Kiki in Skopje

Topkapi Palace and the Spice Bazaar

2008-06-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

On our third and last day in Istanbul, we visited Topkapi Palace and the Spice Bazaar. We went to Spice Bazaar first.

The Spice Bazaar was much smaller than I expected, but it was still one of my favorite things that we saw there. There were lots of different kinds of spices being sold, as you'd expect, and there was also a lot of Turkish Delight, which, I must say, is delightful.

Here are some pictures from the bazaar:

After the Spice Bazaar, we went to Topkapi Palace which was very impressive, but also very crowded with tourists. After about 30 minutes there, being pushed and elbowed by other tourists, I had a severe case of 'museum fatigue' so R. and I went and sat down for awhile and partook of some of the Turkish Delight we had bought earlier in the day. I didn't really take any pictures while there, which I blame on the amount of people. Still, I'm glad I saw it and it's definitely worth going to.

In the afternoon, R. and I went to the airport and caught our plane back to Skopje. All in all, it was a great trip, and I'm looking forward to moving to Turkey next year.

Prinkipo Island

2008-06-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

On our second day in Istanbul, we met up with S. and headed to Prinkipo Island. Prinkipo island is a small island near Istanbul which has some hills and a Greek orthodox monastery at the top. It took us only about an hour and a half to get there by boat, but it feels like it's about a million miles from Istanbul. First of all, cars are not allowed on the island, so to get around, you need to either walk, bicycle, or take one of the horse-drawn carts. We used the first and third methods of transportation during our day on the island. The carts are operated by a single Kurdish tribe and they have a monopoly over that form of transportation on the island.

When we got off the boat, we got into the horse-drawn carts and went to S.'s house which is further up the island.

At her house, we met the resident cat, as well as a seagull who had built its nest in the garden.

It had found a safe place to incubate its egg.

From there we walked up to the monastery, which was a fairly long walk and mainly uphill.

Here are some donkeys we saw on the way up:

There's a restaurant near the monastery which apparently has the best shish kebab in Turkey (or maybe it was just in Istanbul). We had the shish kebab, along with fried eggplant and "cigarette burek". When I heard we were having burek, I was a little worried. When you order burek here in Macedonia, you basically get a plate full of cheesy, oil-soaked, fried pastry. The burek we had was delicious, though. It was small, fried, cigarette shaped dough with cheese in the center.

Here are some pictures of the view from the restaurant and monastery.

After lunch we walked part of the way back down and then took a horse and cart to the bottom of the island, near the port. We walked around the town for awhile and then we ate some ice cream. I had fig-flavored ice cream. Then it was time to go, so we got on the boat and went back to Istanbul.

The city formerly known as Constantinople

2008-06-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

So it looks like there's a 2 month lag time between when I go somewhere and when I actually get around to post about it. But I am trying to catch up, really I am!!

This is the post where I talk about my trip to Istanbul, which happened in late April when I had some very welcome visitors (who know who they are!)

We arrived in Istanbul on a Monday night and checked into our hotel, Hotel Sultan Hill, which was great and everyone should stay there when they go to Istanbul. The staff is really friendly and it has a great location (in the middle of the old part of Istanbul). It's basically located right under the Blue Mosque ( a fact that will become significant later in this post).

We settled in and decided to take a little walk. We walked by the Blue Mosque. Here is the first of about 57 pictures that I took of the Blue Mosque:

Then we went in search of a restaurant. Searching for a restaurant in Istanbul is an exercise in avoiding eye contact because any time you even glance in the direction of someone's restaurant, they are immediately all over you trying to get you to come and eat there. I didn't find it threatening, but it did get mildly annoying after awhile.

The next morning we discovered the one downside to the hotel's location. Being so close to the Blue Mosque means hearing the call to prayer at full volume. It's like having someone shouting into a microphone as loud as possible right outside your bedroom. The first call to prayer happens at around 5 in the morning. We weren't really expecting it, so it was quite a wake-up call. It went on for what seemed like hours, but was probably only about 10 minutes. Luckily, we were able to go back to sleep after that. It happened the next two mornings we were there as well, but by the third morning I had gotten used to it and was able to sleep through it.

After sleeping a few more hours, we got up and decided to walk around the old part of Istanbul. We went again to the Blue Mosque, going inside this time. This is a more close-up version of the mosque.

