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Guess who's up again...
Oct. 25th, 2009 02:50 am...in the middle of the night.
That would be me, and it's all my own fault, because I fell asleep around 9 or 9.30 on the couch and woke up after midnight. Watched TV for an hour or so and thought that I'd be able to go to sleep again, but no.
In 7 minutes they're going to turn time back by an hour, which is weird.
Anyway , I don't have to be anywhere before 10.30 a.m., so whenever sleep comes, it'll be fine.
News, rather boring I'm afraid:
4th driving lesson on Friday, and I liked it a lot. Since it was a Macedonian holiday, there wasn't much traffic at 8 a.m. in the city, and so the whole rigmarole of changing lanes and stopping at traffic lights was nice and stress-free. We drove out of Skopje, and lo, I discovered I'm not afraid of speed when in the driver's seat. I'll leave it to others to judge whether that's a good or bad thing.
On the way back into town, some stupid stray dog attacked the car (why? WHY? What are they thinking?), and of course I didn't what one ought to do, i.e.just go on straight, but swerved wildly to the left and back. Fortunately the opposite lane was free. And I think I managed to give the instructor quite a fright, poor guy.
People tell you to just keep going straight ahead, but I couldn't hit a dog any more than I could hit a human. I mean, if a child had come running out, avoiding it *would* have been the right thing... Anyway, I decided that, as soon as I have my licence, I'll do a bit of bad-weather-and-driving-on-ice tec. training in Austria. It might be both fun and useful.
On Thursday I was close to going crazy: the bread, sausages and other lovely foodstuff coming from Austria for the National Day reception were supposed to be delivered to the airport in Vienna on Thursday, and then go to Skopje on Friday. I'd asked the cargo guy (stationed here in Skopje) at least three times, in writing, whether that was ok, possible etc., and never got a negative answer. On Thursday morning, he suddenly wrote me an email informing me that the air freight department in Vienna wasn't allowed to keep the stuff overnight.
Fortunately Janine, who'd kindly offered to pick the parcels up from the butcher and take them to the airport, had already charmed the freight guys in Vienna, so that there were no problems after all.
Add to that that for some hours it seemed as if the customs office at Skopje airport would be deserted on Friday and maybe over the weekend, and you'll understand why I almost freaked out. We sent out about 600 invitations, which means that about 300 - 350 people will turn up, and since we've got all the stuff from Austria, I'd locally ordered food for 250. Having too little food at a reception is a nightmare.
We also have both national anthems now, and all the flags, and a short speech for the Ambassador.
I wrote him a first draft, on which we then worked for a few hours (he's going to hold it in English and Macedonian) When the Macedonian translation was ready, he announced that he still had to tweak it a bit... I actually banged my head on his desk.
Three soldiers from the Austrian KFOR contingent will be standing decoratively in the background, holding their regimental flag and wearing... well yes, silly hats. No berets, no caps, but rather silly hats. Without feathers, at least. The whole thing will be photographed to within an inch of its life, so I'm going to post a few piccies once I'm back from Vienna.
Still not sure whether to wear skirt or trousers, but so long as all options are avail- and feasible, I can safely leave that decision till Monday afternoon. After the reception the ambassador and I are taking the KFOR guys to dinner, which I hope will be fun. It will certainly be necessary, because with all that greeting-people stuff I won't be able to eat or drink much.
Speaking of eating/drinking much: I bought another pair of jeans today, because the ones I got a month ago had become too big. Another size gone!! Yayyyyy!!!!
A propos weight loss, a short cameo:
Ambassador, Friday afternoon (casual Friday because of holiday): "Erm, that, erm, jumper seems very large."
Me: "Yes, well, I like it a lot and just wanted to wear it. When I left Ankara, it was too tight."
A, pensively: "Yes, you seem to be losing..." Pause, then, alarmed, "People won't say it's all my fault, will they?"
Me: o_O
A: "Well, they might think you're ill or something..."
Me: "You mean they might think you're making me work so hard that I've somehow got consumption, or what?"
A, defensively: "Well, you never know!"
I reassured him that it was all down to sports and being happy, and that everybody knew and was happy for me.
