Count Down...

I can't believe that our time is almost done here in Skopje...  it is time for the final countdown.  Today is (was) Tuesday, and Niecy and I have to leave on Friday morning at 4 a.m.  We will definitely be trying to get the most out of our last couple days.  Well, today had a high of 79 F and a beautifully cool low of about 56.  Aaaaaahhhhh..  We don't EVEN want to think about how hot it is in AZ yet, so we won't!  lol.  Today I got to sleep in a little, yea, and then I got ready and Tanja drove me to Ana's to meet up with Niecy.  After breakfast we were off to Canyon Matka with

me, Niecy, Ana, and her two kids, Eliza and Emmanuel.  We spent over 3 hours walking and enjoying the beautiful canyon.  As we were walking to our car, it began to sprinkle.  Were safely in the car and on the road again, when some guys drove past us and told us our tire was "broken".  Ana basically ignored them, thinking it was just a ploy.  We hit the main road, and we began to hear a strange noise...  uh oh!  So we pulled over, and lo and behold, we had a major flat tire.  So we pulled into a parking lot and Ana's husband said to leave the car and he would come fix it later.  So we all piled out, and thank heaven there was a bus strop right across the street from where we left the car.  The sky was becoming ominous, and the thunder

began to roll and drops began to fall.  Thankfully we had our umbrellas, and better yet, the bus came quite quickly.  We were safely ensconced in the bus when the skies literally opened up and POURED just like yesterday.  The only difference was that today it continued on the whole rest of the day...  we took the bus and Ana's dad picked us up and we went and had a delicious meal at her parent's house.  Then off to the open air market for Niecy for a few minutes, and then they dropped me at home.  No sooner did I get home then Tanja was telling me I needed to get ready, as we had a graduation celebration to attend tonight.  Got dressed and ready to go in just a few minutes.  We left,( Toni, Tanja, Marko, and me) (see photo of Marko and me) and drove by to say goodbye to Tanja's mom, as she is leaving to go to Tanja's brother's house to help with the twins for a couple of months).  Then we picked up Niecy and headed to the party.  The affair was supposed to be outside, but due to the rain and COLD (lol) it was moved inside. It was at a beautiful hotel called the Hotel Romantique...  how cute is that!?  Met the parents of the the

 young man (Tanja and Toni's godson) who had graduated from 8th grade, and a ton of other family and friends.  If we had any thoughts of feeling out of place, they were dispersed within the first few minutes of being there.  The Macedonians are such a warm and welcoming people, to them, EVERYONE is family.  We ate (ya, ya, I know what you are thinking...) and ate, and ate yet some more.  That is just totally the norm here.  We also dance some traditional Macedonian folk songs again, and had great music.  The party lasted late, and we arrived home after midnight...  am I a pumpkin yet?