Friday, March 5, 2010

the begining..

After flying from Dublin to Istanbul and spending a night in the airport i boarded a flight to Bosnia and when I arrived in Sarajevo the adventure was about to begin. The week in Sarajevo with fellow balkan volunteers turned out to be really great after a slow start. Many questions where answered and many new questions arose. Meeting other people in the same situation took alot of weight off my shoulders. However i didn't make any strong connections with the people in my group and spent a lot of my time with people from the mid-term group, which in hind-sight might not have been the best idea.
Sarajevo was a very interesting city. The first thing to strike me was the evidence of the war as many building are still riddled with bullet holes. The mosques around the city (which where great works of architecture) where also of great interest to me because Ireland is not a place with many religious building that are not Christian. Sarajevo also has great beauty with the surrounding hills hugging the city and the centre was like being in a Turkish village. Before i end my EVS in November i would like to revisit this places as it gave me a lot to contemplate.

The journey to Macedonia was the cheapest and quickest we could find but not without hiccups. Along with a girl from Holland and a guy from France we decided to take the 10pm bus from Sarajevo to Pristina then to Skopje the next day. Border crossings here are a long and arduous process for most places in the balkans but entering into Kosovo from Serbia was like asking entering a different solar system. When we finally pasted the border we were interrupted but an over turned car which delayed us an hour until the men on the bus got out and pushed the car to the side of the road, giving me a taste of the can do attitude of the balkan people. I was to witness this again no more than an hour later when we busted a tyre on a tiny little road through a village in Kosovo, again being fixed by a team effort of sleepy travellers (remember this was a night bus so these events took place at around 4-5am). And the last 'event' to occur on this funny bus journey was when we made a brief stop the girl who was with us went to the bathroom and came back to find the bus driving away with an Irish guy and a French guy trying to explain to a Bosnian bus driver to wait (communication breakdown number 1). It must also be stated that the natural beauty of Kosovo is immense with its rolling mountains and vast valleys. On arrival in Pristina however this beauty turned ugly and it was of no sorrow to us to depart for Skopje after coffee and cigarettes .

My first night in Skopje was great as i stayed with other volunteers who have been here for 5 months and i spent the night listening to stories of the country. I even met a fellow Irish guy, which was the last thing i expected to happen when i set off for Macedonia. On sunday i arrived in my new home Struga with wide eyes and opened ears. I was lucky that there was a youth exchange on during my first week so i was busy all week having fun and getting to know my surroundings. But for know i will say i am very happy to be here and STRUGA will be the focus of my next post....
peace and love from the balkans

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