Easter and Building Obstructions

Last night I was enjoying a cup-o-Joe on my balcony while listening to the melodic pat-pitter-pat of the rain on the tin-roof buildings. Looking over the city I noticed that besides the clouds obscuring the cross on the hill, my view of the church was almost gone as well. When did that happen??

For the past six months or so I've been watching this building slowly but surely block my view of the church and I'm quite sad to see it go. You see, that is the largest Orthodox church here in Macedonia and where many many cultural and religious events take place throughout the year. I've so enjoyed being able to see the twinkling candle lights on Easter eve, the wedding parties dancing in the courtyard of the church, or the protests blocking the intersection. But the view is gone now and it happened slowly, brick by brick, tie-rod by tie-rod, until all that's left is the cross on the top.

As I pondered this obstruction of view the thought struck me of how I don't want any such barriers between me and the Lord. I'm challenged by the illustration of that building to daily examine my life, to not let those little compromises (brick) or unconfessed sin (tie-rod) build up... to remain completely open to Him, my Savior. Unlike this building in the city that is not coming down, the obstructions between the Lord and me can be joyously demolished.

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Христос воскресна! Навистина воскрена!

Improvising

So we were singing the last song of the service and it was the time when the offering usually happens... Only the offering baskets were nowhere to be found!

The ushers looked at me and gestured their absence... Those in the front rows were looking under chairs and gesturing there was nothing. I scanned the congregation looking to see if anyone was wearing a hat, but since it was a warm day none were. Then Leonie, singing next to me, pointed out the frisbee sitting under one of the front row seats...

All this confusion and questioning happened in seconds... though it seemed much longer than that. Then I made the decision to improvise and to use the frisbee as the offering "plate." Yes, the chuckles slipped out as I grabbed the frisbee and gave it to the ushers. Honestly, it was also quite amusing to witness peoples humored reactions to the substitute plate, but in the end it was all good. :)

Drinkable SPAM in a can

SPAM and eggs may be the breakfast of champions in Hawaii, but in Kosovo they have a SPAM energy drink! mmMMMmmmm! It comes packaged in a black and yellow can that conjured images of bug-killer in my head. Oh, and the fly pictured at the top lends to that misconception as well. This is a lesson in how NOT to market something... though I confess to buying one just because it was called "SPAM." So I suppose it worked in some manner. In the end I did venture to try it and contrary to my fears it didn't taste like liquid meat pate'. Instead it tasted very similar to a Red Bull, kinda fruity.

So there you go! SPAM: the energy drink for "Living on the Edge" here in the Balkans! ;)

Road Trip to Kosovo: "Flags"

Last week I got to travel to Kosovo to visit some colleagues and friends for a couple of days. This was my first visit since they'd declared their independance one month ago and I was looking forward to it.

The border to Kosovo is only about 20 minutes away and the drive easy. Most borders over here have two sides (one to leave the country and one to enter the next country) separated by what's called "no-mans-land" (also happens to be the name of a great Balkan movie... but I digress). Anyways, all went without note-worthy narrative until I got to the customs dude on the Kosovo side.

I handed him my passport and when he turned it over and saw what country I was from his demeanor brightened up and he leaned on my car, "Oh! United States! How are you? Where are you from?" He asked while he fingering through the pages of my passport. "Oh! California! Such a nice place! Do you work on Bondsteel?" [Bondsteel is the American base here... really? did I look military? lol] Anyways, he gave me the star treatment just because I was American and I got the idea that if I were willing he'd sit and chat with me all day long!

Well, once past the border and into Kosovo, I was greeted with a huge red sign with black letters saying "Happy Independence" in Albanian. Then I began to see them: American flags... everywhere! In some places there were so many I had to remind myself that I wasn't in America on the 4th of July and that I was actually in Kosovo! I also saw the flags of Germany, Britain, Switzerland and other counties who've formally recognized Kosovo flying as well. What a truly strange experience it was to be in another country and see your own country's flag flown just as proudly as the new nations flag.

Explosions Echo

Boom Boom! My building trembled and windows rattled as I was relaxing with a cup of coffee and a book on Saturday. "Hmm..," I thought, "the garbage men are being pretty heavy-handed with the cans today..." Boom Boom! I sit up and think, "Earthquake?" Boom BooBoom KABOOMBoom! My building shutters again and the windows rattle their protest. I get up and head to the balcony, like many of my neighbors, to see if I can see what's going on... this was much more than an earthquake. Boom KABOOMBoom Boom!

