Na gostis
John Bannon
I was recently on two different na gostis, the first with my host family from a village, and the
second with my landlord’s family in the center of Prilep. The differences could not have been
starker.
No one in my host family has ever gone to university, while my landlord and his wife are college educated
and their two daughters are in Skopje studying financial management and English, respectively. The conversation at my landlord’s was quiet with a serious bent while my host family cannot go five minutes without
a good shega. My host family believes that a choice of hot drinks involves deciding between Turkish coffee
and tea. My landlord’s daughter prepared Nescafe – the cold, sweet kind that resembles a latte. Both families
have met my parents. My host family asked if they are healthy, while my landlord, a civil engineer like my father, asked if my father could send him English language material on reinforced concrete. That segues nicely
into a glaring difference: everyone in my landlord’s family speaks at least some English – to the point that my
landlord and his wife agreed that in December they will try to speak only English with each other to practice
– while the 11 year old who can barely get out complete simple sentences na Angliski is the only one who
speaks any English in my host family. With my host family I gained ten pounds during home stay and “no,” “a
little,” “more,” and “enough” all elicit the same response – more food and drinks! In contrast, my landlord’s family listened to my claim that two stuffed peppers were more than enough. Which was nice for a change.
Just when I had mentally concluded that the rural / urban cultural divide in Macedonia is only slightly less
vast than the American / Macedonian divide, my landlord’s wife showed me just how Macedonian she really
is. I had a bus to catch, and what good Macedonian family would let a friend board a bus without something
for the journey? I found myself saying goodbye with [? [??Y[ H \?X??Y????Z] ?[Z[?\??[?? ?]?\?[?]^H???[Z[ H??\?Y \?YHX[?H [Y\??Y??K??]?H??H \??[? ? ?\?[Y??\?[??\? ?X[ H\?[??&]?]Y\8?)????