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!

I'm Lovin it.

The title is really more about a story... wait for it.


Things are going well for me here these last couple weeks. Gosh has it been that long since I have sat down and posted?
I am going to Amsterdam to meet some friends from Moscow (IDAHO) in 12 days. Can not wait for that. Until then I am spending plenty of time at school, and hanging with friends here as well.

Part of hanging out with friends involves meeting new friends as well. In my almost 9 weeks here I have learned that meeting people in Macedonia on your own is challenging. In the states you can go to a bar or coffee shop on your own establish your self as a regular within a weeks time and start to make friends based on locations that you frequent. Here that is not the case. However, after meeting one person you are instantly part of a network. If you are friends with one person it is not a problem to now be friend with all of their friends. For instance, Matthew, the new teacher from Canada, has introduced me to a few of his friends here in Skopje, through them I have met a few new people. After meeting any of these people it would not be a problem to call them up and meet for coffee. In this way Macedonians are a very friendly and warm people, you just have to meet them first.

Matthew took me to an British Pub last weekend. I was thrilled! I would be able to drink beer other than Skopsko or Lasko, maybe something more divers than Heinekin. Unfortunately, as the thickly accented owner Josh informed me, British ales are too expensive to import so, "we make do with what we have and we drink it til the last drop." I say Ne zdravje (cheers) to that.

I had my first observation and assessment of my teaching this last Monday. The lesson went well, I certainly didn't think it was that exciting just an everyday lesson, day to day interactions. It was a little different because I was introducing our new Literature Unit of Survival... Can't make too many jokes about the Survival of people especially when one of the selections we will be reading is an excerpt from "The Diary of Anne Frank." Either way in my evaluation the idea of future employment here at NOVA was dropped in a casual informal way. Pretty exciting stuff. Who knows.

I have been doing more and more of my own thing in class. For the last several weeks, I have been following my teachers format of lessons and teaching, methods and strategies. It was seriously leading to a teaching identity crisis. After just a few days of integrating my own ideas class is much more fun.

To the title of the post. Last night Matthew and I met up with our friends Tanya and Nada to watch Shutter Island. Tanya decided she wanted a sweet treat before the movie and we went to the food court for a sunday from McDonalds. While in line Tanya and I were discussing Skopje, Nova, and experiences so far. When she asked how I was feeling towards the experience as a whole I said I was liking it. She quickly corrected me, "No, You are actually Lovin' it at the moment."

--- very corny story but it made me laugh at the time.---

One thing I must say that is indicative of Tanya's correction, Macedonians love their country. They understand and are the first to point out it's short comings, issues and problems. The common trend is this, someone will ask me, "What on earth brought you to Macedona?" I'll explain and then pose this question, "what makes you stay in Macedonia?" The answer is almost alway, "Why would I leave, this is the best place in the world to live." Even with the issues involving the politics of the current administration here people love living here. I have to admit the feeling is contagious.

Political opinion back home, unless you are with friends is a topic that isn't discussed. Fights can break out over it. Here, and it could just be the circle of people I hang with, there seem to be two types of political groups. Activists, the ones that disagree with what the government is doing and so they speak about it, go to speeches/conferences, and try to do something, and share their opinions, then there are those who disagree with what is happening but when asked of their opinion their level of upset is so great that they "would rather not think of such things."

--- Outsiders perspective coming up ---

The current controversy going on right now is that the Macedonian government is funding this project they call Skopje 2014. You can actually search it on Youtube and get virtual video of all the goals the government has for Skopje. Right now mass amounts of funding is being pumped into the construction of a church right in the center square, along with the creation of many more statues throughout the city. Many of the people I have talked with about this controversy are throughly unhappy with the proceedings. I for one am trying not too form to harsh of ideals do to my level of understanding, however it is not hard to see that the funds are being used irresponsibly and should be allocated for various other things; health care, education, creating more jobs in the community...

This is currently a really hot topic here, and always presents the availability of great conversation and discussions. The amount of people that work in the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are large (again could just be the circle I hang out with) and many of the NGO people I know are for various reasons unhappy with what the government is producing. Everyday I feel like I am learning more and more about Macedonia and specifically Skopje.

....

Ok time to hit the gym, maybe clean the house.


Chao!

internet....

my internet is down at my house... I stopped in a nearby cafe on my way to the castle to say hello, make sure you knew i had not died. All is good. I am slowly taking more charge over my classroom (this is what I came here for), meeting more and more people every week, learning more about the culture, and noticing new things every time I take a second glance. Got pretty homesick this week, and in the end I feel more at home here than ever.

I'll post some pictures or maybe a link to pictures as soon as i can figure this internet thing out.

CHAO!

Evan

Pictures.

 

SOO much

Lets just do this. I will try to get to this tomorrow, if not then for sure Wednesday. I have a lot to share. I'm going to look for a fast way to share pictures, the last time took me FAR longer than I think it should have. I miss you all! chao!

Saturday FUN DAY!

Friday, a colleague of mine and I decided that Saturday would be a good day to get together and check out the city. Matthew is from Manitoba and while he has been to Skopje before January, he has just moved here several weeks ago as well. In fact Saturday was his one month Macedoniversarry, and we were determined to celebrate.

