Welcome to Sweden - Take a Ticket

During this past month, I was fortunate enough to be able to escape from my Peace Corps life and live lavishly for six whole days in the Kingdom (yes... there is a monarchy) of Sweden. Why might someone go to Sweden from Macedonia as a vacation you might ask? Good question! Not only was this trip a vacation, it also served as a very important fact finding mission to a Swedish University to visit their PhD program for Economic Geography and International Development. On my list of potential schools... I would probably put it at number 5 or 6. Gotta keep them options open!

When coming from Macedonia, Sweden may seem like an entirely different planet. Buses function through systems of credit cards and payment via cellphone. Transportation is organized. People use the parking space as they are designed. While many of things may seem different, the biggest change that confused me the most were the tickets. Like the title of this post, everything you do revolves around taking a ticket from an automated machine, receiving a number, and waiting to see your number on the display board. My first encounter with this ended in a near disaster... as I stood helplessly near the counters hoping to be helped or at least pointed in the direction of someone who could. Nope. When I finally found the ticket machine, the whole system seemed so flawless and well engineered. No crammed lines of people waiting to be helped, no angry babas hitting you in the shins with their cane or pushing past you with giant burlap sacks of vegetables. Clean. Efficient. Organized. Sweden.

If I had to describe the country in three words, that would be it. Clean. Efficient. Organized. Sure there is the standard European display of garbage on the sidewalks and alleys, as well as urban artistry scrawled across each and every surface, but in general. The whole place just feels so sterile. Like some hospital full of free healthcare and government funded medical equipment. However, the people are very clean, and extremely well dressed! Interestingly enough, Sweden is experiencing a huge boom in immigration, particularly from Balkan and East Europe countries. Likewise, there are also countless migrants from Africa, Southern Asia, and the Middle East as well, filling the streets of in the cities, selling interesting things.

When I first arrived in Stockholm and was frantically trying to find a bus to Uppsala (where the University is located), I met an interesting guy who had been living in Sweden for 10 years, despite being half Polish and half Greek. We were even fortunate to find that the bus driver did not care if we had tickets or not (there were only 3 people on the bus), and we rode for free since the website to buy tickets online was malfunctioning. On our journey, I told my new Greek/Polish friend about my life as a volunteer:

- "Yeah, I am an American volunteer living in Macedonia,but I am actually half German."

- He frowned, "Hmm..I see. You should probably never go to Greece then. Make up a new story if you do."

Lesson learned. Never be German and go to Greece on holiday because they will blame you for every problem in their country. Likewise, don't tell them you're Macedonian unless you want a long lecture about how 'you know nothing about history' and that Greece is the cradle of civilization in Europe... Clearly my new friend was misinformed, and that the only country that truly matters is the good ol' US of A. However, he helped me greatly and even took me around the city of Uppsala on a bike when we arrived.

Uppsala itself is a great town, it has a beautiful cathedral in the center and an amazingly vibrant student life. The academic programs there are some of the best in Europe (and definitely the best in Scandinavia). I visited the university, toured the campus and the faculty, and learned a little bit more about the program. As appealing as it may be, I worry that during the winter I will literally freeze to death since I was there for 6 days in September and it never got above 50 degrees F.

 Here is the lovely cathedral in the center of the city. It was built in the 13th and is still the tallest cathedral in Scandinavia. What a cool fact! I just learned that from Wikipedia.

 Here is one of the buildings to the university. Daunting, and with such fantastic architecture. I realize that almost 100% of my photographs were of buildings on this trip.

Here is going towards the main part of the town. This was an old bridge, and really really beautiful! Also you may notice the bicycles everywhere. I have never seen more bicycles in my entire life than in Sweden. The whole country is like a big Portland stereotype.

Following my brief stay in Uppsala, I was also able to hang out a bit in Stockholm, Malmo, and I spent an afternoon in Copenhagen just across the channel. It was an amazing experience overall. To get to the south, I took what amounted to 5.5 hours of Scandinavian trains, to transverse a huge span of the country. I had a break in Stockholm to check out some sites and speak Serbian with a local Turkish man who was selling doner kebabs. He was very proud of the fact that he spoke Swedish, Turkish, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, English (not at all well), and German. But when you can speak that many different languages, I don't think English even matters anymore.

