NoMac2024

 The Sounds of Skopje bear no resemblance to Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence. I have attempted to record audio of some of this, but I will spare you the torture. Let's start before dawn. We live on a street with speed bumps and every time a car goes over the bump it sounds just like a short volley on a tennis court...over and over and over.  Next, there might be a stray cat howling or if you need a good night's sleep to function the next day, you'll be awakened by  a really nasty stray dog fight.  When we leave the building and choose to take the elevator from our 4th floor unit, we are greeted by metal meeting metal when the elevator door opens. A horrible shriek . Now, I usual walk down the four flights of stairs to avoid the skreeeeetch. But on the way up, I am usually carrying groceries or a heavy backpack and take the elevator. I have mastered sticking  my fingers in my ears, while carrying a grocery bag in each hand. So proud of my new skills!!! ...

 April 8 is the Day of the Roma in Macedonia and elsewhere. One of the regular occurances around Skopje and other parts of the Balkans  is to find a disabled person laying on a blanket begging for money, or a young mother holding a baby doing the same. I have seen this in other parts of the world and even in some areas of Boston.  But one of the strangest experiences is to be accosted when dining at a fancy coffee shop or restaurant by 5 or 6 year old Roma kid who comes up to your table and asks you for money, or tries to sell you a flower or a magazine. The restaurants are mostly fine with it, but the Embassy has encouraged us to not donate anything to the children. Money goes directly to a parent or other adult hanging outside the restauratnt.  The kids do not benefit. The kids do not go to school. Begging is their job. The kids seem absolutely fearless and are quite good at making their pitch.  Macedonia has a significant Romani population.  From Wikipe...

 Twice, Stephen and I took the Macedonian equivalent to the  Bataan Death March in search of an ancient Roman aquaduct on the outskirts of Skopje One try:  Google maps walked us to an army barracks that Google maps told us was right next to the aqueduct.  The armed soldiers did not speak English, but made clear that we were not going to enter the military base as sightseers. We left there and walked through a major road construction site in pursuit of the Holy Grail Aquaduct. But that too was a dead end and as we headed home we discovered the equivalent of Route 1 "The Auto Mile" in suburban Boston.That is, if Route 1 had wild goats.   But NO aquaduct.  Fast forward two months, Stephen has another idea. We follow google maps directions back to the "Auto Mile"  and  go beyond where we had been in our previous attempt... -- this time  we walked to a cemetery on hill further down the  "Route 1 Auto Mile" road.  Remember, we are walking...

 I love getting on our rickety, squeaky elevator and making a new friend every day. Some speak English but with others we just mime a greeting and a smile. Rarely do residents NOT engage in a friendly way.  Today I met a retiree from Slovenia whose mother was from Skopje, so he decided to retire here. Perfect English, unusual  for his/my generation. Yesterday I met was a little old lady and I mimed that I would be happy to take the trash bag she ws holding out to the "dumpsters"(see below) but she smiled and insisted that she do it herself. Stephen, of course, is embarrased when I constantly strike up converations with complete strangers, in the elevator, on the street, in the park, at the grocery store. I guess that is why I am a journalist and he isn't. Speaking ofStephen, he left yesterday for 6 weeks at home. His plan was to leave next week but the death of his aunt/godmother (whose husband also died while we were here)  propelled him to change his plans and head...

  I am sorry to report that the only thing I knew about Kosovo is that it was the location of a nasty war agains the Serbs in 1998-9 . The UN and Bill Clinton stepped in to save the day. Clinton is still revered here, thus the giant photo, statue and "Clinton Square" (which doubles as a parking lot). The Battle of Kosovo, 1389, is a big deal for the Serbs because little Serbia  took on the mighty Ottomans. It ws the only time an Ottoman Sultan was killed in battle . But the Serbs lost the battle ..big time.  And the Ottomans took over even more Serbian turf to add to  their empire. So I am not sure why this is such sacred place to the Serbs, but every June 28 they celebrate the battle as a national and religious holiday.    And they still want to thwart Kosovo's desire to become and remain an independent country after declaring itself so in 2008.  Kosovo is not recognized as a country by Russia or China and a whole bunch of other countries (Spain and G...