There are faucets outside where people can wash their feet and hands before entering inside. When you go in, you have to take your shoes off and women have to cover their heads with something. Inside the mosque, there is an open area in the center for men to pray. When women come in to pray they have to stand in areas around the sides of the mosque, separated from the men by a screen.

After the Blue Mosque, we went to Hagia Sofia, which used to be an Orthodox Church and then later was converted into a mosque. Here is a picture:

The inside was very impressive, and quite interesting because there was a lot of the old Orthodox art, but there were also pieces of art with Arabic writing hanging around the ceiling area. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the Muslim art, but here is an example of the Orthodox art in the church.

We also went to the Mosque of Suleymane, which was impressive as well, although we couldn't see all of it because part of it is being refurbished at the moment. We had lunch at a place across from the mosque where everyone seemed to be eating beans. We ordered beans too, and they were delicious!

After lunch, we went to the Grand Bazaar to have a look around. I bought some perfume there (which may or may not be counterfeit designer) and also a few presents. The experience of shopping there is much like looking for a restaurant. You are constantly being entreated to enter the different stalls and if you so much as glance in the direction of something being sold, the salesmen will immediately give you the "hard sell". Still, it's all in good fun. I didn't take any pictures inside the bazaar because I was a little concerned about taking out my camera in such a busy place. So you'll have to imagine what it was like!

Catania and Taormina

2008-06-01T02:34:00.001-07:00

After my day in Belgrade, I went on to Italy. I was visiting A. in Catania. I was there for 2 days, and we spent the morining of the first day in Taormina, which is a beautiful little town not far from Catania. It's probably the most touristy place in that part of Sicily, and as such, everything is about twice as expensive as it would be anywhere else on the island. Here is a picture of an old church in Taormina.

After walking around the town for a little while, we returned to Catania for lunch at the Trattoria dei Fiori, which is a little restaurant where we always go when I'm there. They make their own pasta and it's so delicious. Here's a picture of my lunch:

I was eating pasta all Norma, which is one of my favorite things to eat. It's fried eggplant served over pasta with tomato sauce, covered in ricotta salata cheese. Yum!

The next day, I spent some time walking around Catania, revisiting my old haunts. Here's a picture of the Duomo in Catania, which is built in the Baroque style.

And finally, a picture of the pescheria (fish market) which is held every morning near Piazza Duomo. I bought a block of Ricotta Salata cheese while I was there.

New Post--Belgrade

2008-06-01T02:16:00.000-07:00

I've been getting behind again with updating this blog, but I guess it's better late than never! I have a whole bunch of photos to post, and I'll try to do that in the next few days.

I'll start by posting some pictures of Belgrade. I was there for the day about a month ago, on my way to Italy. I had a 9 hour layover, so I took the opportunity to go around the city and do some sightseeing.

This first photo is a bombed-out building. I think it was bombed by the US back in the 90's. i know they repaired most of the damage to the city, but left some of the buildings damaged purposely as a reminder.

Most of the city is very nice. I spent a lot of the time while I was there in Kalemegdan citadel, which is really like a big park. There are lots of ruins and old buildings from when it was used as a citadel, mixed in with green areas and trees and some great views of the Danube river.

Having woken up at 3:45 that morning, it was great to just sit and look at the pretty river.

There are also a lot of churches in Belgrade (surprise, surprise). I was there the day before Palm Sunday and something interesting that I noticed was that a lot of people were buying bells from vendors on the street. I don't know why or if it had anything to do with the religious holiday the next day.

Here are some pictures of churches:

The first one is a small Russian Orthodox church. I think it was built by exiled Russians in the early 20th century. The second one is a small church on the grounds of the citadel. It was beautiful inside, but unfortunately, photos of the interior are not allowed.

Belgrade was great and I wish I'd had more time there than just one day. I've heard it has a great nightlife!

Independent Kosovo

2008-03-31T05:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-23T01:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-16T03:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-16T03:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-16T03:05:00.001-07:00

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!

End of semester blahs

2007-12-09T12:28:00.000-08:00

I have officially decided that it is time for the semester to end. I am tired. Tired of unmotivated students, and also of motivated students. Tired of going to work every day. Tired of planning classes and grading papaers.
However, not to worry. It will soon be over, and at the end of the month I will be home for a visit.
I have a visitor coming this week and I am sure we will do lots of sightseeing, so expect some new photos soon!

