Sweet Rides of Macedonia - January

A Year of Sweet Rides of Macedonia.

The Balkans have a large variety of old vehicles left over from the former glory days of empire.  Many are still around, and many of these have ended up in Macedonia.  Some still run, some are run to ground and some have been re-purposed.  Here is a collection to keep you company all year, one for each month.  I've done my best to identify the make and approximate year of each, but wear, user customization or just automotive error have thrown me off in some cases.  So, presenting:

MS JANUARY

Proudly representing this month is a group of vehicles manufactured in Serbia - the (in) famous Zastava.  This 767cc workhorse was made between 1959 to about 1980 when the factory then ran out of tiny lego blocks from which they were built.  No, even though it was aligned with Fiat, it ran out of economic gas, but was eventually resurrected by massive capital infusions by Fiat.  

Here is a 750.   It was the smallest they made.  I'd guess 1965.  My wife is much younger.

You'll find Zastava/Fiats all over Macedonia.  They are very cute and still serving their owners.  Some of the early models had doors that opened from the front toward the rear.  I think most of these have since killed their owners and the regular door versions are most common.

In front of the train station in Gevgelija.  The sweet luggage rake option sets this one apart.

Here is one that can no longer offer a sweet ride due to 4 flat tires.  It is still useful as a brace for a pile of bricks with gravel holding up the rear.

Many of these beauties have interiors of cloth seats, astroturf seats, wood seats, no seats, or mostly metal frames.  Coolness, not comfort is the important feature when you have the Zastava Sweet Ride!

Thank you Ms January!

Gluhwein and Christmas Greetings

Kathy and I had the great good fortune to visit Germany in early December.  Now, at this time of year, Germany is decked out in its finest Christmas attire. Germany seems to have invented Christmas, and they do it right!  They are, like, the Japan of Christmas - the whole country is so - dang -  cute!  There are Christmas markets, lighted towns, lighted trees, lighted houses with cute little wooden displays, Christmas foods, Christmas church services, Christmas drinks, and all with the renowned German efficiency.  This trip all began 50 years ago . . .


Back when the glaciers had recently melted, and I was in high school, our family hosted an exchange student from Germany - Thomas Von Cube.  Tom stayed with us for the senior year, and went back to Germany to study psychiatry, become a doctor, marry Irina who had also spent a HS year in the US, and raise a fine family in Kirkheim Unter Teck, Germany.  We've kept in touch over the years and we hosted his oldest daughter, Julia, for her senior year when we lived in Boise.  We both have visited each other many times over the years, with this most recent visit of ours to Germany.   One of our wishes was to visit Germany during the cute season, and being so close now in Macedonia - why not?  Here are a few of the fun things we packed in to 5 days.

 A trip to the medieval town of Esslingen to the Christmas market there.












Proof that Kathy and I were there and these are not National Geographic photos. . . .

 Gluhwein and Irish Punch.  Both packed a good punch.

Irina and Kathy, standing up well to the punch.

I salute the market in Tubingen with more punch!

We climbed the hundreds of stairs to look down on Esslingen and the market in the snow.  

We were amazed by the beautiful things

Special breads

Special statues of famous people, long forgotten

Disco-Santa spun the hits

Even the kitsch could not detract from the awesome Christmas markets

There was something for everyone, whether your taste ran to the wild;











Or the beautifully healthy,

Or, if you needed "hardware" made of pure chocolate!

Everything was special

Everything was irresistible

Made special by special friends, Tom and Irina (during a visit to MAK, earlier)

We had a special time, and got to enjoy a wonderful visit in the second-cutest country in the world (after Japan).  We are thankful for our life-long friendship with the von Cubes and look forward to the next round of Gluhwein!  

Al

WORK- IT'S WHAT WE DO....BUT NOW, FROM KATHY'S PERSPECTIVE!

Hello dear friends and family!  You recently received a blog posting from Allan, explaining what his work here in Gevgelijia with the Peace Corps looks like.  He has big projects, doing exciting things and making a big difference.  But when you join the Peace Corps they tell you that yours is a single story, that everyone's story will be different.  And they are so right!  Allan and I may live in the same town in the same house at the same time...but what we do for work is so  different!

First...what could turn a perfectly nice, Badger Mountain  climbing woman.......








Into a woman that looks like this......

       Peace Corps Macedonia!!

So my official title as a Peace Corps volunteer is Primary Level Teacher Trainer.  What that means is that I get to work with some great Macedonian teachers who teach English at the elementary level, introducing new ideas in curriculum, classroom management, and best practices.  But really, what that means, is that we get to learn how to have fun and learn English all at the same time.  I mostly work with first and second graders, so for many of them, this is their first experience with English.  We do all we can to make this experience fun...we sing, we dance, we make fruits and vegetables, pretend we are animals, we play games and we do lots of talking!

