A visit from Matt and Hugo

My buddies Matt and Hugo and Matt's fiancé, Vicki, explored the western part of Macedonia for their last bit of vacation. One of their last stops was in my quaint town of Gostivar. Gostivar may not be the most exciting or beautiful place, but for me it is outstanding because there are people living there, which was hardly the case at my last site. For me, Gostivar is seriously satisfying urban dwelling.

For Hugo and Matt's visit I decided a good way to see the place and get to know a little piece of life for me would be to come to work with me. We went on a field visit (which actually took us out of Gostivar, but we got to see a lot of the town from the car). We went to visit a farm in Kicevo where the owner is interested in building a new barn. Here is a photo of the a sheep from the barn.

Lunchtime!

After chit-chatting with the farmers, checking out the sheep and the sheep dogs (there were puppies!) we went to Lunch at the place where Luli and I always go when we are in Kicevo. There is a waiter that works there who lived in Stuttgart and speaks german. Luli told him I speak German (which I hardly do anymore) and now the waiter insists on speaking to me in German. Its pretty funny. In this picture Luli and Hugo are enjoying their meals, and Matt is just watching them I guess.

The Beginning of the Vardar

On our way home we were passing the village of Vrutok, where Luli was born. It is also the place where the Vardar river begins, the vardar is the river that runs through Macedonia. Luli took us through the village and showed us the springs that start the vardar. Me and Hugo are in this picture. He is a big guy.

Fish Restaurant!

Before we went back to Gostivar we stopped and had coffee at a restaurant that is right next to a fish farm. They catch the fish for you, show it to you (while its still living) and then cook it up afterward. Here we are in front of the fishpond.

Baby Steps

I forgot this happened, but I must report! Right before I departed for Istanbul I was doing some work in my apartment and I had the back door open to my deck. I heard a knock at the door and my neighbor Zora came in. She ASKED me if she could put her laundry up on my side. Amazing. I said of course and I thanked her for asking if she could use my side of the deck.

I win.

Turkey Time!

My trip to Turkey was outstanding--getting there and back was not the most delightful (12+ hour bus-ride with a bunch of chain-smokers who have no regard for those of us who don't enjoy second-hand smoke) but the trip itself was great.

The goal of my adventure was just as much to hang out my friend from graduate school, Tamar, as to see the city of Istanbul. I lucked out in the very beginning because I was able to stay at the hotel where Tamar and her colleagues were having their annual staff retreat. She arrived 2 days prior to the retreat so we were able to spend a lot of time together--and the man in charge of her project has a soft spot in his heart for PCVs so he invited me to join them for their evening staff dinners and team building activities, which was great.

The first day we went to the Grand Bazaar and I watched Tamar and her colleague friend stump everyone while they strategized bargaining in Georgian. I don't know if you've ever heard the Georgian language, but it really sounds like no other language I've heard before. It was pretty amusing watching the shop owners bargain with them, Tamar and Nino have their system down to perfection. I just stood there silently trying to not give away the fact that I was American so if I did want to buy something I wouldn't be expected to pay really high prices. The building of the grand Bazaar was beautiful.

Pictured here is me and Tamar in the beginning of our Bazaar exploration.

corn salesman

On our first day we also visited the gardens between the blue Mosque and the Aya Sophia (or Hagia Sofia as we it was referred to Frau Loos' art history in Salzburg). There were a lot of people lounging in the gardens drinking tea and eating corn that was being sold by a boy with a little corn cart (pictured below).

Hanging out in Asia

The following day Tamar's friends wanted to head to the part of Istanbul that is considered Asia, they'd never been before and had already seen the other sites in their previous visits to Istanbul. I didn't object because I had the next few days to see the sites while they would be cooped up for training and meetings. It was pretty much like any other big city there with a lot of shops and stores and stuff. Tamar and I got to hang out a lot though, so that was great.

When we returned we headed out in our neighborhood--we were staying in Taksim, a newer area of Istanbul--and we wandered around, visited Starbucks (which made me a little homesick) and explored the our neighborhood.

Pictured here is Tamar and her colleague friend Kristina in an area about 15 minutes away from our hotel

we rested a bit in the gardens...

Tamar and her colleague Nino pose in the gardens...

I got to know Tamar's work friends

That evening everyone from the organization arrived and they had an orientation meeting and dinner. Afterward we went out for a drink and I got to meet Tamar's colleagues a little more in depth, they are a great group of people, she is lucky to work with such nice folks. Pictured here are her colleagues from Budapest, me and Tamar.

