Wednesday started out pretty normally with breakfast at the hotel and then off to work. I was feeling a little under the weather all day. Something didn't quite agree with my stomach. I wasn't too sick but just a little off. We decided that since we were going to be going out for a big night on the town it might be nice if we could get back to our hotel and have a couple of hours to rest. We went to lunch at an Italian place. I ordered the Lasagna and when it came it was HUGE. I mentioned this before but everyone seems to clean their plate here. Since I wasn't feeling quite right seeing that huge lasagna wasn't good. I put a picture of it here. That start a little debate over lunch. The people from Macedonia think when you order a meal in the US you get way too much food. I sort of feel the opposite. I have had much larger meals here and if you go to a really upscale place in the US you know you are going to get some tiny portions and have to swing by Taco Bell on the way home. I did my best but I just couldn't finish it.
The food here is good and not really too much different than what we eat at home. However, no matter what you get there are still subtle changes to taste because of the different spices here or maybe the animals were fed. It is definitely a little easier than eating asian food for an extended period of time but it would be good to get home and have a nice big burrito.
I have also included a picture of my traveling partner from ILM. We are in front of the Italian place where we ate lunch. She has been really great to travel with. We have worked together a couple of times but that is about it. She is fun and easy to talk to so it makes being away from home a little easier to handle.
So anyway, after lunch we went back to the hotel early. If we were going to be out late I knew that I needed to take a little nap. I had a quick chat with Erin and Austin and then crawled into bed. I slept for probably a solid 2.5 hours and felt a little bit better when I woke up. We went to a Pub with several guys for dinner. Fortunately it was a much more manageable meal. We had some salad which they seem to have at every meal here. I think it just a part of how they eat here. The nice part is lettuce, tomato, carrots and cucumber taste the same no matter where you go. Of course I didn't see any 1000 Island dressing around but what are you gonna do. They ordered a meat dish which had 'mixed meat' which generally makes me a little nervous. I think it was probably just chicken and beef but it was very tasty. It came sort of like a beef stew or something in a thick brown sauce with a couple of vegetables mixed in.
After that it was time to hit the bars. We first went to a bar that was called 'Circle'. I discovered that bars are pretty much the same everywhere. We found out that there is no last call here so that got me a little scared. I knew I had to stay out for a while so I didn't seem rude to my hosts but it would have been a little nicer knowing that at some point they would stop serving alcohol so we could get back to the hotel. It was a small sort of upscale place and I sipped my drink trying to stretch it out as long as I could. I really wanted to avoid getting too drunk because I really wasn't interesting in waking up with a hang over. It is bad enough to be hung over at home but in a foreign country knowing that you have to represent your company the next day makes it even less appealing. That bar closed at 12 but they still had other plans for us. We went to another bar that wasn't quite as nice as the first one. The crowed was definitely a little older and much less hip. One thing I found a little strange about this bar was that they had a fairly big guy who was working the door. You would have to actually knock on the door, which was locked, and he would open it and let you in. As far as I could tell he didn't turn anyone away so I am not really sure who they were trying to keep out. We stayed here for a little while listening to the DJ play Michael Jackson songs and they decided that there was somewhere else we needed to go. The last place we went was called the Jukebox. They had a live band playing rock music. At all the bars we went to they played American music. The live band was really pretty good. This place was pretty crowded and dark. The music was loud so conversation was a little difficult. After we had a drink at this bar Laura and I decided that we need to plan our exit. This bar was open until 7am and we were starting to get the feeling that our hosts would have no problem staying all night. I quietly asked one of the guys here named Marco if he could give us a ride back to our hotel. I knew if we asked Miska, who is one of the owners, that he would not be pleased. It was 2:30am so we felt like we had done our best not to insult our host. He wanted to buy us some more drinks so we knew it was time to make our move. We declined and told us that we were ready to leave. He tried to convince us to stay but eventually gave in. I felt like I had survived. I had a couple of drinks but no where near enough to worry about a hangover. We got back to the hotel and I decided that I was going to skip breakfast so I could sleep as long as possible. I had slipped a couple of pop tarts into my suitcase before I left home so I was covered. I am pretty sure we will have to go out again tonight. Our flight leaves at 6:30am on Saturday so as far as I am concerned a night at the bars is out of the question for Friday. The only thing worse than being hung over in a foreign country has to be being hung over on a plane with 20 some odd hours of traveling ahead of you. On of the pictures I have included is the outside of bar where you had to knock to enter.
I put another picture of the Stone Bridge in this post. It goes over the river Vardar. I learned some interesting facts about the bridge. There used to be pillars that lined both sides of the bridge. During the Ottoman Empire they would behead traitors and thieves and put their heads on the posts. Later on they would hold public executions in the center of the bridge. There was a king here, who I forget his name, and he was put to death by impalement when the people turned against him. Not really all that pleasant but it is a little strange to think about it when you walk across the bridge.
There is a picture that I took out of our car of some buildings. These buildings are basically big apartment buildings. One of the things we have noticed are there aren't any houses around. We asked about it and I guess there are some houses but they are only for the rich and most people live in the apartments. I guess this goes back to when Socialism ruled the country. For the majority of Macedonians this is where you will live.
Time for me to get some work done.
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