Calmed Down; the first guest

I am much less angry than yesterday. Now, I just need to figure out the best way to face this challenge. I know I am not in this alone. Rather, this has invigorated me to produce the best action plan to work on improving women's economic rights here in Macedonia. At times like these, I wish I knew more about sociology. One of the main challenges we, as women's rights activists, face is that the policies are top down policies - there has not been major agitation from below to bring about these changes. I know I have talked about this before. But I wish I knew more about how the collective group works and how groups form their identities. My sister studies psychology, and while she is helpful at the individual level, the group level is where I need to expand my knowledge. One necessary ingredient to group dynamics is an effective leader. Maybe I need to hone my public speaking and management/leadership skills.

In other news, a woman from Colorado is coming to Skopje on Saturday - my first guest! She is friends with one of my friends. I guess there is a Habitat for Humanity conference at Lake Ohrid or something like that. At any rate, she arrives at the train station at 8 AM Saturday (there goes my Friday night) and needs to arrive at the airport by 2 PM. She sent me her tour itinerary and their tour of Skopje seems pretty thorough. I am trying to figure out exactly what we will do at Skopje at 8AM on a Saturday. Not a whole lot of people are awake at that time. I think I will take her to the old Turkish quarter. There are loads of little shops that sell textiles, crafts, etc. Then, we will go get coffee (a Macedonian tradition! Coffee!) then find a place for lunch. I am sure we will have a fabulous time.