I get up early in the morning, shower, eat breakfast, pack an overnight bag, and arrive at the Kladenec office at 8:35 am, huffing and puffing about my being 5 minutes late. 9 am rolls around, then 10 am. At 10:30 Jasminka calls the men who are supposed to be coming and they assure her that they are "coming immediately". The 8:45 bus is long gone, but there's another coming at 10:45. I go downstairs, hoping to glimpse the men (the city architect from Pehcevo and a representative of the firm from Kavadarci that built the equipment), but all I glimpse is the bus leaving without me on it. The next bus is coming at 11:45, I console myself as I walk back up the narrow stairs to the office in annoyance. (There is no bus station in Pehcevo because it is too small, but busses arrive and depart from the town "center", where our office is located above a tiny library.)
Not ten minutes later the two men show up, as I am on the phone with Peace Corps explaining the situation that has caused my tardiness for my meeting with Jill. Then I walk over to the school with Jasminka and the two men. I sign the papers, we make copies for the school director, and I return to the office. The men want to sit around and have coffee, but my pointed glances at my watch and my comment to them about their own tardiness causing me to miss the bus lets them know I am not interested. In fact as soon as we had signed the papers, the city architect made a comment about me being "free to go". I informed him that "some of us" don't have cars! It's weird how people here are living so much above my own standard of living and have such greater mobility than I do. Grabbing my bag, I hurry downstairs for the 11:45 bus. Noon rolls around, then 12:15. One man calls the bus station in Berovo to inquire if the bus will be coming to Pehcevo on its way to Skopje and he is informed something is wrong with the bus. He smiles at me, "Defect, defect!"
Infuriated, I return upstairs to the office and sit for a while by myself. I call Jill, already at the Peace Corps office, and tell her how hard it is to escape from Pehcevo! She is understanding, but I feel stupid even having to explain the situation to her. By and by Nikola comes to the office, and we talk as I eat a chocolate bar, and of course start to feel much better. There is a 2:45 pm bus to Skopje, but it goes through Delcevo and Kamenica, adding another hour onto the travel time. I estimate my arrival around 7:15 pm, 7:30 pm in Skopje, depending on how many times the driver stops the bus to have coffee. Not that it matters; the Peace Corps office closes at 5 and after that we won't be able to go there and get any work done.
At twenty minutes to 3, I go downstairs and wait again as Nikola watches from the window. It absolutely kills me that while I am standing there waiting, the city architect who had caused me to miss the early busses drives by in his old Mercedes and looks surprised to see me still in Pehcevo. I resist the urge to flip him off. The bus rolls up precisely on time (to the minute) and I hop on, finding a place towards the back and plugging myself into my Discman. As we roll along down the lane, I feel somewhat annoyed at having lost a whole day trying to escape from Pehcevo. It is only 2 hours to Skopje in a car, but on the bus it takes between 4 and 5 hours, depending on the route and number of stops.
Then it occurred to me... I am in a foreign country, on a workday, riding a bus through a bunch of little villages, and it's just so damn INTERESTING. So I smile to myself and think, remember to relaaaax, and appreciate every day. After all, you're in the Balkans. And for the time being, there's no escaping.