Unusual sights in Macedonia

The Smoking Tree

A couple of weeks ago, I was riding my stationary bike on the balcony when I saw smoke wisping around the tree in front of me.  I thought it was strange that I did not smell the wood smell.  With so much smoke so close, surely I should be able to smell it.  Then the smoke cleared, which was also strange.  If there were a fire burning for heating it would be fairly continuous.  Then the smoke returned, but just wisping around the tree.  Then I realized that it was the pollen.  Woe to the allergy sufferer on that day.  Great clouds of smokey pollen continued to blow from the tree for several hours.  Quite a spectacle.

Japanese Ingenuity

Lat year I mentioned to the landlord that the kitchen faucet leaked.  I thought he would like to know because it was wasting water and besides I did not like to hear the drip drip drip into the sink.  His solution to the problem was for me to place a sponge under the faucet, so it would not make the irritating sound.  Well, this year the leak has gotten worse, but knowing Goran's reticence to repair things, my Japanese room mate has fixed up this contraption.  The water that leaks from the handle flows down the sponge and into the funnel she shaped from a half-liter bottle.  It works very well at keeping the backboard dry.

Friendly Creature

This spider has taken up residence in the corner of my bedroom.  I know it is evidence of my lack of house keeping skills, but I have not removed it for two reasons: 1) It has been several weeks and the spider has not died , so it must be ridding me of other undesirable creatures, and 2) It reminds me to remember those who are in solitary confinement throughout the world.  I remember  a story of Corrie ten Boon.  When she was first arrested, she was kept in solitary, before being sent to the labor camp.  Being an extrovert, this was very difficult for her and she befriended the ants that marched across her prison floor. So, as I blow gently on my spider to see if it is still alive, I think of those who do not even have a spider to commune with, who are being kept all alone because of their thoughts, beliefs or actions.

Not very exciting, but some things that have caught my interest in the past few months

Orthodox Christmas and more

The Orthodox Christmas season starts on January 5 with a bonfire celebration called Kolede.  It is a an old pagan festival for the return of the sun.  The celebration at this point involves lighting a bon fire.






This year I attended the bonfire at the local church.  Yes, the Orthodox church took over this celebration, probably sometime in the middle ages.  However, different from the Catholic church taking over solstice celebrations in western Europe, the Orthodox church needed to give this celebration some other religious meaning. They already had Christmas.  So, in a strange shift of chronology, they decided that Kolede would commemorate Herod killing of the infant boys in Bethlehem.   The celebration at church included the selling of oak leaf branches, candles to burn in remembrance of deceased persons and the opportunity to kiss a particular icon.  Then the priests came out, clad in bright colored robes.   They read a short liturgy and lit the fire.

Bon fires are also lit in neighborhoods.  I attended one of these fires last year.  No religion here.  just a neighborhood party with plenty of food, conversation and rekia, the local moonshine.  If I am going to acknowledge pagan activities, I would rather do it without the sheen of religion.  For one thing it was a more convivial time.

The next day is given over to the Macedonian answer to Halloween minus the costumes and at a different time of day.  Starting at about 8:00 in the morning, kids come around and sing songs of good fortune to the house or laments of the poor murdered children of Bethlehem probably depending on what songs their parents sang..  The children are then given a treat or money.  I saw a couple of children stop to assess their take.  They had two huge shopping bags bulging and they also were counting out a significant amount of money.  I'm glad the kids at least have an opportunity to get some goodies.                                                                                              
That evening, Christmas Eve, is traditionally the family time.  My church arranged for me to share dinner with a family from the church.  We had bean soup and fish.  Very good and I was even able to converse a little in Macedonian.  Fun.

The next day was Christmas.  My church invited  one and all to come to the service that night. They had over 200 in attendance.  The agenda included presentation by the youth of the church.  This group sang a song.  Another group gave a rendition of the Nativity, with a beautiful young woman as Mary and one young man doing double duty as the Angel Gabriel and the donkey.  A very enjoyable time.

Then they distributed Christmas boxes from a charity organized by Billy Graham's son.  The kids did enjoy getting these gifts.  The boxes include small toys, candy and perhaps a pair of gloves or so.  Not quite the tearing into gifts on Christmas morning around the tree, but a lovely memory none the less.

