It's Always Sunny in Macedonia

Went to Macedonia for the second time in 12 hours (for those playing along at home, today marked the 18th stamp in my passport. Over half (10) have been made within the last week. By Friday I will have 4 more, bringing my total to 22... might have to be renewing the passport sooner than I thought) The event today was a sports day, which meant bracket style football (soccer) matches until one team wins it all. Teams were made up of 5 boys each, ranging from 5th to 8th grade-ish. A lunch would be served, then the women would do their part of the competition, which was a running race. We should be done by mid afternoon.

This morning I wake up here in Vranje and the first thing I notice is the rain. Llots of it. And cold. So I wear my long sleever and prepare for the worst, forgetting that yes, It's Always Sunny in Macedonia. We get to Macedonia after making an unexpected stop to pick up a last minute entry to the program (this school had vacillated for weeks) and it's sunny. And hot. And I don't have my bag. With the sunscreen. So I pull up my collar to shield my neck a bit, though you can tell I got some serious rays. Keep forgetting that I'm still kinda in the Mediterranean..
But we can't start now because the group from Kosovo is stuck at the border crossing. So we wait some more. We start after noon, so we feed the kids, then take one group to play their three games to one field (read: basketball court) and the other group stays on their basketball court... err field. Mostly goes smoothly (even though tensions run high at one point over the fairness of the ref - think NBA) Get the kids back, play the final match (home team wins, which caused chaos) Gave out trophies and started to leave. Border crossing back was a nightmare as they closed all but 1 lane for cars, so the normally 35 minute trip home took 1.75 hours. Took a shower, started to feel the (sun)burn, and now feel quite good about going to sleep early. Tomorrow I meet the other International NGOs focusing on Economic development, re-register with the police (which I do again Friday after staff meeting in Skopje), and actually sign the lease for here rather than just assuming the cash and rakija sealed the deal...