I made it into Macedonia today. Obviously the flights were long and boring, but thankfully, uneventful. We arrived at Skopje, the capital city at around 1pm on Sunday. That would be 7am Pennsylvania time. From there, we took a half hour bus ride to Kumanovo, the site of our training and the 2nd largest city in the country. We'll be here for a week doing various orientation activities before we go out to host families. For now, we are in a hotel.
This is the front of the hotel. As the name implies, it is from the future. Kidding aside, it has wireless internet, which is a huge plus.
Interior of Hotel Satelit, which is decidedly no-frills compared to American hotels.
From an urban planning standpoint, Kumanovo is an interesting exhibit. On the map to your right, you can see that Kumanovo is the city about 45 degrees northeast from Skopje, which itself is above the "E" in Macedonia. But, the streets are not in a grid formation at all and roads go every which way. On top of that, drivers go flying around bends. That and the fact that we're out in the edge of the city, so we are surrounded by open fields gives the area around the hotel a Mad Max feel to it.
Kumanovo is 40 mi from Skoje. Yes, that sign is in miles, not km. I looked it up.
Around here, luxury isn't spared when making children's playthings.
But, I just wanted to let you all know I got to my final destination safely. Training for real begins tomorrow.
PS: If you ever want to get the Macedonian time thing down, just add 6 hours to Pennsylvania time. So, if it is noon in PA, it is 6pm over here. Good luck to you all and the rest of the volunteers!
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