I used to LOVE weekends!
Saturday January 28, 2006
Well, weekends are tough. By 1:30 today I had slept until 8:30, done a longer yoga workout than usual, put in a load of wash, stopped in the American Corner to check email, walked all over town but finding nothing interesting to do, and decided to splurge by spending $24 on a tea pot and a little Moka stove top espresso maker, as well as an International Herald tribune and a Financial Times – the only English language papers available here. Fortunately, it had warmed up a bit in the sun to the high 30’s.
I decided that, at least once, I had to have lunch at McDonald’s, so today was the day, which was my idea of fun – double cheeseburger, fries (unsalted…ick…) and a Sprite for about $3. Diet coke is available, I found out after I had ordered, but not as part of the meal deal and it has to be specifically requested. Mickey D’s also sells beer, the local Skopsko brand. The place is very clean, and the food is brought to your table once the order comes up, as everything is cooked to order, by young women in stylish red skirts and sweaters (red is the official color of Macedonia). Following lunch, I walked some more and I headed back to the American Corner, which closes at 4 pm on Saturdays and 8 pm on weekdays, with an idea of checking the airport schedules to see where I might be able to travel on weekends rather than spend every one here. This is a depressing city, which is quite a sad realization after only being here for 2 weeks. My hope is that when it greens up for spring, it will be a bit more welcoming, as there seem to be a lot of trees and gardens around. That way, at least Skopje would come close to matching its delightful people, who have been universally wonderful to me.
I may go to Prague for the weekend soon – maybe even next weekend. There is a flight leaving mid Friday afternoon and returning late Sunday night. It is no colder in Prague than here, so why not? I found a hotel raved about on Fodor’s Online that is running a February special for a single, non-smoking room with breakfast. My son, though, noted that the youth hostel he stayed in while in Prague last spring was only 8 euros a night – he said he was on a bunk in a room with about 30 other bunks. Not my style. I need some pampering, or at least my own room and bathroom.
From Skopje, I can easily get by air to Frankfurt, Zurich, Budapest and Istanbul, which I want to visit, but I don’t think I want to go to Istanbul alone, as well as Vienna and Rome, where I have visited in the past couple of years. I’m going to check out the trains from Frankfurt and Vienna, as well, and may explore some other areas during future weeks, esp. after I find out my teaching schedules. For instance, I know I can get from Vienna to Salzburg easily and quickly by train.
I did find a little café to frequent, called Broz Kafe. I had passed it many times as it is near my apartment and noted that it was usually busy. I vowed today to try it out. It’s a funky, very colorful and clean Starbucks look-alike with Euro dance music playing, a large non-smoking area on the bottom floor with smoking on the top floor (halleluiah!), a good, large cappuccino for $1.50 and comfortable easy chairs. It has wireless internet available, also. I sense I will become a regular. I had a cappuccino and read my paper for a while to delay coming back to the apartment. It was a good idea.
That’s the whole week. Sunday – yikes – what to do Sunday? Well, I plan to wash the floors in the apartment (oh, I swept the floors today, also) and do another load of laundry – I have to split up the laundry into small loads, as I have no dryer and limited space to dry things. I’ll walk to the RamStore mall and buy the new Economist and a few groceries. I’ll call Peter and Seth later in the afternoon (4 pm my time) and check email and use the internet at the same café where I make the calls. Then home.
Let’s hope I sleep late!
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Which I did, until 8:45. A longer yoga work out and watching CNN helped stretch out the morning, together with washing the floors and putting in a wash. I headed out at about noon, with the through that I would walk across the stone bridge to the old city and climb up to Kale, the ancient fortress that sits above the Vardar River, overlooking Skopje. It was sunny and in the high 40’s in the sun – it felt positively toasty compared to the past few days. However, as I walked across the bridge, to the old city which is also the Muslim part of Skopje, I noticed that all of the people strolling around were men, and many more just hanging around, watching people. I get a lot of attention, thanks to hair and height, and I became a bit intimidated by the scene. So, I turned around, and walked through Makedonski center to the RamStore mall, did some grocery shopping, pick up the new Economist and head back to the Center for lunch at about 2.
