I'm sitting at the Seattle Airport, waiting for my turn to board a flight. I will be flying to Washington D.C. and then from there to Vienna Austria, where I will hang out for 3 hours, just to fly one more hour to my final destination of Skopje Macedonia.
As many of you know I am completing my internship requirement for my degree in education. I will be student teaching 4th grade students at the NOVA International Education school. These schools are (as far as I know) private schooling institutions, where I will teach all content areas (reading, writing, math...) in English. I have a sweet, humble, 1 bedroom apartment that is a 10 minute walk from my school, and a 20 minute walk from the city center. NOVA has helped me so much getting things set up over there, I am very much looking forward to working with them! They have even already stocked my refrigerator, and cupboards with food so that I don't have to run to the grocery store on my first day to get food!
For those of you that didn't already know (I didn't) Macedonia is a small, but proud country, North of Greece. It is also known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
I will try to keep up on this so that you can all read what is going on, and that way I can hopefully keep in touch with you all too! I am not always the best at responding right away, and plan to be BUSY not only with my classroom and teaching, but also with exploring the country of Macedonia, and Europe as well. I will miss you but will see you in June!
Evan
Vardar River Crowd
This is the crowd that cam to watch the events for the Epiphany celebration. The diver on the platform is a statue of a woman, the feet belong to her man.
Cold Christians
Celbrating the Epiphany, men jump into the now blessed Vardar River to retrieve a cross that a local priest has thrown down below. This was crazy.
Mirko Petrovski
This is the guy that got to the cross first. He got all sorts of prizes. Go Mirko! The fellow in the gold, he's the Priest.
Candle Lighting
At a nearby church, crowds were lining up to light these candles and get bottles of blessed water to take home with them. there must have been 1000s of these candles.
Macedonian Flag
Here I am infront of the Macedonian Flag. I finally arrived!
Tito and Me
Tito was the last communist leader of Yugoslavia, a country that Macedonia was once part of. He was a very popular leader and is favorably remembered.
Mother Theresa
This is a statue in front of the House of Mother Theresa. She, as you likely know, was an Albainian woman, but was born in the city of Skopje. I am touching her toe because her middle toe is crossed over her second toe. I'm not sure why.
SKOPSKE!!!
This is in the main Square of city center. I likened it to a mini Time Square, Dalibor laughed at me for that. It is an open square that has many bilboards surrouding it. On the other side is the Stone Bridge. The billboard I am pointing to is Skopjes most common beer Skopske. : )
Stone Bridge
This is the famous Stone bridge that joins the city center to the Albanian section of the city. It was built some time in the 15th century. at night is is all lit up. Very cool. It is build over the Vardar river.
Center daylight
This is me posing in the city center in the afternoon. The streets are not so busy due to the Christmas holiday. This is a pedestrian only street, that is lined with shops and cafe's.
Center all lit up!
This is me in almost exactly in the same place as the daylight photo. As you can see the center is awesome at night time.
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