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.

Fine came to Skopje by way of Bulgaria following a 6 month European Volunteer Program in Antalya, Turkey (from where she brought us some authentic Turkish baklava -
how nice of her:)). She had stayed up the night before she arrived (and took an early bus) and we had as well so when we all arrived home in the afternoon a siesta session was in order, which is something that rarely happens when we have guests in the house (Fine even asked if we'll think she's nerdy if she hang around the house a bit before going downtown - we didn't, as we were practically dead ourselves).

Prior to the "nap", we had talked about how we can participate in Fine's ongoing project - the international music podcast  she has going on (see it here, it's actually quite interesting). I got all excited and started singling out 5 songs that Fine and I can cover in our audio podcast episode on Macedonian music. But then, by the time we got up from the afternoon nap, we were too thirsty and decided to go out for a round of drinks. Interesting discussions ensued on topics ranging from life in Brazil (did you know that spiritism is a big part of Brazilian culture?) to more philosophical ones such as choosing a career path and the importance of work in the big picture called life. Next time we looked at a watch it was practically 1am, which meant the podcast session was not going to materialize after all - bummer. (We did fill up Fine's external drive quite nicely with local music and movies the next day before she left).

Fine was continuing on to Belgrade the next day as she has very little time to make it to Germany (to see her family before going to Brazil) by rail and also because we were going away for the weekend. Due to work and other obligations, we couldn't give her our regular tour around Skopje but gave some recommendations and hope she did some sightseeing on her own before taking the night train to Belgrade. We typically do get involved with our CS guests' sightseeing but this time (and partly because it was a workday) we really couldn't...:( A little out of guilt, we gave Fine a bottle of T'ga za Jug wine to take with her to Belgrade...a sort of greeting from the South:)

By the way, for those into Brazil, here is a photo of the island close to which Fine lives in Brazil (Ilha Grande), one of the few remaining original Brazilian rainforest areas.

[Looks like heaven doesn't it? Add to this the fact that its a protected area and there are no cars on it...but beware of mudslides in the region. ]

Oh and here's one of the music choices I was going to cover with Fine if we were going to do the podcast. Skopje-locals and Skopje-lovers, enjoy this blast from the past!