It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

Happy Holidays!!! 

Sorry that I did not write yesterday, as mom said I went to Skopje yesterday and it was loooong day.  Takes 4 hours on a bus (one way), 2 by car, buses make a lot of stops and have a 5 minute break at each place. I also had a lot to do in the short time I was there.  Like mother, like daughter, I had my list and (yes Jenny dork!) it was in order of where the location of the places where.  I had planned it out to walk everywhere around Skopje, but as the day went on I realized that next time I will use the city buses, like the Macedonians do, to get from place to place….to much walking.

I have pictures!!! I started taking pictures of some of the classrooms in my school.  This was the first place that I started seeing Christmas decorations.  Both the teachers and the students participate in decorating the classrooms.  They put up posters and signs that the students have made and they have Christmas trees that the students like to leave lite.

These pictures are from a 2nd grade classroom.  I really liked the bulletin board in the back of the room and how it is decorated with items that past students, over the years, have made.  They also have a nicely decorated tree in the corner with presents underneath, most of them are empty boxes that are wrapped and used for decorations. The teacher of this class came up to me today because her students told her that I was taking pictures of their decorations.  I asked if it was ok and she said it was fine and she wanted a copy of the pictures as well!!! 

These 2 are from a 4th grade class room.  The teacher drew the poster of Santa.  I saw it on the door a few weeks ago and she saw me looking at it.  She pointed to it and said in Macedonian that she had made it with a big smile on her face.  Since there are no places to buy school posters, the teachers are all very creative and so are wonderful artists.  They also had a tree that they had made out of paper.  They had a regular on too all decorated but this was original and special.  I think a student actually made it, but I am not sure. 

During my trip in Skopje I took some pictures at the big Vero center, the biggest and best grocery store in Macedonia.  They have a section on international foods and you can get items to make Chinese food and to make your own sushi.  They also keep the peanut butter in the same place, its not a mandatory item in Macedonian homes as it is in the states. I also found cans of kidney beans, in the international food aisle, so now I can made some good home chili!!!

These were some of the decorations at the Vero center.  Santa is everywhere.  There are even places set up, just like in the malls, where kids can go and have their picture taken with Santa.  They also made a tree out of stuff animals that, from what I could understand by reading the sign, will be donated to children.

And of course.... if there is Christmas all over Macedonia there must be Christmas in Resen..................

MY TREE!!!!  Nana sent me the tree and I got the ornaments here.  The snow man box is from Auntie, it was full of wonderful goodies and the 2 mug looking things where in it.  I saved them so I would have something to open on Christmas.  The tree definitely helped make my apartment feel more Christmassy.  

My plans for the holidays is to spend Christmas Eve in Veles with a group of volunteers.  I am also going to Skype home and Jenny and I are going to open our stockings together and mom and dad are going to open some presents to...make it feel like I am there opening gifts with them.  On Christmas day I am going to Bosilovo, a village outside of Strumica, to have Christmas dinner at Amy's house with a smaller group of volunteers.  Amy and Amanda, a MAK 14, are cooking and they are really good cooks so I am not missing out on that, even if I have to travel to the other side of the country.  I am going to leave you all with some info that I found on how Macedonians celebrate Christmas, it is starting to make more sense.

"What makes the holidays in Macedonia interesting is the fact that Santa Claus delivers presents to good kids on New Year’s Eve. That is a legacy of Socialist Yugoslavia, when there were two Christmases, one for the predominantly Catholic Croatia and Slovenia on December 25, and one on January 7, two weeks later, for the Orthodox Macedonians and Serbs, whose respective Catholic and Orthodox Churches follow the Gregorian and the Julian calendar. Seven days away from each Christmas, it seems, was a good compromise for Santa and for the socialist leadership. In Macedonia, people celebrate New Year’s Eve with a feast and a lot of alcohol, firecrackers and ammunition. Suckling pigs, turkeys and geese fall victim of New Year’s Eve, in addition to a lot of sarma (staffed cabbage leaves) and creamy salads, all of that washed down by rakija, beer and wine. That happens the night of December 31. The old year is bid farewell and the new one is welcomed. The following morning, kids unwrap their gifts and packages

of chocolate and candies, and grown-ups treat their headaches. Five days later, those who celebrate the Orthodox Christmas start their preparations for Christmas according to the Julian calendar, January 7. The rites could be divided in thee main events: Kolede, Badnik i Bozhik."

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I will write again after the holidays!!!  Merry Christmas!!!!