Long Live Marx - and $4.50

Day of the International Solidarity of Workers, or Labour Day, is still celebrated May 1st here in Macedonia. It remains a national holiday and people flock to the hills and mountains for "picnics." A teacher Kacey works with invited us to join him and a group of friends for a picnic in a tiny village on the side of a mountain. What he didn't tell us was that we would be leaving Tetovo at 8:30 am. With little time wasted we began drinking Rakija (Kacey's favorite) promptly at 9:00. It rained all day, but the picnic area, which is at a centuries old church, was covered. The view was spectacular (when it was clear); we could see much of the Polog valley with the views stretching far south of Tetovo and North into Kosovo. The day was filled with eating (five different salads, pork, chicken), drinking (Rakija, Skopsko beer), and lots of singing (1991 soft rock classics intermixed with Macedonian folk songs) accompanied by the guitar.

At the green, or open air market Saturday we bought 25 pounds of Potatoes, 2.2 pounds of tomatoes, 2.2. pounds of cucumbers, one cabbage, one head of lettuce, 1 pound of onions, half a pound of peppers (and one complimentary lemon because we spoke Albanian) -- all for about the equivalent of $4.50.