I decided to go back to Dal Met Fu, the café where I had lunch last Sunday, as I’m a Norm kind of girl – I like places where everyone knows your name...not that they do there, but I will be the only blond, English-speaking almost-6-ft-woman who regularly lunches there on Sundays, I guarantee. I was seated at the same table as last weekend – my table? – with the same waitress and had a delicious green salad which came with more than just greens - grated cabbage, beets and carrots, as well as cukes, tomatoes, corn, olives and sliced egg - and some of a small cheese pizza, ½ of which I brought home to have for another supper this week. A cappuccino finished off the meal and I headed, about 3 pm, to the internet café for some email checking and calls to my boys. I was able to talk with Peter and Seth, who Peter picked up from a sleep-over at a friends house at 9 am – horrors! – to talk with me. I also had a chance to talk with Bennett for the first time since leaving, which was nice. He urged me to travel on weekends, saying that trick was the way many college students studying abroad got through weekends. The wisdom of my college boy! He had done just that last spring when he visited Prague, so he gave me some ideas of places in that city to visit. He was wonderfully encouraging, which was just what I needed.
Those completed, I paid my $5 for the access and calls and headed home. It takes hard work to find things to do, but at least the walking while lugging the groceries tires me out by the evening and makes arrival at my apartment welcomed. I wonder what’s on Hallmark this evening? I have actually become interested in the Judging Amy reruns and feel involved in their lives. That, and knitting my second scarf in the same number of weeks. But, tomorrow is a “work” day, and I will meet the translator, Dafina, a lovely Macedonian woman with an English degree focusing in translation, who is doing work for me so that I may apply later this week for the visa. We’ll see what the week brings!
PS - Prague's a GO! Leaving Friday afternoon, returning late Sunday night. YAHOO! Hope its better than here...
Well, weekends are tough. By 1:30 today I had slept until 8:30, done a longer yoga workout than usual, put in a load of wash, stopped in the American Corner to check email, walked all over town but finding nothing interesting to do, and decided to splurge by spending $24 on a tea pot and a little Moka stove top espresso maker, as well as an International Herald tribune and a Financial Times – the only English language papers available here. Fortunately, it had warmed up a bit in the sun to the high 30’s.
I decided that, at least once, I had to have lunch at McDonald’s, so today was the day, which was my idea of fun – double cheeseburger, fries (unsalted…ick…) and a Sprite for about $3. Diet coke is available, I found out after I had ordered, but not as part of the meal deal and it has to be specifically requested. Mickey D’s also sells beer, the local Skopsko brand. The place is very clean, and the food is brought to your table once the order comes up, as everything is cooked to order, by young women in stylish red skirts and sweaters (red is the official color of Macedonia). Following lunch, I walked some more and I headed back to the American Corner, which closes at 4 pm on Saturdays and 8 pm on weekdays, with an idea of checking the airport schedules to see where I might be able to travel on weekends rather than spend every one here. This is a depressing city, which is quite a sad realization after only being here for 2 weeks. My hope is that when it greens up for spring, it will be a bit more welcoming, as there seem to be a lot of trees and gardens around. That way, at least Skopje would come close to matching its delightful people, who have been universally wonderful to me.
I may go to Prague for the weekend soon – maybe even next weekend. There is a flight leaving mid Friday afternoon and returning late Sunday night. It is no colder in Prague than here, so why not? I found a hotel raved about on Fodor’s Online that is running a February special for a single, non-smoking room with breakfast. My son, though, noted that the youth hostel he stayed in while in Prague last spring was only 8 euros a night – he said he was on a bunk in a room with about 30 other bunks. Not my style. I need some pampering, or at least my own room and bathroom.
