Friday, November 30

a good day

I am still wearing the red ribbon of the International AIDS day. Kids liked to make them and they look really nice. HIV/AIDS workshop went better than we expected. Marian was the greatest, smartest and he was helping with translation in Macedonian. Naum and Gjoko were making the biggest mess and noise, but they were in minority. Marija and Nikolja were also behaving nice and grown up (I am just writing it for myself to remember their names and what they were like).
In the beginning we made a name game and added their age, so to find out how old they actually are because Anja was scared that they are such kids when we entered the hall. However, they were all 12-13. Though Angela, Ana and Naum look for me like 7-8...
Then we showed the posters we accidentally got yesterday in ГТЦ while walking back from the language class. I told what is the difference between HIV and AIDS, how one can get HIV and how not. Sex is still a tabu topic here it seems. When I asked how you can get HIV, Marian said by blood. Yes, it is true. That is the most straightest way. But many people have it without mixing their blood. I noticed it also yesterday on Wikipedia in the Macedonian language - they mentioned only blood transfusion... Anyways they know about sex, too. Or know now.
The game with YES and NO on both sides of the room was working quite nice. Anja had translated the sentences from English in Macedonian and kids enjoyed walking and running from YES to NO and back.
In last 3 min we made the red ribbons and they left with the ribbons to school. Probably took them off before entering but that does not really matter.
The small kids were huggish and crazy as always. I got sick and sweaty running after them and twisting them around me while only holding their hands, and also pulling them by hands on the floor - cleaning it :)
They were drawing cards for Дедо Мраз/Dedo Mraz (Santa Claus, Saint Nicolas...Salatēvs, Дед Мороз) and writing what they would like from him (basketball ball, make-up, tetris...). When we were leaving (Anja took all their wishes and chards with her), one boy seriously asked what we are going to do with them and if we are going to give them to Dedo Mraz and if he will bring them these presents they wished for... They really do believe in this guy...
One of the small girls, she is a bit older really wanted me to explain what are those ribbons for (we made them also for the small kids because they also wanted such nice red ribbons). I told her that Anja can explain it better in Macedonian, but she did not want to hear it form Anja, but from me. So as good as I could I tried to explain that it is a disease many people have in the world and you can die from it, and you can get it from blood to blood or while having sex. I am not sure she got the sex part, but anyways... just raising awareness. First question when she saw the poster and us with the ribbons, and I told it is a disease, she asked if we have this disease.
Ok, must finish now and pack my back. I am taking the 17:00 bus to Prishtina.

Thursday, November 29

International AIDS Day

Support World AIDS Day
December 1 is the international AIDS Day. I decided to talk to the older kids at Detsko Selo about HIV and AIDS tomorrow, during our Health Workshop: what it is, how to prevent, how it is not possible to get infected. But I am a bit scared how much they actually now about sex and such things...anyways I think it is worth risking

Skopje Fair/СКОПЈЕ САЕМ and ProCredit day

Yesterday I went first to Detsko Selo at 10. Viktoria had to go to doctor again. All volunteers are having some health problems here. This time we had to go to the other room because in the big room first Irena had a meeting with aunts (Children Village's "moms") and then there was ProCredit coming with their donations. I liked the small room actually better because it is smaller, warmer and cozier. First I was trying to teach them how to practice multiplication and make their own unique pattern using their birth date. Then we were doing a small funny dictation in English, then spelling of fruit and vegetable names in English. I like it because it makes me revise the names in Macedonian. A bit later Karen came, she had got lost or something. She is actually a really nice girl, but having a hard time with English and now also Macedonian.
After big kids left, we went to the big hall to see Irena. There were many children and aunts and people from ProCredit bank who were first promoting their ideology and then giving sets of knitted hats, scarfs and gloves to kids. By kids faces you could tell that they were quite boring gifts, still they were very polite and happy for them.



Then I went home, bought a burek (it was excellent this time, I am going to the same place again). Rested a bit and went to the Skopje fair to meet Elena from the incubator and see how it looks like. Elena was working together with her friend Marija. Really nice girls. I did not like to stay at the stand too much because visitors of the fair usually caught my eyes and came up to me to ask what we (Business Incubator) are doing. Then Elena jumped in and I just stood there and smiled like a stupid decoration girl or hostess how they call them. Actually they had really beautiful hostesses, especially some IT companies with ugly guys need to hire some beautiful girls for the fair to promote their stand. The other thing which caught my attention in this fair in Skopje was that almost in each stand there is kind of cafeteria area where people are sitting smoking, drinking coffee, eating cakes, sandwiches, candies...