Interestingly, while I was on the train to Malmo, I met a family who were speaking in a language dangerously similar to Macedonian, so after an hour of arguing with myself for being anti-social, I said hello and asked them where they were from. They were so excited to talk! As it turned out, they were a family from Serbia (near Novi Sad) and they were living in Sweden for work and to give their children more opportunities. They were confused why I, an American, was speaking Serbo/Macedonian (yes, that is my new dialect I made up after spending too much time with my girlfriend in her Serbian-speaking village of Rankovce), and what I was doing visiting Sweden alone. Sometimes I don't think Balkan people can understand the concept of being alone. To them, it is the same as being lonely.. which is very negative. As an American, the personal time alone is crucial, and traveling alone is the most relaxing. Throughout our talk, I found myself saying, quite often, "Ја не разумем много.. " or "I really don't understand very much..." It was humbling.

Here is a clock in Stockholm... and some poor fellow whose job it is to support it.

 Swedish flags! These were near a traditional Swedish restaurant, which I could never, ever afford, even if my monthly paycheck wasn't in Macedonian Denars.

Near the river! This was another really cool old church that I got a chance to photograph. I have this thing for architecture and I miss teaching it at Oklahoma State.

The final leg of my trip took me to Malmo and Copenhagen, which for me was the best part of the entire adventure. I had heard stories about Malmo, and how it was dirty, crime-ridden  and crowded with foreigners. Never have I ever been so wrong. The city is incredibly clean and very modern, yet it maintains its old town medieval charm. While there are many foreign born people in the city, it doesn't feel at all dangerous or unclean. Every type of restaurant, except Korean unfortunately, can be found there, and while it is all still very expensive, its not criminally overpriced like most of Sweden.

Here is Malmo's famous building by Santiago Calatrava, the 'Turning Torso'. I told my host that he should move to an apartment inside and he just laughed and asked if that was more important than eating for the entire month. Yes. Yes it is.

...and here we are again at dusk. I really loved this building, and I took about 40 pictures of it.

 

Hello Copenhagen! I was unaware that a city could be more expensive than Sweden, thank you for proving me wrong. This is the famous port in the city with all the cafes and old style buildings. Its quite pretty.

Apparently you are not supposed to go within 2 meters of the guards, or they can rightfully take your ass out. Nobody told me that... and this gentleman with the fuzzy cap looks quite unhappy on my encroachment into his personal space.

 So. Much. Beautiful. Architecture.

Here is a nice view of Copenhagan from atop on of the towers.I was outraged that I had to pay 2 Euro to climb to the top, but the view may or may not have been worth it.. I will let you decide.

The coolest part of my trip, aside seeing my good friend Rune in Denmark for the whole afternoon, was that I finally had a chance to couch surf while in Malmo. I stayed with a total stranger, based on reviews from two friends and the website, couchsurfing.org, and had the time of my life. My new friend took me around the city, showed me all sorts of cool (and cheap) places to eat, and even cooked pasta one night. I think from now on it will be the only way I stay in foreign cities... You save money and learn about everything from an entirely local perspective - it is really cool.

I think the second best part of the trip though, was visiting Christiana, which is the hardcore hippy commune in Copenhagen. This place is a Libertarian's wet dream. The government doesn't come in to regulate it, so drugs are sold openly in the streets. While there is the general rule of 'no hard drugs', there are still a wide array of different types of marijuana, hash and  mushrooms. While the whole community is controlled by drug cartels; the overall mood is reminiscent of Haight-Ashbury in the late 1960's and people are just happy to hang out. The zero tolerance for cameras however is the only reason I don't have any nice pictures to share with you.

Please enjoy this fountain of a small, silly looking man instead as a consolation prize. Welcome to Scandinavia!

Exchanging Youths on the Shores of Ohrid

Welcome everyone, back to the world's most neglected blog. I realize now that I am writing this in the beginning of October, and it has been over two months since I have added any information about my life in Macedonia. In short, it has been quite busy these few months. The events of summer in Bitola have come to a close. BitFest. the 60 day long multi-cultural event which flooded our city with performances, concerts, art exhibitions and various creative works has finally drawn to a close. Many of the tourists and Macedonian diaspora have returned back to their countries. Throughout the summer, there were more cars from Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria than from Macedonia. Simultaneously, the Sirok Sokok was litered with extended family members returning to Macedonia from Canada, Australia and New Jersey.

