I woke up earlier than usual on Wednesday, because I had to be back in Skopje for a meeting with an NGO at 10am! I headed out to catch a bus that was supposed to leave the bus station at 8:05am, and we figured that it would pass by about 7:45 or so. But it didn’t, so I hopped on a bus just to the bus station (for free). Sadly this one didn’t actually GO to the bus station, but drove past it and began to loop again, so like any good Macedonian, I just walked to the front and pointed. The bus driver looked at me like I was crazy because I was randomly pointing to a set of shops, but when I said yes again, he just pulled over and let me off. I then saw the bus go pass that was the 8:05 bus, so I walked down the street a bit and waited for it to come out of the bus station with about 5 other people. We then hopped on and paid the bus driver. And were on our way to Skopje! It took about 45 minutes and I hopped off at the last bus stop before turning on Partizanski (the street my school is on) and walked home. Quickly eating breakfast I checked where the NGO was I was supposed to meet and gathered up my computer to go to my institute after the meeting.
Jumping in a cab I was able to describe where the place was (next to the Veterinary Medicine Faculty), and the cab driver took me there! The meeting went well and they are willing to let me volunteer and see how the foundation/ngo works. So success number 3!
I headed off after our meeting, totally unsure of how I was going to get back to the main part of Skopje, I was a good 5-10 minute cab ride away. But once I turned the corner to a main street, there was a bus stop. I got a ticket and waited for a random bus thinking, that well it has to get me closer to downtown. And it did. I was a bit nervous when he passed two of the signs saying go to center, but it all worked out and he dropped me off at the Vero Mall (about a 20 minute walk to my institute). While eating a delicious lunch of PB&J I walked towards my institute enjoying the beautiful day (oh about 50 or so).
When I got to the institute I grabbed a glass of water and went upstairs to “my office,” only to find they had re arranged everything and I no longer worked in there. The space was much better utilized, but I didn’t fit in the space. And they had given the computer that didn’t work to someone else (and it was working). Then my contact (after talking to other people for a bit about where to put me and me telling them I was fine in the library) mentioned that the course of study that I was going to take a class in was no longer being offered because not enough students had signed up. But I might get to take a Balkan Politics class instead.
I stayed at the institute and typed up some stuff for my research blog, mostly summarizing the first few books/articles I had read. And then headed to the American Corner for Conversation Hour. We played Apples to Apples and talked about what we would do with $10 million. Everyone would help their families pay off bills, buy a house or a car, and then travel. Maybe get a chauffeur or two, you know?
See you around the globe!
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