Farewell to Macedonia

Today was our last day at the worksite.
It was a bit of a solemn day. Sheri was playing slower stuff on her IPod at the rebar rectangle station and overall where was not quite as much energy as other days, it seemed.
We worked through the morning, only stopping for the ceremony to bless the house which is a great Macedonian tradition. When all the dangerous and the hardest work is done (walls, floors, roof trusses), one of the construction workers gets on top of the roof and sings to others below. Presents are being presented and are fastened to a cross which remains on top of the roof for all to see until the structure is finished. We gave a shirt and Molson Canadian hat which has been a popular item on our worksite since Shelly distributed them early during our build. It is a really nice gesture and gives real meaning to the various stages of the build. Presents continue to be presented by friends and neighbors and everything is attached to the cross which sits high on top of the roof.
A Habitat tradition which we tried to follow as the first Canadian team in this build is that a Habitat team tries to “leave a memory” somewhere on/in the structure. Whether it is something signed, or something scratched into materials somewhere. We marked all of our names as well as put a Canada pin and toonie on a truss near the cross. Gotta love Sharpies. Maybe someone will find it 100 years from now and will get a smile out of it.
After an emotional good-bye’ at the worksite with the construction workers we have worked alongside with for two weeks now, it was back to Negotino to shower and change only to come back to Veles for our farewell dinner with Habitat staff and the family which we have grown close to over the last two weeks. We met them at Hotel Romantique on a lake and it put a smile on our face to see both Vlatko and his wife Elena, their 6 year old son Nikola as well as the grandparents Nikola and Stanka there…all dressed up and full of smiles. We had a great dinner with tons of pics. The family will move into one of the buildings we worked on when it is done in the next few months. They were only supposed to come work on the site with us for a couple of days, but enjoyed the team so much that they came pretty well every day for the two weeks. They were many teary eyes getting into the bus…this family does not have much but they have been so gracious and appreciative. This is what it is all about. Stanka gave all of us hand stitched little mats/doilies which she made as a little girl. Wow….
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Friday was our last R&R day in Skopje and we went back to Hotel Kapistec where we stayed when first got into Skopje. It seemed like a lifetime ago when we were last here, first getting to know team members and arriving in lower temperatures. We went from low 20’s in the first day or two to high 30’s and even low 40’s.
We spent part of the day at Lake Matka, beautiful little treasure 30 minutes drive outside of Skopje. The river has a dam and a bit of a lake which is fed by cold water from underwater caves and springs. Locals treat it as a refreshing opportunity to take a dip and cool off. 12 degree water, not for everyone…after lunch and some cold drinks at a restaurant overlooking the water, we hired a boat to take us to some caves filled of stalagmites and stalactites, accompanies by a ton of bats flying in and out of the cave. It was a great way to see another part of Skopje. We went back into town to do a bit of shopping and visit the Bazaar full of little shops. The night closed down with a final dinner with team members as well as Milan and Andrej at a nearby restaurant as well as drinks outside the hotel in our little park. Habitat Macedonia was kind enough to give us some gifts including a CD with pics taken during the build which we watched outside on one of Geoff’s laptops.
Again, goodbye’s followed as three of us (Steph, Chels and Susanne) were getting up early to leave for Greece.
Great Habitat build, excellent team, wonderful country to visit. Will miss it!