I was explained by Elena that these areas are for the big clients. I was laughing back that in Latvia in such fairs you just take the business card of the big client to be and type him an email afterwards.
The fair was not really big and and also not so many people. It is free for pensioners (old retired people), so they usually come to these fairs to collect pens and colorful brochures, and/or just to have a talk
While walking around the 2nd time I was caught by the promotional movie of ProCredit bank. They showed a movie about their branches all over the world. I started with Nicaragua, then it moved to Mozambique, then to Ghana... While I was standing there, they offered to sit down. After Ghana I was already starting to feel uncomfortable - it was more than half an hour I was sitting there. But when I was leaving I was stopped by one ProCredit girl who offered me juice and asked to sit a bit more because the next was Macedonia. So I sit down again and watched Macedonia, Serbia and a bit of the main training center in Germany. It was an interesting movie.. thumbs up for ProCredit. I started to appreciate them more. And I found out, for example, that they are driving on the left side in Mozambique. The capital of Nicaragua Managua was destroyed in a big earthquake in the 1972. Ghana was the biggest "exporter" of slaves, but now one of the most stable and peaceful countries in Africa... Portuguese colonial rule finished really late in Mozambique, only in 1975. And after that they had a destructive civil war.
After the language class, I wanted to have a peaceful evening and go to sleep early. I did have a peaceful evening cooking and learning Macedonian, but went to sleep anyways at 1 am... Getting up today at 7 am did not feel very good. I will try to go to sleep earlier tonight.

Wednesday, November 28

French gheto

yesterday after the language class i was very hungry because I ran straight from the business incubator to the language class. i was late anyways because there was a big traffic jam on the bridge. the tur towards the government building was blocked by a police car with flashlights on. there was a huge crowd of people, probably protesting... still have not checked why, but one guess was that those are albanians asking for state holidays on nov 28-29 because they are Albania's independence and liberation days. Kosovars(-ans) have these 2 days off.
Anyways after the language class I joined 4 Frenchmen (Karen, Pierre, Antoine and Dominique - excentric French woman in her 50ies(?) and in red) to Dominique's favorite restaurant. All her friends hang out there and she knows the owner and everybody there. The meal was really delicious - perfect sharska pleskavica with kajmak, but the place was rather cold and also not extremely cheap (I have a tendency now to compare all the prices with Kaj Zlate). Then we walked and Antoine biked on Dominique's funny little bike towards Smala Stanica (that is the interactive art galery and cafe where also the erotic art exhibition was). Inese and Carsten were waiting for us already there. We told them to take some places to sit, but there were none. Luckily Carsten now some people and a waitress from one French party at some French woman's house and they sat with them. So when we came, we were completely surrounded by French. Finally they could really enjoy French ruling over English. I met a Macedonian guy who was studying French oral interpretation, 2 French girls who are doing internship at the French embassy, one Chinese looking French girl and another 2 girls... did not manage to talk to them because after one Skopsko I left. Music was getting on my nerves, too loud and not very good Jazz (if it can be called so, some crazy improvisation). Also the smoke and French language.
Yeah, actually the event was called НОЌИ НА РАДИО РАВЕЛ И ПРИЈАТЕЛИТЕ (nights of Ravel radio and its friends). There will be several such nights at Smala Stanica and the live music will be broadcasted live on Ravel radio station.
I walked home, quite a long walk, but walking is good. Tonight I want to go to sleep a bit earlier because I am finally getting work that starts before 12...dog days are over (for a while at least).

Tuesday, November 27

First post in Macedonian

Јас се викам Даце. Имам дваесет и пет години. Сум од Латвија. Сега живеам во Скопје и ќе останувам тука девет месаци. Работам како волунтерка во СОС Детско Село и во една невладинска младинска организација. Зборувам малку македонски.

