clarity

so this is the view down my street.
today the sky was so so so clear. it rained really hard all day yesterday and i guess all the junk in the air got washed away. i could see individual trees on mt.vodno. it was amazing. those snow capped mountains in the distance have been shrouded in smog and haze up until this point. oh, they are beautiful.
last night i went to a 'carmel apple' party with a bunch of ladies. it was alright. although it reaffirmed my less-than-love for big mingling type parties. however, i did meet some really sweet ladies. one of them i had actually met in a coffee shop a few weeks ago. she has nine kids - whoa. no multiples. nine individual kids. in about a week she and her husband and five of the kids and their dog will be living in a one bedroom apartment starting their next assignment further east.
nine....
yikes.

so i pretty much love my neighborhood. my walk today solidified that affection. it's sort of more towards the edge of town so it opens up to rural views if you just walk a few blocks.
but being on the edge also necessitated a bus pass.
- went with my tutor to get the pass. i brought some little passport pictures i had on hand with me. but it turns out the lady thought they were too big. they would have fit - but i guess it was just her artistic opinion. hey, everyone needs an outlet - even people who work in the bus pass booth. so we go to a place called the pink bimbo. it's a photo developing place that does quick portaits too. however, we had been walking in the rain and i hadn't done ANYTHING to my self that morning to be 'presentable' so i knew it was going to be rough. we go in and tell the guy that i need a picture for my bus pass. he, too, was a little soul starving for a creative outlet. he had me sit and turn my torso and tilt my head... uh... then he wanted me to smile. i was half-way there and he snapped the picture. 'great' i thought. 'this is going to be even better than just wet greasey hair look...' it is officially one of the worst pictures ever. even worse than my fifth grade picture with the big black hairbow accentuating the side pony-tail and bottle bottom glasses slid halfway down my nose... and the teal pink and purple shirt.
seriously. it is painful to look at. but now it is laminated down. no turning back.

riding the bus is actually a pretty fun experience. one time in the seventh grade i threw up after riding the musical-go-round ride at joyland. so i decided that i wouldn't ever ride a roller coaster. but now i am thinking i must have just had an expired fruit cup or something. because if roller coasters are anywhere near as thrilling as the skopje bus system - i think i might love them.
i almost fell out of my seat on bus four. my tutor told me that a lady fell down. twice. that was on bus 22. yesterday we almost flattened a few pedestrians. this isn't any child's play. it's the big leagues. you got to leave it all at the curb when you get on one of these machines. they may or may not wait for you to clear the steps when they are getting or leaving you. in fact. they may or may not even stop at your stop. i can't trash them too hard though. well, the public buses i can. but there is a line of privately owned buses that run the same routes. and before i got my bus pass it was 30 denari for the public bus and 25 for private. except one day the driver on the private bus only charged me 20. so they have a little bit of redemption on that note.

alright. tomorrow is a full day.
i get to go see salja, sejdo, nebat and baby betty.
yessssss....