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.

GO GO Gadget Week 6!

Last week was week 6. and I'm thinking it was the busiest week yet.

Monday the 15th.

I got home from school just to walk through the front door to see a blue notecard with my name on it, and a bunch of other Cyrillic letters on there. I recognized my address. Thats a start. I knocked on Aleksanar and Marija's door (the landlords that live on the bottom floor) and was greeted by smiling as always Marija. I held up the card and smiled saying, "I've got Mail!" She laughed as Aleksanar sitting at the table for lunch (the dinner here that typically is at 4 p.m.) motioned over to me to sit. English is pretty broken with these two, but we chit chat enough for me to find out that they are both retired. Aleksanar used to work... I couldn't figure out what he did though, something for the state, however, he worked during the socialist period so I think that most jobs were for the state. Either way, he is enjoying the retired life and meets with friends to "enjoy". I think this means drink wine and smoke cigarettes on the patio and talk about politics.

The lunch I sat down to was a feast compared to what I have been cooking myself. Not that I don't eat, I promise you I have been doing that. Marija had prepared a main dish a salad and two sides... I might get two of those on my own. haha. I had some fried trout (way better than I was expecting) that comes from one of the nearby rivers from the mountainside - not River Vardar - with a home made onion sauce to spoon on top of the fish. The onion was very strong but fantastic, kind of the consistency of pesto but onion instead of basil... Then there was this salad, that I am going to try to replicate this week. Shallots, apples, celery lime juice and I think cilantro. Easy peasy, good and good for you. The rest was pretty basic: potatoes, bread, skopsko.

After lunch and small talk Aleksaner told me, "You go get your passport and wallet and when you are ready we go to the Post office. I go outside to wait." Getting to the post office took me further to the east than I have ever gone before. It seemed pretty industrial a little dirtier than where I have been. Not missing much. On the way there Aleksaner was explaining the traffic to me. We were driving into the city, people going home work driving out of... "people are now leaving where they work to go to where they sleep, many cars, we'll take the long way." Pretty broken and basic. Makes talking interesting. I also found out on the way to the post office that they have another son that is in Japan. He also has/had pet fish in his apartment that Aleksaner was assigned the task to feed. It's been two months... I'm thinking that Gus the Guppy is floating upside down.

As we got home from the Post office I felt like it was Christmas all over again. I got a camera, a shirt, and a pair of pants. : ) Wednesday we did the same thing all over again. THANKS MOM!!! Funny thing is the package that arrived first was sent a week after the package that arrived second. Doesn't matter, I now have a camera, sunglasses, and various other things I left in Idaho. YAY.

Tuesday I met with some fellow foreigners and locals alike at a local pub for a Couch Surfer get together. I think I have mentioned couch surfing before; you join an online club type thing where you create a profile and that essentially invites travelers to surf (sleep) on your couch while they are visiting the city you live in. I joined before I got here to meet friends and maybe find a place to live... It was pretty good time, met several people from Skopje, a girl from Belguim (we both long for better beer than skopsko but can survive based on the wine Skopje has to offer) two French guys, some one from Bulgaria, and a girl from Florida. There was an AMERICAN! She is here researching for her masters in Balkan studies. I had no clue that was a degree. At any rate, I had forgotten what mouths we Americans have. We are opinionated and like to swear. She reminded me of that. ha. Conversation was all over the place and I learned a lot about not only Macedonian culture but Belgium and a bit about France as well. See that's the point of couch surfing, to meet people from other cultures learn from them, and share yours. I'm planning a trip to Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend using it. more on that next week.

Wednesday I bailed on Ice skating, even after a beautiful day. For some reason I was wiped. I am really starting to integrate my own methods a little more each day in the classroom. This is a big deal because the vision of education here is very different than it was back home. There are still some things that I don't get to do simply because it doesn't challenge students enough. What I want is to differentiate students materials so that we meet their individual needs and they each able to have expectations in which they are able to not only succeed but be challenged as well. Instead each student is given the same level of challenge, and it really is challenging for 90% of the students. Some can't keep up. The ideaology is that those students that can't keep up at school need to work harder at home. Right. I look at this situation as a learning experience for my future classroom. Differentiation really matters. - cross that interview question off -

Thursday - I made cookies with my friend Dalibor. He studied in Georgia for a year and really missed chocolate chip cookies. I'll take any excuse to make sweets. Added bonus the flat smelled SOOO until saturday when I left all the windows open to soak up the sunshine... Cookies turned out good - duh - a little cakey though... Who can help me with that? what did i do wrong?

Friday I went to the center for dinner, grabbed a small pesto pizza, shopska salad, and vodka. After dinner I hoofed it back home. Luckily it was still early no gypsies to worry about..... More tomorrow. it's bed time.

I have to apologize for putting this off so much. I will really make an effort to keep up on this. there is plenty to share for Saturday, Sunday, and today... Will update that soon.

Chao!

Evan

P.S. I knew I would miss certain events while I was here in Skopje that are going on at home. Happy Birthday Brother Nic! The little guy turned 21 today! YAY! Everyone go have a Vodka Cran for the young one, no cran, just shoot the vodka, if not that boxed wine will work too.

Ne Dravje!!! (Cheers)