Getting Settled in Skopje

So on the Friday we arrived, we were starving and tired.  After we dropped the luggage in our apartment, Victorija took us to the Vesar (Pearl) Center for breakfast and to buy enough food for Saturday’s breakfast.  That was pretty much it.  We slept, ate some yogurt, slept.

So we finally woke up late on Saturday and began to look around us.  We have a lovely apartment with a view to mountains and sunsets.

From our balcony to the mountains

But all the windows had closed narrow blinds.  We opened the doors and found it was a lovely day, so we decided to walk around our neighborhood.  But first let me show you our home.

David in the kitchen

Dining in the sunshine

We started by having a cup of cappuccino each in a coffee shop in our local Shopping Center.  Then we got directions to the bank Heinz said would work with us in English, but found that they close at 1 on

Living room and balcony with laundry

Saturday.  So we walked back home and discovered within 3 blocks of home is a greengrocer with fresh veg and fruit and a dry goods store.  The dry goods store is stacked to the ceiling with sheets and towels and underwear and t-shirts, and I don’t know what else.  It reminded me of my Grandmother’s dry goods store in New Jersey, except that here everything is wrapped in plastic rather than in cardboard boxes, so you can see the colors.  We bought some lovely, huge, Macedonian-made bath sheets. And went home and collapsed.

Sunday we got a taxi to the Catholic Cathedral for Mass.  It’s the only Latin rite church in Skopje–the Mass is in Croatian though.  Luckily we’d bought missals to bring with us, so it was easy to follow. The music is beautiful.  I’m going to try to sneak a recorder in to copy some of it–they have a fabulous choir with soaring voices.  Sometimes there are English Masses there, and David had the name/email of the coordinator in his Palm.  (Me? I’d have cleaned that up long ago–pays to save everything).  He contacted him and in two weeks on Sunday there will actually be an English Mass, so we expect to meet more of the foreign community then.

Then we were back in our old neighborhood, so we walked to the Ramstore.  Their restaurant is a hotspot, so we were able to tell our family that we’d arrived using our Palms to send email.  And they connected with no difficulty–something that doesn’t happen very often in the U.S. Well, there we were in a familiar supermarket, so we bought a bunch of things like placemats and fridge magnets, hopped a taxi, and headed home.  And did a huge laundry in three loads.  But while we have a fantastic ZUG washing machine (we have stuff on top of it and it doesn’t even wiggle when it’s spinning at 100km per second) that leaves the clothes pretty dry already.  So we draped them over the radiator/towel bar (non-heating) in the bathroom, the door handles, table, chairs, whatever.  They dried in time for us to be able to find our bed.

Sunset from the balcony

Evening in the neighborhood

Monday was a busy day.  We walked to the Bank, set up an account in English, and signed up for ATM cards (to arrive in a week or 10 days)(not).  Then to school to meet with my (Elizabeth’s) Dean Ivan. He asked if I’d agree to teach 3rd level (second year) students instead of the first year ones I’d been expecting.  I said of course and was introduced to Natasha, the teacher who was supposed to have the course.  She was amazingly helpful, gave me the books, emailed me the Course Outline, and generally got me set up to teach.  I really lucked out that she had been given the course before–I couldn’t have had a better introduction to the Administrative details.  The first class is a week from tomorrow, so I had plenty of time to study Unit 1.  We stayed at the school for a while talking with friends and then walked home . . starving.  David decided to cook dinner.  Turned on the electric stove (we have no gas for the other half of our stove) but it wouldn’t boil water.  Starving.  Off to Pearl Center where we had a good pizza. Saved our lives.  Then we bought bread and a jelly donut to share.  Went to Tinex (supermarket).  Got bananas plus church key and other odds and ends.  We have now been to 4 supermarkets, 3 within walking distance of our house.  KAM is discount, Tinex-Pearl is small and fairly inexpensive, Vero has everything and is a little more, and Ramstore (not near us) is expensive and expansive. We are certainly getting our steps in walking all over the place.

