Ajvar and everything else: July 2005

What a way to start a day…

Nearly every weekday morning I leave my apartment about ten after seven, wander through my neighborhood to the main road, walk along the main road till I get to the music school, then wander through another neighborhood till I get to work. I arrive around 7:30, give or take a few minutes for any early morning errands.

This morning I left my house, wandered through my neighborhood, and turned onto the main road. Ahead of me, about 75 yards, was what looked like a cat sitting in the middle of the side walk. I couldn’t see it totally clearly, but it looked like a cat crouched in a relaxed position with its trail wrapped around it. I have seen my own cats in this stance many times, mostly when they are feeling very comfortable and pleased with themselves; like after finishing some tuna or after finding a nice spot of sun.

I walked on and kept expecting, as I got closer or the angle changed, that the ‘cat’ would reveal itself as part of a tire or a piece of plastic. In Macedonia, trash is much more likely to be passively sitting in the middle of the side walk then a cat.

Turns out it was a cat, sitting just how I thought it was, with its eyes closed and looking very relaxed. However, its lower jaw and neck were caked in dried blood, it was stiff, and it had the gray, dusty appearance of a poorly cared for taxidermy animal.

If it had been a piece of trash I might have picked it up and taken it to the nearest dumpster, as it is, I may walk on the other side of the street on my way home…

A day in the life of a ranger

Yesterday I was able to go to the park with one of the rangers. It was a nice day. I got to do a lot of hiking, saw the remains of a WWII hospital site, went to an abandon sheep fold, took a nap, hiked to a peak where you can see both lake Ohrid and lake Prespa, and got to see how the logging is done in the park.

The road construction leaves much to be desired, but the logging is really not very evasive. The trees are very selectively cut, a lot of the work is done with horses, and I never saw more then 4 men working at a site at a time. Not the total disaster I was expecting! Plus I got to practice my language all day, which is good. Anyhow, enjoy the photos…

The active logging site in the park... not too bad really!

Men loading the loging truck. This looks like really hard work to me...

Bimbil (a ranger) and the old pond at the sheep fold.

Another flower in the high part of the park.

A highlands flower - I don't know what it is called.

Hiking up a hill towards the moon

Looking up at a big old tree

The beach forest in the park

A camp,

Last week was pretty full for me, or at least the last part of last week. On Thursday I went to National Park Pelister near the city of Bitola to teach a self defense course for the teenage girls at the PC camp. There were 60 Macedonian teenage girls total. Fortunately for me, the camp was all done in English, so I didn’t have to translate anything, although there was a discussion about whether they should yell ‘NO!’ or ‘NE!’ (Macedonian) or ‘YO!’ (Albanian). We settled on ‘NO!’

All the girls were very active and engaged and we were able to cover a lot in an hour and a half, despite there being 60 of them. It was very cool to have these girls being so excited and so empowered. Many of them told me afterwards that it was there favorite part of the Camp so far.

a city,

After my session another volunteer, Angeline, and I went to a volunteer’s apartment in Bitola and stayed till Saturday morning. Bitola is really great, and I maybe like it more, as a city anyway, then Ohrid. But don’t tell any of the folks in Ohrid. There are around 200,000 people in Bitola, and there are all the benefits that come with a population that size: a bus system, big well stocked grocery stores, an active and full outdoor market, interesting stores, and a variety of restaurants. Also, Bitola is only a few kilometers from Greece, and you can really see it in the architecture. The city has a very distinctive, bright, and antiqued style of building. And the city is near the NP Pelister so you can see the mountain from nearly anywhere in town. I had a very nice time there hanging out with Angeline.

and a wedding

On Saturday I returned to Ohrid and got ready for a wedding I had been invited to. I was involved from 4pm Saturday till 3am Sunday, and I won’t attempt to describe all that happened at this Macedonian wedding, but I will provide some of the highlights in superlative form.

Most fun: the hours of circle dancing. At all events Macedonians stand in a circle, holding hands and do a dance which is something like 3 steps to the right, 2 steps to the left, repeat. A single dance can last 30 minutes and this will go on all night. But it really is fun!

Most horrifying: The ride home with three teenage girls and two small children, driving much to fast along the dark, winding road back to the city from the hotel. They were all singing and passing around a bottle of champagne. The girl driving passed someone through a tunnel, and was run off the road once. There were no seat belts to be found. Two of the girls were smoking and arguing with the third girl about whether or not they could smoke in the car. The front passenger was throwing huge pieces of litter out the windows every time she could. I asked to be let out as soon as we were in town and I felt safe walking.

Most interesting cultural exchange: With a Macedonian who had been living in Canada since he was two. He is not very found of Macedonia or Macedonians, and was not shy about telling me why. He was, however, found of telling me his theories on immigration policy, which seemed very restrictive for a first generation immigrant, interrupting, and staring down my shirt.

Biggest difference from American weddings: the casualness. Two days before the wedding when I asked what time things would start, they didn’t know. They guessed around 1:00 or 2:00 pm. When I asked afterwards how many people there were at the wedding, they said they weren’t sure, but maybe around 325. They had been expecting 400. When I asked if the couple would be going on a honeymoon, her best friends said they didn’t know. And so on and so on…

Most often heard: Na tvoata glava!! On your head!! It means may it happen to you also, in this case: may you also find a husband.

Most unusual complement: Imash yubavi zabovi! You have beautiful teeth! From an old baba, and every time she said it I would smile more and she would get all excited about my teeth again.

