May 1st is Labor Day in Macedonia (and much of the world outside America) and the unofficial start of summer. Picnicking is the most common way here to spend the holiday and I did just that. A gaggle of volunteers (or is it herd?) gathered in the town of Makedonski Brod and then snagged a fabulous picnic spot along a stream outside the nearby Peshna Cave. The cave has an impressively large entrance, big enough to hold the remains of a fortress rumored to be built by King Marko (1335-1395) for his sister, Peshna.
Never before (and likely never again) could you witness a group so excited to eat asparagus. Tracy and Slave found it growing wild and shared it with everyone--you would have thought is was candy, the way we kept asking for more. Asparagus is not sold here and obviously I wasn't the only American missing it--we even took pictures of ourselves with it. Behold Lauren, Marlys, and Kaylee in one such photo:
I swear, I wasn't the only one taking asparagus photos. That was really only the tip of the iceberg though when it came to culinary treats. We brought along an amazing potluck spread and even carried in a grill for Happie's special marinated chicken. 3 types of potato salad, 2 types of pasta salad, 7 different desserts--they all had to sampled (and sampled and sampled again).
After the picnic, I traveled further up the road to Manastirec, a village that when it got a Peace Corps volunteer increased its total population by almost 1%. Impressively, Jen knows not only the name of everyone in the village but their dogs too. Unquestionably she is having the experience here most like what is brought to mind by the name Peace Corps and I greatly admire her for embracing it. I doubt that I would have been as uncomplaining about being so isolated, she's a rock star. It is a lovely place and I'm glad that I got to see the opposite extreme of my Peace Corps assignment.
My M&M bars (a big potluck hit, btw) were the perfect choice for a M&M (Mak Brod and Manastirec) weekend. More photos of it all up on Picasa.
Never before (and likely never again) could you witness a group so excited to eat asparagus. Tracy and Slave found it growing wild and shared it with everyone--you would have thought is was candy, the way we kept asking for more. Asparagus is not sold here and obviously I wasn't the only American missing it--we even took pictures of ourselves with it. Behold Lauren, Marlys, and Kaylee in one such photo:
I swear, I wasn't the only one taking asparagus photos. That was really only the tip of the iceberg though when it came to culinary treats. We brought along an amazing potluck spread and even carried in a grill for Happie's special marinated chicken. 3 types of potato salad, 2 types of pasta salad, 7 different desserts--they all had to sampled (and sampled and sampled again).After the picnic, I traveled further up the road to Manastirec, a village that when it got a Peace Corps volunteer increased its total population by almost 1%. Impressively, Jen knows not only the name of everyone in the village but their dogs too. Unquestionably she is having the experience here most like what is brought to mind by the name Peace Corps and I greatly admire her for embracing it. I doubt that I would have been as uncomplaining about being so isolated, she's a rock star. It is a lovely place and I'm glad that I got to see the opposite extreme of my Peace Corps assignment.
My M&M bars (a big potluck hit, btw) were the perfect choice for a M&M (Mak Brod and Manastirec) weekend. More photos of it all up on Picasa.
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