YES Business Incubator

Today is my first working day at YES Business Incubator
First impression is really positive, people are very nice to me, got pizza, coffees, pepsi, Macedonian version of Belgian chocolate shells (btw, not bad at all - it is called ATLANTIS). I am just exploring, getting to know the people from the start-up companies here, reading about the incubator, searching the web for other incubators and associations and chambers of commerce of ICT companies in the Baltic States and Scandinavia. If you have a good idea for funding opportunities, matchmaking of these little Macedonian baby companies with bigger European companies, seminars, conferences, forums on Entrepreneurship and Business Incubators, feel free to post here or write me a private email to dsaltane[at]gmail
Tomorrow I am going to SOS Detsko Selo at 10 and after that at 14 to INFOCOM 2007 at the Skopje Fair.
The weather is very nice today, sunny, blue blue sky :)

Monday, November 26

Le Petit Cafe

I have been sitting in Le Petit Cafe for more than 2 hours already. I don't live in the center of Skopje and it is so cool we have such a cool cafe in our suburb. If you sit here, you really get a feeling you must be in the center. No way you would find such a nice place somewhere in Purvciems or Zolitude. And there is wireless internet here.
I have been working hard with adding some pics here. It is always better to see it once than read about it 100 times (old smart probably not Latvian saying). Sorry, I don't have my camera with me now, I will show you Le Petit Cafe another time.

oh my god, I don't want (20) kids!

today was crazy at the children village (SOS Detsko Selo). viktoria did not come today because she felt ill. I went alone. More and more kids came this time and at the peak I had close to 20 screaming, singing, fighting with each other, fighting for my attention and my drawings little monsters. they were playing with my hair, holding my hand, holding to my clothes, kissing me, begging to draw princesses, fish, balerinas, strawberries...
later Albert came with Karen, the volunteer from France (sorry don't know how to spell her name). they were just watching all the craziness what was going on. we tried to organize some games but they were shouting, jumping on their hands, making saltos, bridges backwards... when we finally got the rules clear always one half was cheating the rules... gosh, how can people choose this work

cat day

today I satisfied my hunger for caressing nice, warm, lazy, soft, sweet home cats. we visited natasha at her home and now she has got 2 of them: Toshe and Marko.
Natasha is not feeling well (everybody is getting ill, really) and her mom was diagnosed with cancer again, metastasis :( she is done with chemitherapy now. you could imagine to meet a murky mood at their home, but it is so cozy, warm, happy and nice. we had to eat a lot (of course)
not completely ripe Japanese apple (hurma, persimmon) is really yuckie. it is a challenge to eat it because you can choke with it.

Saturday, November 24

devil wears prada, salep and photocopy

Just a minute, I hear the water boiling - need to run to make my salep, but will be back soon...
Back. Salep is a strange drink. Actually I don't know from what it is made, but besides salep it contains milk & spices: sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, skrob, guargam, ksantangam... They sell it only in pharmacies and it costs 30 cents a pack.
I checked Wikipedia for Salep. This is what it says: referring to both orchid as well as the salep drink. It is a flour made from grinding the dried tubers of various species of orchid, which contain a nutritious starch-like polysaccharide called bassorin. Salep is also the name of a beverage made from salep flour, whose popularity spread beyond Turkey and the Middle East to England and Germany before the rise of coffee and tea. In England, the drink was known as "saloop".
Shpetim came yesterday evening. I went to pick him up at the bus station. Albert told me that the new law (that foreigners need to register at the police the same day they arrive) is already in force and we were looking for someone with a Macedonian ID (lichna karta) to register him. Macedonians are scared of police, lazy and don't want to do more than is really required of them. Finally Albert thought of Ljubo, our office boss. Ljubo had just cut his hair and had to take a shower. But in 1 hour +10 min he was really outside our door. He is a great guy! However, at the police we were told that if he is staying less than 3 days, he does not need to register. Oh, cool. So we did not register. But I was joking that the police probably has not seen the new law yet. It is normal here - if you need something from some office, you better take the law with you. And they will probably ask you to give them the law for making a copy...
Oh, talking about the photocopy (fotokopir) places in this region, there is another funny thing. These places here are more common and more popular than bookshops. They are not only making copies, they are storing all kinds of conspectuses. If you need some university subject, you don't go to a bookshop or search internet or ask your friends - you just go to a photocopy place and they will let you choose which one you like. Of course, if you are especially interested in veterinary, it is better to go to a photocopy place near the veterinary faculty.
Today we went to Plaza de Toros in the center. I was reading USSR History in Russian with all these beautiful pictures of factory workers listening to their supervisor, komsomol girls learning to drive a tractor... all the beautiful names of decades in relation how far the socialism was built :) And then surprisingly among all the crap books I found a Devil Wears Prada in Dutch. What a pity that my Dutch has never been fluent and the book was not in English. I would be coming each day there to read... or better I would have stolen the book. Yes, and I still want to see the movie, too.

Thursday, November 22

Hurrah!

We have Internet at our home!

