The summer madness is catching up with us. Our couchsurfing schedule has been more than hectic and here we are, behind on documenting our experiences. I didn't get the chance to finish reading and writing about Sweden and Malmo and we already welcomed 2 other guests this past weekend - Wojtek and Anna from the south and north Poland (more on them and their country coming up this week)...
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Some twenty years ago, one of my third grade (or second, can't be too sure) mandatory reading was Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, a Swedish writer and the world's 25th most translated author. I loved Pippi's red hair, her mischievous nature and her friends Tommy and Annika. I'm even thinking about picking it up again.

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On their second day in Skopje, Elena and Maja successfully navigated the complicated public transport system towards Matka alone (which makes me go into another nail-biting frenzy when I think about the possibility that they get lost somewhere along the way) and we then meet downtown after work. My day is hectic; I have tons to do at work, I still haven't shaken off my sinus thing from last week AND my brother and dad are leaving for the World Cup in South Africa (which is a terribly exciting thing that leaves me quite envious too). But Skopje is hectic in June as well, and when we meet downtown and after a quick bite in the Old Bazaar (ќебапи at Destan) we visit Kale (the Skopje fortress) where the girls take note of the gazillion Macedonian flags waving in the city (no, we're not celebrating anything, we just seem to have a thing for flags).
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Yes, it's been a while, but we were CS-less for 2 weeks! During this time, we traveled a bit ourselves (not too far, just to our house in the mountains and for a weekend visiting old friends and colleagues in Thessaloniki). While in Thessaloniki, I managed to catch up with Linn and Daan, a Dutch couchsurfing couple spending a student exchange year in Thessaloniki. When they stayed with us in Skopje during the winter, they came on the absolutely most disgusting day of all winter - there was muddy slush all over the city and they were wearing very summery shoes. The sight still gives me shivers dispite them saying that they're used to that kind of weather.
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The day after we saw Nellie off, we welcomed Fine (pronounced "Feenai") in the middle of an unusual Skopje spring heat, and amidst the ever-present taxi drivers swarming the bus station. Fine, as I mentioned earlier, is German by origin but has been living outside of Germany for the last 8 years. She has moved quite a lot and actually she did try to briefly outline the countries she's stayed in, which made us a bit dizzy. Fine is married to a Brazilian guy and together they are (sort of) currently based in a place called Angra Dos Reis, near Rio de Janeiro (and very close to the Ilha Grande island - which we think looks gorgeous and  a photo of which is shown below). They spend quite a bit of time on boats and did the Canto Mediterraneo project last year, sailing from Venice to Istanbul and documenting the music of the Mediterranean lands they visited on the way.
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This past weekend was one of the very few recent ones spent without couchsurfers around. It was a nice quiet weekend but also a bit unusual because we prefer when people visit over weekends as it gives us more time to get to know them better.

But we're making an exception this week and will be having Fine (that's, in her own words, pronounced something like "feenai") arriving on Wednesday to stay with us until Friday. Fine, originally from Wunstorf near Hannover, has been living outside of Germany for the past 8 years and will be arriving from Antalya, Turkey where she's spent the last 6 months. What's interesting about Fine is that, while in Turkey, she's been working on an international music podcast interviewing people about their favorite music from their countries. She'll be continuing the project as she travels back towards Germany and, guess what, we'll probably participate in her podcast and talk a bit about our favorite Macedonian music (question to readers from Macedonia: which local artists do you think we should share with Fine for her podcast? Let us know in the comments.). So, we'll let you know how that goes. 
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