Four days of good bye...

As the title of the post suggests, we faced four days of good byes before we all left. At this point, Daniel was already back in Arizona and we hadn’t seen Naum in a few weeks. While an emotional time for us, it was also just what we needed for closure. We started off in Tetovo with Jen’s last kids club at the American Corner. They gave her so many gifts, so many kids loved her. And boy the car was packed! We barely had any room to sit.

On the 2^nd, we had out last goodbye party. It was at our lovely little kebab place we found. Everything with food for what felt like 40 for pretty cheap. We had a blast just sitting around talking with everyone. A nice mixture of people just mingling. We then went out to a club afterwards. It was a perfect MK ending to the year.

After a day of packing and just hanging out with friends, we spent the next day relaxing at a spa. We all had massages and either a pedicure or a facial. The prices were so great I wish I had done this about once a month. We all then went to join Erin at Ajana’s. This was one of the first places I ate at in MK and one of the last ones. It was touching and difficult to understand how 9 months had already passed. We saw Lizzie off to Bulgaria where she was going to catch her plane.

My last day in Skopje was spent hanging out at home and with new friends. I made sure to go see Hyun and Vancho one last time. As well as my friend from Macedonian 2025 before I left. Jen and I had made up our mind to not go to sleep before leaving thinking it would help us re adjust to US time zones. I think it did help, but boy was it super hard to do so! I have to admit, that I think the bit of wine and coffee helped us both.

We headed off to the airport at around 2:30 in the morning. The last bit was epic! We had been told by United that whatever we got to take over the Atlantic, we could take on every leg of our trip. We already had to pay for three suitcases so we went and paid for them, then we stood in line to check them. We also had our two carry on’s, which we thought were fine. Then we went to security….and we were only allowed one bag. At this point we didn’t want to pay for another over limit bag for our 4^th checked bag. We tried explaining what had happened and got mad, threatening to complain to United…speaking really fast in English at the same time (I felt a little bad afterwards) but I think they decided to left us go just to get rid of us. We kept talking about how we were going to complain to United until we got past security…we looked at each other, laughed and said there is NO WAY we are complaining…this was the best last minute gift from MK.

The planes were nice and almost empty the whole way home.  In case you don’t remember, we had to go from Skopje à Vienna à Zurich à New York à Houston/Chicago à Home. The first transfer was super easy…Switzerland was a bit, well stereotypical….line and directions and organization and comfy waiting locations and free wifi. And we had to go through security all over again. I thought Erin was joking when she told us about them looking at her weird with her glass bottle, but no they totally did. We barely had time to get through the airport before the plane loaded. We had to go through one last security checkpoint where they asked us questions about “Have you had your electronics repaired recently?” I mean is there a terrorist out there going “I only accept and repair electronics that are flying internationally so I can set you up to take the blame and blow up the plane?” oh well, it wouldn’t totally surprise me. We had a whole row to ourselves on the transatlantic! Totally nice. It was hard to say good bye in New York, but we knew we would keep in contact over FB.

It might be sad, but the first thing I bought was Auntie Anne’s Pretzels…delicious and American. When I got into Houston, I was dead. I couldn’t sleep because I was afraid of missing my flight, I couldn’t eat because I could barely stay awake, but I needed food. (Chili’s with a veggie burger and fries). And then my plane was a bit delayed.  But eventually (or so it felt) I made it on the plane and was finally going home.

It was nice to be home, to see family and friends. But I still miss the lifestyle of Macedonia and the food. I want to go back. I will go back, who knows when, but it will happen.

See you around the globe!

Zagreb to Skopje!

I woke up pretty relaxed with no alarm and just started watching TV until Jen woke up (she stayed up late watching football). We then went to the store to buy breakfast but ended up shopping for stuff we couldn’t get in Skopje (I only got Mexican/Chili beans to mix in my chili I will attempt to make in Skopje and Tabasco for Lizzie). Then we just wandered and saw:

Sadly the botanical garden was closed for the winter, but it was still beautiful from the outside. Then we headed to lunch at Ivica and Marica (Hansel & Gretal) restaurant. It was so good! I Had pumpkin soup, spinach and cheese ravioli, and gingerbread cake. It was a really fancy place. Jen had Slovenian steak and salad and baklava. Then we wandered back through the city to the hostel where we relaxed until we went to the airport.

We left the hostel, caught a tram to the bus station, bus to the airport, bus to the plane, plane to Skopje, taxi to the apartment. Funny story about the airport. We checked in and were able to sit together, then we tried to go through security. But security was closed. As in the guards were sitting behind the closed ropes watching TV. And they stayed closed until about 40 minutes before the flight left. And the Duty Free Shops behind security were closed until about 20 minutes before the flight was supposed to take off. We did get the most expensive hot chocolate and bottle of water ever. Before we went back into security, we met and talked to this nice Croatian guy who lives just outside of Zagreb. He was offering his seat to Jen while we waited. We discussed visiting Zagreb and Zadar and how life in Macedonia was. He was going to a conference in Zadar about science things.- we split when Jen and I had to go through passport control.

So Where Don't I go? (OR) travel plans!

I decided to wait to book my travel until I could book the round trip ticket, so that I wouldn't have to pay for a change fee later on. Which meant I had to wait until July 12th to book the ticket. So agonizingly waiting and checking the price for tickets for 10 days- don't recommend it. But it did help me realize that I was getting a good deal when I finally did book the flight!

However, it is one of those itineraries where you look at it and go- there has to be something cheaper for the airline than where they are sending me. See, I leave the closest airport to my house on Aug 28th at 7:30AM CST and then I go to Washington, DC, where I have a 7 hour layover. Then I fly to Munich, Germany and arrive the next day. I then get 1 hour and 30 minutes to go through customs and board my next plane to Sofia, Bulgaria around 12pm local time (or 4am CST). Which isn't that bad of a trip, with only one international connection- I didn't think Bulgaria would have enough demand to have direct US service, so not too surprising.

However, on the way home I get to visit Austria and Switzerland before heading back to the us! And I get to navigate customs in Austria with only 1 hour and 15 minutes. And I can't even fib that language! I am fully expecting to miss my plane in Vienna. Can I hope for a long enough lay-over to get to leave the airport? lol.

Confused? Maybe a picture would help:

no? me either!

But I have also booked my hostel in both Sofia and Skopje for 7 nights.

Why am I going to Sofia, you ask? Well, I figured I would be over there anyway and it is cheaper to travel once you are on that side of the pond, so might as well. And Bulgarian is supposed to be similar to Macedonian. SO I thought I would give it a try. What's in Sofia (or Bulgaria for that matter) you ask?

I have no clue.                               But it sounded fun! :)

No really, I just got some guide books at the local library to look up what to do in Bulgaria. It looks like I can make several day trips from Sofia to other parts of Bulgaria and then come back to one hostel with all of my stuff.

I will then take a 5 hour bus ride to Macedonia where I will check in at another hostel for 7 days as I arrange for more permanent rooms (read- apartment). I will also endeavor to find a Macedonian language class.

See you around the globe!