Thanksgiving, Balkan style

2007-11-30T01:10:00.001-08:00

Last Thursday, we had the day off for Albanian Alphabet Day (yes, that is apparently a real holiday), which, luckily, coincided with Thanksgiving. I decided to host a traditional Albanian Alphabet Day/Thanksgiving feast in my apartment. Here is the festive table:

R. and I, being the resident Americans, were responsible for most of the food. We made roast vegetables, pumpkin pie, apple pie, mashed potatoes, and I cooked a turkey! J. was in charge of stuffing and did a very good job, although, as usual, there wasn't enough. Here are some pictures of the food:

The round pie is pumpkin, while the other two are apple. There don't seem to be any round pie tins in all of Skopje, so we were forced to improvise and use square baking dishes. Square pie tastes just as good as round pie.

All in all, it was a very successful Thanksgiving. It was the first for my Irish colleagues, and I think it gave them a good impression of the holiday. After all, what's not to love about spending the day eating delicious food until you feel like you're ready to burst? The only thing missing was the football!

Where I work

2007-11-28T09:23:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, I work in a university in Tetovo, which is about 45 minutes from Skopje. There doesn't seem to be much going on in the town, but it's surrounded by mountains, which are very pretty. Also, whoever designed the university really went in for bright colors, as you can see from the pictures. The buildings come in 3 colors: white, blue, and yellow. The colors mean different things, but I can't remember right now what each stands for.

Here's another picture:

In this one, you can see the mountains in the background. It was a little cloudy that day, so they're not as impressive as they usually look. Also, if you look closely, you can see two of my colleagues, J. and B.

New post

2007-11-28T09:21:00.000-08:00

I just realized it's been over two weeks since my last post. I seem to have mislaid the cord the attaches my camera to my computer so I've been unable to download pictures, which has put a damper on me posting. Anyway, I have now borrowed a cord from the lovely R., so I'm back in business!

Trash and Spitting

2007-11-11T23:56:00.000-08:00

One thing I'm finding hard to get used to here is the amount of litter on the streets. I've lived in places that had litter before, but nothing like this. People just throw their trash anywhere. A few weeks ago, in one of my classes, a student took his gum out of his mouth and threw it out of an open classroom window. Of course, I yelled at him, but he didn't seem phased. "At least I didn't put it under my desk" was his defense.
The other thing that bothers me is people spitting on the street. Sometimes I'll be walking and there will be an old man, or even a not so old man, and suddenly I'll hear the unmistakeable sound of someone coughing up phlegm from the back of their throat, after which it is deposited on the sidewalk. It never fails to gross me out.
But then, sometimes I think, who am I to judge? I shouldn't come here and impose my conceptions of what is and isn't polite behavior on a culture that isn't mine and that I don't have enough experience with to fully understand.
I found this article addressing the same topic:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=42670

What do you think? Am I being a cultural imperialist?

Never a dull moment

2007-11-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

Today began like any other day. I arrived to work early because of a meeting and then taught my first class at 12. After my first class, I returned to my office, which was all abuzz with the news that some kind of conflict was taking place in Tetovo and the surrounding areas, which is near where I work. We weren't sure exactly what was going on or what we should do, so we decided to teach our next classes as normal.
About half an hour into the class, a student came in with an announcement. He told us that other instructors were allowing students to leave early, as there was some fear that the roads would soon be blocked off. Of course, I let my class go early and then joined my fellow foreign colleagues to try to make our way back to Skopje. We were able to get a ride and made it back without any problems. But as we were on the road back, we did notice several military trucks and jeeps going in the opposite direction, towards Tetovo.
Apparently, what happened is that some fugitives from Kosovo were being chased by the police in the area and there was a shootout which killed 7 people. Here's a link to an article about what happened:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/07/europe/EU-GEN-Macedonia-Fugitives.php

Saturday night in Skopje

2007-10-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

I've been informed by certain people that they are not that interested in the animal situation in Skopje and would much rather hear about my doings. As I always aim to please, I will write about what I did last Saturday evening.

