Dragstor Betty

In the interest of keeping my blog alive I decided to go through some old photos and post some of them.
This is, according to Zoran, a very, very famous place in the Balkans. It is Dragstor Betty is Skopje, Macedonia. If you can read the Cyrillic alphabet you can even make out the word Betty on the sign. Dragstor Betty was right by where we rented an apartment from Zoran for a couple of days on our last short vacation to Macedonia. Supposedly, this little store was the first one in the Balkans to embrace the idea of being a 24 hour convenience store....you know, kind of like a 7 Eleven in the US. And for this it is famous.
There are a number of "dragstors" here in Prishtina and I'm not entirely sure of the translation. The name dragstor seems to provoke humorous comments from Americans when they first arrive here...apparently because they think it sounds like "dragster". It's actually pronounced something closer to "drugstore". Drugstores, however, are called "barnatores" here. In Serbia they are Apotekas.
There are innumerable mini markets in every neighborhood here but only some call themselves dragstors. I can't find my Albanian dictionary this minute so I'll have to do an update on this later.
Look....I'm trying to keep this blog alive, okay?

Christmas in Kosovo

We celebrated Christmas this year with our Serbian friends in Gracanica. Bozic, as they call it, was January 7. Serbians use a different calendar that we do so Christmas for them is two weeks later than the one we celebrate.
We had a great time, as we always do at their house. My understanding is they kick off their holiday season with St. Nicholas Day which I think was December 17. Santa Claus visits the kids on our New Year's Eve. I'm not 100% clear on that...something about it falling about halfway between December 25 and January 7.
On Christmas Eve morning the father in the house goes out early and cuts down a large branch from an oak tree. The oak tree is to signify Christ's entry into the earthly world. After it is cut down and put in the car or whatever vehicle of conveyence they are using, they drive through the village or town for several hours honking their horn, waving hello to friends, and so on. Afterward the branch is brought home and set up at the entrance to the house. From what I saw on television, some people decorate this branch with ornaments, garlands, or balloons. Later a small part of that branch is burned as a ritual to invite good health for the coming year.
Our hosts told us that on Christmas morning the custom is that the oldest male child is supposed to be the first person to come through the entry door. D. said that she woke up early Christmas morning and had to use the toilet really badly. Because their bathroom is across the hall from the entrance to their flat she make her son get up and go out the door and come back inside quickly so she could run across the hall.
It was so nice that we are thinking maybe next year we might incorporate the cutting of the oak branch on Christmas Eve morning. Wait, I don't know where any oak trees are in our area of Idaho. I might have to plant one in our yard and start out small with a very little branch.
Anyway, here's a photo of our Christmas tree we have in our flat. (Notice I said "have"....it's still up.) We hadn't planned on putting one up but we were out one night shopping and found the tree and tons of ornaments so we said, "why not?..it's Christmas".