I called a colleague who lives nearby and she said she'd heard them too... she was in the city center and said that the kid walking in front of her practically jumped out if his skin at the sound. When locals jump rather than just go on with business you know that something is out of the ordinary. Though my colleague and I were convinced that it was just some construction outside of town or something.

Later that day I go to a local internet cafe and learn of the amunition explosions in Albania... surely that is too far away for us to hear the explosions here in Skopje, over 100 miles away?! Friends in a town 1-1/2 hours away in Kosovo also heard the explosions though. The local news is reporting that that's what we heard... Really? They sounded only a few miles away... but if what we heard was from Albania it makes me realize just how big the explosions must have been and just how great the damage was. A quick visit to YouTube confirms just how large the devestation was and how big the blasts. It's those bigger, most devestating explosions that echoed all the way here.

People have lined up to give blood and various countries are sending aid as well, including here in Macedonia. Please do pray for the people there in Albania, for those who've tragically lost loved ones, who've had to be evacuated, who've lost homes and for the rescue and recovery efforts.

Here's a link to a CNN clip about this: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/03/16/lui.bpr.roxhimi.albania.cnn
and another link to a BBC report on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR_NNGpWku4

The Environment & Jewish Deportation: The Day of the Tree

Today's the Day of the Tree. I knew that. But what I didn't know was that is was a non-working holiday. I found that out this morning as my taxi pulled into the EMPTY post office parking lot. Usually the parking lot resembles a well-packed sardine can. That's when the driver informed me it was a non-working holiday. For trees? Really?

As it turns out, the government declared this day a non-working holiday to encourage maximum turn-out for a massive tree-planting campaign--2 MILLION trees, to be exact. Many acres were destroyed in last summers fires and so this day is about the environment under the motto: "Plant a Tree - Plant Your Future".

Today's also a day of commemoration.

7200 trees will be planted in memory of the 7200 Jews from Bitola, Skopje, Stip and other places who were loaded up on cattle cars by the WWII Bulgarian fascist regime 65 years ago and shipped off to the Treblinka concentration camp in Poland. The midnight raids happened between the 10th and 11th of March 1943. It's said that only about 2% of them survived either by hiding or resistance fighting. Several activities have been planned here between the 10th and 14th to commemorate this, including the tree-planting.

Coming from a place where the oldest things seem to be Sutter's Fort and the Pony Express, I sometimes forget just how much hard history has been lived here in this area of the world. Jewish deportation being one of them. Honestly, I didn't realize that that had happened here, and knowing it did brings back vivid memories of the Holocaust museum in DC: walking through cattle train cars, the shoes, the bunks, the horror... by the time I made it to the Auschwitz floor I couldn't take it anymore and hastened out of the museum, wiping away tears as I went. So overwhelmed was I by the sheer evil of which man is capable. In 1943 7200 Jews were sent from here to just such a camp... and now, 65 years on, the Macedonians are doing something positive to commemorate those lives.

So today is the Day of the Tree, an effort to bring healing to the land, scarred by fires, and to the Balkan people, scarred by the past. Frankly, I like the promise of healing, hope and new life that planting a tree brings, and pray for the people that they might know true hope and new life in the One who can heal them completely.

A Queer Trip to Sofia and Hotel California

Recently I drove a colleague (aka CQ) to Sofia, Bulgaria to visit an embassy there as part of her visa process. Here are some of the highlights with pics:

• Getting up at "O-Dark-Thirty" aka 4:30am to hit the road to make it for 10am office hours at the embassy.... I was so tired I walked out the door forgetting my mug of fresh coffee on the counter!
• Having CQ recite a story a friend told her of how she dreamed that she (CQ) had died.... oh, and she tells me this while I'm negotiating some twisty sharp turns through the mountains and trying to pass trucks along the way... no pressure or anything!
• Getting into Bulgaria only to find we had to drive 20MPH! forEVER... on country roads that would be set at at least 50MPH in California
• Taking 4 hours to drive just 150 miles
• Checking in to "Hotel California" while the Gypsy King verion of the song echos in the lobby
• The "parking garage" advertised on the internet by the hotel that turned out to be a two-car shack with a master-lock... it worked well, though!
• Waiting in the stairwell outside the apartment that was the embassy for just "15 minutes" (aka 1-1/2hours)
• Having the embassy door shut in my face as CQ was ushered in to take a phone call from the hotel... that I had to move my car.
• The visit to the embassy yeilded no visa, no stamp in the passport and no charge.... just a photo copy of a fax that was filled in with the date and her passport info...
• The mime (?) in yellow... holding his pose in freezing temps
• Having Subway sandwiches for lunch and Dunkin Donuts and coffee for dessert!
• Seeing the "Black Mosque" now an Orthodox church... amazing architecture


• Having a lady scold us for taking pictures of a "communist" monument... she educated us for 15-minutes or so about how the monument doesn't represent true Bulgaria and that we instead should visit the museums and such...



