Perfumed Football Edition - Ready for World Cup

It seems even the toilet paper companies are excited about World Cup starting this weekend! I'm sorry, but this just made me laugh! I especially liked the "Football Edition - Perfumed" in the lower right corner... but I'm not so sure I'm eager to open it as the package beckons... I mean, what exact perfume would a football edition have?? The only thing that comes to mind is dirt, grass and, er, sweat! But then pushing that aside there's the complete irony of a perfumed football edition to begin with. Then again, I suppose it does makes sense, though, appealing to both the gals (perfume) and guys (sports of any kind). But really, we're talking about TP of all things! lol. I just love this place. :)

Poppin' for Shampoo & Toast

Pop! Bang! The sound of sporadic popping of balloons and a crowd filled Ramstore's entry way this morning. There was a lot of popping going on, but it'd never occurred to me that it was on purpose. :)

It's Saturday and normally the day for different promotions: from chocolate and cheese to vita-drink mixes and dishwashing soap. Normally, I just walk on by, but today there was an announcement over the store speakers that if you spent over a certain amount of money you could enter a contest by bringing your receipt to the main entrance. Ah, I thought, the balloons... but as I didn't understand everything being said I'd no clue as to what the contest was and was curious to find out.

I thought perhaps we'd have to fill out a form and submit it for a drawing or something. Nope, this was infinitely better: you get to chose an orange, green or white balloon. Then a girl marks your receipt and then grabs the balloon and a pin and POP! The balloon explodes and a folded piece of paper flies out (or across the room, or hits someone in the head) that tells you what you've won! Ha ha! What fun!... though I'd no idea how the gals didn't jump like I did every time they skewered a balloon. ;)

For my balloon-poppin fun I won some shampoo, soap and a coupon for a free toast at Twiggy's. =)

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For those who are thinking, "Gee, she won a piece of toasted bread... yipee...," it's actually much much better than that. Here in Macedonia "тост" is actually more like a grilled cheese sandwich with lunch meat ham and optional mushrooms, ketchup, mayonnaise and, of course, oregano.

Cultural Clues for Living in the Balkans

As I was hurrying to blow-dry my hair before heading down to the store just to buy some eggs (so as not to shock the locals by being outside with wet hair), I thought it would be fun to share some of the cultural clues for living here in the Balkans.

• Yellow lights can mean either "go faster" or "go" depending upon which color comes next (red or green respectively)
• Parking on sidewalks is normal
• Ladies, don't get in the front seat of a taxi or the driver may try his best pick-up line on you
• Keep your shoes clean at all times (keeping a brush by the door is handy)
• Leave your shoes at the door (hostesses will provide slippers if needed, or you can bring your own)
• Have house shoes (slippers) available for your house guests
• Air-conditioning can give you a head ache and is the cause of neck and back pain
• Drafts (aka cross-breezes) will make you sick
• Ladies, don't sit on concrete without a sweater or cardboard beneath you or your ovaries will dry up
• Going outside with wet hair will make you sick (even if it's 100+ degrees)
• Being outside with wet hair won't make you sick if you're on the beach and swimming
• If shopping for produce at the supermarket be sure to have them price it for you BEFORE going to the checkout
• Paper or plas..er..pennies?? Thanks to a new law, produce baggies and check-out bags are paper (and with no handles!)... if you want plastic in the produce section: SOL; plastic at checkout? 3 Denars please. This applies everywhere: corner stores and even fast food places. So I'd suggest bringing your own bag. Must say, though, this is very green. :)
• Please don't talk loudly while walking in public or yell across the street to your buddies
• Don't make eye contact and smile at everyone you walk past; however, if you know the person, be prepared to stop, shake hands and chat for a couple of minutes... a simple nod of recognition won't do
• When in the outdoor market it's not necessary to answer each vendor with "no thank you" when they offer a "povelete?" [ha ha... I did that one a lot when I first got here and even now after 6 years am tempted...]
• Bring flowers or chocolate or some other small gift when visiting someone for the first time (or after a long time). Just be sure the flowers are in uneven numbers. Even numbers are reserved solely for condolences and funerals.
• When visiting, be sure to shake hands and greet each person in the room starting with the oldest and/or most important person.
• When people come to visit, be sure to immediately offer them something to drink (juice, coffee, tea... water as last resort) and put out something salty (like nuts) and/or sweet (chocolate or cookies) on the table.
• Salty and sweet food items are usually kept separate.. not served on the same plate (no sweet potatoes with that turkey!) and in buffets are usually placed on opposite sides of the table or on a different table altogether.
• Spitting in public is against the law and could cost you €50.

Now that you have some cultural clues for the Balkans... Come visit me and we'll put them into practice! =)

It's a Pepto-Pink Christmas Tree, Charlie Brown!

