Today is the 25th of December, also know as Christmas in most parts of the Roman Catholic/Christian world. I would like to extend Happy Holiday/Christmas/Haunakah/Kwanza tidings to everyone I know. For us here in Macedonia, this is not yet the case. We celebrate the Orthodox Christmas, which is on January 7th. Today in Bitola is just another average workday, however we are very lucky that today is much warmer than usual! Last week, the temperature in the city was around 0 degrees, every single day. This week, we are fortunate to have temperatures at 8 or 9 degrees (these are Celsius degrees by the way), so it has been much less miserable to do any sort of outdoor activities. However, there are tons of decorations all around Bitola (and the rest of Macedonia) to celebrate.
I suppose I should include an update on how work and life has been going. The short answer, is good. The slightly longer answer, is better. I have been fitting in well at work, and hanging out with the coworkers is always a good time. I found a suitable language tutor to continue my Macedonian language lessons with, but at the same time, not being in class for four hours a day has definitely had a negative effect on my speaking and comprehension abilities.
Also this week at work, we had to bid farewell to 4 of our EVS volunteers. It will be very lonely around the office now that they are all back in Turkey and in France. Hopefully they will get a chance to come back and visit, go out to the nightclubs, and buy a Zastava to drive back to France. I should look at the positive side of this and be happy to note that I will be spending significantly less money on going out and having fun... yet remember that now instead of having fun, I will be sitting inside, near the thermo petchka and working on productive things, like reading... or writing this blog.
All quiet on the office front. It was a calm day to sit and relax. Lucky me I have a new smartphone, with Instagram so I can join the hipster legion and snap photos of every meal I (don't) eat, and take over-contrasted pictures. So long artistic integrity!
Let me just say that work has also been quite busy the last few weeks. Around the office there has been a lot of catching up to do on events, and filling in all the reports of the past years activities. This is the last week of the year, so next week we will be taking some time off, for New Years, and of course Божиќ (Orthodox Christmas). Following this, is a whole mess of other holidays, including Old New Year, and several Saint days... Realistically, I am not planning on being very productive until February.
On the bright side, there is a strong possibility that I will be going to Montenegro in January, for a 3 day conference on APV training. This is a very important opportunity with the organization because it is a critical component of what we do for all of our international exchanges as well as most domestic programs that we hold ourselves. I am thoroughly looking forward to this potential opportunity for two reasons; first being that it will be a great learning experience to better understand the nature of the organization and to provide assistance; and two, its an excellent way to travel! I will get to visit Montenegro, one country I have wanted to see for the past several years, as well as stopping in Kosovo along the way.
Speaking of traveling, I was fortunate enough to not spend the holidays without any Americans. On Sunday, I was able to visit a nearby town, Prilep, to spend the day with some Americans and to American things. It was a nice reminder that I am not alone in Macedonia. We drank some beers, ate pizza, and generally had an all-around good time. However, I got to experience the never-ending frustrations of the Macedonian bus system as I was leaving! Since I had purchased a round trip ticket at my bus station in Bitola, I had to wait in Prilip for the same company to return. I had missed the first bus from that company by 10 minutes or so, and the next one was 3 hours later. It was more frustrating seeing that every 40 minutes, another bus from a different company would stop and be on its way home. However, I am the cheapest person that I know, so I certainly was not about to pay another 100 denars (2 dollars) to buy another ticket. Long story short, I waited, drank coffee, and eventually made it back with no problems!
Welcome to Prilep! I took this photo before being trapped in the town for three hours. Lucky for me, it is a nearby town to Bitola so it only is 45 minutes by bus, and makes for a nice day trip!
I have many great events to look forward to coming up, and hopefully I will be motivated to share some of it with you all. New Years Eve in Bitola is less than a week ago, and there is an event being hosted by my organization at a local nightclub the weekend before. Overall, I think its going to a good start to a good new year!
Среќен Нова Година, и Среќен Бозиќ!
No comments:
Post a Comment