cultural experiences
It’s not hard to travel north and south in Macedonia from Bogdanci, but it can be complicated when
you’re trying to get anywhere in the Eastern or
Western part of the country. After seven hours of
traveling by bus, we arrived in Macedonia’s most
beautiful and most popular destination: Ohrid.
Blessed with great scenic views of Lake Ohrid
and well preserved history, the medium sized city
is thriving with tourists. We saw groups of Chinese, Dutch, and Germans as well a smattering
of Americans. We stayed at an apartment for two
nights on the hill in the old part of town. After enjoying a great meal nearby, my guests and I were
impressed with the charming old European feel
of town. The two days were spent touring the well
preserved fortress at the top of the hill overlooking the lake, as well as several monasteries that
date back multiple centuries. My aunt bought pearl
earrings from one of the many shops dedicated to
selling them. We also took short trip to Struga and
explored the lake.
We returned to Skopje via Kichevo, Gostivar and
Tetovo. My aunt noted how green the countryside
was in comparison with Central Asia. “Everything
is so brown there,” she said. “It’s pretty here with
lots of trees.”
Next adventure
Back in the capital city, we said our goodbyes and
I thanked them for coming to Macedonia. They
were headed to Georgia and Armenia for the next
three weeks. I headed to Bogdanci with less than
six months remaining before I complete my adventure.
16 – Pauza Magazine
The Accidental
Globetrotter or
How I Circled the Globe
Without Meaning To!
Nancy Glines - MAK 17
T
his adventure began in the middle of one
cold dark night in late January when I suffered the most horrendous gall bladder attack ever. Offering up my suffering for “the
remorse of my sins”, I prayed it would be over soon
– either I would recover or die. There didn’t seem to
be a lot of other options.
Since I had made a lot of plans for my last year of
service (and none of them included any more gall
bladder attacks), I made arrangements with Medical
to have it checked out. When I had the sonogram,
the doctor found that I had a very large gall stone
and recommended it be removed. Since at the time
I was asymptomatic, Dr. Mimi said that Washington
had to approve the procedure. Imagine my surprise
when at the end of March Dr. Mimi called to tell me
that DC had approved it and I could either go home
to Oregon or fly to Bangkok to have it done. The
hassle of going to Oregon, trying to get into see all
the doctors I needed to and have the procedure
seemed overwhelming, so I opted to go to Bangkok. What the heck – I’d lived a good deal of my life
in Oregon and had never been to Bangkok!