Ok these are the last ones

More Pictures of Turkey Day

Blagodaram Den (Thankyou Day)

Explaining the American holiday of Thanksgiving was fun. We had traditional turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and even pumpkin pie! I volunteered to make the GB casserole and substituted onion rings for the friend onions! Haha. It was still pretty good. We invited 2 families and Jane over for dinner. They were all very skeptical of the new dishes. But I think they ended up liking them. While I was at Top Shop buying frozen green beans, I got to share with Roza, one of my fav ladies there, about how Thanksgiving is a day when we say Thankyou to God for all of the ways He has blessed us through the year. Well, I was kinda embaressed cause I got a little emotional. But she was really touched. It was cool how all day long I got to share with people about this day. Just one more way we can share our faith :)

Another Great Night!

Well tonight was interesting! Daphinka came by with her two 6 year old daughters(we nicknamed them the "Little Terrors" Ha ha. They are really cute and like to play board games without any rules. Then Tamara came by. She and Melanie tackled some tough Bible passages. Then Petar came in and talked to Brian. Jane came by! Yay! And at one time the back corner was full of people. Later, around closing, Nedan, a guy I met while I was taking a walk last week, came by. He talked mostly about this museum in Struga he went to where they have a lot of dead, stuffed animals. Ha ha. Oh and I got to meet the shop owner next door. I didn't have a key to the bathroom but she did. And it was an emergency! So it forced me to use my Macedonian or else... But it was great. She totally understood. And she is really nice. Well that bout sums up the night.

Ubava Struga!

Marija, our language tutor's sister, took Melanie and I on a trip to Struga! It's a small town, much like Ohrid, about 15 minutes away. She took us to a great underground kafich called the Republica, shopping, and to the beach. It was a fun day. Macedonia is just a beauitful place!

Pancakes with Tamara

Tamara and her son Philip joined Melanie and I Sunday morning for some American chocolate chip pancakes! Yum!

SNOW!

Saturday morning Melanie and I awoke to find tiny white snowflakes falling outside our balcony window! What a surprise. We couldn't help ourselves. We turned on the Christmas music! What a great surprise :)

Kafichot, Ima Vreme

Yay! The kafich is up and running. We are now open Tues-Thurs 6-10. And it looks great with the new book shelves and some new pictures on the wall! Melanie and I will be in and out, because we are still focusing mostly on language.
The other picture is me, Melanie, and Philip. Tamra and Rumen invited us over for coffee and cake last week. Tamara is quickly becoming one of my best friends! She is so sweet and she speaks great English. Philip is her son. He's a little shy around girls ;)

Boza Grossa!

Part of the Scavenger Hunt Brian and Mandy put together for us was to try "boza". It's a favorite among Macedonians. I don't know why. It's a yeasty, unsweet, bitter drink. Bleh! But atleast we can check that one off the list! And the sweets we had to eat afterwards were delicious!

Okrid! We made it!

Melanie and I have been in Okrid now for about a week and a half, and it's even more beautiful than the pictures! Every day I am amazed at how beautiful this place is and even more amazed that I get to live here for the next two years! A wee bit of culture shock has set in. People smoking in our apartment without asking, the washing machine nob is broken so you don't know which cycle to put it on, and neighbors playing obnoxiously loud music just as my head hits the pillow to sleep. Oddly enough, these are all things that Melanie and I laugh about now! Right now we are still just getting to know the city, learning where everything is, and visititng as many kafichi(coffee shops) as possbile. Other than that, we are busy trying to learn Macedonian! Which is coming along but I still have a long way to go.
About the pictures:
Melanie and me trying sharska(hamburger patty with onions and cheese. yum!), at the duck cafe (theduckcafe.com.mk), and us again at the top of Fort Samuel(fort on my prayer card)
Also there is a picture of our living room :) and a picture of the lake on a really pretty day