A Macedonian Wedding

My good friend (and fellow Hoosier) Justin was married to his makedonka a few weeks ago. He has pictures, and a summary of all the traditions and such, here.

Albanian Medicine = Macedonian Medicine

I laughed out loud at Chelsi's discovery of yet another use for rakija. Read it.

Osoj

I spent the weekend in a village called Osoj, which means something like 'a place in the shade'. It's mostly full of vikendici - basically, weekend houses - both those of families from the village who live and work elsewhere, or those who built cottage there for the view.

This is the nearby Torbashi (or Macedonian Muslim) village.

The pointy peak on the left is the highest mountain in Macedonia, Mt. Korab. Just beyond it is the Albanian border.The baba - grandmother - of my friend at the vikendica stuffed us with cheese pie and homemade rakija.
An old tree in the mountains above Osoj, which we passed while on a mushroom hunt.

Small World

The kid who works at the stationary store/photocopy place one block from my apartment went to Cincinnati Country Day School and was a manager at Steak'n'Shake. He gambled at Argosy Casino.

What does he miss most?

Mountain Dew. Completely unavailable in Europe.

World's Best Coca Cola?

It's made in Macedonia - here's the proof.

The Simple Pleasures of Macedonia

Macedonia has a lot of problems - there's no denying that. But there are some things at which this small country really succeeds, and one of them is the haircut. I'm confident that I will never, ever get a haircut in the States that is as enjoyable as one in Macedonia. What makes the experience so special?

Scalp massage.

I don't know why they do it. Maybe it stimulates the hair follicles. Maybe it's some traditional practice lost to the ages. But for about $3-4 dollars, at any barbershop or salon in the country, you get your hair washed and massages for 10 minutes before the haircut, and another 10 minutes afterward. Is the haircut itself any good? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

But after the massage, who really cares?

Solunska Glava #3 (Mountain Hike)

Solunska Glava #2 (Mountain Hike)

Solunska Glava #1 (Mountain Hike)

Seriously?

The big news in Macedonia today (and maybe on a leftist, student run Greek TV station. . . somewhere) is that a fringe neo-fascist group of Greek nationalist thugs interrupted the promotion of a Greek-Macedonian dictionary in Athens. The famous Dr. Friedman was there, and had a motorcycle helmet swung at his head by one of these goons.

The whole thing came about, of course, because Greece refuses to recognize the Macedonian name, language, or identity. Greece has been the bully throughout this entire name issue - not that Macedonia hasn't provoked Greece at all, but really. I never really imagined that the Greeks would literally become large, gorilla-like bullies and attack a mild-mannered academic conference. High school never ends, eh?

Eric has translations and comments. Here's the original news item that I saw, with a video.

Summertime

It's been a rather lazy past few weeks - it's the rainy season in Macedonia, and thunderstorms have kept me inside the apartment most every other day. I'm working on those aforementioned articles, for the most part. But when it's not raining . . .

(A fish restaurant on a lake outside of Kriva Palanka, in Eastern Macedonia)

(Beer cooler with fresh mountain spring water at a friend's cottage in Skopsko Crna Gora)

(Somewhere between Stip and Sv. Nikole in Eastern Macedonia)

(The view from my new apartment in the Aerodrom neighborhood of Skopje)