I started by going to a cultural evening dedicated to the sea hosted by the Italian embassy. It was held at the museum of modern art. It consisted of exhibitions of sailboats and stalls hosted by sailing clubs and companies. There was also some food, and some artwork and poetry done by students from the area. And of course there was a fashion show which didn't surprise me because if there was one thing I learned while living in Italy, it is that Italians love fashion shows (please feel free to pillory me for perpetuating national stereotypes). I found it a bit ironic that the evening was focused on the sea, seeing as how Macedonia is a landlocked country; however no one else seemed to feel that way. Anyway, there is sailing in Macedonia, on Lake Ohrid in the south. I hope to go there at some point.

The best part of the evening was getting to see the art housed in the museum. They had closed off the galleries for the evening so most people were not allowed to go in and see the art, but I was with people who apparently have connections and so we got the VIP treatment. Here is a picture of the art museum:

And here is some of the art that was in the museum. You can't really tell what it is here, but it was kind of raunchy:

After the museum, we went to meet some students at a local restaurant in the city park. We spent a while there eating and drinking. The restaurant was really cute and a little rustic looking, with traditional costumes hanging on the walls:

The final stop of the night was a nightclub called Coliseum, a place I hope to never go back to. It's a giant club with three levels located near the train station in Skopje. We walked in, and the first thing we saw was several guys having a fight. The bouncers, instead of ushering them out of the club, seemed to be directing them back inside, which seemed a little out of the ordinary, but there wasn't any more trouble while we were there, so I guess it was ok. It was someone's birthday, so, in my second VIP experience of the night, we were ushered upstairs to a private part of the club. Once there, we sat and listened to terrible techno music and watched girls trying to dance in their 4-inch heels. Here's a picture of the club, taken from the top level:

I know the picture quality is not so great, but I think you can get the idea of how it was. It is my hope that Saturday evening was my first and last time going there.

Random Animals

2007-10-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned the stray dogs and cats that roam the streets of Skopje previously in this blog, but you will all be interested to know that there is plenty of other semi-wildlife in Skopje and its surrounding areas as well. For example, every morning on my way to work, I pass an ostrich farm on the side of the highway. I haven't been able to take a picture of it because the bus is always moving to fast.

I've also seen goats grazing by the side of the river in the middle of Skopje, which is not really something you expect to see in the middle of a city, but there you go, that's life here, I guess.

A few weeks ago, while I walked through the old town in Skopje, I noticed this animal outside the Orthodox church there:

Yes, that is a ram. Please keep in mind that I did not see this animal out in the countryside, but rather, in the middle of the capital city of the country.

And the other day, on my way home from work, as I got out of the illegal minivan that takes me back to Skopje every afternoon, I saw a tortoise roaming around a patch of grass just outside of the national archives building. I thought maybe it was just a fluke, but then I saw it again once more after that.

There are also the horses (or maybe they're donkeys) that pull the gypsy carts around. Here's a picture of one grazing beside one of the main streets in Skopje:

Food, glorious food!

2007-10-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't like pictures of food? I know I do, and since my other food picture received lots of positive feedback, here are some more to feast your eyes on. This is another Macedonian casserole that I ate the other night for dinner. Here it is, pre-eating, living in its little clay pot:

The contents of the pot were as follows: various kinds of vegetables, 3 kinds of meat (veal, chicken, and I think pork), and what tasted like a whole kilo of salt. To be honest, the salt kind of ruined it.

Here is a picture of the inside of the clay pot, along with a vegetarian version of the same dish, also extremely salty.

Italy

2007-10-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I took a trip to Italy to visit A. He's living in the north now, in a little town called Aviano. It's near an American military base, so I saw a lot of Americans around, but I didn't really talk to any of them. It's a cute little town. Here are some pictures:

The bakery is my favorite. All that delicious bread!

Tose Proeski

2007-10-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, a very famous pop star here in Macedonia died in a car crash. His name was Tose Proeski, and apparently he was like Princess Diana to them. I had students weeping about him in class. Here's an article about it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7046808.stm
People are really upset about it and have made a shrine in the center of Skopje. I went there yesterday and took some pictures.

