I awoke some time later to one of my new friends, not from the epic lunch, waking me for dinner. So I trundled off to the dining hall to suss it out. I had lost some of my previous naivety and did not hold out much hope for dinner.
I was right. Dinner consisted of some sour scrambled eggs and bread, and I fell for the yogurt disguised as milk trick again. It was at this point that I noticed the conspicuous absence of coffee on the site. This was odd, usually a Jamboree runs on coffee. Smiling and Singing in spirit if not reality I ate my dinner and set off for the staff subcamp to see what was going on. My little Serbian friend had still not arrived from Skopje, but I found I was doing quite well without him. I stumbled across the delicious aroma of coffee as I crossed the staff subcamp and traced the alluring scent to a group of Slovenians. I promptly infiltrated the group and procured some of the coffee and a mug. I got to talking with some of the group and discovered how friendly Slovenians are! They even offered me food! On the day they arrived they decided to go to a supermarket, stock up and cater for themselves. Such was the quality of the food. They happily supplied me with bread and nuttella, happy days. I supplied them with the low down on KISC and how to get a staff position. They were misinformed on a lot of points so I cleared it up for them! (That was my purpose there!) They informed me that there was to be a concert that night. A local singer was coming to play. I have to confess that I was less than enthusiastic about this. The usual suspects to play scout Jamborees are not great musicians to say the least. But there would be beer, so I tagged along. It was of course like most things in the Balkans late starting, so we hung out and smoked some cigarettes, and I decided to run back to my tent, big scary shadows in tow, jogging along behind me, to get my phone.
I made a promise to my Mum, when I moved out of Ireland, to text her every time I crossed an International Border. (So she at least knew what country I was in) But the week before the trip to Macedonia, the war criminal Radovan Karadzic was arrested and at the time I left Switzerland, he had not yet been extradited to the Netherlands for his trial. This caused some ‘unease’ in the region so I didn’t tell mum about my travel plans, lest she should worry. But, a promise is a promise so I sent her a text from Bulgaria and from Macedonia. I was expecting her to call and give out to me, so I was leaving my phone in my tent. I was checking for her missed call so I could text her I was safe but had a low battery so she shouldn’t call or worry if I didn’t answer. (A small white lie, but if she called I might have to explain my precarious and slightly illegal route into Cyprus planned for later in the trip and cause her even more worry)
Anyway, there was in fact several missed calls on my phone so I texted her and made my way back to the concert site.
A brief description of the Jamboree site:
The Jamboree was held in a youth facility that was built by the Yugoslavs in the seventies and virtually abandoned since Macedonian Independence in 1993. The facility consists of four large buildings and some camping grounds. The buildings are suffering from a severe lack of use and maintenance. Weeds and even a tree are quickly making the buildings uninhabitable. The concreted sports area is overgrown and cracked. (This is where the concert was) It was like a set from a futuristic Orwellian movie set in an abandoned city. On the up side, the location was amazing! The centre is set in densely wooded mountains and the area has some of the best scenery and skiing areas in Macedonia. And the ground was good for camping.
Back to the story:
So I was on my way back to the concert when I spotted the little Serb! Drunk as a lord, slobbering his apologies, and late for a meeting with the Scouting Macedonia National Board! I told him I would be with the Slovenian staff when he was finished his meeting. When I was again on my way, I was approached by a very excited Frenchman. He had heard me talking to Mihajlo and deduced that I was from KISC. He had read all about the centre and intended to apply for staff! He was part of a volunteer scheme partnership thing between Scouting Macedonia and Scouts and Guides of France. His name was Antoine. He spoke very quickly in a very strong frenchy accent, as I said he was very excited to talk to me. He promptly dragged his friend Emil over to introduce him. Emil was a ridiculously good looking Bosnian, that could not understand his friends excitement at meeting me. The French dude was suspiciously happy, I suspect Rakia, and was treating me like a minor celebrity. Anyway the French dude ran off to be happy to someone else and Emil and I got to talking. He asked me all of the usual questions about my job and the scout centre. He was fascinated by the fact that I am the only girl guide at the centre, there are no girl guides in Bosnia as yet, so the concept was new to him. We had a lengthy discussion about single sex associations, the role of Scouting in society and such things. By the time the music started we were arguing like old friends!
So the music started, Emil filled me in on the singer, she was a big star in Macedonia and all over the Balkans! Her videos are always on the Balkan MTV. She was brilliant, she sang lots of covers of cool rocky songs and really got the crowd going. I was later told by one of the organisers, when I mentioned how much I enjoyed the concert, that the singer was a scout back when they were the Yugoslav scouts and waived her fees! She also talked her band and her manager into waiving their fees and they agreed because they were all x scouts too! We down went for a boogie and some beers with the Slovenians, who heartily approved of Emil, as he lived in Ljubljana for a few years and produced a bottle of Rakia from his coat for everyone to share. I was beginning to understand the lack of coffee on site, this Jamboree was being fuelled by Rakia! We danced and drank until the music stopped, then we retired to the Slovenian camp for some snacks and more drinks. We ate and chatted and sang, every second song they sang was Irish in my honour! I corrected their song book as the lyrics were sometimes very wrong, and explained the meaning of the many Irishisms in the songs. Before I knew it the sun was coming up! Macedonian sunrise! I was beautiful, and I had forgotten how nice it is to watch the sunrise as where I am living in the valley, we never see a sunrise, it just pops up over the mountain. After the sun had come up I decided as I had to actually work the next day I had better get a few hours shut eye. Emil was kind enough to walk me and my big scary shadows back to my campsite. (Its quite awkward saying a nice goodnight with two big scary minders staring at you, but we managed!)
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