Cao Family

My mom and uncle came to visit me this past 10 days. I have to say before they came I made myself extremely stressed without actually realizing it. It could be because I chose to live in this place instead of back home nearer to my family. Once they got here everything went away and I had an amazing time. The first night consisted of a lot of grilled meat and alcohol. Actually this can sum up the entire trip that we had. Skara and Skopso... I want to open up a restaurant under this name. Anyways, I miss my family more than I thought I could. Skype is such a beautiful tool that I think I have even given it props in an earlier post. With Skype I get to see my family but that never makes up for being able to cheers with them or give them a hug when I want. There was a strange feeling when my mom and uncle were here. The term being in a cloud has been used by many people but when they were here I felt like I was in a dream world. Macedonia, my life now and where I have lived for the past 8 months and my family who I havent seen for just as long. It was strange watching my mom buy stuff from the local kiosk that I go to. To see my uncle say fala to the waitress after we get a beer. It just never seemed real the whole time. Im looking back at these pics and already missing you guys, I havent heard if you made the plane but I am sure you did. By the way welcome to Macedonia for the flight cancelation. I just figured it had to happen eventually but I hope it all turned out. 

Now on to some stories about what happened while you were here. We got lost in Pelister National Park. Like really lost. Sure we could have been fine after a few more hours but we were on a little used path no where near where we needed to be. If we continued like that we would have ended up bloodier than we already were and then we would have had to hunt for food sooner than later. It was awkward walking into a 5 star hotel where everyone was wearing 3 piece suits and you are bloody, sweaty and very muddy. The nice thing about Macedonia is that they still gave us free drinks and welcomed us like we were honored guests.

We got invited into a random families house for homemade rakija. They did not know us, they did not speak english at all. This is a normal occurrence here.

Ohrid is beautiful. You can walk around the cobblestone roads and find a church anywhere. I enjoyed watching people stair at my mom like she is crazy because she was wearing sandals. 

While walking the streets and passing older people, the look on their faces when the stare past us because we are speaking english and then to say dobar den to them and they actually jump from not expecting it is priceless. I loved watching how peoples faces change from indifference to pure joy so quickly.

The kids that try and steal money from you love my uncle, so much they have swarmed him twice now. He didnt like it and made sure they knew it the 2nd time.

The trail along Matka does not lead you to the cave, but it is a beautiful hike with some tricky places to navigate. 

I miss my family and want to be with you all very much. I will be there soon enough but I know for my mom and dad this will still not be that soon. I love you all.

Riding on borrowed time

I have just bought a bike. This excites me very much because riding a bike is not only fun, but it makes my commute much shorter... or so I thought. In the trip from my apartment to my work I have to hop at least 5 curbs before I even make it to the halfway point, which is the city center. Once I get here things tend to slow down because I have to navigate through the previously mentioned "drunk walking people" that move all over the place except for a straight line. After I find my way out of the center then I encounter the parking lots. Now I do not actually mean there are parking lots that I have to cut through. What I mean is that the sidewalks here are just used as parking lots. I have always noticed this but eventually it became second nature as I am walking to go past them, it was easy. On a bike when you are trying to get from one side to the other and 4 cars are parked in a way and the only way to get past them is going around the entire thing, it sucks. Cars park in a weird maze kind of way that usually blocks at least one of the drivers in but as long as you can get out who cares neli? It is very dissappointing that in most cases I have to actually get out onto the street to find any room to ride my bike and because of this I then have to deal with Macedonian drivers. Macedonian drivers are fucking horrible. Im sorry for the foul language but you can ask any Macedonian and that is one of the first things they will agree with. If any of you can remember seeing the very first fast and the furious movie? Do you remember coming out of the theater and how every single person felt they needed to drive as fast as they can and swerve back and forth? That will give you a very good representation of how the drivers are here. They swerve back and forth through lanes at pretty high speeds for no other reason than they think its fun. This leads me to another point. Yesterday while walking around a government official and his police convoy drove past me. This happens quite often actually. Some tinted out Benz's or BMW's will have their sirens blaring and go speeding past you and what can only be said an extremely dangerous speed in the city of Skopje. If any Des Moines Police officer was caught going this speed for any other reason than an actually emergency, they would be fired. Thats how fast they are going. So my friend told me they have to do this because they work for the government and they need to take care of important things. Skopje is not a large city. To get from the center to the edge of the city may take 10 mins if there is heavy traffic. Usually it takes 5 mins by car and thats it. These guys are just going so fast because they can it seems and its interesting when I tell you this next part. So my friend told me that they have the police escort them everywhere now because driving that fast is dangerous so the escort helps. Another reason why they have the escort now is because the first president of Macedonia was horrible injured in an accident driving those speeds. So to sum up, the drivers are crazy, the politicians drive at ridiculous speeds even though the first president was nearly killed doing the same thing and finally all the sidewalks are just parking spots.

The changing weather...

I really believe that Macedonians are a fickle people. A lot of things have happened in the last few days that I will cover briefly but in no great detail, because my friends know more about them than myself. I will say this tho, the weather is changing and it is changing Macedonians. During the winter this place seemed cold and sad. It did not help that Skopje was hit with some very cold and shitty weather. However it just seemed like people were too bundled up in their houses and their clothes when they left. Being outside was still common for people but they hated it and you could see it. Now the weather is beginning to get extremely nice, I am talking 70 degrees for this last week. Because of this there is a huge flux of people getting out and doing something. All the local coffee shops are opening up their outdoor areas. These areas are very different from what we are used to back home and my family will see when they come here. Here it is expected that you sit outside so you can see the people and see how everyone is dressed. If you face your back to the street people may look at you different and most places are actually set up so that no one has to have their back to the street. These outside chairs are very different than the outside chairs we have back home, the atmosphere is just different. People want to be outside now. It is funny too because the nicer the weather gets the more people want to show themselves off. Today while walking to work I noticed a girl that was wearing an outfit that I have only seen girls where on Halloween back home when they are trying to be a sexy nurse. But more than the way people dress, it is the way people act. It seems Macedonians were a people made to be in the sun. People are happier, cherrier and more outgoing now. This is hard to do because Macedonians are some of the nicest people you can meet. Think midwesterners but Macedonians will not only talk and be friendly but then they will invite you in their house to have coffee and maybe offer you their daughter... ok that last part was on rare occassions but seriously it seems to be confectious. (Dont know if thats a real word or correct spelling) The weather seems to be making Macedonia happier and it didnt really need it.