Back home again in good old "Norn Iron" as we call it here. Back into church life with a bit of a bang and three months post to sort out at home. Met Rick and Katie (and Reuben of course) and headed off to the Christmas Market in Belfast. This has become a regular feature now in Belfast at this time of year with lots of people from various European countries selling their local produce.

This year the City Hall is dominated of course by "The Big Wheel", (Belfast's answer to the London Eye).

Had a good walk round the market buying olives and cheese and stuffed vine leaves and various breads and then we all headed back to our house and had a bit of a party, pigging out on this stuff and watching a DVD.

Incidentally here is a sachet of sugar from the Stephen Center (sic) in Tiranne, the capital of Albania. This is one side, in Albanian.

And this is the other! Who would have believed a few years ago, when they were suffering the most brutal prosecution, that one day Christians could be as open as that in the capital of Albania.

That's by the way, now back to Macedonia!

On Tuesday after meeting with Pastor Soso, (see Sabbatical Journey Blog) I went back to the office about 1.30. I hadn't had lunch, (in fact I hadn't had breakfast either so Marino offered to take me out and show me around Skopje, the capital, where I was staying. Skopje is divided ethnically more or less, (like Belfast)! One one side you have Albanians who are mostly Muslim and on the other you have Macedonians who are mostly Greek Orthodox. We started on the Albanian side and went through an old part of the city with narrow streets, small shops and a huge market selling everything! We also visited the old castle overlooking this part of the town. A lot of it was damaged in an earthquake a few years ago, but it gave great views over the city.

I bought a few odds and ends including a hamburger, (made out of a few odds and ends!). We then moved across into the more modern part of the city. The centre is dominated by a large plaza and there are lots of upmarket and expensive shops.

When I'm abroad I tend to buy a book as a souvenir of where I have been. In Tirane I bought an English translation of "The concert" by Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, here in Skopje I bought "The Pianist" by Wladyslaw Szpilman, the story of a concert pianist's survival in Warsaw during the German occupation. A film was made of the book a few years ago.

Had a couple of coffee to wash down the hamburger and as it was late afternoon we headed back to the office. I was told that all of us were going out that night for a meal. Which we did in a traditional Macedonian restaurant, and very good it was too!

Sorry you haven't heard from me for some time, the laptop crashed. I am now in Macedonia and have access to this computer in the office when isn't being used. First of all a couple of pictures of our last couple of days in Canada, Lilian out for a walk with Caleb, (we walk he runs!) and his sister, Grace who seems a quiet as Caleb is noisy.

The next country I visited was Albania and frankly, I didn't quite know what to expect!
In fact, that's probably the best way to describe Albania, "unexpected". A beautiful country with some dark and ugly corners, a hangover from it's long period under communism. I visited the ancient city of Berat with its 2400 year old castle and it had a real Mediterranean feel about it. We stayed in Tirana, the capital and it is a mixture of old and very new/ spick and span and dirty/neo classical and ultra modern/ rich and poor! Like I say, you don't quite know what to expect!

Eating out is a big thing in Albania and there are lots of restaurants, roadside markets and coffee houses. With its large Muslim population the men tend to gather in coffee shops rather than in pubs. All meals are large and they just keep coming.
The weather was warm and bright but as we are coming into the winter there was the occasional dull day and shower of rain. There appears to be a phobia about getting wet and everybody carries an umbrella.
Southern Albania is particularly beautiful with lovely beaches but judging by what I have seen of coastal development so far, they need to be careful they don't "Majorca-cise" it with ugly blocks of high rise hotels right along the beach front.

Elsewhere some of the buildings and architecture would not be out of place in Los Angeles or London. During my time here I have met a lot of Albanians and done a lot of eating and talking, (no surprise there!) While they are delighted to be free and democratic, they say that corruption is rife and many of the politicians who are in charge were big Party members in the former Communist regime with all that implies. Some parts of the city (the best parts) which are now open to everyone were previously closed to all but senior Party members and that sense of privilege (corruption they would call it) is still part of the political mind set!
It's been a fascinating time here but now I head across into Macedonia. Interestingly relationships between the Macedonians and the Albanians are not so great and in fact Greece itself doesn't recognise Macedonia and insists on referring to it as "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" so its all a bit mixed up around here politically but coming from Northern Ireland we're well used to that. However on Sunday after church I will be travelling into Macedonia and I'll tell you that story on the Sabbatical Journey blog. The link is on this page.