Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day in Skopje and I took the opportunity to go run on the banks for River Vardar. Felt good to put the running shoes on and beat up the pavement. I ran from my place to the center and back. Next run I'll go the opposite direction to see something new, or run up Vodno... We'll see.
Around noon Matthew and I met up on the way to the city center with our cameras and decided to go check out the old Albanian side of the city. I am SOOO happy to have my camera. Matthew and I managed to tour around, get coffee, apples, and a pint. All outside!
We met up with some of Matthew's friends in the city park. In typical Macedonian form, now that I have met these people through a mutual friend, we are all now friends. These girls that I met are pretty cool. I learned a lot about the Macedonian government and in just a short visit with them. I'll discuss more of that when I manage to take pictures of more statues. I learned that two of the girls are in a choir that sings every once and a while in the city center. The songs they sing are typically some way relevant to what is going in Macedonia at the time. Their singing is a form of peaceful protest. Tomorrow, (or Thursday) they are going to the center to sing in protest of the Macedonian government's refusal to incorporate sexual orientation into discrimination protection laws. I'm going to try to make it to this recital. Should be a good one.
To celebrate Matthew's Macedonaversarry he wanted to get some real Macedonian food and feast. So that's what we did. We went to a restaurant that one of his student suggested, sat down and ordered a bottle of wine, 6 different spreads/sauces, a bean dish, sarma, and my favorite shopska. Not a single one of these dishes are things that describing on here will do justice (and I don't know what they are made out of) but I'll do my best. One of them was Ayvar, a spread made out of roasted red peppers and eggplants, another one was much like it just spicier, there was some sort of relish dish that was good with a crushed pepper spread, then there was a garlic cream... This might not sound so good but it's delish; the garlic sauce almost looks like mayo, but nope its garlic, and SOOOO good. all these spreads came in small bowls and could be put on small pieces of bread, mix and match as you like. We had to have 3 breaks to stand and walk around outside. Best dinner since I have been here.
We were both meeting with other colleagues from NOVA later that night so we went back to our places napped and met again around 9:30 to hang with on of his friends at a local pub, first and met up with our colleagues at 12:30. I'm still getting used to this entire leave for the bar at midnight and get home at 5 a.m. but I planned on getting my practice. We went to a club called midnight. There was this guy that reminded me of the red head Dr. from Greys Anatomy, expect not with red hair. He didn't sound too bad, and his choice of songs killed me. It seems that the songs you would hear on a cheesey "80s 90s and Today" radio station are the major choices to listen to at the clubs. I get a kick out of this. Jessy's Girl was a favorite for sure. We didn't stay at Midnight for long, it was so crowded that we weren't able to move. Not my style of party.
We decided to go the the HardRock and see what was going on there (no, not the Hard Rock Cafe some bar) on the way from Midnight to the car we were all laughing and joking and talking about Midnight. Since Matthew and I know very little Macedonian we were all speaking in English. The English language instantly identifies us as foreigners, and not only foreigners but "foreigners with money." We had 6 little Roma boys on the 5 of us adults in a matter of a minute. It was probably around 2:30 or 3:00 at this point and these 8-11 year old kids are awake and begging strangers for money. Just like last time they aggressively but not violently begged for money, putting their hands on our coats and pockets trying to figure out where our wallets are and then trying to put their hands in the our pockets. I have never felt so guilty about spending money on beer in my life. After asking them to stop and pushing their hands away I though giving them a firm STOP would work. ha. I'm an idiot. Finally one of our colleagues gave a sharp and loud whistle that scared the crap out of me even. After that the 6 kids scurried away for the next person exiting the bars.
The Hard Rock was pretty dead, but it was 3:00 by the time we got there, bars close at 4:00. We left at closing and well because it was almost breakfast, we needed food. We went to a nearby bakery and each had a slice of Burek. I'm not going to say it is better than Taco Bell at 4:00 a.m. in the morning, but it's pretty damn good.
Sunday was a day of rest and relaxation. made it to the Market, cleaned the house... and studied irregular verbs. Using the previous night as a reference point to irregular verbs I landed on this. Drink Drank Drunk. : )
The Photos below are from the Albanian side of the city which is separated by the stone bridge and a large amount of stereotypes and biases. This is from an outsider looking in perspective.
Turkish Bath house from the window of a building under construction.
Old Time Caffe and Bar. Didn't go there just took the picture maybe next week.
Super cool mosque and tower with a fountain in front.
Tower to another Mosque. This side of Skopje has a large population of Muslims, while the Macedonian population of Skopje is mostly Orthodox Christian.
This is a very large Theater for Plays, Ballets, and Opera
Club Midnight. PACKED
Mosque in the Old Bazarre. ---Albanian side---
GIANT Green market, all organic. and not photo friendly Eggs didn't like his picture take.
Statue right off of the Stone Bridge. No cultural references here, just pop art.
An old Turkish bathhouse practically right on the other side of the bridge. It isn't open or working any more, but it is very old.
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