Sofia; Part 3: Big, beautiful buildings

2007-10-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

Sofia is bigger and more cosmopolitan than Skopje. It has a lot more impressive buildings and I think we saw most of them.
The first impressive building we saw was a mosque:

After that, we saw the Russian Orthodox church. It was built from 1912-1914. I overheard a tour guide telling a story about the church, that it was built for some high muckety-muck in the Russian Orthodox church who came to visit but for some reason didn't want to visit a Bulgarian Orthodox church. I'm not exactly sure if this story is true or why he didn't want to visit a Bulgarian Orthodox church, but there you go. I guess that's what you get when you hang around the edge of a tour group straining to hear what their guide says without appearing to obvious about the fact that you don't belong with them.

After the Russian Orthodox church we went to the Bulgarian Orthodox cathedral, St. Alexander Nevski. It was big and beautiful and the inside was awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take pictures inside, so you'll have to just take my word for it. In the crypt below the church there was an exhibit of icons, which was also interesting.

To complete our tour of three of the world's biggest religions, we passed a large synagogue:

After wandering around churches and other holy buildings all morning, we decided to take a rest in a park. I have to apologize because I'm not exactly sure what the park is called. However, it was near a giant sculpture surrounded by a graffiti-covered wall. Apparently the graffiti was done there as part of some kind of competition a few years ago.

Sofia; Part 2: Hotel Rodina

2007-10-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

\Our hotel in Sofia was called the Hotel Rodina and it is known for being "the tallest four-star hotel in Sofia." It had a casino and a large number of very small and excitable Greek ladies. Our rooms were decorated seventies style:

I was sharing a room with R. and we had a giant old stereo in the room and the speaker was in the bathroom. So upon arriving, we spent some time rocking out to old 80's tunes.

Trip to Sofia; Part 1: Crossing the border

2007-10-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

So, it's taken me a little while, but I am finally posting about my trip to Sofia, Bulgaria last weekend. We had an extra day off from work for a national holiday, so R., J. and I decided to spend the weekend exploring Sofia. We took the bus from Skopje bus station on Thursday afternoon. It was about 2 hours from Skopje to the Macedonian border. Along the way we passed a large number of fields, mountains, farms, and goats! The goats were being tended by old men or old women sitting in chairs in the fields. We reached the border, where we stopped, and a border guard got on. He proceeded to make his way down the aisle, collecting our passports. He then got off the bus, and spent about fifteen or twenty minutes presumably examining them and stamping them. He got back on after that and handed all our passports to a passenger on the bus who had the responsibility of handing them back to everyone.
We drove about 50 feet and then stopped again. This time, a Bulgarian border guard got on, collected all our passports and got off again. We drove another 20 feet to a little area where we were allowed to get off the bus and stand around. Finally, after another fifteen or twenty minutes, the border guard came back, we got back on the bus and another passenger was entrusted with the task of giving back our passports. I don't think I've ever had a border crossing quite like that before, but the important thing is that it went fairly smoothly. After that, we drove another two hours along dark and windy mountain roads until we reached Sofia.

Going to Bulgaria

2007-10-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is a national holiday here so I have a long weekend. I'll be spending the weekend in Sofia, Bulgaria, with two of my colleagues, R. and J. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures and post them when I get back!

Gypsies

2007-10-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

Skopje is full of gypsies, or Roma. Apparently, there's a large gypsy settlement located just outside of Skopje, one of the biggest in Europe. I haven't been there yet, but hopefully I'll go at some point in the next year.

The gypsies are responsible for what little recycling goes on in the city. They ride around in their horses and carts and go through the dumpsters looking for recylables.

Another thing I've noticed is that wherever there is a patch of grass, you can see them grazing their horses and growing things in the grass. This isn't a great picture of that because I was a little far away and trying to take a picture without it being noticed.

More crazy politics

2007-10-06T01:26:00.000-07:00

Here's another link about the fight in Parliament here which I posted about a few days ago. Apparently, it went further than just what happened here in Skopje.

http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7022&Itemid=259

Macedonian lesson number 1; or How not to Teach

2007-10-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight my 3 colleagues and I went to our first Macedonian lesson and I believe it will also be our last with this teacher. One of the first things she said after walking into the classroom was, "I've never taught beginners before. I'm used to teaching people who already know Macedonian." That seemed like a bad sign. Then she started on the alphabet, using the "drill and kill" technique, which basically meant repeating the sounds after her, ad nauseum. Then each of us had to say the alphabet on our own, without her. Of course, our pronunciation was not perfect, but this teacher was obviously a perfectionist and would not let us rest until we had it perfect, which was difficult considering it was our first lesson ever. And when we made mistakes, she laughed at us! She kept putting one of my colleagues on the spot and when he got more and more flustered, she just kept picking on him. It made everyone extremely uncomfortable. I almost cried at one point. I needed a drink afterwards.
So we will not be going back to her, needless to say. Next week we're going to try another place that's been recommended by someone we work with.