First day solo in Istanbul

The next day the big meetings began as did my solo investigation of Istanbul. I decided in the beginning that I would take the bus as a way to cut down on travel costs (taxis) and when I arrived at the bus station it was a bit challenging but I managed a bus ride to the hotel. As I started to hop on the bus headed toward the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia I noticed that this bus operated differently though--I couldn't pay, I had to use tickets. I tried to figure out what the deal was but I don't speak Turkish so I was a little concerned.

Then a man on the bus sitting next to a woman spoke up and asked me if needed any help. I told him my situation and he spoke with some girls that were seated behind him and they gave me a bus ticket. I was totally surprised. It turned out that the man, Mehmet was Turkish, from the Kurdish region, but emigrated to the UK twenty-some odd years ago. He was with his 3 daughters and his youngest sister, the girls aunt. I stayed on the bus not knowing exactly where to go and when we neared some mosques I asked the girls when I should get off the bus. They told me they were headed there too, so I should just get off the bus when they did, so I followed them. Once we arrived they asked me what my plans were and I said I wanted to see Aya Sophia and the Blue mosque and from there I didn't know. They told me just to follow them. We got in line to buy tickets to Aya Sophia and the Mehmet managed to get ahead of me in the line.

He came back to his wife, sister and daughters and then called me over to join them--he had bought us all tickets. From that point on they took me all around the city with them, showing me everything and not allowing me to pay for anything. At one point Mehmet told me he was surprised I was alone and told me to be very careful because people would try to cheat a young girl alone. It was really fun hanging out with their family, the girls were hilarious, they were 9, 14 and 16 and it was really funny to watch them interact. We first saw the Aya Sophia, then we wandered around the gardens outside the Blue Mosque.

Pictured here are Mehmet's Daughters the youngest (I forgot her name) Imran, me and Rose. We are inside the Aya Sophia on the stairs near the hallway leading to the second floor.

The Blue Mosque

After prayer time finished we went into the Blue Mosque. We had to cover our head (which I thought made the experience a little more interesting) and the daughters began telling me how they were not at all religious and they didn’t like that women had to cover their head. It was interesting hearing this—and then Mehmet said the same thing to me a few minutes later which was kind of funny.

Pictured here is the blue mosque from the outside

inside the blue mosque

And here is an inside view...

the tomb of Sultan Ahmet

After the Blue Mosque we went into the tomb of Sultan Ahmet, the Blue Mosque's great Patron.

Pictured here are the girls and me inside.

walked around the hippodrome

Afterward we wandered around the hippodrome, a large park with a number of monuments which served as the center of Byzantine life for 1000 years and then another 400 years during the reign of the Ottomans.

This picture was taken in the hippodrome after the girls put my scarf on my head the way the Kurdish people wear their scarves

time to go...

Afterward we had lunch at a cafe on the street, wandered around some more and then took the bus back to Taksim, the part of town where we were all staying. I said good-bye once we arrived at our stop and I consider myself pretty lucky to have met such great people.

Pictured here are Mehmet's Daughters: The youngest (whose name escapes me,) Rose and Imran

Bowling?

Once I got back I met up with Tamar and headed back into our neighborhood for a bit, then returned to the hotel to meet up with everyone. We then went to dinner and afterward bowling for staff team-building.

Pictured here is Tamar with her lucky ball.

basilica cistern

The next day I headed out to see some more sites I walked from my part of town, Taksim, to Sultan Ahmet--the same place where I was the previous day. I wanted to see the basilica Cistern but first I visited a large park near Topkapi Palace and enjoyed the view of the Bosphorus. I then walked along the Bosphorus for a good hour and then decided I needed to hit my site before I got way to tired (it was really hot, too).

The Basilica Cistern was really cool. 336 columns in 12 neat rows. It was used to store water for the great palace and other buildings in the area, but was eventually closed and then completely forgotten about. It was rediscovered in the late sixteenth century by a scholar who was researching Byzantine antiquities--but the Ottomans didn't do much with it, and it in fact became a bigger dumping ground for everything including corpses (gross). Interest in the cistern rose again and restoration began in 1955 and again in 1960 and it was then better maintained. In 1985 it was totally cleaned and renovated and is now a hot tourist attraction. I think was my favorite site.

