Training in Stip: the travel

On 2nd April Magdalena and I were finally leaving Osijek to join the training about "Minorities" in Stip, Macedonia, held by P.E.L. and MoE (Macedonian and English NGOs).

After lots of changes we had decided to go by bus, first from Osijek to Belgrade, then from Belgrade to Skopje and finally to Stip.

Magdalena had come back from Austria with a big big cold, she couldn't almost speak cuz she had very low voice, anyway at 5.30 in the morning we got up to catch the bus at 7 o'clock.

But as soon as we arrived at the bus station she changed her mind.

She felt very very bad and even though she didn't want to let me go by my own, as the time was running out, I reassured her about me, being alone around the Balkans, and wished her to get well soon, finally I jumped on the bus cuz it was almost leaving!

So a new adventure was starting..actually I must admit I was a little bit worried cuz in Belgrade I knew I had to change bus station to take the second bus, but above all, I knew I had only 20 minutes to change place, money and buy the ticket in order to catch that bus which would have let me be in Skopje on time to take the last bus for Stip.

I really had to fight against time..and, as everybody knows, most of times the winner is it!

So on the way from Osijek to Belgrade I was feeling like a storm in my soul, full of different emotions: fear not to be on time, curiousity about new places I was going to pass through, excitement for the training but also suspiciousness as you can never know, before you start it, if you will find a nice working group and you will have a good time; moreover I felt angry with Magdalena's cold which didn't enable her to come with me, happy to see again some people I had already met to the CMS in Osijek, and so on!

During the first part of my travel I could pass through Vukovar, which is very closed to the border with Serbia. I was talking about it with a friend of mine in Osijek..I knew it was destroyed during the war and Magdalena, Madara and I really wanted to visit it.

I think this kind of feeling is quite strange but very common among people..why should anybody like to visit a very damaged place? There's something which takes you there, to see with your own eyes and to feel or try to feel something..

So I had the chance to see it and I really thought that I won't go there anymore, only by force when travelling to Belgrade, cuz there's nothing to see..I mean, it was very painful to see still lots of debris and destroyed buildings..I don't want to imagine the situation during the war. It was very shocking.

Then I crossed the border..now I was travelling through Serbia!

At the beginning nothing had changed, the landscape was almost the same: lots of fields all around, sometime little villages and nothing else..but when I reached the first town I realised I was not in Croatia anymore.

We stopped for a ten minute-break in Sid. What a sad place! I was really impressed. Very old and ruined houses and shops and the people were so poor. I couldn't imagine such a difference with Croatia.

I felt like being in the '40s or around there.

I went to the toilet at the bus station..I skip what I found there cuz it wouldn't be very nice..but trust me, I am very adaptable, I don't usually care about toilets, meaning that if I need it I just don't look around and go! But this time I was very surprised for the lack of infrastructures..Of course I didn't expect to find the toilets you can have at the service areas on the high-way! But I didn't even think they had neither a sort of rope to flush the toilet (and this is the maximum I can tell you about it!)

Anyhow, I was very sorry for them, for people who live in such horrible conditions..(even though the worst had still to come).

Finally, after almost 4 hours, I reached Belgrade and, as I explained above, I had to start my race against time!

Luckily everything has gone fine! I met a nice young man who worked for the security at the bus station. He was very happy to help me (and he was the only one I met who could speak English!) so I took the chance!

At 11.20 the second part of my long long travel started.

This time the bus was very old and the sits were so narrow and close to each other! But I had a lot to do for distracting myself!! I took with me lots of magazines and a book, and of course I had my mp3 to listen to some music..

I decided to take the book..it's an Italian writer's..actually he is not a writer, he is an Italian vj, Fabio Volo. The book is about a reflection the protagonist makes on himself. He is almost 30 years old and he is the typical "Peter Pan", he doesn't want to grow up, become responsible, make strong choices such as to accept a new job, which would compell him to be busier and more responsible, to start a serious relationship in order to make a family and so on. It's written in a very funny way and all the things he says are really true, typical from these new generations of youngsters or young people who don't want to set, who feel chronically searching for something..

I almost read the whole book on my way to Skopje and I finished it on the way back, in Belgrade, while waiting for the bus for Osijek..

During the long journey to Skopje I also had the chance to practice my Croatian as I got to know a boy from Serbia who couldn't speak a lot of English so I mixed English with all I knew in Croatian/Serbian.

It took nearly 8 hours to arrive at the border with Macedonia. Actually all the things I took with me in order not to be bored wouldn't been enough but for Serbia really gripped my attention when we went through some towns/villages..

As I said before I was very impressed about the poverty all around..I didn't expect it was such a poor country. I had the impression it's even poorer than Bosnia..

I have been very glad to have this opportunity, to go across the Balkans cuz it's been very interesting. I thought these countries were more or less the same..but I can definitely say that that was a sterotype I had in my mind! Croatia is different from Serbia and Serbia from Bosnia and Macedonia!

I think it would have been a big pity to miss all of that for going by plane..

In fact, soon after we crossed the border with Macedonia, the lanscape changed once again. I felt like being in Greece this time..ok, buildings in Greece are different but the flora and the general landscape really reminded me of Greece, the Peloponnesus part.

The time was going fast and in the afternoon I realized I wouldn't be on time in Skopje for the last bus to Stip..sooooooooo..what could I do? I wrote an sms to Andrijana, one of the trainers, asking for someone to pick me up cuz I would arrive around 20-20.30.

Luckily she managed for me to call a taxi, so once in Skopje I found a nice and kind driver who took me to Stip.

The last part of the journey was the most comfortable one, I must admit it! I was finally relaxed in the car, the driver even offered me a cigarette and we also had a nice talk, again in English mixed to Croatian/Serbian/Macedonian as, just for you to know, they are almost the same!!!

It took 1 hour to arrive in Stip, but again I had a good chance to see the interland. It was dark of course, but I could see we were on the mountains, the sky was black but full of bright stars..what a magic! I must say that in the Balkans I am enjoying beautiful skies in the night! It's so dark that you can easily watch the stars and of course they look bigger and closer than in the sky above a city like Padova..

Around 21.30 I was finally at the Hotel Izgrev, I left my luggages in my room and went to get to know some of the participants at the training..

I was very tired, travelling since 7 in the morning with just a few and fast breaks, so I decided to go for a shower and then to bed..unaware of the beautiful days I was going to spend at the training in the beautiful country of Macedonia!