Saturday night in Skopje

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

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!

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

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

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

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

\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.