First, I've continued my trek through SNES and Playstation RPG emulators. I beat Chrono Trigger and then its sequel, Chrono Cross (It was the second time I beat Cross - and thanks to finally playing Trigger, I think I understand it this time). I'm working on Final Fantasy VI right now, but I don't care for it as much as the Chrono series. The villains aren't particularly interesting and VI has a habit of not letting me pick who I want to be in my party which is just frustrating more than anything. Locke can't fight for shit, yet he always insists on coming along. Fuck him. After VI, I think its Xenogears then Wild Arms 2. That's some cool stuff right there.
Next, I joined the gym here in Resen. Actually, Resen has two gyms (ostensibly so people can say, let's not go to that gym, let's go to the good one). I go prolly like 4 times a week. A gym membership is very cheap. It's 500 denari/month, or a little less that $10/month. I've been going for like 2 months, and I'm prolly in the best shape I've been in since college. Add to that joining a gym pressures you to eat healthier (why waste the time at the gym if you're just going to pig out on junk food). I even quit drinking, or at least, drinking by myself - which is no small feat. Alcohol is widely available in Macedonia. I can walk 2 minutes to the nearest corner store and it sells wine and beer. Because of that and the inherent loneliness of being like the only American (or one of a few) in a small town, the Peace Corps Macedonia has had problems with alcohol usage by volunteers in the past. I think I'm one of the few over here who, when presented with alcohol that was more accessible than in America, actually drinks less. Take that, liquor control board of Pennsylvania!
I even read a book. Cover to cover. Already. It was Speaker of the Dead, which is the sequel to Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It wasn't very good. I wouldn't recommend it. Ender's Game is a sci-fi book filled with action. Speaker is set 3,000 years later and is all about how characters in some faraway planet colonized by Portuguese Catholics all have like 4 names and why I'm supposed to care about how they got each one. I really didn't. But, man I was ruling in Cross with Norris and Karsh. I think that is worth mentioning.
Lastly, it has snowed over here tremendously. Like, every day. There's probably around a foot and a half of snow on the ground right now and today and yesterday were like the first two consecutive days it did not snow since mid-January or something like that. Here is the view outside of headquarters:
Unlike America, there are no snow plows here, so the roads are never clean. People just drive slower and don't freak the hell out. It is a little easier to drive here because there is less traffic and people don't drive an hour or so to work every day. They are in town, so it's like a 10 minute drive at the very most. I hear it's been unusually warm in the winter in the Philly area. Winter here sucks. That's all. I originally promised when I started this blog I wouldn't post about boring shit. Sorry. I think I broke the promise here.
