The Journey is the Goal: My Visitors and side trip to Greece!

Gold Death Mask from Thessaloniki Museum

March 24th I planned to take the evening train from Skopje to Thessoloniki (aka Solon) in Greece to meet up with my sister Heidi and friend Maki, who had flown in Athens a week before and were touring Greece before visiting me in Macedonia. It was a happy reunion at the train station when I saw Heidi and Maki, as we hadn’t seen each other in 6 months. March 25th was Greek Independence Day, so many shops and businesses were closed. My brief visit to Northern Greece was low key, although we did visit the Archeological Museum in Solon, as well as the beautiful waterfront and the White Tower. The next day we were planning to take the night train back to Macedonia, but were given the incorrect time (maybe due to the difference in military time and miscommunication between languages), so we missed that train and had to spend an extra night there. I wasn’t thrilled, as Greece is a lot more expensive, especially for one on the Peace Corps budget! (Greece I believe is more touristy and expensive than it was 9 years ago, largely, I believe, to converting to the Euro as well as having hosted the Olympics).

We took the train the next morning and benefited from seeing the beautiful views, including the Demir Kapija Canyon. First stop was visiting my host family in a village near Veles. We spent our entire time visiting with friends and family and it was a wonderful visit (although it got tiring after 8 straight hours of it!). People really aren’t used to seeing people from Asia (as Maki is from Japan), so they had lots of questions and at one house, Maki showed us how to make Origami Elephants!

From there, we went to Kochani. It was great to show Maki and Heidi my home town. They got to see where I live, meet my friends, fellow teachers and kitten and tour around town. I had a meeting to attend in Skopje on Friday, March 31st, so I brought Heidi and Maki along. While I was in my meeting they did some sightseeing and shopping. For the weekend, we went to Gostivar, a city in the West where I have PCV friends living. I wanted Heidi and Maki to see the west, as it is comparatively different to the East, where I live. We walked around town, visited a Turkish café, drank Turkish coffee, met some Albanian friends of my PCV’s and heard the call to prayer at the nearby mosques, which sounds like beautiful haunting chants.

Heidi and I said goodbye to Maki in Skopje on April 2nd and then headed down to Lake Ohrid in the south where we met up with a few other PCV friends of mine. I’d seen pictures, but was still very much impressed with the beauty of the Lake and now understand why many Macedonians flock there for their summer vacations! Heidi and I then returned to Kochani for a few more days, attended my school football tournament (we won!) and school concert. We returned to Skopje the next day and I said goodbye to my sister on the 9th. It was a wonderful visit and I was sorry to see her go.

Now I’m already getting excited about my parents who plan to visit me Spring 2007!