Of course this is not the end of celebration for me.  My birthday is January 8, the day after Orthodox Christmas.  This year I decided to give rather than receive, though I did receive many Facebook good wished and several cards and even one or two snail mail cards. Thank you to all who brightened my day.  Anyway, in the evening, I arranged to have dinner at the Dublin with the two  young people who translate for me at church.  Sara graduated from high school last year and is taking a gap year as she arranges to go to college next year.  Stephan was an exchange student in Wisconsin last year and is finishing up his high school.  We had a very nice dinner.

Another week of activities.  Now I am trying to get back into a more mundane routine preparing for the new semester next month.

Christmas week 2013

I really like being in Macedonia during the holidays.  I have American Christmas on December 25 and then celebrate the Orthodox Christmas on January 7.  This year Christmas week was full.  On Saturday I had dinner with one of my students at the Dublin, a local pub.  They do not serve hard cider, my favorite alcoholic beverage.  They do however have good mulled wine during the winter months, which is a good second choice.

Sunday I attended church and was surprised that there was a wedding.  A young couple had their church ceremony.  In Macedonia you are legally married at the government registry, so the church wedding is a take it or leave it affair.  This was the most unusual church wedding I had seen.  It began with a musical presentation with the kids, the pastor and his wife and the couple dancing with somewhat suggestive moves.  But I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time.  The groom is the tall guy on the right and the bride is in the brown skirt and beige blouse on the left. The pastor is in the dark suit in the middle.

After the dance,  they  said their vows with their hands on the Bible.  Then the couple sat in chairs and were prayed over by all the pastors present. (We had several visiting pastors from Bulgaria that day.)  Then there was a short skit to instruct them about married life.  Two people started off remeniecing about their wedding and honeymoon.  Then we see them at home; he is watching TV and she is trying to keep the house neat. They start listing all the things they have discovered about the other that they do not like, body odor, sleep patterns and so forth.  Then they were reminded that bringing God into the marriage allows for a way to get through these and other difficulties.



Monday I went to the American Corner, a small lending library and meeting room sponsored by the US State Department.  About 20 kids from a local school were invited to decorate and eat Christmas cookies.  I brought the cookies and gave a short presentation about Christmas in the US.  It was a fun time.

Tuesday was the office Christmas lunch.  I arrived on time and no one else was there.  This is Macedonia.  The first person to arrive after me was the department secretary.  We sat down and created the women's table, with the men sitting at the other one.  I was a little surprised that they served alcohol, all on the department's tab.After the women's table cleared out, I spent an hour or so talking with my male colleagues, an enjoyable afternoon

The department of economics and the music school were also having their luncheons that day.  The economics department was decidedly more festive, with singing and dancing.  Perhaps they drank more than the law department.  

Wednesday, Christmas, was bittersweet.  My room mate decided to wait for her work permit in Japan, since it still had not come and her tourist visa had expired. So, I spent the day helping her pack and seeing her off.  In the evening, I went to a celebration at my church.  This year it was on a regular meeting day, so it was a little more formal than last year, but still very fun. I brought cookies, the chocolate chip ones were a real hit, and they brought enough to fill the large table.  They sang Christmas carols and we had a very good time. (They have a translation of Jingle Bells that I really like.  Rather than jingling the bells go bim bam bong.)

Thursday I went to the bath like I usually do on that day of the week.  Soaking in the hot water was just what I needed to relax.  When I got home, I opened the gifts that my aunt had sent with me last summer. They were a number of small, useful items.  You can see the cards I got.  I also received several text messages of merry Christmas.  It was a good time.

Friday I did my weekly grocery shopping and came home to enjoy the tree that Yuko had gotten and decorated.  That is just one of the several wonderful things she has done for me. One day I mentioned that, this being my second Christmas here, I was ready to make some commitment to the holiday.  I would bring back a small tree next year.  The next day I come into the house and see that Yuko has gotten this one and decorated it with origami.  It makes a beautiful end to Christmas week.

Thanksgiving weekend

 Thanksgiving weekend started of course on Thursday.  I bought a chicken, because I did not want to spend $30 on a turkey.  I made mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli, green beans (but not the casserole), and a salad.  I could only find crayons and couldn't find a recipe to make them into relish., the meal was lacking some of the standards, but with a little wine, it very good.  We finished it off with sweet potato pie.  A good celebration.

