Meeting with the President

When Niecy and I were introduced to the Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov in April of this year he seemed a very nice and approachable man.  But being the President of a country was amazing for us to even have our picture taken with him.  He graciously invited us to visit his villa in Lake Ohrid when we visited Macedonia this summer.  And as cool as that sounded we wondered if it was just a polite offer given at the time.  But a few days ago we received an email that stated that we would be meeting  with the President at his villa in Skopje (he was in a Summit while at his Lake Ohrid villa and was unable to accommodate us).  So

we were given the dress code requirements and we altered our outfits accordingly.
  Tanja had to loan me some closed toed shoes and Ana loaned Niecy some nylons. Our appointment was set for 12 noon and we presented ourselves early.  Our passports were taken by the security guard and our

cameras were forbidden.  We were shown the path to the President's villa and walked up by some unknown assistants.  We were shown to a waiting room where we briefly sat.  Then we were asked to follow the secretary up the stairs to the awaiting President. We shook his hand and joined  him in his office in comfortable chairs.  We spent the next (almost) hour discussing Macedonia and it history and its future,  President Ivanov was passionate and proud in his assessment of the people of Macedonia and their past as well as their future.  Our talk was informal, yet formal and we felt very welcome and our opinions

valued.  What an incredible man who is at the head of the country of Macedonia.  We felt very honored to have met with him.

After we left we headed back to where Sarah was staying, the Villa for the City of Skopje, which was literally right next door to the President's villa.  It was a spacious place and Sarah really appreciated her time there.