Macedonian Heat

I think the gates of hell have opened up and the front door is here in Skopje. Temperatures have hovered close to 100 degrees most of this week. You cannot go comfortably outside until at least 7pm. I am told this is normal summer weather for Macedonia. Note to self: Go to Macedonia in April or September. Truman and Tea' wanted to do some "Wal-Mart" shopping Macedonian style in the gypsy bit bazaar this morning. More power to them. This pregnant chick stayed home in the A/C. They took off with Biba and Rade around 9 am and Biba said sweat was just pouring off them. Can you imagine the Muslim women here wearing a head dress, long sleeves and long dresses in this crap? The prices are even better in the gypsy bit bazaar than at the Turkish one but it is an adventure in itself. (I will include some photos of just when we drove through it last weekend.) Biba said she told Truman to only speak Macedonia there or the price of what she wanted would go up immediately. Truman and Tea' went to visit Tea's friends near her Dad's house after going to the gypsy bazaar and now they are on their way back to the apartment via the bus. No A/C there either. I dare to summarize Truman will appreciate many of her American luxuries when she returns home.

And while I'm here, I think I will vent about two of my biggest Macedonian pet peeves. Hot water. If you want to have hot water you have to turn on the boiler an hour ahead of time. Talk about scheduling and believe me I am generally one organized gal. But it is no fun when you are dog tired, hot and sweaty and just want to hop in the shower. Or your little one is about to pass out from exhaustion and you are trying to keep her awake long enough to throw her in the shower that she so badly needs. It also makes me think of my grandmother who had to heat hot water up on the stove in order to bathe. I now truly feel for her how that would have sucked.

My second complaint is public restrooms. To find a public restroom in this country is like a scavenger hunt. Every time I go out of course either 4 year old Riley or pregnant me have to pee. I ask if there is a restroom and always the solid answer is "No." So then I just started carrying a roll of toilet paper in the car. Yes, they do have public restrooms, but many are not up to "acceptable" standards. However, when you are pregnant there is not much that isn't acceptable when it comes between you, a hole in the floor or coping a pee squat along the side of the road.