Welcome to Skopje!

Hello,

It's Friday the 8th of Jan. 9:57 A.M. I meant to update and post a blog yesterday, but by the time I got home I was exhausted. Yesterday was a BUSY day. So much to report!

Pictures are to the side ---> I am working on finding a way to make them larger, but getting them posted as they are took a long time! Enjoy!

I woke up around 7:45 which after all the traveling I was surprised to wake up so early. My landlord must have heard me trying to put some breakfast together (at this point it was kiwi and cereal) because he came upstairs wished me good morning and said "Today we must take care of some unpleasant business." Keep in mind that my landlord is (probably) in his 60s I'm thinking late 60s, and has a heavy Macedonian accent which sounds like Russian. His name is Aleksaner so I call him Aleksaner the Great, he laughs at this... So I'm standing in basketball shorts and a ragged T-Shirt and he mentions that we have unpleasant business. I have no idea what this could mean; infact I'm nervous. I tell him that whatever is necessary we will do, he nods his head and says, "Get ready, we are going to the police station. Get your passport, don't ever lose that, very important." He gives me a look that tells me, " Dumb kid, don't lose your passport." I plan to follow that direction.
I walk down my three sets of stairs and go outside, greeted by chilly air but sunshine. We get in his VW mini car, and he hurls us down the street dodging speedbumps and pointing at schools, telling me what street we live on and where the major Blvd is. In a few short minutes I feel like I have escaped certain death and we arrive at the police station. (Mom, Dad, I now understand why you think I drive too fast. I promise you they are faster and seemingly more reckless here - they park on the sidewalks and honk at pedestrians.) The police station like many other buildings is old, and something that we might consider falling apart, but to here it works. Aleksaner tells the two police men what we are there to register me as a visitor, or this is what I am thinking he said because I don't understand a word... Long story short I register as a visitor, they give me a card that says I am registered, and The Great One tells me again with that look of "You better be listening..." that this card is as important if not more than my passport.
We get back in the small VW and he pulls off in a different direction than what we had come from. He stops outside of this large building with a red sign reading VERO (there is a McDonalds next door, it smells familiar) and tells me, "You, go inside, get what you need and walk home." I look at him with what I am sure is a "HUH?!" expression. Then as if he is talking to a child, he says "You walk home, not far from here, turn at Varshavska walk all the way down. You don't get lost. Easy." At this point I still don't exactly know what VERO is, but I'm not going to argue. Turns out its a grocery store. FOOD! It's not large, but not small either, from what I hear it has the best variety of selection in the city. It's very much like a small Safeway, or Alberstons. There is one problem that still worries me... everything is in the cyrillic alphabet. trying to buy yogurt provides to be the hardest thing I had to worry about, I had no idea if it was yogurt or a container of strawberries. Also the choices for cheese were HUGE. I should have just picked one and went, but I was a little overwhelmed.
Like a kid in a candy store I walked around just looking at all the offerings (many of which I had no idea what they were.) The deli had chunks of meat that others were ordering to be sliced. I had no clue what it was, I'll go back with a friend. The butchering block was full of people orders being given, butchers chopping and slicing, meat hanging from all over, and a full cooler of different slabs of meat. Someday I will know what all these are. Mostly I stuck to fruit, bread, PBJ, rice, pasta, and even found some Top Ramen. I went to the register, and was greeted by a young lady, who did not speak Engish... I just gave her my card and it was simple. Phew. The walk home was uneventful and I made it safely.
I arrived home and it was probably around 11:00. Then I decided in city I don't know, a country completely foreign to me, where people will likely not know much English, I should go for a run. My mindset is that I will be able to explore the city a little more and get some exercise, two birds with one stone. I'm an idiot. Running turns out is not a common practice here, especially through the city. I got plenty of looks indicating how unusual this was. I turned around when I thought I had gone far enough, and went back to find my street and home. After an hour and 15 minutes I decided I was not sure where I was. luckily I had just ran past my street home by two blocks. Right as panic was setting in I had found the right street. I will be dropping crumbs on the next run.
