Life in Chashka
So this is beautiful Chashka. The large gray rectangle in the bottom right is a greenhouse with tons and tons of tomatoes and peppers! There are 1700 residents living in the town. There are 3000 residents living within the entire region: 1000 people in Melnitza, a Macedonian Muslim village, and the remaining people spread out over 14 smaller villages including two Albanian speaking communities.
I think tobacco is the most important crop in the region, however, we have also seen many fields of watermelons, tomatoes, cantaloupes, peppers, onions, garlic, corn, and wheat. Many families own chickens and sometimes a pig or a goat. There are also shepards wandering the hills with their flocks.
Here are some more pictures. Click on the pictures for a larger version.
Our neighbors Dona, Vukitza, and Lena making "Yuffki" (a type of
pasta) for the winter
The neighbors chickens and roosters (our alarm clock)
Jane and Tzena (our downstairs neighbor) with the new kitties Bojan and Bojanka
Jane stringing tobacco with our neighbors
Jane teaching the girls blackjack (or maybe it was old maid)
The Chashka church. Any town that is any town in Macedonia has to have a church!
The Chashka train station ... notice the Cyrillic!
Jane, Aunt Margie, and the view from the train station
The old Mayor of Chashka, Stojan Manevski, and I. The Chashka Opstina (city
hall): we work on the second floor, and a family lives on the first
floor.
A resident pig in Stara Chashka (a different village of 30 people located
about 2 km from Chashka)
