Living the Dream: Pictures, Part II and the friend update

Hello! I hope you had a great weekend. As some of you may know, we had elections here in Macedonia on Sunday. They were early elections, called by the current conservative PM. Many in Macedonia feel that these elections were called so Nikolai (that is the PM's first name and how I refer to him) could consolidate his power. You can imagine the email I received from the US Embassy: "Do not go to political gatherings or demonstrations. Avoid crowds. Etc." So Friday, after work, my colleagues and I went out for a drink and after the drink, I had to walk home the ONLY way I know how, which happened to be going through one of the Albanian party's gatherings! Oh if my Embassy had seen me...I would have been in trouble. Obviously, I came through totally fine and while there was some violence in Macedonia, Skopje was relatively peaceful, except for the honking and flag waving of the winning conservative party.

I know you are dying to know about how things went on Wednesday. Long story short, Jessica and I got along very well, but have not seen each other again but I have a new Macedonian friend named Bea. That is not her full name, but it is what her friends call her. I met her on Friday night at a coffee bar and she has adopted me. We went shopping for pants on Saturday and last night, she introduced me to some of her other friends. I am so happy. My life is not all Animal Planet All the Time any more! Hooray! Her birthday is this weekend so I am knitting her a skinny scarf. I really hope she likes it - she won't be able to wear it for a few months since it is already in the 90s here.

Ok, I promised more pictures so here they are!