Strange winter

No, the title of this posting is not about a gothic metal band. Neither is it about the new Meryl Streep (even though I think there might be a movie out there bearing this name and featuring her). Nope, it's all about what it is: a strange winter. Usually in Macedonia, winters are a little different from what I'm used to from the Netherlands. There's a guarantee for snow and temperatures at night can drop till an uncomfortable -20 C. I more or less got prepared for this and was actually looking forward to it as well. But, what happened until now: it is by far the hottest winter in the country with a mild and sunny 21 degrees in mid January as a highlight. No snow. No wind. Not even too much rain. Let alone icy winds, snow, blizzards and the likes of which you expect a band with the name 'Strange Winter' would sing about.

Memory of a sad moment

Just got back from the toilet. It always wonders what kind of funny thoughts you can get at these times of the day when this place is visited. This time it was about a drive home from work one day.

When arriving at Skopje from the M3 from Belgrade/Greece, the first traffic lights we meet daily is on the big intersection. This intersection is usually occupied and 'run' by a group of gypsy men and women. It's better maybe to call them boys and girls, as to my estimation these youngsters never exceed the age of 17. The girls sometimes even have little babies in their hands when they go pay the car drivers a visit asking for some change (usually the EURO is quite popular among these). The others, both boys and girls, are occupied cleaning windows and lamps of cars. I developed a theory about these kind of occupations, but it's too premature to present it here... yet. What I thought of just a few minutes ago, was the moment when we drove straight on, passing the lane destined for those who want to turn left. We had green lights, so we moved on. Then, in a flash, I saw a girl heading for the back of the bus. She knelt down behind it. I was wondering what she would be doing there. She put her working gear down (a wet sponge soaked with usually dirty water, and a screen wiper). Then, she put out her hands. Making the movements with the hands that resembled like she was warming them. When I took a closer look, I saw that she had placed her hands just below the exhaust of the bus; indeed she was warming her hands. Honestly, I again was quite shocked.

November 06 update: at the Svetie Joakim Josogovski monastery Kriva Palanka

It was a sunny 26 November in the previous year. We were in North East Macedonia. There's a good deal of nice things to do in this little city close to the Bulgarian border and I figure that visiting the St. Joakim Josogovski monastery is one of them. Uphill and just outside the city, this is truely one of the most beautiful places in Macedonia. Here's a look at a few moments. Click on the photo to see more of that day's photos in a Flickr Slide Show

A fresco on the rocks, just outside the chapel at the monastery of Sv. Joakim Josogovski.

The entrance of the bigger church at the monastery is covered with vivid coloured frescos. This is what you see when you look up at the right corner.

I have no idea if these conserved veggies were for sale or not (the empty Skopsko bottle just right of the jar got me to doubt if they really were), but the sunlight beautifully entered this little shed stuffed with conservatives.

Crikey! Has it been over 2 months already?

Somehow time appears to fly. And it does so with high velocity. It really doesn't seem like it's been more that two months since I've last came here to drop a few lines. However, as I'm back in NL and going over some photos of the first four months of my latest Macedonian tour of duty, I figure it's about time to catch up on a few happenings. Brace yourself! It still might take some time before the next contribution is ready for y'all. Just got the news that this blogger lot has been merged with Google in one way or the other. New features should be available. Have no idea yet what these look like, but I'll try to find out if any of these are 'hot' enough for Juuls Place to use.

Take care. It won't take 2 more months before the next entry has been posted.