Now the question to ask is, 'what does a Peace Corps Volunteer have to do in these last few days of summer while everyone is returning back to their homes?' Youth exchanges! Our organization, Together Macedonia, has been fortunate enough to hold two youth exchanges in the past month; one in the beginning of September and one at the end.

Those of you who are non-European Union citizens may probably be wondering, 'what is a youth exchange?' Well, a youth exchange is an excellent program funded by the Youth in Action project and the European Commission. It is designed to combine workshops with cultural immersion on a variety of different topics. For example, our first exchange lasted for eight days, in the lakeside community of Gradiste, Macedonia. The topic of this exchange was 'I Know my Rights,' and focused mainly on human rights involving migration, marriage equality and global issues such as human trafficking and modern day slavery. For the project, I got to lead the Macedonian team as group leader, which means I was responsible for the well-being of all my participants. Being from the hosting organization, I was also responsible for all the logistical support, organizing people to and from airports and bus stations, as well as leading a tour in the UNESCO protected old town of Ohrid.

Here are some of the best photo's from the exchange:

 This was the sunset from our little villa on the shores of Ohrid. The mountains across the water are in Albania. Very rarely in my life have I been blessed with any site more beautiful than this every evening. The only rain was on the final day when the participants all left back to their home countries; as if Macedonia was lamenting our departure.

Visiting the Ohrid Opstina as a part of our tour. Here we have a traditional band playing while our participants dance in anticipation for the tour ahead of them. 

 The 'Museum on the Water', one of the key tourist attractions in Gradiste. They refused to believe I was a student and charged me a full 100 denars ($2) to enter. I was furious...

...But I found my future house! I convinced a nice family from Negotino to help me take this picture to send to the gf, who ironically, has the exact same picture of herself. It was almost like somebody planned it!

The King and Queen of Gradiste in their royal attire (complete with Ray Bans) and fitted crowns made of leaves. This was an awesome training exercise known as the 'Royal Debate' where the King and Queen chose participants and made them debate moral and ethical questions about European Union and human rights.

Our group (and only Ivan's head) on the night of our bye bye party. What a tremendous group of talented young people. The members from this exchange came from Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Czech Republic and the UK.

Continuing on in the month of September, Together Macedonia held a second exchange, this time located in Bitola rather than along the lake. Unlike the first exchange, the topic of this session was about sports and social inclusion within the European Union. Unfortunately I arrived on the third day after the exchange had already started due to the fact that I was in Sweden on a na gosti (visit) to Uppsala University. (P.S. a full report on the Swedish Adventure is to follow in the coming days).

However, I jumped right into the project as soon as I returned, although due to several delays and poor management by Wizzair, that return was postponed many many hours. Fortunately, all the participants on the exchange were friendly and easy going. While the topic was not as interesting to me as human rights and political freedom, the exchange was still a good time. There were many physical activities included, such as an exhausted trek up the mountain to the lodge of Neolica, a day at the local technical school to use their gym and climbing wall facilities, and of course, another day trip to Ohrid.

Check out some more photos from the second exchange here:

Half of our group after an exciting morning visiting the local Opstina in Bitola. We have participants from Serbia, Albania, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Macedonia.

The weathered and beaten testaments to communism that still reside in various places in Macedonia are my favorite thing about this country. Here we have an awesome old monument commemorating the Partizan's defeating the fascists. The text says „Народ за доен со борбата за слобода, никогаш не умира“ or in English, 'People who nurse with the fight for freedom, can never die.' I dig it.

 Polish participant Daniel, races to the Fico out of sheer excitement. Above, the beautiful skies smile down on such a testament to Yugoslavian craftsmanship.

 The view from Neolica is fabulous. This is about halfway up to the top of the mountain, not the big mountain by the way, the smaller mountain. Still the view is stunning.

Final night on the exchange, so why not learn some Macedonian oro? Here we have the group (trying to) learn the steps to 'Makedonsko Devojche', the most classic oro in all of the country.

These exchanges took a total of three weeks from my life, but they made the month of September just fly by; completely unlike the time spent waiting in the airport to return to Macedonia from Malmo. However, that's a story for a future day.

A Festival for all the Beers

Good evening friends! Mid July is bringing lots of exciting changes in Macedonia. First up, the weather finally feels like summer has arrived. I wake up every morning, completely soaked with sweat in the hot-box that I call my apartment bedroom. 90 Degrees everyday from 9 am? It's still much cooler than living in Oklahoma. While this may seem negative, trust me, it is far better than the blowing cold winters that freeze the Turkish coffees in the gezve (the device for making this type of coffee) and buries the city in a layer of ice and snow.