Oh how I miss going to the Christmas tree farms for the annual evergreen. The smell of pine wafting within the chilled December air as you get lost in a forest of trees. :::sigh:::

In the Balkans, Christmas tree shopping is a much different experience. Last year the "pepto" tree was all the rage (as were toxic green & pungent orange). This year it's black with red ornaments and red or periwinkle with white ornaments.


As always, if you're looking for a live tree, you can find some "Charlie Brown" ones, which cost about $30 and come complete with roots!

Personally, I opted for the basic green "Super Cdlorado" that assembles by numbers (and I WON'T mention how long it took me to assemble it!). =)

Turn up the heat!

The office supply store owner walked in and asked his employees, with a touch of odd curiosity and disbelief in his voice, "Why do you have the heat on??" Not an odd question when you consider the outside temp was already into the upper 90's at 9:30am!

As I'd scurried around the store this morning to purchase binders, dividers and A-4 paper for the field office I'd thought it was a little warm, but since the AC-unit was on I simply thought it didn't work that well. Well, it turns out that the gals honestly thought it was on cool, but as the owner pointed out (literally on the remote) that they'd actually had it on heat! Then to add insult to injury, when he switched the AC back to cool it wouldn't kick in!

Le Le!

Honestly, the whole situation was very funny--especially since the government has been issuing heat-warnings for today through this weekend as the temps are expected to top 40C (100+F)... the poor girls were smiling, a bit embarrassed by the whole thing, yet you could tell they all thought it was pretty funny/ironic too.

I did successfully (though barely) hold my laughter until I reached the taxi and shut the door. Then it was all I could do to blurt out the news through my laughter to my driver. "Oh! It's so much cooler now," I chuckled while wiping the sweat from brow.

He too immediately burst out into hearty guffaws and commented that today of all days was not a day to make that mistake. "Ha ha! And they even had the front door closed so that the heat would not escape," he joked and then continued. "You will find the heat escapes quite nicely from my cab... it much cooler for you, I'm sure." I continued to fan my face as we chuckled about it all the way to the office. He's one of my regular drivers, so I'm sure we'll laugh about this for months to come. :)

Don't you just love those funny moments in life that happen so unexpectedly? It's great to have a really good laugh once in a while, and this one just made my morning. :)

On a side note, just to give you a GCF perspective on the items that I purchased this morning: Week 2 of my GCF Walk more than covered the items pictured. :) Thank you for your giving to the GCF that makes purchases like this possible.

Balkan Shopping: Markets Big & Small

In sharing about shopping here in Skopje, I thought I'd start from the big stores and work my way down to the smaller ones. There are three main supermarkets here in Macedonia: Tinex & Tediko (local), Vero (Greek) and Ramstore (Turkish). By far, Ramstore is the largest store, while Vero, Tinex and Tediko have the most locations.

Ramstore is the newest addition to supermarket shopping here and most welcomed as it widened the variety of available items significantly. Frankly, it rather transformed things a bit. The supermarket came as part of a huge shopping center located near the old train station and is named "Ramstore Mall." In addition to the supermarket the mall has:

• a movie theater (with $4 new-release movies!)
• many coffee-bars
• internet free zone
• bookstore (with amazing cookbooks offered in English)
• name-brand clothing and shoe stores in addition to the regular clothing stores (though the prices are so high I never buy from there---I seriously wonder how the locals do either?)
• food court with a wide offering: Chinese, Mexican, McD's, FingerFood (best burritos and giros in town), Doners, burgers, sandwiches and pizza in addition to ice cream and Stellas (the most amazing dessert place ever)
• Bank and exchange
• Cell phone dealers, watch stores and touristy curio shops
• Artwork by sketch artists, painters
• Florist, jewelry, etc etc. etc.
  

When I first came here in 2000 on a short-term trip, I didn't know about Tinex or Tediko and there was only one Vero (and one McD's, incidentally). Basically it was just a bigger version of the corner markets and didn't offer much difference in selection. Eight years later and there are at least five Vero's around Skopje (and as many McD's) and the selection has widened and grown in variety over the years and competes quite nicely with Ramstore.

Tinex and Tediko fall in between the supermarket and the smaller corner stores and tend to have the best prices. The variety of items available is really good and also has kept getting better over the years. These stores are also great for finding items that are more specific to Macedonian cooking that may not be found in the larger markets. While the supermarkets Vero and Ramstore can be numbered together on one hand, Tediko and Tinex have a number of locations in various places around town.

The really nice thing about stores here in the city is that they're all within walking distance. I really like that--especially compared to the US where I'd have to use the car to go anywhere. It's really nice to be a block away at most from several options, from large to small. My daily shopping for items is done at the little corner market in my building much like this one pictured. These markets are literally everywhere and in them one can find anything from boullion cubes and eggs to TP and batteries.

