aleeeeeex here...we are...in... Macedonia!!!!!!so far itys been nogo nogo dobra!!! hahha ez n me have had major macedonian lessons ... zoki in typical fashion left mace before we even went overseas hahhahaha so alees and cotcho are our lifesavers, translationg when things get tricky with basic words and hand gestures. We have had the grand tour of ruins around strumica by alees(my 25 yr old cuzzie and his mate ... whos name means flower in english hah) and its been lovely! (ez)Biggst difference in having a home situation and family around would without a doubt have to be... the constant supply [View Full Entry]

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Sept 27th--After a long trainride to Thessaloniki in northern Greece, one night in a cheap and kind of dirty hostel, and another early morning train, we arrived in Macedonia. Our main reason for visiting this country was to visit two of Heidi's friends, Kelley and Laura**, who are in the Peace Corps here. Kelley had just arrived so we only had a few hours to see her during her training, but we spent the rest of the week with Laura, staying at her apartment in Prilep a few days, then down to Ohrid, a beautiful little town on a lake. Macedonia [View Full Entry]

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SEXA PLANT While travelling in Venezuella, when I first encountered the extreme unreliability of the locals in developing countries, I invented the SEXA PLANT (MINA TZEMACH) method of orienting: before each turn-about I take, I ask 10 locals, and do complex calculations, which weights their age, gender, look and size of breast (in case the gender is "female"). The map (if I have any) is not weighted much more than 2 old men in these calculation- I think that instead of using expensive means such as sattelites photos, these countries simply pay expressionist artists for drawing their topographical maps. But when [View Full Entry]

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well after listening to my mother scream in my ear about not calling/emailing/updating before we got cut off, i suppose its time for an update. i did try the other day, but the connection at this place sucked really bad so i just left... basically i'm an adopted member of the family here in ohrid. we sit and sip coffee, smoke cigarettes, watch balkan music videos, eat home-cooked meals, etc. etc. life is pretty good, albeit slow compared to anything i'm used to. my second day here i awoke to coffee waiting for me at the breakfast table. 'mom' asked me [View Full Entry]

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well i certainly am happy to be out of skopje. parts of it were really cool, but overall i just felt unsafe and being alone certainly didn't help...probably the best part was being able to sit in my room in my underwear in front of the air conditioner... this morning i was a weirdo and was up and out of my room by 9 to explore what i could in skopje before noon. the main center square, ploshtad makedonija, is really cool and lined with cafes and shops and whatnot, but i think i already told you that. i continued up [View Full Entry]

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so yea ive had quite the issue updating this blog, seeing as i've come across only power outages and shitty internet.... saturday afternoon i left veliko turnovo after a ridiculously crazy night and a tearful farewell. i can't wait to come back next summer. a bunch of us headed for sofia where i spent the first night at a hostel and the second night with a friend from switzerland who works in sofia. we spent saturday night at a nice restaurant followed by a cool bar behind the national art gallery and then a club called 'my mojito'. naturally, i had [View Full Entry]

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I've spend the last few days with Iskra, Verica, and Snezena (they were all in my Greece program) and their friends and family (Igor, Sasho, Andre, Sanchka, etc.). I've seen most of Skopje, the capital of Macedonia... there's nothing much here, it's pretty calm. The city is in the far North of the country, near Serbia (the Kosovo region). It sits between two small mountain ranges and has a river running through it that flows directly south towards Thessaloniki. Yesterday we went up to one of the bluffs where there is this ancient 12th century Orthodox church; it was very interesting. [View Full Entry]

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Who fears from the sunset? באחד משיריה היפים רונה ("איזה באסה שהיא לסבית") קינן שואלת: "מי מפחד מהזריחה?", ועונה: "את, אני ואתה." ובכן, רונה, יקירתי, יש לי חדשות בשבילך: לפחות במובן המילולי של הביטוי, קשה לומר שאני מפחד מהזריחה. רוב לילותי הם המתנה דרוכה וחסרת-סבלנות לבוקר, שיאפשר לי סופסוף למהר לעבודתי, שאותה אני מאוד אוהב. ומה שנכון ביומיום בארץ, נכון שבעתיים (seven-ging?) בזמן טיול. אלא שרונה התכוונה, כנראה, ל"פחד מהזריחה" כמטאפורה לפחד של כולנו מהעתיד, מהלא-נודע. וכאן אני נאלץ להודות, שיש משהו בדבריה: בניגוד לתדמית הטייל המנוסה והעשוי ללא חת (Made without ‘H’ ?) שאני מנסה להפגין, בדרך-כלל בלילה שלפני הטיסה [View Full Entry]

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Estos ultimos dias en Estambul han sido dias de relax y compras, para seguir con la linea consumista que empezó hace un mes con la llegada de Toni y que nos ha afectado a los tres. Atras han quedado Mister T ( Tuncay), Fatih o Fico entre otros, y los tes turcos y de manzana que nos ofrecian cada vez que ibamos a verles. Tambien atras han quedado las noches de marcha en el Cambaz, viendo al abuelo "Fred Astair" bailando con las jovenes y dando vueltas sin parar emulando al demonio de Tasmania. Ahora Toni ha regresado a Barcelona, y [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Albania turned out to be more difficult than expected. The bus to Macedonia which I had asked about on Saturday and was supposed to leave at nine in the morning on Monday didn't... So I looked on the map of Albania and took the first minibus I could find to the town closest to the border. And than I tried to get another ride to the border itself but the directions to where the bus was supposed to depart from turned out to be directions on how to walk to the border so I ended up walking out of town [View Full Entry]

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