Week In Review Sabbatical Style: T-5 Weeks

I've got to think of a better way to title these...counting down the weeks like this is both startling and depressing...


I've been wifi-less for a few days but I thought I would throw out a quick review of the week! It's definitely been a good one.

• Countries visited this week: Serbia, Kosovo and (currently) Macedonia. Tomorrow I'll head to Albania. Or...maybe I'll stay here for a while longer...
• I feel like I have some kind of street cred for having been to Kosovo. But really, it's a front--it was perfectly safe there. 
• Southern Serbia is nothing like the north. The bus station at Novi Pazar was a little sketchy. I got out of there quick--took a taxi straight to the Sopocani monastery I was going to stay the night near. The monastery was beautiful and covered in frescos that were hundreds of years old. My hotel, though? I shudder thinking back on it. Thankfully I still had my sleeping sack from the Camino and employed a do-not-make-any-contact-with-any-part-of-this-place policy. 
• I lucked out the next morning and caught a ride back with a guy from Novi Sad who was down in the south visiting the monasteries (I was worried about finding a cab out there in the middle of nowhere). He let me share his cab back to Novi Pazar, went out of their way to get me to the bus station and then refused to let me pay. 
• Most awkward moment of the week? I was sitting under a tree at the monastery when an ant/spider-like creature fell on me. I brushed it off my neck and unfortunately it fell...into my bra. What do you do when you are at a monastery with monks all around, no bathroom or place to hide, and you have a biting ant down your shirt?! I swear. These things only happen to me. 
• I have not succeeded in escape the smoking. (In fact, at the moment, grandpa next to me at the cafe is blowing it straight into my FACE.)
• Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, was nice enough, but it was a furnace. It was in the upper 90s. (And, yes yes, I know it's been in the 100s for weeks now in Texas, but you're not walking around in it all day carrying a backpack with all of your belongings or trying to sleep without AC.)
• Of course the day I left it cooled off. I got to Lake Ohrid, which is higher up, and it was properly cold. It's been sunny during the day, but the nights are chilly. Last night were were sitting around at a cafe and I saw the temp on a sign near by--50 degrees! No wonder my teeth were chattering!
• I met a fun and eclectic group of people at my hostel in Skopje, then, ended up bumping in to all of them again here in Ohrid.  
• I skyped in to a conference back home this week. Granted it was 11pm when I was trying to listen in, but I think it might be official--my brain has turned to mush. 
• Before I left Belgrade I took a day trip to Topola. There's not a whole lot there besides an old church up in a bit of forest outside of town. It was stunning! The Church of St. George was covered in mosaics--40,000,000 pieces worth! In 15,000 colors! 
• Spending the day hiking it up to the monastery through the thick trees gave me a happy flashback to the Camino. (And also an allergy headache.)
• Skopje = one giant construction zone. They are building huge statues, monuments and buildings everywhere. 
• My guide book says that street names are a relatively new thing in Skopje...which might help explain why I got lost who knows how many times (it also didn't help that the 3 maps I had all showed things in completely different places...)
• My favorite thing in Skopje was the Mother Teresa memorial center/museum. She was born in Skopje and the museum was actually really moving and inspiring. The building is built on the site of the old Catholic church in town where she attended and felt called to be a missionary, which I thought was pretty special. 
• Ohrid is really, really beautiful. 
• I'm afraid that I am starting to look like a hippy...I think it's time for a haircut. 
• Cuban food, no matter how enticing it seems, is not a good idea when you are in far away Macedonia. 
• They seem to be a fan of American R&B and hip hop here in Macedonia. I was getting tired of the random 80's mix that seems to be popular elsewhere, so I suppose its a nice change. Although I wasn't too excited to be woken up to someone blaring old school Usher this morning. 
• Similar to that one time in Panama, I got lucky and happened on to a region-wide folk dance festival this week. It was fantastic! 

Hiking up to the church in Topola

Church of St. George

All made of mosaic tiles (made from Murano glass)

From the top of the hill you could see vineyards 

Sopocani Monastery

In Prishtina, Kosovo

My "Cuban" sandwich (cheese, slice of ham, tomatoes and cucumbers...) and rice and beans which I'm pretty sure came premixed from a can

Old bridge in Skopje 

Sunset along the river/construction zone

Mother Teresa statue

I had read that her feet where messed up because she always took the worst pair of shoes so that no one else would have to have them 

Her sari

Lake Ohrid from the window in my room

 

Another look at the lake

OK, that's it for now--more on Ohrid later!

Guess Where I Am?!

Anybody got a guess?

I'm in Kosovo! In Prishtina, the captal. And more specifically? I'm in a proper hotel!

Now, Prishtina doesn't have any international hotels, so this one is still...a little quirky. A little like staying in your rich great-aunt's attic. Yet, after months of hostels and sobe (rented rooms from local grandmas), and especially after the last place I stayed in southern Serbia (which might have been nice in, oh, 1958...and probably had it's carpets cleaned for the last time around that date as well) this place feels like a palace!

A palace with wifi, cable, AC and a bathroom all to myself. I think the last time all these elements collided I was in Cyprus (in March).

(And after watching the news in English for the first time in that long...World, have you fallen to bits while I wasn't looking?!)

Anyway, Prishtina has been surprising. I think eclectic is how I would describe it so far. My first thought, walking around the outskirts, was that it reminded me of a nice section of a Mexican border town--lots of concrete, single story buildings and houses with walls around the front yards. A little further into the center things started to look more European and also a little Turkish. I happened upon what apparently was a city-wide, Tuesday evening carnival/music festival (picture headscarf wearing Grandmas sitting on benches 10 feet away from a mosh pit) complete with just about every kind of street food you can sell. The people have all been friendly, and all seem to speak English (and are really excited when I throw out one of my 5 Albanian words!).

As far as sights go though, there's not too terribly much to see. This means some time sipping coffee reading in cafes, catching up on the downloads which have been piling up, a little laundry and some planning for the rest of my trip (I've been going through the Balkans slowly, but a little faster than I planned. I'm trying to decide how I will use this extra time and make my way from the Balkans up to Zurich to catch my flight home...I have some fun ideas rolling around!).

And, if you are lucky, I might even try to catch up on some blogs!

Mirë u pafshim!