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Published: October 6th 2006
Blue Mosque
Lex in front of...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 of food... Baba Sanda is an amazing cook and because she cant talk to us easily (lang barrier) she outputs her love in the food dept!! (very in keeping with Meg's theory!)
(me)ahahaah i like to have ny writing separate and lable the speakers, much to ez's amusement. yea we are getting fed way to much...then when we want to go out everyone insists on driving us everywhere... as ez said maybe its a good thing were going flatting next year.... and will have no money for food..
ez here again... having just come back in from
getting some fresh air i feel the need to comment a wee bit on the differences... no one here really has much money... your average job pays the equivalent of 5Euro/day, thats 100Euro/month = 200 NZD!!
Just across the road there are several horse and cart assemblies tied up, and in the Turkish district of Strumica theres dirt everywhere and the vechiles look very home made and not very safe at all!! (from horse drawn to mini gocart type cars to tree chopper vechiles with big blades out the front!!)
back to lex! its nice to have a base again after being everywhere, the family jacked up a playdate for Valaria (girl i met last time in strumica) much to my dismay..but its outa love so its ok. All the young ppl here seem fixiated on earning money, its like a national obsession (probally jusitfied) but its still a weird mentality to live with...garr me and ez feel way to lucky and spoilt being from new zealand.
Ez again (as Lex insists I note! - I think you should be able to tell on the basis of grammar and spelling anyway hahahah!)
Just a quick note
Corn Sales...
You see people like this (not always trad. dress) all through Turkey, cooking corn on little brasiers and selling it!! on Istanbul and getting here...
Since our last update in Antayla...
We caught a night bus for 12 hours with a group of mega annoying middle age ladies who spend most of the time gigling like small girls and keeping us awake!
Arriving in Istanbul half asleep we decided to catch a taxi to a hostel and stay a night there (with all our bags plus half asleep lex didn't want to take the metro!) one interesting taxi ride later and we finally find a place to sleep (welcome to the tourist district of a big city... big prices!) Cut our stay from one night to two... spend most of the first day sleeping and then the second day before our train left exploring the grand bazar and a few touristy things... blue mosque, and simply relaxing, reading on a nice patch of green grass in the middle of the city hehe!
Some sleep (but not much for me) on the sleeper train to Thessoloniki, then day doing heaps... museums, white tower, good coffee, amazing gyros (souvalaki), and me being tired, absent and generally getting on lex's nerves hehe... and off again!
2 hour train
Istanbul Uni
Lex weighs her options... ride to Gevgiljia, Macedonia (most of the time spend crossing the border!), an hour taxi ride later and there we were on the door step of number 4... eeeeeee...
But feeling really at home and enjoying ourselves since!
Goodbye from us both!! xx
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k
non-member comment
home base
hi ya all - great to hear you got to some home cooking (and dishes )- hope u can remember some of the recipes to try out on the nz home front some time. Love to see a Stumica family pic, - all the very best- luvs k xxx