And so the week went, walking around in every direction trying to figure out where things are. On Wednesday evening there was a formal opening ceremony for the University.  It was held in the very elegant Hotel Alexander.  All the teachers attended in their academic gowns, and all the students were invited as well.  We sat in the front row with John, from the U.S. Embassy.  The very interesting part was that much of the ceremony was in English but one Dean spoke in Macedonian with a very clear-speaking English translator alternating with him.  There was wine and there was food (although the students pretty much wiped that out) and a chance to talk with some students and teachers.  I met a student who has been in the U.S. for 7 years working for Carnival cruises. She speaks excellent English, so I don’t expect to see her in class while she completes her degree in Architecture. And I persuaded John to come and speak to my advanced English class or at least to find someone from the Embassy to come. (One of the features of English classes is that at some point in each semester, an outside native speaker of English comes in to give a talk.  That way the students can interact with someone other than their teacher.  They’re expected to ask questions and have a real discussion.)

Heinz and Silvana arrived late Wednesday, so they picked us up after school on Thursday and, despite a light rain, took us on a picnic – a long drive out of town, along the ringroad, down what Heinz remembered as a dirt road. Hah, they had paved it while he wasn’t looking–center line and all.  But we did hit dirt briefly up a hill to a tiny church, a favorite place of theirs. After touring the shrine, we declined to drink the water from the holy spring, which is heavily contaminated with iron. I can imagine that the iron content is what worked miracles for the people who came to drink the waters though.  The garden has a shelter with a table under it,

Note the delicious plum cake

so we had a picnic to eat a delicious home-made plum cake Sylvana had prepared. After that, we set out for lunch! Another long drive, to another favorite place, which was closed down. (a lot of businesses in Macedonia have failed in the past few years.) Then back into town, to the Old Bazaar, where we found that a favorite Turkish place was still open & still serving wonderful kebabs, baked beans, baked peppers, etc. After lunch, we walked and shopped in the old bazaar – better prices, better variety, better quality and MUCH harder to find things.  On our way, we saw some women washing an oriental rug in a side lane.  We certainly found a perfect use for a gray drizzly day.  Then Heinz had to abandon us for a business meeting, so we went home to nap.

Friday there was a Language School staff meeting.  All in English for my benefit. The new schedule of classes came out and lo and behold I am teaching both Modern English Language (MEL) 1 and MEL 3.  The good news is the time for MEL 1 has changed to the morning, so on both days I work from 9-12 plus an office hour.  Tried to get my Course Outlines approved, but the line was very long.  Saw the library has the MEL3 book, but not the MEL1.  Hey, good thing I have it on my computer.  Have I said that each class meets once a week for 3 hours?

Then we had lunch with Clarisse, a colleague from American College at HER favorite Kabob place (there are thousands, and everyone has one place which is the best.) WE have yet to find a bad one, and each place has some specialty to go with the kabobs.  We are eating too well–good thing we walk everywhere.

So we are beginning to get organized at the school. Classes start next week, and we are still learning how to get things done. We will not get lists (or counts) of our students until the day of class – the admissions office is swamped. This weekend we will continue setting up our apartment, getting internet at home, and copying handouts for students.

This entry was posted in Macedonia, September 2010 - June 2011, Skopje, Uncategorized and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

One Response to Getting Settled in Skopje

  1. howard says:

    Glad to hear that you’re at your destination and getting settled. Needless to say we’re enjoying Alameda. We’ve been swimming nearly every morning before breakfast and walking all over the place. Cheryl bought an easel and has been painting on the balcony. I’ve connected with some amateur radio cronies and will be joining the local radio club.

    I organized some photos into an album (you don’t need to be on Facebook to see them):
    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=237607&id=560671722&l=b2c976ad1f

    Cheers and regards,

    Howard

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