NoMac2024

  The city of Skopje is most picturesque at night. And the area around the Opera House is lovely, with the lights reflecting off the river.  The past three Wednesday nights Stephen and I went to the swanky Opera House on the river and saw, yes, an opera ! It was a Verdi opera that I had never heard of "The Lady of the Camellias. I had read the libretto earlier but still couldn't follow the story, uncultured lowbrow that I am.... The following week we went back to the opera house -- this time to see a   jazz performance. The musicians were fabulous... maybe a 16 or 20 person big band ensemble. . The theme was "Frank Sinatra".  It was a little disorienting to hear the singer rattle on in Macedonian for a few minutes, apparently sharing anecdotes  or history of a song  and then say the words "Fly me to the Moon" in perfect English before belting out the tune. We were very close to the front of the venue and the music was fabulous, even if you are not a Sinatra...

 From Veles we drove south toward the border with Greece. We had heard about an ancient city that was still being excavated and explored, called Stobi.And it was on the way to our final destination, the city of Betola, so we checked it out. I have not been a student of ancient history or archeology so I was not sure how I'd enjoy this excursion. But the sun was shining and the temperature was perfect and we were the only people there, so it was wonderful.  (Note to my sister: The whole area reminded me of New Mexico, including the Macedonian flag) North Macedonia New Mexico Stobi was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. It is located on the main road that goes from the Danube to the Aegean Sea (the Vardar river that runs through Skopje is nearby.)    The Roman city of Stobi dates back to the second century BC, but there is evidence of human activity there dating back to the 8th Century BC. It also boasts a settlement of Jews living side by side with the Ro...

 In 2016 the city of Veles North Macedonia was the epicenter of fake news posts on Facebook etc. "Pope Endorses Trump", etc. Before I came here,  I talked to several reporters from Buzzfeed and other outlets who covered this story, always suspicious that the Russians were probably behind it. But no one found any evidence of that.  But last night I met two Macedonian investigative journalists at an embassy party and there is much more to the story. It wasn't just a bunch of hungry teenagers trying to make some clickbait cash. Read more here:  https://irl.mk/the-secret-players-behind-macedonias-fake-news-sites/ But I buried he lede: Veles is now the hotspot for Trump souvenirs, including bogus debit cards that many Americans have bought, thinking they could access funds from Trump. But surprise!! The cards got them nothing.    https://www.rferl.org/a/macedonia-fake-news-sites-us-election-conservatives/30906884.html I have a student from Veles and I am going t...

We are living a relatively simple life, and I am surprised how much I do NOT miss at the "stuff" we have at our home at the Cape. Our bedroom is large enough for a queen bed. Nothing else.  With a fabulous view of the mountains.  The second bedroom is Stephen's 'Man Cave". He is taking two online classes (one on film history and one on Great Decisions in foreign policy)....and still doing some pro bono legal work. There are two, twin beds in that room that are more like cots, single mattress, no box spring, close to the floor. There is a massive closet full of linens and towels to serve an army. But the best feature is the little walk out porch. Today we had the doors and windows fully open (no screens) and let the sun dry our laundry.  I brought minimal clothing options, and unfortunately, I had planned for a long, cold winter, which we have not experienced, so the winter clothes will go home with Stephen when he leaves in April and I'll be shopping in Skopj...

I've been here more than a month, and felt as prepared as I could be.Last week,  I went into the classroom I would be teaching in and tested out the visual display, wifi, and lighting. I made sure all of the important stuff was projected on the screen so that students who are not so proficient in English could follow along. I was given a list of 17 students (with challenging names for mono-lingual Annie). The classroom was a lecture hall, which I am not used to, but it had windows and looked modern, like the rest of the building. No matter how long I've taught, I still get the "first day of school jitters". So, I got up and out early for my 9am class. Got to the classroom by 8:30, set up the projection system, Wifi was perfect. And I was ready to roll. ...9:05, no one, 9:15 came around and still no one appeared in the classroom. I was told that another professor would be there to introduce me to the class, but even she wasn't there. Was I in the wrong room?wrorng ...

  This Saturday we decided to take a day trip out to a scenic spot we had heard about, Matka Canyon. Stephen, being Stephen, figured out the whole excursion, how to get there on a city bus. how to get a bus pass, what to expect when we got there.  We invited Christine, the other Fulbrighter in Skopje to join us. The bus amazingly came to pick us up at the place and approximately the time, it was supposed to. This was our first adventure on the bus, so I boarded, showed the driver my "T" card and he waved me away. I learned later that I was supposed to scan the card to actually pay for the trip, but ce la vie. We left the city and headed east into a more " suburban" area, where it was a mix of old crumbling small houses, and massive building boom of McMansions (one was covered in silver sparkles).  The canyon was spectacular, with a great path along the edge, complete with handrails. We could have taken a boat to the cave at the end of the canyon but we took the trai...

"Blue skies smilin' at me Nothin' but blue skies do I see..." Everyone had warned us to expect gray, polluted air in Skopje and I am sure they were telling the truth, but for some weird reason, this winter we have totally lucked out and have had  nothing but blue sky for a month. Yes, there have been a few clouds and one day it drizzled for a minute, but more than a month in, it has been glorious, blue and sunny almost every day. And it is February. And my hometown is shoveling out many inches of snow. I have NOTHING to complain about..... IBetter yet, I  have figured out a way to walk to school avoiding almost all car exhaust. Google maps takes you along the big wide boulevards and major bridges, so the first few times I walked to the university, I was sucking a lot of exhaust fumes.  But now, I have re-routed my walk so that I walk out of our lovely neighborhood of cafes and restaurants, and cross the street to the amazing City Park. Then I walk to the back of the p...