Independent Kosovo

A little over a month ago, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. Obviously, the Serbs are not happy about the situation; however, among the ethnic Albanians living here in Macedonia, there's been an almost universally positive response. On the night that independence was declared, there was a large celebration in the old part of Skopje and J., R, and I all went to see the festivities.

It was somewhat chaotic, with lots of people dancing around and singing. There was a giant stage set up with a big Albanian flag hanging as a backdrop. It was night, so you can't see the flag too well in this picture, but it should give an idea of what it was like.

One thing I noticed during the celebration was the number of American flags being waved around. There were quite a few people carrying both Albanian flags and American flags. There was even an American flag mounted on the statue of Skanderbeg, who is the national hero of Albania.

That red blur you see on the horse is an American flag.

I think the celebration went on all night, but we only stayed for about half an hour. This was because at a certain point someone started to fire his or her machine gun in the air in celebration. That was my cue to leave. I generally try to avoid being in places where bullets might rain down on my head.

Pantelejmon

Sveti (Saint) Pantelejmon is another monastery. Apparently, Sveti Pantelejmon is the saint of health. The monastery is located near Skopje, on Vodno, which is the mountain where the giant cross is located. I went there when my mom was visiting and also when A. came to visit. I took this picture when my mom was here in December.
Inside the monastery, the walls are covered in old Byzantine frescoes, but I don't have any pictures of them because you're not allowed to take pictures inside the church.

It was pretty cold and had been snowing, so the whole area up on Vodno was covered in snow and frost, which was a bit surreal-looking.

When the weather is clear, I think you can see all of Skopje from Vodno, but the two times I've been up there it's been cloudy, so all I could see when I looked down were the clouds and the tops of the other mountains.

Explosion in Albania

Yesterday at around noon, I was sitting in my apartment when I felt and heard a very loud noise, almost like an explosion. It happened again a few minutes later. I didn't know what it was and didn't think much of it, because it was over so quickly and it wasn't that strong.
Later in the day, I heard about this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7299187.stm

Apparently, there was an explosion of old ammunition in Tirana and it was such a huge explosion that it was felt even here in Skopje.

Tetovo

While it would be quite a stretch to call Tetovo a beautiful place, it does have some interesting sights to see. When A. was here, we took a little tour of the town and saw what it has to offer. This is the painted mosque:

It's located near the river and the grounds are peaceful and beautiful, if you can ignore all the litter.

There's also a Bektashi monastery there. The Bektashi are a sect of Islam, I believe, similar to the Sufis or dervishes. I apologize for not being better informed! I'll have to find out more info and post it later. Anyway, A. and I walked to the monastery, but we only looked at it from the outside because I'm not sure they would have let me in. On the way, we passed an old cemetary and then we came to the monastery.

I also spent the day in Tetovo when my mom came to visit, but we did a few different things. For example, we saw an old communist monument that they've built in the old town there.

And what communist monument would be complete without a bust of Marshal Tito?

Lesok

Lesok is a very small town near Tetovo, which is where I work. There's a beautiful church there. The original church was built in the 1300s, I think, but it was destroyed in 2001 during the conflict here. They've rebuilt it now, and it's really beautiful. I went there at the end of December with my mom and then again in January when A. came to visit.

Here are some pictures of the interior, taken in December when my mom came to visit:

There was also a smaller building at the same site, which I think used to be part of a monastery.

And here's A. walking into the building:

I guess people were a lot shorter back then!

Finally, here are some happy little chickens wandering around the grounds of the church.

Better late than never

I realize it's been quite some time since I posted, but over the next few days, I'm going to try and make up for that. I've got a lot of pictures and a lot of things to write, so hopefully there are still some people checking my blog and someone will read them!