My regular school is a big one.  I have about 25 kids per class, so we are jumping around like crazy to reach all these guys.  My village schools that I work at are much smaller.... I am including a picture of the entire second grade class in the entire school! This is little Mrzentzi, a village about three miles from my other school, smack dab in the  middle of leek fields.  I love it there!

As a Peace Corps volunteer we also have what are called secondary projects.  These are projects that you take on in addition to your regular work, and for many volunteers these are the fun ones. I am busy.....I work with special needs students...

I work with Glow Girls, which is an international Peace Corps initiative promoting leadership skills in high school age girls......

I teach yoga to adult women and to teenage girls...this is one of my favourite activities because exercise, physical fitness, and health are not areas that women have much time to spend thinking about.  For all of my students this was their first foray in to yoga and I will say they are my JOGA BOJHITZI....translated means yoga goddesses!  

There is so much to do here!  I also have had conference for young women addressing positive self image and worked on the traveling camps that go around Macedonia in the summer times, bringing camp like activities and English language to youngsters.

But maybe the thing that is best are all the personal connections I have every day....I must say hello in English a hundred times a day, to students, to their families, to shopkeepers, to neighbours.  

I have 

been lucky here to work with  these amazing women,

to have an amazing Macedonian family,

                                   

                                 
                                 and to have Allan, my number one fan and supporter!  Zhivot e dobro!

When You Get Here - Head West

Hello again, this is Allan.  Liz and her kids were here for the past few, whirlwind weeks and I have to share just a small part of what we did.  With Liz, Henry, Alice and Gus here, things really heated up on the travel front.  We visited a number of places in Macedonia, then Greece, and finally a stay in western MAK in the small village of Janche.  We had an incredible time everywhere, but Janche was worth a separate call-out.  So, here is a bit about an amazing mountain village.  

Janche is a mixed village (Christian/Muslim) that hangs on a mountainside in the Mavrovo Region.  It is small, maybe a hundred persons, and is similar to many other mountain villages in this area.  Most were settled hundreds of years ago, the people raised sheep and goats, and they got along quite fine for a long, long time.  Now, people still get along fine, but visitors are the important crop.  Fortunately, their way of life is still important and we got to experience some of it first-hand.  We stayed in the hotel Tutto, run by Mr. Tutto, who works to restore many of the old buildings in the village using the old methods.  His place was new, and quite excellent.  Below is the view to Janche from our room balcony.

In the parking lot was this old Renault.  Nice paint job and nicer person striking a striking pose.  These cars, sans the sporty paint-job, are everywhere in Macedonia, still running, still hauling 2 people and as many chickens as will otherwise fit.  

The restaurant terrace at Tutto.  We ate there every morning, wonderful local food, fruit, honey and berries. 

 A street in Janche.  The one on the right is actually pretty fancy as it is paved with blocks.  I prefer dirt, but I guess there must be some progress after 300 years.  The mountains in the background hold many other small villages, some "mixed," others either Christian or Muslim.  Progress may have been made on paving some streets, but villages are still classified based on religion - exactly as they were 500 years ago.  

Some of the modes of transportation seemed almost as old as the homes.

 This house below was my favourite. It is very large, abandoned, made with variety of stones from the near-by river, then switched to mountain stone and back to river stone and shows great craftsmanship.  It does need a bit of work, however.

 Liz had a car, a rare treat for a Peace Corp person.  We went for a ride to a nearby town and hiked into Waterfall Duff.  I didn't name it - thats what it is called.  The hike in was easy and even a duffer like me made it fine.  It was a beautiful gorge trail for much of the way.




Waterfall Duff was beautiful, and this image does not do it justice.  It comes out of cleft in the rock, and falls in 2 sections for about 50'.  It is cold, cold, cold.   The upper falls came out of section of the cliff that was blocked by a huge bolder.  The lower falls was a fine cold, cold, cold shower.  Some souls braved the chill for a total mountain wake-up experience.

Kathy was the first in.  When you went in you could say no words.

We also went to St John the Baptist Monastery in the area.  It is old, around the 11th C, but rebuilt a few times over the turbulent Macedonian history.  We were not allowed to take pictures in the church, but this was the most impressive church we've seen in Macedonia and we've seen a lot!  

Here is Alice drinking from one of the several very large springs in the church grounds.  

 . . .to this.

St John chapel, looking across the valley. . .

Nearby is a seldom visited old stone arch bridge.  Some say Roman, but it is probably Turkish, and little is known about it.  It is an impressive span about 40' above a river, taller than many nearby trees, but only about 11' wide.  It looks like a path through the woods, until you realise you are on a slim, very tall bridge.  Not a rock out of place that I could see.  Excellent masons!

At the end of a hot day, a quick dip in the Radika River.  Cold and clear.

Finally, here we be.  This is a shot from our trip to Greece at our 42nd anniversary dinner.  Blue ocean, freshest seafood, beautiful wife.  This is fun!  Came and get some for yourself!!

Al