Hiking at Lake Matka

I'm serious about being better at updating the world with my travels, even if it's just to throw some pictures out there. It doesn't seem that long ago but, if I can trust my camera, about 4 and a half months ago we went to Lake Matka outside of Skopje to do some hiking.

This place was gorgeous and I'm kicking myself for not going sooner or since. Matka is an artificial lake which was dammed up in the 1950's to build a hydroelectric plant and now it's used as a recreational area. Other than St. Andrew's, which I have a couple pictures of, there are 3 or 4 other churches and monasteries in the vicinity, a couple of which require 900-foot climbs to reach. We didn't reach them that day but I want to go back sometime and make the climb. We kept to the lower trail which still had amazing views nonetheless.

At the end of our hike we had built up quite a thirst so of course we had to stop for my required beer.

Santana pictures are up!

Some of you may already know that Carlos Santana came to Skopje in July and I, along with a hundred other Americans from Kosovo, went to see him play. Here are some of the better pics from the weekend. Carlos was cool, but I'm more excited about seeing ZZ Top in Skopje next week on the 22nd!

2009 Trip to the Land of the Big PX

I know, I know, two posts in one day is pretty amazing. But it occurred to me that I could incorporate some of my posts/notes from facebook and at least get some consistent information up. In reference to the hint in my previous post today about my upcoming trip home, here you go (slightly updated with newer info):

I know everyone is dying to know where I'll be and when I'll be there so here is my tentative schedule, lodging TBD:

October 23-28 - Conroe shenanigans
October 29 - November 1 - College Station/Austin/San Marcos shenanigans (TxState v SFA, tailgating starts at 10 on the 31st)
November 1-3 - More Conroe shenanigans
November 4-8 - Greater Washington DC area shenanigans (my cousin's getting married in Annapolis on the 7th)

So people make your plans accordingly and get your guestrooms ready! And email me your phone numbers because I don't have an American cell phone yet!

Excuses Excuses

Yes I know everyone has them but I'll tell you about mine anyway. My latest excuse for not updating you on a regular basis is that for the past month and a half, I've been working in a new position which has required more stress and more hours than the previous ones. I'm still working in the same building, just in a different office with new responsibilities and a cooler title, Senior Analyst.

Luckily, I no longer have to deal with the daily demands of preparing an update brief. Instead I am now responsible for the quality of all the mid and long term analytical products that come out of my office. That means I, with my almost 29 years and relatively little experience, get to tell career officers, some of whom have been doing this almost as long as I've been alive, when they are wrong, how they are wrong, and how to do their jobs better. Thankfully, I sound like a certified genius when necessary and have gained the respect of most of my colleagues. I'm no longer some punk-ass kid, or at least they've become better at hiding it. Honestly though, when they deploy here on a 6-month rotation, they focus on a single subject or area and usually become very knowledgeable on that subject. I've now been in Kosovo for nearly a year and a half and in my previous position I had to be able to prepare daily briefings on multiple subjects concerning issues Kosovo-wide and make my boss sound smart on everything. So I do bring a wider perspective to a lot of issues than most of the analysts have.

A lot of the stress was caused by a simultaneous reorganization of our office, which jarred a lot of people out of their comfort zones. They've more or less become used to it so now I can work a more normal schedule and have more relaxed evenings. This past weekend was the first since August that I had both Saturday and Sunday off (except for my trip to Istanbul, more on that later).

Now I can play catch-up and tell you all about my second trip to Ohrid, my trip to Istanbul, Pivoland, Prizren, and my trip back to the states next week. I've got lots of pictures to put up but my internet connection is slow so you'll have to bear with me. All my pictures so far can be found right here. Many thanks to Charles Cotten and Jan Robin for checking in on me! Now back to work...