the park which meant I was also quite far from a taxi stand.  I limped, limped, limped out of the park, got a taxi, and limped back to our apartment to get ice on the sprain. When Dan got home, he went to the pharmacy and got a compression bandage. There is a fair amount of bruising and swelling around my right foot and ankle and a large bruise on my left hip, but I will survive.  My camera was unharmed.

Easter Weekend in Ohrid--Easter Sunday

Despite our best intentions, last night we did not go to the midnight mass to celebrate Easter. The weather took a turn for the worst and not only was it rainy, but it was also windy.  We went to sleep instead.  This morning, the weather conditions are the same.  We packed up, said goodbye to our host (who also did not attend midnight mass), and left Ohrid behind.  As we crossed the first mountain pass, the weather became much drier and sunnier.

Village of Novo Selo between Ohrid and Skopje 

Since it was so early and we had a car, we located the old stone aqueduct that resides just outside of Skopje.  The neglected aqueduct with 55 surviving arches sits in a field near an army base.  It was probably built in the Ottoman period during the 16th century to feed Skopje's many Turkish baths.

Then, we went back to our Skopje apartment to see how Kali Cat fared with her new cat sitter.  I was referred to her new cat sitter by a young lady who works at our local pet supply store.  Anita is a university student studying Philosophy.  She is lovely. When we first got home we couldn't find Kali Cat and had begun to worry when I finally spotted her on a dining room chair behind the table cloth.  When she had been found, she got off the chair and hid under the bed. We were a little worried that perhaps the cat sitter had not been nice to her.

I called Anita to tell her we were back, and she came by shortly to drop of the key and get paid. Anita wanted to see Kali Cat so I took her into the bedroom where Kali Cat was sitting on the window sill.  Anita reached out her hand toward Kali and Kali licked her fingers. So, Kali liked her cat sitter after all; she was just mad at us.

Anita brought colored eggs as gifts for Dan and me and she made a toy for Kali.

On Easter Day the one who is able to smash his/her egg into the most other eggs without cracking the shell will have good luck the rest of the year.