Macedonia: Day Four

Today is another sunny day here in Prilep. I went for my walk early this morning. I have identified a peacock call and a cockatiel call on my walk and lots of dogs and a few cats. Of course there are people walking or driving to work or town. There are also children walking to the first shift of school. Kyle cooked us breakfast this morning and then he and Danny left for a Business Ethics lecture that Danny was to give to some businessmen. Jackie and I stayed behind and discussed topics for a “girls only” little get together we will have on Saturday. Danny and Kyle came back from the seminar and Danny and I went to visit our friend Spire in town for lunch. We were joined toward the end of lunch by one of the men that had attended the Business Ethics lecture. We had an hour or so of visiting and then Spire took us to the oldest part of Prilep and up to the Saint Archangel Michael Monastery. In that part of town, it was a religious holiday where the people make a pilgrimage up to the monastery to enter the church and pay homage to the Saints. It was a very long walk from the town center to the base of the mountain and then up the mountain we walked to get to the monastery. Danny and I had never seen active participation of worship in the Macedonian Orthodox church so it was very interesting to us. There was lots of crossing themselves and kissing of the icons as the people filed slowly by them. Eggs, that had been died red, were waiting in a basket to be handed to people as they left if they wanted them. The eggs had been brought there by volunteers as an offering of sorts. We asked several of the nuns if anyone could tell us anything about the church but none seemed to have any information so we bought a pamphlet in English about the monastery. After our visit, we came back home for a little rest and then went out for some home visits. We visited with Moni and her mother first. Moni has been coming to bible study with her father, but her mother has not come. We encouraged her mother to come and told them Danny would be speaking on Sunday so maybe she would be curious to come and hear him. From there, we went to visit our friend, Vale. Her mother and son Nicolas were also there. Vale has interviewed for a new job and is waiting to hear about the result. She is currently employed but would like something better. Jobs are hard to come by here and this job would actually be in another town. We are praying for Vale and her job situation. Our last visit was to our friends, Beti and Vlado, their daughter Elena and son Emo. Beti shared some wonderful homemade chocolates with us that she had made for Easter. They were all different and we had fun trying the different ones. Elena is an accomplished pianist and it is evident that she is passionate about the piano. We begged her to play for us and she obliged with a song she is currently working on. It was beautiful. Of course, if Elena plays then we want to have Emo play as well and he played beautifully too. His style is different from Elena and it’s wonderful to listen to them both. They play on a lovely piano that was made in the USSR. Beti and Elena have always been interested in my twin grand babies and gave us presents for them again this year. They follow me on Facebook and keep up with their growth and accomplishments. It was 10 p.m. when we arrived home and even though we had been snacking at everyone’s homes, we still wanted to eat something for dinner. Vale works at a bakery near her home that makes only bread and she bought a loaf for us warm out of the oven on our way out from our visit with her. It was delicious sliced up with some cheese for a light evening meal. Danny is now packing for his father/son overnight retreat tomorrow. He is going to share Daniel with Kyle, lol. Its been a long day but a fun one so until tomorrow…..