The other day I was going back home in a taxi. I was feeling sentimental right there, being stuck in the chaotic after work rush hour in the crowded streets of Cair and I sighed heavily enough to catch the taxi driver’s attention.
Macedonia Update: Gridlocked April
Over the last weeks the amount of flags in the city centres of Skopje and other Macedonian cities has increased excessively. Red-yellow scraps of cloth flutter at street lights, stickers are glued to front doors, from kitchen windows falls the Macedonian sun, the flag waves proudly in the wind at every public building, the city …
All in or all out: Lessons for a German on the Balkans
I am a young German woman who has freely decided to live in Macedonia. “But why?!” I get this question every time when I meet a new person. The young people who I meet want to leave. The life in Macedonia is tiring, it exhausts all their energy and it takes away their joy in …
What now, Macedonia?!
The German radio show “Deutschlandfunk” reports from Macedonia this morning. “Die Zeichen stehen auf Eskalation.” [The signs are pointing to escalation]. The country has been in continous political crises for the last months and years, but the crisis peaked again when the president G. Ivanov – after weeks of delaying the process – refused to …
One month and some frustration in Macedonia
While Macedonia struggles to form a government two months after the parliamentary elections and while every day articles with headlines like “Macedonia in Crisis” fill my Facebook feed with drama, I am sitting lethargically in the sun during my lunch breaks and wrinkle my forehead.
Successes abroad
It’s been a week since I have arrived in Skopje and I have the first successes to celebrate:
Construction Site Macedonia
Macedonia – I knew this before my arrival – is a country full of challenges and problems from which especially its citizen have to suffer.
Time to go to… Macedonia!
I am beyond excited: Only one week left and I am off to a new adventure abroad. For two months I will be working as intern at the Macedonian office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation in the capital Skopje. I have lived nearly 2 years entirely in Germany – it’s been about time to get out! I …
The paradox of modern politics and other impressions from Macedonia
After I had been in Macedonia for one week, I sat down in a little Italian coffee place in Tetovo, a town not far from the capital, Skopje, ordered an Espresso, waited for a friend and used the time to collect my impressions from the country. By the time I was down to about one …
The paradox of modern politics and other impressions from Macedonia
After I had been in Macedonia for one week, I sat down in a little Italian coffee place in Tetovo, a town not far from the capital, Skopje, ordered an Espresso, waited for a friend and used the time to collect my impressions from the country. By the time I was down to about one …