Sunday, November 18

football, first steps in roma tongue and cough

The weather is really terrible here. Plus five, rain, dark, cold... Yesterday was raining the whole day. It was really the best day to experience Shutka. I was there already 2nd time but the first time it looked quite nice. Yesterday one of our guys compared it to Vietnam. The family we were visiting this time was living deep inside the barrack house district, we had to take small flooded streets, jump on broken bricks among mud and water and old muddy, slippery blankets. When we finally reached the right house, there was a really cool, new motorbike standing outside and the guy we were visiting were taking care of it. He had just bought it. Also inside the small house was quite cozy, quite clean carpets and blankets on the floor, corner sofa, big TV. And the view from both windows was nice - to the front it went on a green football field, and to the back - just to a green field. You could not really seen the misery on the sides around the house. Quite smart.
We met lots of people and lots of kids. I did not really understood which kids belonged to whom, but what's the difference anyways. Some of them were really dark and some of them were blond with blue eyes. But what's the difference anyways. They were all very cute and really nice kids.



I learned my first few words in the local Roma tongue.
amari (stress on i) - my?, ours
tumari (stress on i again) - yours
paradi (i again) - broken
jek - one
After Shutka we went to the now dark, flooded, and empty Bit Pazar to have something to eat. We had kjebapci with shopska sallad and greesy, petrol smelling bread (from the grill) in an empty skara place with a leeking roof. I was joking that I am not from the Baltics, I am from Sweden and one guy appeared who started to talk Swedish to me. We exchanged a few words in Swedish and I explained to him that I am actually not from Sweden.
We met other volunteers in the square to go to the football match Macedonia - Croatia. We were rather late because some guys had decided to take bus instead of a taxi. The stadium was full and there was not much chance to find our seats anymore. I lost other people at the entrace and watched the first half in solitarity, sitting on the wet concrete steps, on the old towel I had taken from our place. There were a group of croatians in our tribine guarded all around by police. Some guys next to me were all the time shouting and showing signs at them. A fight in the Northern tribine where croats were sitting and one crazy croat in Block 1 in the Southern (big, Macedonian) tribine were the most exciting events of the first half.
At the end of the first half we found out that Israel had won Russia, so Croats started the second half with a lot of energy and some very good attacks. It really looked that now the real game starts and they will show who is who. But surprisingly that did not last long and soon Macedonia was winning with 2:0... I really had the feeling that this tribine can break down under thousands jumping. It was moving indeed. Hmm... and it is kind of strange watching football live. On TV because of close-ups and repeating of good moments and goals, it looks much more serious.. hard to explain. It is just different.

After the game we had a few drinks in Sagafredo place. Trying to make a conversation by the loud music did not do much good to my already irritated throat and today I sound like an old man who smoked too much of his self-grown tobacco. But it is healing as today it is terribly itchy and after saying a few words I need to cough for 5 min.
Today is the birthday of Latvia, called my mom and talked a bit about things here and there. I miss my cat, would like to see her now in her brand new winter fur coat.
Today was a lazy Sunday. I had the feeling that I have finally earned it. No shower, sweatpants, coffee and Russian bojevik.

Thursday, November 15

no comments


I am really tired of this silly little dog barking (vaukshkjeeshana)

fignja za sushenje


our new laundry dryer. while i was walking with it home from Bit Pazar, a couple of grannies were interested where i bought it and for how much. from their faces it seemed that we got it for a good price. The previous day in Chento we were asked 100 denars (1.70 euro) more. and the guy did not want to bargain :P
yes, and somewhere in the distance is the famous Bit Pazar

some pics from work



Wednesday, November 14

First days at work

Today was our second working day at SOS Children Village. On Monday we met the smaller kids and were drawing super-heroes with them. I had to draw a lot of princesses, kralicas (queens), lots of kosturs (skeletons), 1 spiderman and 1 vampire (Dracula). Today we met a bit older kids and were drawing with them winter-and-snow related things: sneshko - snowman, elki - christmastrees, snegulki (snowflakes). We were also making snegulki from paper cutting it with scissors (nozhichki)... The kids are great and so eager to learn English and teach Macedonian!
On Monday I also managed to meet Natasha finally! It was very spontaneous, but really great. We met in Ljubov, a very hidden place next to Soboren Hram.
Also on Monday we had our first dancing class, which I enjoyed a lot, too! Really having a great time this week, so many nice things to write about, hehe
I am still not completely fine, but I feel quite great (healthwise). I just wake up with stuffed nose each morning.
I had a crazy shopping day yesterday, bought lots of clothes. I did not really take any warmer winter clothes with me. And these last days it is getting really cold. It was snowing today in Skopje. And today bought a bag (looking like a real Macedonian devojche now with tight jeans, long boots, long sweater and a big bag). Yes, and many books...gonna have some food for my brain. Hurrah! But now should down with spending...
Mwaah, kiss
Mood: very positive