• Adventuring around downtown Sofia, discovering many fun nooks and crannies, all while FREEZING in the sub-zero wind-chill! brrr My legs felt like ice and that any step would shatter them!
• Fun shops with fun displays and amazing old and colorful buildings and architecture
• Catching the march of the Presidential Guard outside the President's office
• Enjoying "Moroccon Cigars" at an amazing Morroccon restaurant (the cigars were similar to taquitos... to be eaten, not smoked)...
• Getting out of the cold and thawing out with hot chai (aka tea, not the milky tea you get in the US that's called chai tea... lol... it's like saying "tea tea")
• Stumbling across the Bulgarian Olympic Committee building


• Having breakfast at the hotel in a room full of intimidating guys... either Olympic athletes or mafia... after seeing a couple of them later in Bulgarian team jackets we're leaning towards the first assumption. Oh yes, and their plates of heapped eggwhites gave that impression as well.


• Going to KFC in the mall and at our shocked expressions to the fact they didn't have chicken breasts the gal said (with perfectly timed irony), "Welcome to Bulgaria!"
• Inadvertantly asking a security guard to hail us a taxi! (We'd asked where we could find one... and he left his post and went outside to the road and got us one!)
• "George" the go-to guy at the hotel... he was so helpful!
• Checking out of Hotel California... and being able to leave too!
• Pulling the car out of the shack... all safe and sound. :)
• Getting KFC and Dunkin Donuts for the road (and for the freezer to enjoy for weeks to come)
• The wild weather coming home, sun and puffy clouds on the left and wind, rain and dark, foreboding clouds on the right.
• Curling up in a warm blanket and enjoying a donut and KFC while watching an old movie when I got home.

This short trip to Sofia was a lot of fun and full of odd, interesting and queer moments. I highly recommend visiting, though, when it's not so cold! Be prepared to leave your car and use the wonderful public transportation.

Also, it's highly recommended to staying at Hotel California. I've never in my life wanted to tip at a hotel... until this trip. The rooms were decent and comfortable, but it's the customer service that puts them over the top. All the employees there were so kind and friendly, but George, the go-to-guy, was the best. OK, this sounds like an advertisement, but seriously, it was a great experience and one I'd recommend. :)

Check out Hotel California.... it's such a lovely place.

Awaken from your wintry slumber and turn your face toward the sun...

Subtlety it begins. The first tentative buds push forth, vulnerable, yet strong with a persistent hope amidst the cold blast. The suns warmth has called them forth.

Soon, velvety pedals of white, pink and yellow also open up and turn their faces toward the sun. And when outstretched arms with lime-green hands join in, all subtlety dissipates and creation cries aloud,

"Awake! Awaken from your wintry slumber and turn your face toward the Son! New life has come!"

Spring is awakening here in the Balkans and with it an explosion of color and riot of fragrance... and hope. The city is coming alive again. She's leaving the dark and dreary days of winter behind her and putting on her best garments in full view and display for the sun.

Each Spring it is a marvel to me just how gorgeous it is and just how much hope the new life brings. I've found myself smiling a lot as I've traveled around town these past few days, reveling in the spectrum of color that's only just beginning to dress the city, and warmed by the suns light on my upturned face.

Sometimes my heart can become as cold as winter, especially when encountered with things that seem so dark and hopeless. Yet with Spring I'm reminded that there is Hope, that New Life does come, and that with upturned face towards the Son the ice melts and the heart softens. With hope in Him I can look at what is seemingly dead, dying or hopeless and see its very great potential. To see that new life can spring forth.

Yes, this blog is more flowery than normal... and yes, that pun was intended... but it seems fitting considering the evidence of the season. :) One of my favorite poems is by a man who lived well over 100 years ago named Gerhard Ter Steegen and it likewise seems fitting to end this blog with it. Enjoy.

Thou sayest,
Fit me, fashion me for Thee.
Stretch forth thine empty hands,
and be thou still:
O restless soul,
thou dost but hinder Me
By valiant purpose
and steadfast will;
Behold the summer flowers
beneath the sun,
In stillness
His great glory they behold;
and sweetly thus
His mighty word is done.
And resting in His gladness,
they unfold.
So are the sweetness
and the joy Divine
Thine,
O beloved,
and the work is mine.

~Ter Steegen