Blogs from Macedonia, Europe - page 20

Ez here! Well here we are... 2 weeks in Strumica! Zoki arrived on the 15th - Saturday, we made the 250km-ish trip to the capital Skopje, to pick him up from his 24hour bus ride from Germany! Interesting to meet him, and life has kinda set back into a pattern of doing well... not heaps, but getting around a little bit, socialising, eating (too much!), and generally existing! On Monday we had a little mission to a 'Vodapard' (waterfall) and had an afternoon wander up to the base and top of the waterfall and gathering some gathering of natures bounty - self grown chestnuts and hazelnuts! On the way home however, Lex found herself getting quite cold and a sore stomach... which being forced to eat a big tea only worsened! That night she had a ... read more

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 ... read more

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 I rode from Sophia to Aleko, all the locals had the same answer, when I asked them on the way: "up". And they were right. This place was simply "up" - the highest you can ... read more

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 across kamen most into the old part of the city, which apparently is also the albanian part of the city. the turkish influence basically slaps you across the face...i visited the national art gallery which ... read more

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 אני מפחד פחד-מוות מהצפוי לי ברגע שאנחת ביעדים לא-מסבירי-פנים בעליל, כמו טיראנה, או גואטמלה סיטי. רוצי, שמוליק לפני שטסתי פרסמתי מודעה "מחפש שותפ/ה לטיול אופניים" ב"למטייל". כרגיל, עשיתי את זה רק כדי לצאת ידי חובה: ... read more