Sunday, November 11

pics from Struga




Today is a very beautiful day, much warmer than yesterday, I can see the snow melting in the mountains. Here are some pics from today. And my new beautiful socks!

walk in snowy mountains

on Friday started to feel a bit ill, in the evening arrived in Struga for Vesnas&Kristin's goodbye-party. It was raing cats&dogs that night. And during the night the operation Planinska Bura was replaced by a real Planinska Bura with big wind, thunderstorm and snow.
Next morning I felt a bit better and decided to go to Vevchani, other people were going to Ohrid. Inese joined me. We missed the bus by 1 min and hitchhiked a car to Vevchani. The village was very quiet and empty. we went to some kind of park with springs, nice place. there was snow on the trees and inese was taking pictures. then some guy came and said that it is forbidden to take pictures here and he works for municipality as some kind of guide. he convinced us to go 5 min on the other side of the mountain to some little church with springs, very beautiful view... i was doubting because i did not like the guy and other side of the mountain looked very far. ok, but we can go for 5 min up, no problem. but then it was 5 more min and 5 more min and then it was too far to turn back. but we were going just up further in the forest, more and more snow. climbed some 3 hours at the end. up there was total winter, lots of snow, dry snow you could not make balls and real frost.
crossed the mountain river some 5 times. i got really pissed off with the guy and was almost killing him at the end and it did nto feel good at all being so far from civilization when it is getting dark and i dont see any light and village. but the biggest crisis was just 5 min walk to the village when i did not believe his 5 min at all (he wanted to make fire to warm his hands before going to the village...for me seemed stupid to do it. just 5 min away from the village where he said was a restaurant and taxis). but this time he was right, it was just 5 min away but the restaurant was not working and the village was quite deserted...
so we walked down and it was getting dark. there were some guys with a small zastava in the village and they were soon coming down but the car was full and they were driving like fools on the ice. we walked to another village and a nice lady let us in in the house and made some coffee and gave us blackberry juice. and our batteries were killed by the frost very fast. but somehow with 3 phones we managed to call the stupid guys friends who finally picked us up from there by car. first 1 km we were going slower than walking because the guy was very very afraid to drive on the icy road. but we got back to Struga and it was so great to be back! warm! safe! alive! no mechki & volki (bears & wolfs)!


Friday, November 9

operacija planinska burja

Operation code name Mountain Storm
well.. it is just an "ordinary" operation to catch some prisoners who escaped a prison in kosovo in august and are now hiding in the Sar mountains north of Tetovo, near Kosovo border. 6 or 8 guys (depending from the source) have been killed yesterday in mountain villages and some 12 guys have been arrested (by the way, one guy told me that they are being held in the police station 5 metres from where I sit now and where I went today to register. there were indeed guys with kalashnikovs outside). the main guy is not among any of two groups.
but people here with not so old memories can really go paranoid. yesterday and today listened to crazy enough speculations about what is happening and what is going to happen. still all is peaceful here - most of second half today listened to black balkan humour and pitying about too little action.

Tuesday, November 6

sunny autumn day

Today is the day when I can shout aloud that I LOVE AUTUMN! We have a rich Persian carpet of yellow leaves - I love the sound they make when I walk on them, we have beautiful Macedonian sun - it is actually quite warm ;) And we have lots of kitties enjoying this beautiful weather outside, just laying around on car motors.
This weekend I was in Prishtina again - visited the so-called car market on the outskirts - a total men's world where you can buy anything from escavators and Shar dog puppies to porn movies and fake D&G jeans.



And I had the luck to visit also the emergency section of Prishtina city hospital because they put my boyfriend's leg in gips. While waiting outide the X-ray room I was exchanging smiles with a wonderful blonde curly 3-year old girl.
Yesterday evening back in Skopje I joined other volunteers to a Macedonian traditional dance class. This time we did not dance ourselves yet, but just observed kids dancing. It is a real fun to dance oro, and also a good exercise (especially for guys, and especially in not oro, but ottoman war dances). Now our task is to gather a group of 10 volunteers... for beginners class because kids are too advanced already.