Pictured here are some of the 336 columns.

more columns

And here is another view of the columns, I liked these.

On the Bosphorus

Later that day I headed back and met up with Tamar and her colleagues. We then went on a dinner cruise on the Bosphorus which was outstanding!

Pictured here are Tamar and I at the beginning of the cruise.

Another photo from the Bosphorus Cruise...

This was a great view...

then I headed home...

Here is one last photo from the Bosphorus, the fortress at night

And then it was time for me to go home...

I awoke the next day feeling kind of funny--and unhappy because I had to leave later that day, and endure another 12+ hour bus trip. As the day wore on I felt progressively worse and ended up not seeing anything on my last day in Istanbul. Tamar came back and we hung out for a bit and then I had to head to the bus station. Once there I decided I should wait outside so I could get a few last breaths of fresh-ish air (since the bus would be utterly smoke-filled). I had a fine spot in the shade of the bus but it was pretty warm.

I should have realized that I wasn't particularly healthy at this point, but I didn't. After standing around for what seemed like 4 hours but was more like 30 minutes, I fainted, landing on my backpack and awaking to a large man who works for the bus company carrying me into the station and making me drink water. I drank a ton of water, ate more ibuprofen than anything else on the trip home and somehow managed to get back with only wretched stomach aches and nothing worse. Once home I became ridiculously ill which rivaled the time I had Giardia during training, welcome home. But I am fine now.

500 YEARS!

I am soon headed to Turkey to rendezvous with my good friend Tamar from graduate school. Tamar is from the Republic of Georgia (Tbilisi, not Atlanta) and works for a Soros project there. I have a significant amount of vacation days left and I found out she will be there for a work conference, but with two days and every evening free, so we will be able to spend some quality time hanging out.

When she is stuck in meetings I will be free to scamper about the city investigating the sites on my own. I hear this may be better than if I were with additional people because I may blend in more, enduring less harassment from carpet salesmen etc. I don’t think I look particularly Turkish, but my time here in Macedonia has proven to me that my ethnicity is not an open and shut case. Everyone thinks I am from somewhere else, and the US is rarely a guess. Most commonly I am asked if I am Slovenian (in fact the men at the bus station all call me “Slovenka” which means Slovenian girl) but I have also been asked if I am Polish, Russian, German, French and many months ago a taxi driver in Skopje asked me if I was Turkish.

I will take many pictures and remember stories to delight you all upon my return.

The Wine & Cheese Festival

The Wine and cheese festival finally happened (July 30 and 31) and a lot of the stress is now relieved. The event (or manifestation, as it is usually amusingly translated) itself was a success with 9 wineries represented and 11 Cheese producers (including 5 associations, way to go guys!) improving their name and product recognition and market position within the domestic wine and cheese sales market here in Macedonia.

My Cheese guys were actively sampling and selling their products which was very exciting to watch and some previously unknown wineries got their name out there so that was a success.

Unfortunately, a main goal of mine was not achieved. This was the second "annual" festival and it was supposed to be a chance for the sheep breeders to plan the event themselves, with coaching from an aid project staffer and myself. Well, that didn't happen exactly as planned.

It was pretty much all done for them and they learned next to nothing, which is really frustrating to me. As I write the report in the next two weeks (I like that I am charged with that responsibility, huh?) I plan on being brutally honest regarding exactly what happened so this DOES NOT happen again. I have also consulted with the aid project staffer with whom I collaborated and I am pretty sure he understands my problem with the whole thing and we agreed that when he returns from his vacation we will write a DETAILED action plan, complete with calendars, contact info, activities, arrangements with government officials etc., so the sheep-breeders can replicate the event (God willing) next year. All in all it was a great event, but I am still left with feelings of disappointment.

Here the Fonko Winery is setting up their booth.

Regional Folk Dancers Provide a Bit of Entertainment

Shortly after the festival began a group of folk dancers from the region dazzled us with their beautiful dancing and music.

Milazim samples his cheese

Milazim is one of the best members, he is very active and a stellar participant in all of our trainings. He sold all of his cheese both days, what a superstar!

Crowd Pleasing Cheese from Gostivar

Another Favorite Sheep-breeder of mine is a man who everyone calls Uncle Reshat. Mr. Reshat is a cute little sheep-breeder from Gostivar who knows his trade like nobody else, and he is an active association member (which makes me like him even more).



Here he samples his product to a cheese connisieur, Patty, another PCV in Struga.