From Skopje, I can easily get by air to Frankfurt, Zurich, Budapest and Istanbul, which I want to visit, but I don’t think I want to go to Istanbul alone, as well as Vienna and Rome, where I have visited in the past couple of years. I’m going to check out the trains from Frankfurt and Vienna, as well, and may explore some other areas during future weeks, esp. after I find out my teaching schedules. For instance, I know I can get from Vienna to Salzburg easily and quickly by train.
I did find a little café to frequent, called Broz Kafe. I had passed it many times as it is near my apartment and noted that it was usually busy. I vowed today to try it out. It’s a funky, very colorful and clean Starbucks look-alike with Euro dance music playing, a large non-smoking area on the bottom floor with smoking on the top floor (halleluiah!), a good, large cappuccino for $1.50 and comfortable easy chairs. It has wireless internet available, also. I sense I will become a regular. I had a cappuccino and read my paper for a while to delay coming back to the apartment. It was a good idea.
That’s the whole week. Sunday – yikes – what to do Sunday? Well, I plan to wash the floors in the apartment (oh, I swept the floors today, also) and do another load of laundry – I have to split up the laundry into small loads, as I have no dryer and limited space to dry things. I’ll walk to the RamStore mall and buy the new Economist and a few groceries. I’ll call Peter and Seth later in the afternoon (4 pm my time) and check email and use the internet at the same café where I make the calls. Then home.
Let’s hope I sleep late!
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Which I did, until 8:45. A longer yoga work out and watching CNN helped stretch out the morning, together with washing the floors and putting in a wash. I headed out at about noon, with the through that I would walk across the stone bridge to the old city and climb up to Kale, the ancient fortress that sits above the Vardar River, overlooking Skopje. It was sunny and in the high 40’s in the sun – it felt positively toasty compared to the past few days. However, as I walked across the bridge, to the old city which is also the Muslim part of Skopje, I noticed that all of the people strolling around were men, and many more just hanging around, watching people. I get a lot of attention, thanks to hair and height, and I became a bit intimidated by the scene. So, I turned around, and walked through Makedonski center to the RamStore mall, did some grocery shopping, pick up the new Economist and head back to the Center for lunch at about 2.
I decided to go back to Dal Met Fu, the café where I had lunch last Sunday, as I’m a Norm kind of girl – I like places where everyone knows your name...not that they do there, but I will be the only blond, English-speaking almost-6-ft-woman who regularly lunches there on Sundays, I guarantee. I was seated at the same table as last weekend – my table? – with the same waitress and had a delicious green salad which came with more than just greens - grated cabbage, beets and carrots, as well as cukes, tomatoes, corn, olives and sliced egg - and some of a small cheese pizza, ½ of which I brought home to have for another supper this week. A cappuccino finished off the meal and I headed, about 3 pm, to the internet café for some email checking and calls to my boys. I was able to talk with Peter and Seth, who Peter picked up from a sleep-over at a friends house at 9 am – horrors! – to talk with me. I also had a chance to talk with Bennett for the first time since leaving, which was nice. He urged me to travel on weekends, saying that trick was the way many college students studying abroad got through weekends. The wisdom of my college boy! He had done just that last spring when he visited Prague, so he gave me some ideas of places in that city to visit. He was wonderfully encouraging, which was just what I needed.
Those completed, I paid my $5 for the access and calls and headed home. It takes hard work to find things to do, but at least the walking while lugging the groceries tires me out by the evening and makes arrival at my apartment welcomed. I wonder what’s on Hallmark this evening? I have actually become interested in the Judging Amy reruns and feel involved in their lives. That, and knitting my second scarf in the same number of weeks. But, tomorrow is a “work” day, and I will meet the translator, Dafina, a lovely Macedonian woman with an English degree focusing in translation, who is doing work for me so that I may apply later this week for the visa. We’ll see what the week brings!
PS - Prague's a GO! Leaving Friday afternoon, returning late Sunday night. YAHOO! Hope its better than here...
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