GOING POSHTA IN MACEDONIA!!

Adding to the List of Things that Macedonia Does Better than the U.S. must include the post office experience.  Gone are the days when the hardest decision was choosing the bird picture stamps or the ones with the tropical frogs.  This is now replaced by time-travel, inscrutable operations and entering a zen state.

First - Time travel.  Here in Gevgelija we have the city center and the main post offices.  The center post office is a small nondescript office between a bank and a T-Mobile store.  So far, so good, right?  This office only helps with letters and anything like a package is shunned like a plague rat.  The only place where a package can be sent or picked up, is - - 1960's Yugoslavia!  The main office is a massive concrete monolith replete with odd concrete projections that look like a spaceship model out of a B-movie set.  It has not been touched since the 1960's and all the efficient systems developed in that time are still in effect.  Upon entry, you are back in time, in a large room with marble slab floors, columns that rise 20 feet to a ceiling adorned with non-working blinking lights, and counters, many, many counters.  Behind the counters are many people, none of whom appear to work at the post office.

Now that you have entered an alternate universe, things get inscrutable.  Getting help takes some creativity.  There are no lines, so people tend to cluster around a counter window that seems to have a person making official movements.  If you show any sign of hesitation toward a window, others move in front of you.  Mailing items is not for the hesitant, the uncertain or the weak.  Once you do get to a window and present a package the reaction is usually one of surprise.  Each time is a surprise, so I believe the post office has like, infinite personnel turnover.  After the shock wears off a bit, the package is usually hefted, carefully observed, then left on the counter for a bit while other business is attended to. This inscrutable behavior seems to be to allow your package time to re-consider its surprise attempt at being mailed.  If the package shows no sign of retreat, then the weighing, re-weighing, stampings, looking up inscrutable information on lists on clip pads, more weighings, initialling, a group discussion and finally the application of labels.  You know that this inscrutable but important event is about to happen when the small paste container comes out.  All the paste containers that you used back in 3rd grade have made it to 1960 Yugoslavia, thank God.  The little brush thingy comes out, and, wait for it . . . . the serious pasting of labels commences.  For this activity alone, I want to work there.  After payment, which is different every time, even if the package is the same size and going to the same place; you exit the building.  I actually enjoy going to the post office and know I will get the hang of this.  Other people seem to be able to mail stuff.  I believe that achieving a level of calm and acceptance for things that are inscrutable is necessary.  Zen may be the answer.  

So - if you receive a package from Macedonia, consider the long process that has occurred inside a building that looks like a bad movie set and ends with the ceremonial gluing of the label.  Our mail process is a team sport that has twice the drama and all of the paste.   All you have are the tropical frogs.  Ciao,  Al

SPRINGTIME IN MACEDONIA

It's springtime in Gevgelija and it's absolutely beautiful. The sun is warmer, the breezes gentle (unless it's a windy day, in which case it'll blow you away!!), and all the traditional signs of spring are evident and I thought I'd share them with you!

First, as you can see, the flowers are beautiful! These flowers bedeck a stone wall on my way to school, and actually hide a yard that contains nothing but tulips and daffodils. The roses are out now; it seems early to me but I'll take it! We saw kiwi flowers today and the figs are starting to get plump on the trees.

And the storks are back!! Gevgelija and the surrounding villages are so proud of their returning guests.We have seven nests that I know of within five minutes walking time. The parents find their nests from previous years, do a little remodeling, place a stick with green leaves attached to serve as a warning that this nest is taken, and then sit and hatch four eggs that will become loud, chattering, indignant babies in about six weeks.We haven't heard them yet but have been told that we will! We also have like a zillion birds of eastern Europe that we haven't seen or heard before...it's wonderful!

And along with baby storks we also have puppies! There are a lot of street dogs here..they pretty much just sleep wherever they want, whenever they want on the streets...and sometime this lack of supervision can result in...pregnancy! This sweet little black lab mix who lives on our street choose to have her NINE babies in our back shed.  They were absolutely adorable but no one in their right mind has nine children at once, and after watching her trying to take care of these babies we know why! Now the babies have a new home and mom has a new yellow tag in her ear that means she's been fixed..and I'm pretty sure from some of the eyeball rolling she did around her pups that she's okay with that!

And last but not least, the fruits and vegetables are beautiful..and inexpensive. This display on our table is from our friend Maria's green grocery. Just about every other corner has at least one green grocery and the produce is lovely. It's a variety of fruits and veggies from Macedonia, Greece and Turkey right now. And like I said..cheap. These cost just under three dollars and are delicious!

Not sure what summer will be like but I can tell you that Allan and I are already looking forward to the next lovely spring we will experience here..come join us!

PEACE CORPS SLOVENIA!!

Hello dear friends and greetings from Ljubljana, Slovenia! Allan and I are having a fine adventure and want to share it with you.
So....this is Orthodox Easter weekend in Macedonia and we had some time off, so decided to fly to Ljubljana for the long weekend, and such a great decision that was. This is our first trip out of Macedonia and,I must say, we were sad to leave our new home. But once we got on the airplane, our love of travel came back to us!

Why Ljubljana?! Twenty years ago we hosted our first German exchange student for a year. Andre was a delight, and now,twenty years later, he is still a delight, living and working in Ljubljana with his wife, Shokouh. So we've had the grand tour of Slovenia.

Ljubljana is amazing...clean, friendly, convenient and inexpensive. Lots of bridges, castles, history, good food. Ice cream is the go to treat here..everyone but everyone walks around with delicious looking ice cream cones, may have to try one of them!

Yesterday we drove the hour to the Adriatic Sea. We walked along the coast from portoros to pirano, about three miles. The coast is beautiful, we could see both Italy and Croatia, enjoyed the walk and delicious coffee drinks!

And the towns! Castles, churches, bell towers...cute dogs, ice cream eating people, open air markets with wheels of cheeses and breads that are six feet long...all with the back drop of the Adriatic Sea.

And on the way home? Tons of bonfires burning in the dark! Everywhere you looked, from farm yards to town squares to the tops of mountains were huge bonfires! It seems that April 30th is the day to celebrate the end of winter and the arrival of May 1, or May day, and the Slovenians celebrate with bonfires and parties into the night. I was sad not to be invited to join in the parties, but now that I know when they occur, there's always next year!

Today...cave touring and castle exploring and that's enough about that because Allan and I need to get some food so we can get some sleep! Too much fun, too much adventure. As the slogan says..We feel the LOVE in sLOVEnia...Time for you guys to visit here and feel that love, too!