A visit to Stip

My first impression of Stip was that it wasn't Klaipeda. It is land locked and though there are rivers that run through the city, they are not very big.  And the landscape is not flat which means that the streets are not straight.  The small curving lanes give a more Third World feel to the place.  I live on one of the highest hills in the city, but the main business district is on some flat ground by the river.  I was there yesterday to do have some documents notarized for my visa.

This is a general street view.  Beyond the fence across the street, they are working to build a parking lot over the river. There is a fair amount of new construction in this part of town as well as obviously old buildings.

I wandered around for a while and found a place to buy yarn and a couple of book stores.  Coming upon the square, a small concrete area, I found the statue of the local hero.

 Alexander the Great

I also came upon the official American Corner of Stip.  They offer English club, a small English library as well as educational programs.  I signed up to receive their emails and became a card carrying member.

Up stairs  from the corner, a book fair was in process.  Being the bibliophile that I am, I just had to go.  I bought a Bible in Macedonian, a couple of  English-Macedonian children's picture books, and a cookbook of  Macedonian recipes in English.  After looking through the last book last night, I do not think I will be using it much.  There are a lot of recipes for lamb intestines or stomach, eel and carp.  The desserts seem to take way too long to prepare.  If I do try any of the recipes, I'll let you know.

By this time I was rather thirsty.  The weather here has been unseasonably warm and the sun is still quite hot.  So I stopped at a local watering hole for some water.

Well, maybe not so local, but all the customers except me, were bona fide Macedonians.  Just down the block was the main building of Goce Delcev, the university where I teach.  I needed to go to the IT department to get hooked up to the internet.  This building is where the office of the Rector, chancellor, is located.  They also have a very nice faculty dining hall, as opposed to the building where the Law Faculty is located, which has a small coffee shop that also sells soft drinks and chips.

After I had my photo taken for my internet access card and connected my lap top to the internet, I was ready to head home.  I walked down the street to the taxi stand for a trip through the winding streets up the hills to my apartment.