Politics

2007-10-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

Balkan politics are volatile. Last week, there was a fight in Parliament. An actual physical fight between the two Albanian parties: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7014698.stm
This actually relates to my work situation. Apparently, there was one Albanian political party that was more powerful than the other, so that party got to pick the deans of some of the departments and if you knew the right people in that party, you had a good chance of advancing your career. But now the other party has more power, so they are putting their own people into the more powerful positions.
People always say that universities are political; however, my university is Political. Luckily, as a foreigner, it doesn't really affect my position at work.

Work

2007-10-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

Anyone reading this blog so far might be getting the idea that my life here consists solely of sightseeing. This is not the case, or at least, it's not the case anymore. Last week, I started teaching at the university. The university is not in Skopje. It's in a smaller town about 30 minutes away, and I go there by bus every morning. It's in the Albanian part of Macedonia, so most of my students, and many of my colleagues are Albanian.
I started last week, but classes officially started the week before that. However, due to some kind of glitch in the system, students were unable to regisiter for class and therefore didn't come. So that was my first introduction to higher education in Macedonia.
The university is an interesting place. I will post pictures of it at some point, but for now a description will have to suffice. It's not a big university and it's fairly new. The buildings are all one storey or two storey structures, and whoever was in charge of the design of the university thoughtfully color-coded them for easy identification. Administration buildings are white, dormitories are a lovely mustard yellow color, and classroom buildings are bright blue.
Students and teachers both seem to be nursing serious coffee addictions. So far I have counted 5 places to have coffee! Three of the places are regular cafes and they are all within 50 feet of each other. One of them is only for staff, and when you walk in, it's like walking into a housefire because of all the cigarette smoke. The other two coffee places are actually in classroom buildings, in case one of the other three places isn't close enough. There is no one ever in the library, but the cafes are always full. Luckily, I enjoy a cup of coffee very much, so I think I've landed in the right place.
The other teachers at the university seem friendly enough so far. My boss is not only the head of the English department, but he is also a minor celebrity. He's a pop star! I think it's great that he's pursuing his interests, but it does make it a little difficult to take him seriously during faculty meetings.
I think it's going to be an interesting year. . .

Lake Matka

2007-09-30T01:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to Lake Matka, a lake about a half hour outside of Skopje, with some of my new colleagues/friends, J., B., and R. The lake is surrounded by mountains and there's a path that goes along the mountains. You can't really tell from the picture, but the sides of the mountain are pretty rocky and so is the path, so you have to be careful when you're walking.

There's a 14th century church at one side of the lake just before the path starts. Inside the walls are covered with frescoes, icons in the Byzantine style. It used to be part of a monastery.

Matka must be something of a tourist attraction because there seemed to be a higher concentration of non-Macedonians there than I've seen so far in Skopje. In fact, while we were walking, we met a Greek couple who asked me to take their picture. There was something wrong with their camera and I tried to help them, and I even managed to talk with them in Greek! I was surprised at how many words came back to me. Of course, the people I was with were suitably impressed, which was obviously the most important part of the exercise.

We kept walking along the path, but didn't go the whole way, since it's 14 km. Here is some more prettiness:

And here are some cute little kitties that were hanging around outside the church.

The most famous person from Macedonia

2007-09-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

Macedonia is a small country. Lots of people have never heard of it. Other people may have heard of it at some point, but would be unable to locate it on a map. I admit, I wasn't sure exactly where it was either before I decided to come here. But Macedonia does have one claim to fame, and that is that Mother Teresa was born here. She was Albanian, but born in Skopje. There's even a statue of her on one of the streets in the center of the city.

The really important stuff

2007-09-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

Food!

