Sunday Things

So this past weekend I spent my time again in Bitola.  It is great to have this city so close, since I enjoy it so much and since I am called down to the city periodically for work.  I had planned to arrive on Saturday since I had arranged to interview a high school student who was applying to the University of Chicago.  When I told my counterpart that I would be in town, she told me to stay until Monday so that I could visit the radio station at the university.  Therefore, I enjoyed an extended visit to the City of Consuls.

This was the first time that I stayed at another host family’s home (since Dan’s homestay situation in Ohrid does not really count).  Ted was kind enough to host me for both nights, and his parents were very hospitable.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ted’s host father plays in a band (they do amazing Genesis covers), and art must run in the family since the mother paints, the son plays the drums, and the daughter sings.

Ted, DNM (who was visiting from Tetovo), and I took it easy on Saturday night.  I woke early on Sunday morning so that I could attend Catholic mass.  The only Catholic churches I know of in Macedonia are located in Bitola and Skopje, so it is difficult for me to attend mass on a regular basis.  However, I had agreed to attend mass with Cindy (who lives in Bitola) and we met just before mass started at 9AM.  The congregation was small, and about 20% of the people at this mass were nuns.  Regardless, it was a very nice service, and taking part in the Catholic service was a great way to experience something Western in Macedonia.  I assume that most of the congregation consisted of Croatians who were second or third generations in Macedonia, as the list of songs for the mass were written in the Latin alphabet (probably Serbo-Croatian).  However, the entirety of the mass (except maybe the songs) was completely in Macedonian, which can be added to the short list of languages in which I have experienced a Catholic service (which include Spanish, Ukrainian, Tagalog, Korean, Italian, and Malayalam). Also, luckily the day was a celebration of St. Blaine (St. Blazhe in Macedonia), so I had the opportunity to have my throat blessed, which I happily welcomed due to the upper respiratory diseases I have had recently.

Cindy and me after mass

Ted and DNM spent the rest of the day cooking and relaxing while I talked business with a few of my counterparts over Skype.  Additional volunteers arrived in Bitola in order to watch the Super Bowl game.  Hana, a volunteer living in a village near Bitola who had extended her service for a year, had offered to host PCVs interested in watching the game together.  Thus, we all met in Bitola to eat and drink before finally taking a few taxis to the village.  The Super Bowl was a big deal this year in Macedonia, since roughly 10% of the volunteers hail from Washington state, and it seems that the second largest group calls Colorado home.  Once we arrived at Hana’s, we indulged in Mexican dip, chicken wings, French fries, Jello shots, and other game-day goodies before kick off at 12:30AM local time.  Eventually, Seattle began to wallop the Broncos, which made for a very boring game.  This, combined with too much rakija, induced me into a deep sleep just before half time.  When the game was over (4AM), we called a few taxis and made our way back to Bitola.  Those from Seattle were happy for the win, while I was happy that I was able to enjoy enough sleep.

Hanging out in Bitola before the game