Shaun and I go to Velestovo

On Saturday Shaun and I decided to go on a bit of a hike. I had a map, which could have turned out to be a problem if we had needed it, but basically we just followed a road from the edge of town, up the mountain, into the national park, to the village of Velestovo. The hike started with a walk up the stairs pictured below. They are right at the edge of town, and they look pretty old, but don't go anywhere. All those stairs, and they just end in the middle of the woods. Another good question, I guess.

The hike was nice enough though, with good views all along the way. I wish we hadn't had to have stayed on the road, but the map proved itself insufficient almost from the beginning, and the footpaths that I had assumed would be well marked, were never found.

I am pretty sure no one lives here anymore, but look closely and see if you can find the stockings hanging on the line.

Sharing the road to the village. Did you get that wood from the national park? (picture taken with permission of course)

the roof of a house in the village from the upper road... notice the view of the lake!

a house in the village

Lake Ohrid from part way up the mountain

the stair case to no where... really it just ends in the middle of the woods!

We visit a movie set!

Recently a movie about communist Yugoslavia was made, partly, in the national park. So, during our drive through, the director stopped and let us take a look around. They are deciding now if they should destroy the house and other movie things in the park, or use them as a visitors center, guest house, etc... I think it is a cool location and a neat little house and they should keep it for something, but perhaps it would be difficult to maintain. We will see.

Me and the movie set chickens

Shaun and the Tito house

Entrance to the movie set

A drive through Galicica

So after the event Friday, my director drove us through the park, rather in around it, to get back to Ohrid. This was really nice of him because it takes longer, but Shaun had never been through the park and the director offered.

Anyhow, below are some pictures I took during stops. The alter is just a road side thing, there are many of them throughout Macedonia, but this one is a good example. I am not sure who maintains them, or why they become established where they do... I good questions to ask someone perhaps... I will get back to you.

Lake Ohrid from NP Galicica

Peak in NP Galicica

An alter for St. Gorgi in NP Galicica

Lake Prespa from NP Galicica

I go to Pelister

Last Friday I was invited to an event at one of the other national parks, Pelister. I had helped with the English version of a brochure and Friday was the presentation to the media of the brochure. In the end it turns out they didn't follow all of my suggests to make the English a bit smoother, so parts of it are still a little rough, but it was a fun project to work on anyway. Plus, they had a really nice buffet, I got to spend the day out of the office, I met some fun people, and I got to go into the parks an bit. A good day over all.

Ant in Pelister

trail in Pelister

shaun in pelister

Butterfly at Pelister NP

And my not so exciting vaccum with the really exciting 'new' attachment. Can you tell how clean the rugs are?

My terrace composting bin. It works really well! Can you smell it working from there?

My rosemary bush. (And pin wheel)

My little palm tree.

PC is not all fun and games- but almost…

I feel like the casual reader of my mass emails and blog might get the impression that PC Macedonia is all travel, parties, coffee, and relaxed work schedules, but this is not true! Well, the coffee and work thing is true, but… Sometimes life here is down right mundane. As proof I offer yesterday.

I woke up yesterday with a magnificent head ache. I later attributed this to barometric pressure changes which resulted in strong storms and rain for nearly the rest of the day. But at 6:15am, all I could manage was a text message to my counter part to tell him I would not be able to make it to work. An hour later I was woken up by the above mentioned weather, and spent the rest of the day wondering around in a restless boredom.

The one thing I really needed to do, laundry, was the one thing I couldn’t do because I couldn’t hang things out to dry. Instead I increased my normal daily coffee intake by 200% (from 0 to 2 cups), probably contributing to the restlessness, and spent the rest of the day focusing no more then 30 minutes on anyone activity. I knitted for a while, read for a while, exercised, went to the market for raspberries, plums, and cherries between storms, I worked with my plants and compost for a while, talked on the phone, went to the internet café, took some photos, and vacuumed. I got really excited about the vacuuming because I found a new attachment with a brush on it and my rugs are cleaner then I have ever seen them before.

On a topic unrelated to a mundane life… the Ohrid Summer Festival starts tonight. For the next month and half there will be classical concerts, Shakespeare, and opera events nearly every night all over the city. Tonight Jose Carious will be singing in the antique theater. Tickets are 100-150 euros and sold out the day they went on sale. Other events are more reasonable. I am going to a cello concert this Thursday in an 11th century church for only 200 denars (~$4). The musician and the pianist are from Germany and will be playing Faure, Shuman, and Chopin. I will take pictures of the church and post those here later.

What?! This is the PC! Really!!

Happy 4th of July!!

I got to thinking this weekend about all the different places and ways I have celebrated the 4th of July. Many times at grandma’s house, watching people across the lake shoot off fire-works and shooying off some of our own as well. Twice in Jackson Hole Wyoming, with fireworks going off and the mountains as the backdrop. The last few years I have preceded celebrations by playing American music outside at the annual Westerville Symphony Concert.

This year I am in Macedonia. Over the weekend about 15 of us went down to the beach south of Ohrid. We swam, played Frisbee and football, raced paddle boats, and ate lots of yummy America type foods. The weather mostly cooperated, with enough sun to keep it warm enough to swim, but then raining all the way back and drenching us on the way to the apartment. All in all everyone had a good time, and I think we all got our fill of Americans on this American holiday.

Enjoy the pictures!! And happy 4th!!

Plus - around the cliff from the beach we were at is a cave church. Really interesting. And... All of this is in the national park I work in! Really lucky.