No no no.. The summer is a much better time. There is tourists everywhere, clogging the thoroughfare on the Sirok Sokok; like the cholesterol from too many Big Macs clogging the arteries of Americans from Maine to Hawaii. Aside from the rampant Australians everywhere in the city, there have been cars pouring in from all over Europe. Like usual, I am extremely excited about seeing these foreign license plates from places which were just names in an Atlas when I was a child. In my building in Bitola, there are two new cars both from Germany in the parking lot. Many Macedonians work in Germany during the year,while still having family here in Bitola. Also, there have been many cars from Sweden, Austria and Switzerland everywhere in the city.

One of the more exciting events that have taken place in the past week has been PIVO FEST, or for those of you in the English world, BEER FEST! Here is the flyer from the event:

Here is our completely incorrect list of available beers. Much to my dismay, Erdinger and Jelen were both missing from this event... My hopes for a delicious German Hefeweizen were crushed.

Despite the lack of German beers, the event was still a much greater variety than I could have asked for in the bars in Bitola. All the major names in Macedonia were present, as well as Union (from Slovenia), Becks (from Germany), Kamenitza (Bulgaria), and Tuborg (Denmark). There was also Lasko! My favorite Serbian beer aside from Jelen, and the beer I am currently drinking as I type this entry. After many many rounds of beers, I would consider the festival a big success, and I will do my best to summarize the days for you all with brief details and hazy memories.

Thursday: Arrival at the event. 4 adventurers (1 American and 3 Macedonians) set out from Bitola in an old Tico from the 1980s. The trip to Prilep is merely a 40 minute drive, filled with beautiful mountains and scenery. We congregate at a PCV's flat outside the center of the city, proceeding to drink rakija and Krali Marko (the Natural Light of Macedonian beers). After some time, we venture to the festival that is full of volunteers and all sorts of friends. We drink approximately 7 or 8 beers throughout the course of the evening. The headlining performance is a group called 2Cellos from Croatia. They give an epic performance and the drunken crowd is pleased. Around 3 I walk across the city after attempting to speak Macedonian with the brewing company from my city. Our host is missing when I return and the guests are sleeping on the stoop.

2 Cellos! Great performance from these awesome Croats! I couldn't get a very good picture from where we were standing but the music was great and everyone had a good time.

Friday: Waking up in an uncomfortably hot sauna with 5 Americans, sleeping on the floor, in chairs and on the small sofa. People open a 2 liter bottle of beer. Another day, another denar. We eat delicious Thai food on the way to the center to meet the other Americans. We play a giant game of chess near the center and drink coffees. I, remember my disaster games of chess versus the ex convicts in Cleveland while working for the CMSD decline to play and watch from the sidelines. Drinking continues throughout the day. Sunburn continues throughout the day. We see a sign that says 'Collect 7 cups, recieve one free beer'. Search all afternoon for the space to deposit our cups to collect said beer. Never exists. By accident at 10 pm, I stumble across the location that distributes the free beers! After hours of carrying cups, I am ecstatic. Accept free Zlaten Dab. Zlaten Dab in Macedonian means 'Golden Dab'. Please don't confuse this with 'Zlatna Zora', which is not a beer, but a right-wing hate group in Greece that targets immigrants and praises Hitler. Continue drinking all evening, return to the apartment. Sleep on floor with kitten named 'Megatron'. 

Team Kumanovo is planning their next move. Step 1) Beer. Step 2) Chess. Step 3) ????? Step 4) Profit?

Saturday: Liver is angry with my life decisions at this point. Decide its best to have a water instead of a beer. Eat a massive pizza near the center. Disappointed with the state of affairs that have led to this choice to eat massive pizza. Sulk to the bus station. Take bus back to Bitola. Guy on bus next to me has the same phone as me (for the record I hate this phone and will never buy an LG again). Point out this interesting fact to the guy with the phone. He shrugs. Chance for making conversation with a stranger ruined. Arrive home in Bitola. Sleep for the rest of the weekend and do not drink any more alcohol until writing this blog.

