Haven’t You Heard

Luck!

I found the coin at the Old New Year’s celebration! A lovely group of my friends hosted and baked the pita (a round, flaky pie filled with sheep’s cheese, similar to burek). The coin was wrapped in foil, and after washing it off, I put it in my wallet for a year of good luck.

I’m told Skopje winters are usually too warm for snow, but last week we finally got an inch. The roads stayed clear, so it was easy to enjoy the snow without transportation problems to contend with. A white blanket over the world makes life seem calmer, doesn’t it?I went for a walk in the snow in a new neighborhood I hadn’t been to yet, and the warm glow of the streetlights against the lightly falling snow immediately took me back to sweet winter memories from Alabama and Connecticut.

I’m still on break from university, but I gave an exam last week to my first-years, and this Friday I will give an exam to my second-years. I’m grading them, too – I have yet more newfound respect for all teachers and professors who grade assignments, week in and week out. Cheating is expected here, and usually high school teachers actively participate in giving students answers. At the university, they try to be stricter, but old habits die hard. 

Pristina

My big adventure as of late was driving myself to Pristina, Kosovo, for a solo day trip. It was a short drive – only an hour and a half – and I had never been to Kosovo before (I’ve since lost the property of ‘never having been to Kosovo’… this is an inside joke for one particular reader, you know who you are), so I decided to book the same car I drove to Tetovo and go. I pinned a few things on Google Maps that I wanted to see (can pinning things in different cities on Google Maps be considered a hobby?) and set off at 9am on Wednesday the 24th. As I drove along the winding mountain road, the view took my breath away. I flipped around on the radio and happened upon a Christian music station – English music that I knew, but with an Albanian-speaking DJ. I was shocked. Most Kosovars are ethnically Albanian and culturally/religiously Muslim, so I didn’t realize there was a market for contemporary Christian music there.

I found the parking lot I pinned on Maps and parked for just €3/6hr. My first stop was the Bill Clinton Statue. Fan or not, you have to admit that a random street corner in Pristina is a pretty crazy place for there to be a monument to Bill Clinton. There’s also a giant poster with the American flag and a picture of old Bill affixed to the building behind the statue. At this point, I realized my roaming internet was not working, despite switching back to my US sim card for the day. I could see the locations I pinned, but not the actual streets, so it was like a game of Hot and Cold. My next stop was a popular bakery, although it took me awhile to find it 🙃. While eating, I got access to their WiFi network to try and save the directions for the drive home by taking screenshots of the map.

Later, I visited to the simple yet spacious Mother Teresa Cathedral – although she was born in Skopje, she was a Kosovar and moved to a village there as a child. After walking a while longer in the beautiful sunny weather, I stopped for coffee and a snack before checking out the Newborn monument, which celebrated the independence of Kosovo in 2008.

Pristina is a very small but American-friendly city, and I only speak a couple words of Albanian, so fortunately, it was okay to use English while I was there. 

I started my drive around 4pm before it got dark, in case I faced any issues considering the whole no-internet thing. The beginning of the drive was fine — I used landmarks to remember the turns and exits. However, it was rush hour, and I couldn’t get over far enough to make the turn I needed to get back on the highway. With no re-routing ability and a divided highway with no outlets for a U-turn, I had one choice: follow the highway signs to make it back to Skopje. I won’t lie, I began to hyperventilate a bit as the sun set… I was driving out of the city in a different way than how I entered, and before I knew it, I was on back roads going through Kosovar villages. Was I actually going deeper into Kosovo instead of toward Macedonia? I had no idea, my phone wouldn’t even show my location as the ever-present blue dot. 

I continued to follow the road signs, because it was my only option, and occasionally, signs said ‘Shkup’ (Skopje in Albanian) with a singular arrow pointing the way. Since I’m writing this post, you know that I did indeed make it back, via the scenic route.

Just as I arrived at the Macedonian border, what did I see in the distance but the Millennium Cross, lit up in the darkness on Vodno mountain, my beacon leading home. A wave of relief flooded over me, and I knew my way back from the border onwards. 

Quick Hits

This weekend I got hit with a cold, so I’ve been resting and recovering at home. I have plans this week to meet up with my girls for our weekly Tuesday afternoon coffee, and with a US professor who just arrived to teach here for the spring semester. I turn 23 next week, so I’m celebrating with my friends this weekend at my place. 

Oh, go check out the latest sunrise picture I uploaded to the ‘Photo’ section… I’m a sucker for phenomenal sunrises and sunsets, and it seems Macedonia is the perfect place to catch both. It is quite fitting that the Vergina Sun is the ancient symbol of Macedonia….

(Song Credit: Patrice Rushen)