A Family Visits

The highlight of the month of October was the fourth visit of my wife, Lee, and the first visit of my younger son and my “idna snaa”(translated “maybe my future daughter-in-law), Jesse and Nicole. My wife stayed for a month but Jess and Nicole could only stay for five days due to their limited accrued vacation time.

It rained everyday they were here but really didn’t prevent the four of us from having a wonderful time. They stayed in a huge elaborate hotel room in Probistip at the Hotel Cresovo Topce which had the most fascinating shower stall. The shower had a radio, blue lights, and nozzles that shot water from every direction (a truly unexpected perk). The hotel staff went out of their way to make sure they enjoyed their stay (45 dollars a night which included a large breakfast).

During their stay we all visited my host family (the family I lived with during my 10 weeks of training) in Negotino where they were treated with the celebrity status that was afforded to me during my stay. We hung around watching and learning how to make rakija, ate a traditional breakfast and lunch, and toured downtown Negotino. We also visited, via a three hour bus ride, the cosmopolitan city of Skopje and the old Turkish bazaar with my Peace Corps buddy Michael F. We had innumerable “na gostes” with all my Macedonian friends and hung out at the cafe’s meeting and talking with the locals. We visited Alexandra in her home in Zletevo. Jesse and Nicole spent a day at school meeting the students, participating in some language games, and answering all sorts of questions from the students. They said they had a great time, wished they could have stayed longer, and couldn’t wait to tell their friends about the hospitality and friendliness of the Macedonian people. If there is a next time, perhaps there will be some sun so they will be able to see that there really are beautiful mountains in Macedonia.

Meanwhile Lee B. was here for her fourth visit. It meant that for four weeks I was no longer a bachelor and had to share computer time and bathroom usage, eat vegetables, and endure her chronic habit of misplacing her things. I calculated that I spent at least 37 hours waiting for her to “be ready in a minute” or find something that was lost in her purse. As a “bachelor”, I drink out of the carton, eat out of the pot, use the same fork and spoon for days, change the sheets semi-annually, wash dishes weekly and have twice, in two years, cleaned the bathroom. My way of life dramatically changes during her visits. I have to readjust to talking when I have no interest in the topic, to taking walks for the sake of walking, to express my feelings, to eating when I’m not hungry, to listening to cat stories, and to purchasing stuff that I don’t need.

But when it’s all said and done, I find it’s all worth enduring. It’s the price I have to pay to be with my honey and best friend of 38 years (and counting).