On my run I noticed several things, crazy drivers, many stray animals, the smell of car exhaust, and litter along the streets. As I have been told, the pollution regulations are fairly lax, and a no littering law has just recently been established. As a new country they are faced with more important issues to face than pollution and littering. I'm not saying this is a dirty country, it was just something that I noticed that was different. Also many of the buildings are older, and are mostly some version of gray, and made of concrete.
After my much longer than intended run, I cleaned up and set of to my new friend Dalibor's apartment that he shares with his family. A 20-25 minute walk towards the city center, and I arrived. He decided to stay at home while his family went to an aunts home to celebrate Christmas so that he could study, and to show me around town. Dalibor's mother kindly left traditional Macedonian holiday food at home for him to share with me. We ate a leek pie, not a sweet pie, but good, especially when paired with this cheese that comes in a block form, is more solid than feta or goat, but has a mixture of flavor like that of goat, and cottage cheese? It was yummy but different. Next were cabbage rice balls. Rice and maybe some bean were wrapped in a leaf of cabbage and I'm thinking boiled... these were good too, kind of similar to a meat ball, but no meat. Then was a bean dish, not like chili, but not like stew... good nonetheless. This was followed by some SWEET Baklava. I was grateful for my run after this.
At this point it is a little after 3 p.m. maybe 2, ( I can't remember) we decided to head out to the city center. Dalibor is a certified tour guide of Skopje, he knows much of the history (and there is SO much) of Skopje, and of Macedonia. And is able to point out all the of the cool places to be. The streets were not packed, but not barren either, most people were at home celebrating Christmas still. I am sure I will be overwhelmed on busy days down town... Dalibor had told me earlier that when people go down to the center, they dress to impress, I expected usual mall attire, just jeans and coat or sweater, but most people were dressed very nicely. To go to the center you dress to impress for sure. Dalibor took me to many of the big city sites, a trainstation that was torn in two peices during a devastaing earthquake in the 60's. It is now a museum of Skoje's history. We walked on the Stone Bridge that was built in the 15th century. It connects the Macedonian side of Skopje to the Albanian side. The seperation between the two cultures is something I will talk about more as I begin to understand it better.
There were two malls we visited, one was an "American" version of the mall, the other is the largest mall in the nation. It is outdoor and is an impressive size, especially for this city that seems so old. The city center is a large pavilion lined with shops and cafes(bars). I will be back to visit there soon tonight perhaps. : ) There are several statues all over, I will hopefully have more pictures of them, but they have one statue called the "Glizzy Girl" which is basically of a hussy of a girl, on her cell phone with a very low cut dress, on the other side of the street is positioned "The Stud" he is calling out to the Glizzy girl, but is being ignored. I felt bad for the Stud, he is forever being ignored.
Oh back to the earthquake in the 60s... Apparently it devastated the city of Skopje, very little of the city center is of original buildings. The building that surround the center on one side are referred to as the concrete wall. There are many tall apartment buildings that are all the same, that were built very quickly after the earthquakes to provide housing for the people of Skopje. This leads to a very unimaginative sky line. There was a small section of the city just outside of the center, that is very historic, it looks much like a little village, no pictures of that yet.. stay tuned.
After seeing the city center all lit up (which was AWESOME) Dalibor and I decided to head home. My legs sore from my much longer than intended run, and the 3 hour tour of the city center, I walked with Dalibor back to his apartment building and continued on my way to my flat 25 minutes from the center. This city is safe and full of walking people, so I did not feel threatened at all at any point. Yesterday was an incredibly BUSY day. right now it is 11:30 and I have yet to get ready. I think it will be more of a relaxing Friday. I am set to visit my school, find my classroom, get a cell phone, some cash, and then tonight along with Dalibor go to a bar to listen to his friends band play.

Thanks for reading. I know this is long, sorry!