macedonia!

i am on my first real vacation since i got to turkey.. i've gone a few places, as you know if you have seen my thousands of facebook photos, but none on official vacation. 

so needless to say, i'm thrilled... i am visiting a few friends in macedonia.. so far all i've seen is the bus station and my friend's apartment, but we're going to a different city tonight to visit a friend of ours... 

i rode the bus, which was definitely interesting but not bad. i met an interesting pink-haired girl from Latvia and some other nice people... we stopped what felt like 50 times but it was really about 6 or 8 on our 14 hour ride... 2 border crossings--turkey to bulgaria and bulgaria to macedonia.. 

the guy in macedonia was quite intense as he searched through EVERYONE'S bags... i think he particularly had an issue with me after i told him i was american... he pulled out a packet of spices and asked "WHAT IS THIS!?" to which i replied ".... um... spices... Turkish spices" and pointed to it on the packet... he acted like it was explosives, geesh... then he pulled out a plastic baggie of tampons and pulled one out to feel and see what it was... talk about AWKWARD and slightly embarrassing, especially in a country like mine where they are looked at a little differently... then he pulled out my bible and flipped through all of the pages... the most random things for him to search... as i put my things back into my bag and zipped up, he had already finished the guy beside me who said "geçmiş olsun" which is the equivalent of "get well soon"... ha.. 

but now i am here, and very excited about catching up with friends and spending some time out of the BIG city... :)

oh, and a pic of me and my cousin scott, who i saw earlier this week.. he works on an amazing cruise ship and stopped in istanbul for a couple of days.. it was great to hang out with him for a bit... & i'll be in america in 18 DAYS!!!! :)