A Warm Welcome

My host teacher, Tanja, and her son Marko met me at the airport with open arms.  Marko graciously took my big luggage bag (yes, I heard a surprised gasp as he grabbed the heavy load!)  and I was actually 3 pounds UNDER the 50 lb. max!  lol.  Jumped into a nice car and headed the 10 to 15 minutes to their beautiful home.  The traffic was lively, and Marko zipped in and out with the best of them!  I think my driving skills would be right at home here! I was shown around my new home and then had a cup of coffee sitting out on the terrace, with a cool breeze blowing. *Here's a picture of the lovely view from my bedroom terrace.

Unpacked later and took a much needed power nap.  Awoke to some the amazing smells of dinner cooking, and kicked out my first blog entry here.  Toni, Tanja's husband, was now home and he joined us for dinner.  Dinner was a homemade, delicious event, with a type of chicken noodle soup, baked salmon, yummy potatoes, slightly spicy peppers, fresh squash, salad, and a variety of fresh bread.  Of course, we started dinner off with a toast of their famous Macedonian whiskey...  wow!  It would "put hair on your chest!" as my daddy would always say!  Needless to say, I ate, and ate, and ate, and ate.  Afterwards, Toni and Marko (and a friend who just had to come over to meet the new American friend, ME!) went off to go watch a big futball (soccer) game with friends.  I was still feeling good, so Tanja invited me on a walk.  We donned our walking shoes, and hit the road.  She walked me all around the immediate area, walking up and down streets,  telling me about important buildings, who lived where, and just come great background on her beautiful neighborhood.  We probably walked 5 or 6 km. By the time we got back home I WAS tired, and said my good night and was off to bed. What an amazing day and start to my adventure...