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The un-Christmas-y Christmas so far
Dec. 25th, 2012 10:23 am...has been exceedingly nice and relaxing.
After yesterday's three hours of mandatory (and utterly point- and useless) presence at work I went to the gym for a leisurely, low-impact workout. Oh, and before that I had coffee and a chat with Slavica, who also gave me my X-mas presents, an anthology of Macedonian poetry among them. I'd mentioned once that I'd really like to read some poetry, and she remembered it. I love her.
She'll be getting her own present on Friday; I gave her the days from December 31 to January 7 off work, so Friday is the last possible day and also the one closest to the Orthodox Christmas. She likes to take photos but is still doing so with her phone, so I'm going to get her a nice little digital camera. And something beauty-related, too, because she doesn't allow herself that kind of luxury.
Last night I went out for dinner with Goran the Lovely Landlord and his wife Snezana. I have to say that, while it is relatively easy to eat light in Macedonia, it is also appallingly easy to eat delicious, heavy, tasty things. We went to a typically Macedonian place, nice and small, and stuffed ourselves on: pickled yellow bell peppers with the fattest, tastiest sour cream you can possibly imagine, grilled feta, Pindjur (a creamy starter made of grilled aubergine and hot peppers, garlic and tons of oil), Pleskavica (the Balkanic answer to the Burger, infinitely superior) topped with Kajmak (distant relative of mascarpone, with even more fat and tasting a bit more like cheese), grilled pork. I only drank rakija and water, which is generally the most appropriate course of action, since the food is so heavy that 1) you don't get drunk easily, 2) the stomach has enough to cope with even if you don't flood it with a mixture of alcoholic drinks, and 3) it's traditional.
Plans for today include reading and reviewing more exchange fics, going to the gym, doing pilates, continuing the (third, I think) re-read of "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell", buying some stuff and maybe looking at the New Year's Sales which have already started.
I already went down at eight to feed the street cats, which are looking pretty good. No signs of colds and other illnesses. I wish the small one with emerald eyes (whom I have privately named Harry -- I've never seen that eye colour in a cat yet) were a bit less timid, but at least it has understood that it always gets a bit of food on the side, so it may eat in peace.
Dear f-list, I hope you are all having wonderful holidays, whichever way you have chosen (not) to celebrate them!
After yesterday's three hours of mandatory (and utterly point- and useless) presence at work I went to the gym for a leisurely, low-impact workout. Oh, and before that I had coffee and a chat with Slavica, who also gave me my X-mas presents, an anthology of Macedonian poetry among them. I'd mentioned once that I'd really like to read some poetry, and she remembered it. I love her.
She'll be getting her own present on Friday; I gave her the days from December 31 to January 7 off work, so Friday is the last possible day and also the one closest to the Orthodox Christmas. She likes to take photos but is still doing so with her phone, so I'm going to get her a nice little digital camera. And something beauty-related, too, because she doesn't allow herself that kind of luxury.
Last night I went out for dinner with Goran the Lovely Landlord and his wife Snezana. I have to say that, while it is relatively easy to eat light in Macedonia, it is also appallingly easy to eat delicious, heavy, tasty things. We went to a typically Macedonian place, nice and small, and stuffed ourselves on: pickled yellow bell peppers with the fattest, tastiest sour cream you can possibly imagine, grilled feta, Pindjur (a creamy starter made of grilled aubergine and hot peppers, garlic and tons of oil), Pleskavica (the Balkanic answer to the Burger, infinitely superior) topped with Kajmak (distant relative of mascarpone, with even more fat and tasting a bit more like cheese), grilled pork. I only drank rakija and water, which is generally the most appropriate course of action, since the food is so heavy that 1) you don't get drunk easily, 2) the stomach has enough to cope with even if you don't flood it with a mixture of alcoholic drinks, and 3) it's traditional.
Plans for today include reading and reviewing more exchange fics, going to the gym, doing pilates, continuing the (third, I think) re-read of "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell", buying some stuff and maybe looking at the New Year's Sales which have already started.
I already went down at eight to feed the street cats, which are looking pretty good. No signs of colds and other illnesses. I wish the small one with emerald eyes (whom I have privately named Harry -- I've never seen that eye colour in a cat yet) were a bit less timid, but at least it has understood that it always gets a bit of food on the side, so it may eat in peace.
Dear f-list, I hope you are all having wonderful holidays, whichever way you have chosen (not) to celebrate them!