 Then all day Friday and Saturday morning Yuko, my room mate took over the kitchen.  She was preparing everything we would need for a feast on Saturday.  One of her students had invited us to her summer home, a few kilometers outside the city for a sushi meal.  When I walked into the house, I was overwhelmed.  It reminded me of Lithuanian, an A-framed wooden structure with a roaring fire in a beautiful fire place.

 Alexandra's father got us all set up, bringing in the traditional Macedonian baking table for the cooks to work at.  The first job was to roll out the Japanese noodles.  The recipe is actually the same as german of American homemade noodles, but they would be cooked in a Japanese broth and we were going to eat them with sushi, so they were Japanese.  Yuko had brought a rolling pin, but the table came with a broom stick sort of thing.  It is a little difficult to see, but the Macedonian method it to roll the dough around the stick and then roll the entire thing as one might a rolling pin.  It is then unrolled and turned 90 degrees, so the end product is round.  It was very interesting to see.

 The next job was the sushi. The bottom layer is seaweed topped with rice, sticky Japanese rice.  Macedonia raises rice not far from here, but it is far less glutenous.  The individual kernels are separate when it is cooked.  Anyway, after the rice, the sushi haas fish and egg.  They were then rolled and cut.





                                                       And then they were ready to eat

 And eat we did.  I was surprised at how filling sushi was, but then again it does have a lot of rice in it.  So we ate sushi, salad,  cooked vegetables and chicken and then the noodles, washing it all down with some very excellent Macedonian red and white wine.  (Alexandra's father had gotten me some of the local beer, because he apparently had heard that Americans like to drink beer.  I much preferred the wine.)  We just about ready to bring out the desserts, when Alexandra said that we really needed to try something Macedonian.  She brought up a wonderful beans and homemade sausage dish.  It was very good, but I will need to try it again when that is the only main dish.  After that we had ice cream and red bean sauce, Macedonian rice pudding and baklava, all very good.


 We were then entertained with a fashion show.  Alexandra's grandmother had made this costume for her when she was in high school.  There is a linen underdress that only has a little embroidery on the hem.  Then comes the shorter long sleeve coat type garment that has slits up the side.  The embroidery on this piece is on the outside on the back and on the inside on the side panels.  These panels are then brought around and tucked into the belt as seen here, with the embroidery now on the outside.  Clever.

 

Then Yuko tried it on.  This is the winter garb.  It includes a short blouse that fills in where the quilted jacket vest  leaves space at the top.  I had seen this particular design at a dance concert last year and thought that it was for me.  It allows lots of space for wide hips.  The apron is heavy wool and worn all the time to keep the rest of the outfit clean.  Up to the 1950s women wore these outfits everyday.  Each village had it own costume, some differing only in the embroidery and others in the design.









So, after a long day I was relaxed.

Visit to Ohrid

A couple of of weeks ago, I traveled five hours to the other side of the country to visit some colleagues in the city of Ohrid (pronounced Ocrid.)  I arrive after dark, so did not see much of the city, but when I walked out of my host's apartment  the next morning, I was overwhelmed by the sight of of the lake.  Ohrid is known as a vacation town  and even in November it was  warm  and beautiful.  I had not know how much I missed seeing a large body of water.  

First day we took it easy.  Star, a long standing nickname, and I went to her office at St Paul the  Apostle University where she posted exam grades.  My office is not decorated nearly as nicely.

Then we went to the market.  This street obviously caters to tourist rather than the locals.  The pavement is marble, which looks nice, but is treacherous when it rains.  I bought some post cards in a shop that knows how to treat non-Macedonians.  They spoke English, asked if I would like stamps to go with the cards and indicated that I could mail them in a box right outside the shop. I was impressed.  I also bought a pair of purple slippers to ward off the chill of a drafty apartment. (Though I do have heat now.)

The next day we went around the lake to see St John the  Theologian church.  It was built in the 12th century.  The pamphlet I bought tells the tale of a miracle done by the church's namesake when he first visited the area. The interior has a number of very old icons painted on the walls.  The one below is on the ceiling and is the only one from the 12th century.  To see others, click here. (They are copyrighted so, I did not want to use them directly.  I was not allowed to take pictures inside the church.  This photo  is from a free image web site.)                                     

From there we climbed  and climbed and climbed to the top of the mountain or hill, depending on how in shape you are. (It wasn't that bad, but I haven't been riding the bike much lately.)  At the top we came upon an excavation site of an old monastery.  Here you can see the cells that the monks slept in.






