AMSTERDAM!!!!

Hello!

It has been FOREVER and I miss you all! It is now 3:10 a.m. and I am at the Skopje Airport waiting for my flight to Amsterdam! I have some wonderful friends from the University of Idaho that decided if they could make it from Moscow to Amsterdam, then I would be able to make it from Skopje to Amsterdam. I am so excited I could dance all day long! Lucky for me, my friend Robin told me just this "bring your dancing shoes, you are gonna need 'em" WAHOOOO!!!


Skopje has been going very well lately. Last weekend, as the result of a short bump into a colleague at the grocery store I was able to leave the city and catch a small glimpse of other parts of Macedonia. We travelled the equivalent of Seattle-to-Portland-to-Spokane-to-Seattle. This of course only took us several hours, but allowed me to see three new towns, and two ski mountains.

The first thing I noticed on this trip out of Skopje, is that I don't know Skopje as well as I imagined. It is larger than I had imagined it to be, however I live in a small triangle of locations. My house/NOVA, the gym, and Center. Outside of those three places I haven't seen much. This will be fixed soon. : )

We first went to the city of Tetevo probably 20 - 30 KM to the East of Skopje. Tetovo is different than Skopje in many ways, it is smaller, more quiet and gives of a little more feeling of community (not much though). When you ask a Macedonian what the differences are they will tell you, "Albanians" The conflict between Slavik Macedonians and Albanian Macedonians is tricky and hard to explain because it is laden with bias and racial prejudice. In 1991 during the Balkan civil wars between modern day Kosovo, Albania, and I think Serbia, a large population of Albanians fled to Macedonia to seek asylum which they were granted under the pretense that when the time came they would go back to their home country. As it turns out they decided to stay. the population of Tetovo is 70% Albanians and only 20% Macedonians while Skopje is something around 60% Macedonians and 20ish Albanian. Tetovo is easy to get to on a bus and will likely be going for a day visit sometime soon.

After Tetovo we ascened a high slope to a ski resort Sipkovica. Got out of the car, stretched our legs, kissed the ground. Driving in Macedonia -I've said it before - is a roller coaster. Nic my colleague driving was fine, it was the other drivers I was worried about.

From Sipkovica we went another 40 minutes or so to Mavravo. As we arrived to Mavravo the sun was going down and our view became, unfortunately, diminished. I did get to catch a glimpse of the lake that Mavravo has to offer as well as the ski slopes. Apparently Mavravo is most exciting in the middle of winter for the slopes, the water in the lake does not get warm enough to swim in even in the intense heat of summer.

That was last week in a nut shell.

School is going well. I am still teaching English only, but am daring more and more to make it my own program and use my own methods and practices. Meanwhile, the students seem to be learning and enjoying the lessons.

Spring break is coming up, Barcelona on April 3rd through the 6th, then the small historical village of Sitges (also in Spain) for a day or two, flying to Rome from there for a day or two then to Croatia, Belgrade then home... it's going to be a long week.

Catch up soon, I will try to be better.

Chao!

Evan

Oh yeah, I forgot to share about KALE and the Orthodox Church... I went to the Castle Kale and took some photos with a friend. Me with an American Flag. : ) the same day i snapped some photos of the largest Orthodox Church in Skopje... Enjoy!

time to board!

LATER!