Ich fahre nach Istanbul.

I am counting down the minutes until I have to leave for the bus station where I will be counting down the hours (18 to be exact) until I arrive in Istanbul. I took a little holiday from traveling and holed up for three days here in Lake Ohrid, Macedonia, or FYROM to those who would prefer to be politically correct. Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lakes in the world, a claim that doesn't impress me much because to be honest, everywhere in Europe claims to have the 'oldest lake, castle, fortress, bridge, wedge of cheese, shoe, hat, hay bale, minibus, etc.' Even so, it is a pretty little holiday spot with loads of Slavs on vacation from work. It has a nice vibe and it is striking how much more Macedonia has been developed than Albania.

A curious thing happened yesterday. After a year of living in Switzerland (in 2003-2004) and trying to learn German, I don't remember a single instance where it was actually necessary to speak German to communicate; everybody spoke English. However, after I missed my Istanbul bus yesterday I needed to ask for directions concerning minibuses from Struga back to Ohrid, a kindly old man who had been on the Ohrid-Struga bus with me prior smiled at me in recognition. I said hello and then started to ask him about destinations in English to which he responded, "alskmhyrvjeoimv" and I didn't understand. Then he tried, "hyrjpvneolpplpkjajauvu" and I still didn't understand. Then he said, "Deutsch?" to which I responded (in German), "yes, a little." And thus commenced a grammatically imperfect German conversation in which he told me that he had lived and worked in Switzerland for 20 years and he goes back once a year for 2 weeks to visit and yes this was the bus to Ohrid and it costs 40 denars. Once of out his eyeline I did a little heel-click and then patted myself on the back for remembering enough words to sound like a 4-year old German with a speech impediment.

Here is my updated itinerary for those curious- I will spend a few days in Istanbul, hop down to Gallipoli, [perhaps] head out to mountainous Cappadocia then and make my way down the coast to my 3-week job at a yoga/art/trekking camp on the South Aegean coast in a town called Kas (note that the 's' is supposed to have a little tail on it but I don't know how to do that with this keyboard- apparently it makes big difference because when I was talking to a Turkish man at the hostel in Ohrid he had no idea what I was talking about until I mentioned the tail). And sorry, I still haven't figured out how to upload pictures.

ONE MONTH UNTIL I AM HOME!!!!!

Escape from Corfu

I have left Corfu. Yes, I am a quitter. In my defense I must say that the woman I worked for was a psycho and every time the hostel had a bad review she would do something ridiculous like blame us for missing money, makes us bleach dirty corners of the rooms, etc. I didn't even get to do any farming. No good. Hence, I've fled to Albania. I spent four days in Saranda, a curious little port city complete with communist-era bunkers, giant piles of garbage and stones, dilapidated skeleton buildings and cows roaming the streets feasting on the tasty trash. The coast was lovely though and I went with some other travelers to see some great ruins of an ancient city ruled at times by the Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans. There were remains of amphitheaters and Roman mosaics next to the bottoms of Byzantine columns and Ottoman mosques. Quite intriguing, really.

Now I am in Berat, Albania, which is about 170 km away but 6 hours by bus due to the poor road conditions. I will stay here for another day or so and then head to Macedonia to check out a giant lake that sounds pretty before making my way to Turkey. I have found a yoga/art camp on the Aegean coast where I can work for a couple weeks in August. Only a month or so left until I am home!

Mosquitos: 376, Tammy: 3

I am at war with the insect kingdom and I am losing famously. I've made it to Corfu and have discovered first hand what it actually means when you are on the Greek island with the most rainfall. It's like being a walking, bloody, dripping steak to those irreverent bastards. The bite me when I'm sleeping, when I'm peeling potatoes, when I'm washing dishes, when I'm walking about, when I'm washing dishes, when I'm getting hot water to wash dishes... did I mention that I wash dishes? Yeah, so I haven't done much farming to date, but I will be learning to make feta cheese later this week.

I made it to Athens a few days ago and spent one full day there checking out the Acropolis, eating Greek spinach pies and drinking mate with Uruguayans. It was pretty grand to tell the truth. Athens is a bit of a hot mess, thus warranting such a short visit.

The following day I took a 9 hour "Express" bus/ferry trip to arrive in Corfu. The views were quite enjoyable so it wasn't such a painful trip. I also met a new friend and some of the members of his band who live in the Corfu Town (the big city on the island with 40,000 people). Hopefully one night this month I'll make it over there to see them play.

I am living in Pelekas Beach, which is a pretty little beach on the west side of the island. For reference, it takes about 25 minutes to drive across the island east to west. North to south would be a few hours at least. So far I am not doing much farm work, as originally thought, but rather serving breakfast and cleaning around the hostel in the mornings. In the afternoon after 1pm I have free time and then I can go to the beach or hike around. The views are phenomenal and the company has been good. All of the food we cook comes from the farm so we have had a ton of fresh veggies, salads, and other delicious meals. Anyway, aside from being told to sleep under a hornets' nest, things have been pretty good here-anyway, I cried anaphylaxis.

Here's a pıc of the World Cup fınal... My roommate Anne Sophie gave me some face paint before I left Spaın, so naturally I painted everyone's face with it at the hostel.