abbey abroad :)

I feel like I experience so many new things, I could blog every day! But I'll spare you that. :) Of course, every time I blog, I'll probably just write every single thing that happened since the last post, so maybe it would be better to just write every day... anyways. Ha. Here we go.

I like it here! It doesn't feel like home, but then again, I've only been here a week. It feels like it's been longer. Every day brings new experiences (and new challenges), but I'm enjoying it. I've had two four-hour language lessons so far. Yes, four hours. I usually do well for about three hours, and then all the letters start running together. But my teacher is great! She's 28, and she teaches Macedonian to the workers at the American embassy. I actually do genuinely enjoy my lessons with her. And I like the language a lot. And being in a non-English-speaking country definitely motivates me to learn the language! There is nothing more humbling than only being able to read at the pace of a 6-year-old (and not knowing what you're reading). Really. And knowing that when you see a 3-year-old, he has a better vocabulary than you do.

Yesterday, I met a girl named Tanja (pronounced like Tanya) who goes to my church. She's my "cultural guide" or something. Basically, I'll meet her twice a week so she can help me get familiar with the city and the bus system (ugh.), and she's a conversation partner for me. I really enjoyed my time with her yesterday, and I'm excited for tomorrow! She doesn't think she speaks English very well, but I would definitely call her fluent. She shared her testimony with me, which was a really neat story, and we were able to have great conversations while we walked around. She took me downtown and to the big bazaar. Talk about overwhelming! It was so crowded and loud and exciting! It's on the Albanian side of town. We also saw plenty of Roma begging. That will definitely take some getting used to.

Here are a few pictures from around the city:

Mother Teresa--She was born here in Skopje.

Mother Teresa Museum

This is the Stone Bridge, built around the 15th century. There are tonnns of statues around the city, and they're building more. That's President Roosevelt, in honor of his helping Macedonia gain its independence. I think. :)

Kale Fortress

Looking into the Old Bazaar. It looks so much cooler in real life!

Today, I got to go into a Roma home for the first time. One of Karen's friends just had a baby, so I went with her to give them a gift. This particular Roma settlement (there are several in the city) has about 3,000 people living in it. It was very muddy and dirty. We drove down a street and then walked through a maze of houses about 3 feet apart on every side! It was all on a steep hill. It looked really neat! But all the houses there are in pretty bad shape. Actually, it reminded me of the houses on the Navajo Reservation, just a lot closer together. When we got there, I met the grandmother and grandfather, both of whom are believers. The mother of the new baby (not a believer) served us Turkish coffee and mineral water. And I learned I don't like Turkish coffee or mineral water. :) The Turkish coffee was okay, just not my beverage of choice. They put the coffee grounds in your cup, and you let it sit for a while after they give it to you to let the grounds sink to the bottom. You stop drinking when you get close to the bottom so you don't drink the grounds. With sugar, it wasn't bad. I'm sure coffee lovers would really enjoy it! I didn't know this before I got to the house, but a lot of the Roma drink mineral water more than regular water. I'd never had it before today, and I can't say I liked it! But that's okay. :) It was exciting to actually see where I'll be working today. And it made me more anxious to learn Macedonian! The Roma speak Romani and Macedonian, but very few of them speak English, and those who do only know a little.

Driving into the Roma settlement

Sweet baby boy :)

Big sister Betty (named after my supervisor) with her new brother