sneg

sneg is snow is mk.

and there was lots of it this morning.
lots.

i'm looking at the weather for my hometown and it is saying that it is 73 degrees there. whoa. it's currently 27 and dropping here. yikes.
today was riddled with small victories in language. i went to the mall and shopped around. talked with sales clerks, got food, went to the market for groceries and had no misunderstandings that resulted in a surplus of cucumbers... what it could happen to any one. came home with what i had set out to buy. went to the grocery store for the non-market items and the lady at the cash register, knowing my language comprehension limits, proceeded to give me the entire rundown of how the 'collect the stamps to get something' thing works. incidentally it is a really nice comforter... so...
anyhoo.
a couple of odd things did happen.
one was at the grocery store. it turns out that there is a new law, or rule, or whatever, active today, that says that you have to pay extra if you want sacks to carry your groceries home. i guess it's to encourage people to bring their own and re-use. which, that's a pretty effective way to get at it. but it is a little bit shocking when they're like, 'oh did you want to purchase some sacks for all these things you're buying?' there goes my free trash sack supply.
oh well, no biggy.

the other was at a dreaded store that pulls me in every time. it's called euro-asia. and yes, it is as confusing as it sounds. one nice sweater will be 200 denari and then a really crappy t-shirt will be like 850 denari. there is no rhyme or reason. it's one of those stores that you only go into if you are feeling patient and in a mood to sift through lots of useless ill-assembled items because there's an off chance that you might find something really awesome for really cheap. and i assume that it is because of the plethora of these said ill-assembled items that may make this a desired destination for sticky-fingered youth. and it may be because this particular place of business attracts such a crowd that they have patroling sales people breathing down every patrons neck.
now, as a general rule, macedonian sales clerks are pushy. they know this. i know this. it is what it is. but this store is insane. because they are not pushy sales people like in all the other stores. they, in fact, don't even talk to you. they just stare you down and walk behind you about 2 feet back every where you go. i tried to loose the lady today in the sea of faux-fur-hooded-pleather jackets. but she was good. she was on me like white on rice on a paper plate in a snow storm. i seriously stopped even pretending like i was interested in the cruddy line up of undesireable clothes and acessories. i was practically running up and down the aisles just to see where her breaking point was. she was like the bad guy on terminator 2. she just wouldn't stop. and right when i had thought i lost her, she would appear again. she must have turned into her mercury-looking state and puddled her way around the rack to the other side.... eerie.

anyways. i left as soon as i got bored with the game i was playing.... by myself.

other than that the new year has started off rather uneventful. had some precious time with our father today in the snow.
i am honestly looking forward to what is in store.