Time to have another try at sleep now...
That would be me, and it's all my own fault, because I fell asleep around 9 or 9.30 on the couch and woke up after midnight. Watched TV for an hour or so and thought that I'd be able to go to sleep again, but no.
In 7 minutes they're going to turn time back by an hour, which is weird.
Anyway , I don't have to be anywhere before 10.30 a.m., so whenever sleep comes, it'll be fine.
News, rather boring I'm afraid:
4th driving lesson on Friday, and I liked it a lot. Since it was a Macedonian holiday, there wasn't much traffic at 8 a.m. in the city, and so the whole rigmarole of changing lanes and stopping at traffic lights was nice and stress-free. We drove out of Skopje, and lo, I discovered I'm not afraid of speed when in the driver's seat. I'll leave it to others to judge whether that's a good or bad thing.
On the way back into town, some stupid stray dog attacked the car (why? WHY? What are they thinking?), and of course I didn't what one ought to do, i.e.just go on straight, but swerved wildly to the left and back. Fortunately the opposite lane was free. And I think I managed to give the instructor quite a fright, poor guy.
People tell you to just keep going straight ahead, but I couldn't hit a dog any more than I could hit a human. I mean, if a child had come running out, avoiding it *would* have been the right thing... Anyway, I decided that, as soon as I have my licence, I'll do a bit of bad-weather-and-driving-on-ice tec. training in Austria. It might be both fun and useful.
On Thursday I was close to going crazy: the bread, sausages and other lovely foodstuff coming from Austria for the National Day reception were supposed to be delivered to the airport in Vienna on Thursday, and then go to Skopje on Friday. I'd asked the cargo guy (stationed here in Skopje) at least three times, in writing, whether that was ok, possible etc., and never got a negative answer. On Thursday morning, he suddenly wrote me an email informing me that the air freight department in Vienna wasn't allowed to keep the stuff overnight.
Fortunately Janine, who'd kindly offered to pick the parcels up from the butcher and take them to the airport, had already charmed the freight guys in Vienna, so that there were no problems after all.
Add to that that for some hours it seemed as if the customs office at Skopje airport would be deserted on Friday and maybe over the weekend, and you'll understand why I almost freaked out. We sent out about 600 invitations, which means that about 300 - 350 people will turn up, and since we've got all the stuff from Austria, I'd locally ordered food for 250. Having too little food at a reception is a nightmare.
We also have both national anthems now, and all the flags, and a short speech for the Ambassador.
I wrote him a first draft, on which we then worked for a few hours (he's going to hold it in English and Macedonian) When the Macedonian translation was ready, he announced that he still had to tweak it a bit... I actually banged my head on his desk.
Three soldiers from the Austrian KFOR contingent will be standing decoratively in the background, holding their regimental flag and wearing... well yes, silly hats. No berets, no caps, but rather silly hats. Without feathers, at least. The whole thing will be photographed to within an inch of its life, so I'm going to post a few piccies once I'm back from Vienna.
Still not sure whether to wear skirt or trousers, but so long as all options are avail- and feasible, I can safely leave that decision till Monday afternoon. After the reception the ambassador and I are taking the KFOR guys to dinner, which I hope will be fun. It will certainly be necessary, because with all that greeting-people stuff I won't be able to eat or drink much.
Speaking of eating/drinking much: I bought another pair of jeans today, because the ones I got a month ago had become too big. Another size gone!! Yayyyyy!!!!
A propos weight loss, a short cameo:
Ambassador, Friday afternoon (casual Friday because of holiday): "Erm, that, erm, jumper seems very large."
Me: "Yes, well, I like it a lot and just wanted to wear it. When I left Ankara, it was too tight."
A, pensively: "Yes, you seem to be losing..." Pause, then, alarmed, "People won't say it's all my fault, will they?"
Me: o_O
A: "Well, they might think you're ill or something..."
Me: "You mean they might think you're making me work so hard that I've somehow got consumption, or what?"
A, defensively: "Well, you never know!"
I reassured him that it was all down to sports and being happy, and that everybody knew and was happy for me.
Time to have another try at sleep now...