So far, I've been eating really well and have not been struck with "Balkan belly", as one of my new co-workers refers to it. Skopje has more of a variety of restaurants than you would think. There's an Indian restaurant that's pretty good and of course the ubiquitous Chinese and Italian places.

I'm still getting a feel for Macedonian food, but it seems to involve a lot of meat. There are also various dishes cooked in earthenware containers. I had some beans that were cooked that way, and also a stew. Here's a picture of the stew in its little pot. I meant to take a picture of the beans too, but I ate them before that was possible!

There's also a salad that's typical of Macedonia, called Shopska salad, and it's basically tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions covered with grated white cheese. The cheese is salty and tastes a lot like feta. I'll post a picture of one later.

Skopje old town

2007-09-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Skopje is made of concrete buildings, but it is also so much more! There is an old part of the city, with little streets and historical sites, and all those wonderful things you get to see when you go to Europe. There's a big fortress, Fortress Kale, which overlooks the rest of the city. It's basically ruins and, like a lot of other things I've seen here, there is a lot of potential which is not being lived up to. It has a great view of the city and wandering around the ruins is interesting, but it is full of litter and there is no way to find out any information about the place. Even so, it's a nice site and a good place to take pictures. The picture to the left here is one I took from the fortress of Mount Vodno, which is where the giant flaming cross lives.

There are some Turkish baths in the old town, too. I didn't go inside, but here they are from the outside.

The other fun parts of the old town are the little windy streets and the big covered market. I went there on a Sunday, so a lot of places were closed and at one point I realized that I was the only woman in sight. I think the old town is mostly inhabited by Albanians, who are Muslims, so maybe that explains the lack of women. I don't have any pictures of the market at the moment, but I will be sure to post them when I do. Going into the market is a pretty intense experience. There are rows and rows of tables and stalls, and different parts of the market sell different things. The fruit and vegetable area is my favorite part. The tables are heaped high with all different kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables, and you walk down the rows and sellers call out to you to try to get you to buy from them. At least, I think that is what they want, but since I don't speak Albanian or Macedonian, they could really be saying anything to me.

The river Vardar

2007-09-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

My favorite part of Skopje so far is the river Vardar, which runs through the city. It has a nice path that runs alongside of it where people ride their bikes, rollerblade, and go running, although I get the impression that most of the runners are ex-pats. I've seen several goats grazing on the river banks and I've also seen locals fishing in the river, something which I personally would feel a bit leery about, since the river doesn't seem to be particularly clean. Parts of it are quite nice, but other parts have a lot of litter.

More impressions of Skopje

2007-09-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

One thing that you really notice when you come to Skopje is the giant cross that stands on one of the mountains that looks down on the city. You can see it from anywhere in the city and it can be useful for orienting yourself. At night they light it up and it looks like a flaming cross, which was kind of unnerving at first, but I'm used to it now. I've tried to take a picture of it, but because it only lights up at night, it didn't turn out the way I would have liked. Anyway, hopefully you can get the general idea from this photo.

According to my guidebook, the cross was erected in 2002 and is "an overt sign of hostility towards the Albanian minority, who populate the opposite side of the valley." The Albanians feel discriminated against in Macedonia, especially since they haven't been allowed to erect their own monuments where they would like.

Arrival in Macedonia

2007-09-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

So after weeks of planning and anxiety, I arrived in Skopje on September 4. I was met at the airiport by J., my contact at the university and G., a taxi driver. I was taken back to my hotel. My first impression of Skopje was that there seemed to be an inordinate amount of concrete buildings, and some of them were pretty strange looking. A particular favorite of mine is the main post office. Every time I see it I try to think of what would be an apt description of it. So far, I've come up with: upside-down spider, space age temple, concrete insect.

Another thing that I noticed right away was the number of stray dogs hanging around. They all seem pretty healthy and tame and they don't seem to bother anyone, although sometimes at night I hear them barking at each other. They tend to hang around outside butcher shops and at restaurants looking for spare scraps of meat and other food. Here's a particularly cute one that we saw at a restaurant. He laid under our table and was so sleepy that he couldn't even be bothered to eat the piece of food we dropped in front of him.

The day after I arrived, the other two new teachers got here. One is from California and the other is from Ireland. So we are all new together and are automatically friends. But aside from that, I do like them and think we're going to get along quite well this year.