How do you say cheers in Estonian? Terviseks!!!!... Yeah, I know, it sounds like something else! :)

So, Mirjam and Hanna arrived on Saturday afternoon bringing us some very cute and tasty gifts…. Like this box of Estonian Chocolate Buttons (or Šokolaadinööbid).

After a very short rest at home, we went to Nadjak – a local restaurant in one of the oldest Skopje neighborhoods – Debar Maalo. Mirjam and Hanna had arrived from Ohrid where for the past week they were visiting Estonian friends who live there so they already had some experience with Macedonian food. But, there was plenty of stuff still to be sampled. Hanna was particularly fond of the Uvijach:)

And after the rather filling lunch (and a beer or two), we spent the rest of the day walking around, first into the Old Turkish Bazaar and then along Vardar and to the City Park, where we made a necessary stop at Shankly’s to re-beer and finish watching one of Ivica’s soccer games…At home, we watched (us – for the millionth time) the Macedonian movie Balkan-kan. Ivica and I laughed through most of the movie (again, for the millionth time), even at scenes that are better fitted for a tragic drama, and Mirjam and Hanna’s comment at the end was how unusual (in a good way) it was for us to be able to look at the self-destructive nature of the Balkan ways with so much humor.

As I mentioned earlier, Estonia declared independence from the Soviet Union the same year we did, in 1991. So yes, that we do have in common. But differences abound as well. Although Macedonia never did fight a war to gain independence, the war did get pretty close. On the other hand, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia had their “Singing Revolution” (next in line of our movies to see is the movie with the exact same name). The revolution was characterized by the singing of then-forbidden songs and hymns and lasted for over 4 years in scattered peaceful events.

Estonia's area is almost double that of Macedonia but the country's population is a mere 1.4 million, almost 33% less than Macedonia's. Tallinn (the capital whose Old City is pictured below) is quite densely populated but outside of the capital, people are sparse, with the Estonian average population density barely 29 people per km2 (Wikipedia).

While we were having lunch, Hanna and Mirjam told us that the Estonians (a perhaps other peoples in their part of the world) have a saying that when, while at the table, you drop a knife on the ground, it is a sign that a man will join the table soon. If, however, you drop a fork, a woman will show up soon. Ivica did drop a knife but the only people that kept on showing up at our table (besides the waiter) were the inevitable Roma beggars...

(To be continued, after we reload on chocolate buttons...)