All in all, the event was pretty successful, and the weather was great. I will finish up with some local pictures from Bitola that were taken recently and some good news with work. Work has been fairly exciting in the past months, mainly due to the flood of activities occuring during the summer festivals. There is always something to do, a performance to watch, and an activity to take part in. For the fall, I have been gearing up to begin my own project in Bitola that is part of the ongoing and successful CLIPS project that essentially is an advanced and professional develop program for interested students who want to learn how to become better suited for the working and academic environment. While the project is still in its planning stages, I have never been more excited to take charge of something like this. I am making this my pet project for the upcoming year and have many goals for it, since it is closely related with my own future goals of working with universities. Lets hope it all goes well!

No big deal here, just me standing on a tank that was formerly in the command of the JNA (Jugoslavian National Army).  Once a machine of war, it is now a favorite for the children to climb on and take photos. I think this is a much more applicable use for several tons of steel.

The encroaching storm as seen from my balcony in Bitola. Its a stunning backdrop for sure. I still wake up in disbelief that I am a Peace Corps Volunteer some days and am lucky to be in such a lovely and dynamic place!

Estonia and Italy and the Beginning of Bit Fest

Well, it has certainly been a long time since I have updated any of my avid readers with some new and tantalizing stories from my Peace Corps travels, so I apologize profusely for so much slacking. Well, after a brief break, I am back in Macedonia and back to our very busy summer schedule of holding workshops and planning events. For two weeks, I was on a work-sanctioned trip to participate in and held organize a youth exchange in Estonia. The best part of work-sanctioned trips means that at no point during this awesome adventure with my counterpart, was I required to use vacation days. On the downside, I was technically still working everyday on activities.

However, the youth exchange was an awesome program and a truly interesting way to meet excited and active young people around the world. For this exchange, we had participants from Estonia, Poland, Turkey, and our group from Slovenia/Macedonia. Sticking people in a small town in rural Estonia is the best way to learn each others cultures and to form great friendships. The theme of this youth exchange was 'Media in Action' and thus the participants were divided into three groups connected to media projects. One group worked on projects related to photography, one with video, and the third group connected them all with social media.

The groups were relatively successful in their categories, however, the most exciting part of the exchange was being able to travel and see both Tallinn and Narva, two very unique and interesting cities in Estonia. Our first day trip with the group took us from our town, Sillamäe, to the very Russian city of Narva. I am going to take a brief second to talk about our town, Sillamäe, first though. During the Soviet days of the USSR, this town was the site of a hidden nuclear research facility, and was what is referred to as a 'closed city'. Closed cities during this era were fairly common, and no one without authorized Kremlin permission was granted access to the town. While most people were upset that we were so removed from civilization, I thought this historical information was incredibly interesting. As a result of this, approximately 95% of the town is Russian, rather than Estonian. The city of Narva however, is closer to 99% Russian, considering it is one of only two border crossings with their former comrades. 

 Here is one of the two border crossings with Russia in the country. Although the Estonia flag looks like its over there, it is on the EU side of the border. I wanted to go across but without paying for the ridiculous visa cost for Americans, it is impossible.

This is the castle at Narva on the Estonia side of the river. It was really old and pretty amazing to visit. I am fairly certain it was built by the Danes in 13th Century. Like Macedonia and South Korea, Estonia has a long history of foreign invaders. 

Here is a photo of the Russian castle across the river. Although we couldn't go, we could still wave at the tourists there and take pictures. It is probably the closest I will ever get to Russia. 

Here is our happy group of Macedonians hanging out in the castle. From here you can see both sides of the river. 

Continuing on our fun adventure, the following Saturday we were given the opportunity to spend the entire day in Tallinn.It was a great adventure and we decided that after the exchange, to spend a few more days in the city to take it all in. The city contains so much interesting architecture and history, including the old defense towers, monumental Russian Orthodox churches, and all sorts of Gothic and Classical style buildings. I won't bore you with the details, just give you some of the pictures from the journey, as well as some pictures of our stay in Sillamäe. 

 Checking out the view from the top of the hill in Tallinn. Awesome view, and in the background you can see the old towers and the steeple of St. Olaf's Cathedral. 

Here is the Russian Orthodox Church that is located conveniently across the street from the houses of Parliament.  So polite and considerate of the Russians to put it so close to their Estonia friend's government offices.

 This picture I just happened to enjoy. It was taken while walking down the narrow alleys that comprise the Old Town, which is in the center of Tallinn.

 Here is one of those very narrow streets mentioned above. This flag is not Estonia, it is from the Lithuanian Embassy that is in Tallinn.