This church was also on the site.  I think you had to pay to go in, so we decided to just look at the outside.

 On the way down to the city center, we visited a paper museum.  They made paper out of very finely shredded wood, adding herbs and such for color.  They also had a replica of the Gutenberg press that they used to print various things such as pages from the original Cyrillic Bible.  It was very interesting.

In town we saw this statue of St Naum.  I am not sure what he did, but the town is full of commemoration of religious figures.  I was told they have 365 churches.  Amazing for a town the size of Janesville, Wisconsin.  Then we found a restaurant by the side of the lake, ate local pizza (not very good) and watched the swans glide over the crystal clear water.

The next day I retraced my bus trip to Stip, ready for a week of classes.

More uses for that cord of wood

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the use of wood for heating the houses in Stip.  It is even used for rather large apartment blocks.  In fact I have seen that supplying this wood is quite a cottage industry at this time of year.  A load of logs are delivered and stacked.  A couple of days later, a car pulls up pulling a a portable radial saw and the men go to work cutting the logs into split-able lengths.

These are then split and stacked.  A man spend a day and a half splitting wood for the neighbor's apartment.  They will be quite cozy this winter.  I think we have enough for the winter as well, though none has been burnt for heat yet.  And it is quite cold in the apartment since it is in the 20's at night and only in the 50's during the day.

But I have discovered a couple of other uses for this wood. In the fall, cauldrons steamed as wood was added to keep them hot.  They contained red peppers that were cooked within an inch of their lives to make a local condiment, ivers. The process is a social activity.  The women takes turns stirring while others sit and chat.

The final results is a red paste that, because of the long cooking process, has very little nutrition value, but it tastes good on bread or as a sandwich spread.

                                                         I eat it on eggs.

The other day, I smelled wood burning and went to investigate.  The landlord's father was out back 

feeding wood into this contraption

:

Which is exactly what it looks like, a still.  He was making raki, moonshine from grapes.  I was told it was legal because it was for personal consumption, but if I understood my landlord properly, it was 50% alcohol.  The older gentleman drinks it when he goes hunting, according to his son.  I said that is what they do in Wisconsin as well.  They say they are going hunting and they play poker, drink beer and maybe get a deer.  But Goran's father only hunts rabbits and the season is a month or two.  I'm surprised he can hit anything as small as a rabbit after drinking this stuff.

So, I hope some of the wood is used to heat the apartment soon so I can take off some of the three or four  layers of clothes I have on.

Circus

On my way to the shops a week and a half ago, I saw this poster on a lamp post.  It looked interesting but I was not sure I wanted to go by myself.  Then as the day of the circus neared, my room mate invited me to go with her and a friend who has a small son.  I agreed immediately.  Then I began to have second thoughts.  My most recent memories of elephants and some other animals was in the wild of a Kenyan wild life preserve.  I was not sure that I wanted to see them in a traveling circus.

In the end, I went.  The bigtop was just down the hill from my apartment, so we walked over at sunset. Once w got inside, I was able to fulfill another of m desires; I bought a cotton candy.  It tasted as good as any I have had, but it was not colored and the stick was not the the paper cone that I have become accustomed to, rather a real wooden stick.  A child could hurt himself. :-)

The big top was actually small.  The bleachers were a rickety wooden affair.  I saw two young children slip through the planks.  The bleachers only took up two thirds of the circle, but ithey were full.  Some people apparently were willing to pay more for ringside seats.  Later in the performance, children stood at ringside for a better view.  The cage that can be seen to the left enclosed three lions that were coaxed to get on and off various large stools.

In addition to the lions, the animals acts included elephants (this is a photo I took in Kenya), a bactrian (two hump) camel and ponies. I was impressed with the camel.  It seems so uncoordinated and of course it spit.  They had two elephants, which I was happy to see, since elephants are social animals.  They stepped onto the stools and created a sort of elephant pyramid.  They appeared to be well cared for, but they were obviously less wild than the ones I saw in Kenya.

The ponies were cute, but basically jumped through hoops and trotted around the ring.



After several scantily clad women performed on ropes hung from the top of the tent and a clown performed several audience participation acts we were bid farewell by the ring master and walked home.