Sometimes, no not sometimes, always it has been little stuff that brightens the day. Today it was the snowfall. When I woke up and saw a light blanket of snow clinging to every horizontal surface, from the narrow metal balustrade, to the spidery thin branches of the trees on the side of the mountain, I felt great. There was a quickness in my movements as I got dressed to go out for my morning walk. The stray snowflakes drifting down enveloping me with a softness associated with snow, making my heart sing. Only yesterday, I felt how will I last 2 years in my chosen self-imposed exile/adventure!
Today, my thoughts are about the stillness of the morning and the assets of my adopted city dressed in their finest. How familiar I have become with this place; the streets, the stray dogs, the people, the many fruit stands and their owner's, the couple of bakeries I frequent and the super market cashier's! This is my home for two years and I feel a pull-push relationship with it.
I love the fantastic views of the mountains sheltering this valley! I walk through the small pine forest on the small hill (mountain?) south of the town, less than 5 minutes walk from my house. It's dark green color set against the brown of the local oak and other trees is now a familiar place, as familiar as the wooded paths, the beach and the streets of LF. Today's snow cloaks the dark green and brown with a white coat, while the spring and summer wildflowers and other small animals that take shelter here have yet to reveal themselves to me. I remember how delighted my friend and I were when we spotted a deer, a fox or a coyote in the forested streets of LF-LB. Those thoughts remind me that I am in no hurry to go home, at least not yet, not till my work here is finished and I have experienced all the seasons.
Yesterday I learned about about a village close by which has fields of mountain tea on one side of the valley and berry bushes on the other side. Now I have something else to look forward to - accompanying my new friends to their village during those months and hiking up to those fields. So today it no longer feels like exile, but an adventure that is just starting

Stara Nova Godina

On the Eve of Stara Nova Godina
Don’t know where to begin – but I tell you Macedonians know how to party!
Vevcani, (pronounced Vevchani) a little village close to famous Lake Ohrid at the foothills of a mountain range and at start of some spectacular hiking trails hosts a carnival to coincide with the eve of the orthodox New Year, known as Stara Nova Godina. It is also the home to one of the many clear water springs in the country, which starts from a grotto like cave and is a real picturesque site, together with the winding up and down streets of the village that is litter free, with well-maintained homes and public buildings.
This festival has become a national tourist hotspot for this time of the year and known to be second only to the 1400-year-old carnival that takes place each year in February (this year on the 16th) in the southeastern city of Strumica.
To my great delight, as my friend and I were searching for restroom facilities, we stopped by the local municipal building, only to find a lavish spread laid out for lunch for the visitors on the terrace overlooking the street below before the start of the parade. A bonus!
After refreshments we walked about to the spectacular springs and made our way down to the main carnival parade route mingling with carnival participants, as they were getting ready for the parade. Finally the carnival parade started around 2 pm. Parades are fun and this carnival was even more fun, as there were no strict police pushing one behind ropes along the sidewalk. People were calm, even though inebriated and quite content to move back and forth to let the carnival parade participants interact with the bystanders to ‘sell fictitious wares’ and to allow people to step into the parade with them for unique photo-ops. It was a great advantage to be among volunteers who have attended this festival before, as I learned that I could move in and out of the ‘entries’ taking some memorable pictures. The TV’s channel’s covering the event censored a couple of “entries” which would be considered ‘x-rated’ and forbidden from a family carnival as this one was back home. Even though I took plenty of pictures, I too censored them from my album postings on picasa and facebook.
As this day was the eve of ‘Vasilitsca’, a religious new year, the church back home in my city always has a big bon-fire and pro-slava (celebration). A big bonfire and a meal is laid out for all citizens in the lawn at night. Though we got home by 8 pm, we found that the church celebration over, but numerous private homes and some neighborhoods had their own bonfires celebrating past midnight to welcome the ‘new year’! My friend and I walked about till it was time for bed.

On the day of Stara Nova Godina, one department at the municipality has a celebration similar to the work Christmas parties back home, commencing after a half-day’s work. Thus lunch was a long drawn out affair in one of the offices, big for 4 – 5 people but quite a tight space with 10-15 individuals, with catered food and drinks, including alcoholic beverages. It is a tradition at this gathering to serve burek, with two of the pieces each embedded with a coin. The two individuals who discover it in their meal are chosen to be godparents for the next year’s celebrations and are responsible for the catering. The computer speakers were used to provide traditional music from you-tube video sites and as soon as the traditional ‘ora’ music started, a few peers started the ora. It was pretty crammed in the office space, but I participated fully in these celebrations enjoying every minute of it and more than likely have made many more friends among my peers and colleagues! It was hard to get back to work after the lunch, so I concentrated on transferring photo’s from my camera to computer to web albums! Поминав супер! Тоа е се!