 Gothic towers and  pretty flowers. That is all there is here.

Another narrow alley with the cobblestone street. Like in Macedonia, many of the streets in Old Town are the original cobblestones  It gives a very real feel to the city.

 Back in beautiful Sillamäe, here are the famous 'stairs' that our tourguide claimed to be a Wonder of the World. Town pride has to start somewhere. The town hall in the background is quite stunning though.

 Russian typewriter from the museum. Badass.

 ЖИГУЛИ! Surviving the Cold War and still running.

This is perhaps the single most amazing thing about being in Estonia in June. Its at such a high lattitude that the sun never really sets. This photograph was taken around 11 pm. At 2 am, it becomes a little more dark, however, the sun rises again at 3. Perfect for partying all summer long.

After saying goodbye to Estonia (and my phone charger at the hostel, unfortunately) we were headed off to Milan, where we had a full 26 hours to enjoy the country until we had to leave the next day. Now many of you in America have this beautiful notion of what Milan 'should' be:

    "Wow! Its the fashion capitol of the world!"
    "Milan!? The Center of Culture in Italy and the Renessaince!"

    "Ooooh Italy, the pasta is so good and the lifestyle is wonderful!"

...And then you come back to reality and realize that, yes you are in Italy, and there are more immigrants and tourists than actual Italian people. The over-hyped ideal of the city contrasted to the reality was a complete reminder of being in Paris in 2008. While I truly enjoyed the experience, people overly romanticize these places and imagine them to be something they are not. In reality, Milan is a city of vast 'have's and have-not's, much like New York City, Paris, and London. We met many people who were foreign to the city, searching for a better life by escaping the poverty of their own country, only to be impoverished and homeless living in a new country.

While hiding out at the local McDonald's  we even met a homeless man from Bangladesh, who joined our table, ate our french fries  and blamed me (as an American) for killing of Muslim people worldwide while the media ignored the issue. Inspiring. Sleeping all night in the public park produced many of the same results; with people on drugs being treated by EMTs and a Roma woman who looked approximately 14 years old, going into labor in front of that same McDonalds. All in all, after sleeping for 45 minutes during the entire trip through the country, I can say I have had enough excitement traveling in Italy for a lifetime.

This park was one beautiful exception in Milan Center. In the middle of the concrete (and mostly ornate marble) jungle, this park was wonderful. Many people were riding bikes everywhere in the city!  

 Walking through the city of Milan, there was a huge international festival, despite the fact that everyday is an international festival in this giant mess of a city. We searched for hours and couldn't find the Macedonian flag represented. Here is our good buddy Ilija with the flag of our friendly neighbors over in Albania.

 Lots of coffee, no sleep and the sun is starting to set on the Duomo di Milano. This massive cathedral is one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen, it took 6 centuries to complete, and we had the luxury of sleeping on a bench in front of it!

 Here is our brief nap on that bench next to the cathedral. Overall, there are worse places to be homeless for the night.

 Following our lovely evening as Milano vagrants, we were off on the train towards the East. We had a brief stop in the city of Vicenza, which compared to the cluttered and polluted industrial hub of Milan, it was like being in a beautiful Italian villa. Here are some of the old buildings in the square.

 Vinceza houses along the river bank.

Such a magnificent old bridge! This town is beautiful!

Upon returning to Macedonia, I wouldn't change a thing about our trip. Everything was exactly what an adventure should be. With zero planning, and no expectations, everything turned out to be fabulous. We made a ton of new international friends on this trip, and were given such a wonderful opportunity to learn. Much knowledge was gained about new cultures, and I for one, learned that Estonia has one of the better brewing companies I have sampled since moving to Europe. One day I will go back and buy cases of Saku to smuggle into Macedonia.

Once back in Bitola, things slowly returned to normal, currently we are in the middle of our massive summer festival, Bit Fest, which is a wild two month long festival full of daily concerts, parties, plays, workshops, and various other activities. Recently I have been holding a workshop for drawing comics (something I have zero experience with), and working with youth volunteers to help organize things. It's a real challenge but rewarding, plus it is always better than sitting all day in an office.

I realize this is an overly long blog post, and from now on, I will try to make these posts shorter and more frequent, maybe with pictures and quick descriptions. It is much more intriguing to the reader to see my life, rather than listen to my mundane details and stories.