Trips to the larger markets are made usually 2-3 times a month for other items like: spices, olive oil, cottage cheese, tortillas, brown sugar, lemon juice, frozen food items, shampoo and other toiletries. Sometimes I go just for the convenience of having everything in one place. Trips to Ramstore are also fun with friends. We have lunch or dinner in the food court, watch a movie, window-shop and then head to the supermarket... or any one or combo of the above.

The shopping picture was much different several years ago... Even then, though, the items I missed were more wishes or "treats from home" than actual needs. Honestly, we have it pretty good here in Skopje now-a-days... everything we need is available and within walking distance.

Balkan Shopping: 8 Facts for 08-08-08

One of the things I'm most often asked is, "What's the shopping like in Macedonia?" Well, on this second day of a series of blogs to answer that question, and in honor of it being 08-08-08, I thought it would be fun to share 8 little facts about shopping here in Skopje:

1. Upon entering a store you will be greeted, "Повелете?!" ("povelete" meaning "hello may I help you?"), and then promptly followed around the store... closely like a shadow. This is purely out of polite courtesy so that they're there to help you or answer any questions you may have.
2. At Vero (one of the supermarkets) you have to insert a coin to get a shopping cart... you get your money back when the cart is returned.
3. Fruit and veggies don't get weighed and priced at the check-stand, you have to get it done in the produce section of the supermarket.
4. The best place to get fruit and vegetables is in the green markets (like farmer's markets) located in several key areas around town.
5. Speaking of produce, every different kind of fruit and vegetable gets its own plastic bag... that means you can leave the green market with 20 different items in 20 different bags... vendors don't really like to consolidate
6. Little stores tend to specialize in one thing and several different types tend to be grouped together. For example, the picture with red car includes: 2 fish markets, a mini-mart, a cheese & deli-meat place, a butcher, a hardware store and an appliance store... that is, in addition to the street vendor selling brooms, dried flowers and gourds among other things.
7. Most clothing items are sized the US equivalent of 0-7 and the stores usually only have one size/color available of each item.
8. The secret to insuring that "specialty items" (aka. things that we really like from back home) become regular? Be sure to buy a couple of the items when they first appear in some small corner of the store. If enough people do this, the owners realize that the item will sell well and will order larger quantities, put them in a more predominate place, and drop the price. Here's just some of the items for which this strategy has been a success: tortillas, Chinese food items, brown sugar, dried cranberries and fresh cilantro. :)

This is just a brief introduction to some little facts of shopping here in Skopje. More detail and interesting facts will be included in upcoming blogs... just wait until I take you to visit the butcher! :)

Balkan Shopping: Beverly Hills-Macedonia

Did you know that I can shop in Beverly Hills every single day if I wanted to? The prices are really reasonable too! Actually, it's a shopping center called Беверли Хилс and right here in the middle of Skopje.

Now being a California girl (Northern CA, that is) I am familiar with Beverly Hills, though I've never shopped there. I think the shop girls would send me packing like they did to "Pretty Woman"... but I digress. ;) Anyways, when I first moved here 6 years ago and needed to get my first cell-phone, Mark, my colleague (one of 5 Marks, btw) said, "No problem. I'll take you to Beverly Hills tomorrow."

He and his wife chuckled at the the blank, confused and admittedly way-jetlagged look on my face and patiently explained to me that it was the name of a shopping mall here... oh, and that shopping malls in general are much different than I'm used to. Just off the plane two days their explanation sort-of punctured the fog in my head and I was intrigued.

The "mall" was located in the middle of several apartment buidings. Being a country girl (so-to-speak) this was so new to me! Inside Beverly (the short-hand name used by locals) there are all types of shops imaginable: clothes, electronics, accessories, music, florist, shoes, mobile phone, computer, Apple Store (don't know if it's official, but I know a few Apple-lovers who drool over it.... I'm not one, though ;) ) and others. There are also several different coffee-bars in the inner courtyard of the upper floor--one of which is where I would occassionaly meet my language teacher for conversation practice. Additionally, there are pizza-shops, restaurants, a bank, a post office and a currency exchange place. Everything you could possibly imagine.

Six years on and it's not such a novelty for me anymore. It's become part of the pattern of daily life for me here in the Balkans. I don't actually shop there as it's in a different neighborhood from where I live, and each neighborhood around town has it's own shopping center. Can you guess how many shopping centers are "hidden" in the above picture??

Over the next few weeks I'll share some of the other centers as well as different types of shopping experiences to be found around town, ones that once seemed so very new and different to me, yet now I find to be quite normal. Just wait until I show you the Пластична Улица --also known as "Plastic Row!" Ha! Since this has become normal to me, you can just imagine how confused I get when I go back to the US. Seriously, you should have seen me the first time I saw the "self-check-out" line at the local grocery store! But that's a blog best saved for my next trip back across the pond. :)

Anyways, thanks for being a part of this journey with me. :)