Lemons into Lemonade

Even though I've been avoiding thinking about it, I am a bit bummed out that I can't be home for Christmas. I have classes scheduled at the university today (the 24th), Boxing Day, and New Year's eve. I can't justify cancelling classes just so I can go off on holiday. Today, however, when I arrived at the university for my 9am class, all of the desks and chairs from all the classrooms had been piled out into the hallways. Classes have been quite unexpectedly cancelled until Thursday. Not one to let a lack of communication keep me from holding classes, I conducted my 9am class with five students in a freezing cold classroom (our breath was highly visible). We had a few presentations to get through and I don't have enough time left to reschedule them. Of course, after the presentations were done, we all went home (or to a cafe for coffee).

I was a bit miffed, to tell the truth. Had someone informed me that classes this week were to be cancelled, I could have gone home for Christmas. Ugh. Instead of wasting my suddenly free week moping around the house, grumbling because I could have returned to Reno were it not for the university conspiring against me, I'm going to Prague. I booked myself a flight out of Skopje on Thursday, and I'll return on Sunday. Instead of waiting for Thursday to roll around before I head out to the airport, I'm leaving tomorrow to spend a few nights in Skopje before I go to Prague. It's unfortunate I have classes on New Year's Eve, which, to tell the truth, will probably fall through for some reason-or-another, but accommodation is fairly pricey everywhere on New Year's Eve, so maybe it's just as good that I'm returning to Kosovo.

Prague! I hardly gave it much thought although I did briefly consider Vienna with a side trip to Bratislava...maybe I'll do that in the spring. I've always wanted to go to Prague, and I managed to book a direct flight, so why not? The place I'm staying, the Aparthotel City 5 is giving me a room for 50 Euros per night, which I thought was reasonable (their rack rate during this superhigh season is 109 Euros per night).

I went to the bus company to make sure the bus from Prizren to Skopje is running tomorrow: it is (both the 5:30am and 9am departures). In Macedonia, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th (Orthodox Christmas) so it'll be business-as-usual there. Tomorrow is a holiday in Kosovo as is Orthodox Christmas. I'm excited to take a bit of a vacation because although I can't come home, I can at least go somewhere new and interesting.

Merry Christmas!