Macedonian Stonehenge!

There are three well known ancient observatories in the world.

1st is Abu Simbel in Egypt,



the 2ND is Stonehenge in Great Britain,



and the 3rd is Angkor Wat in Cambodia!!!








And this is all well known till now. But the thing that you dont know that the fourth miracle on this list is the ancient observatory in Macedonia called Kokino.

This was recently discovered and the discovery was confirmed by NASA and placed on the 4th place by its world importance. Now the sad thing is that the state is not doing enough to promote this place, and still i believe that not many people have ever heard of this place, which is 3900 years old, so i thought i may promote it on my blog, and show you a little piece of it :)

Now i still havent been there, but i am waiting for the winter to pass, and to go there, cause its unreachable by car, and you have to do couple of hours of hiking, but for your trouble are going to find the best place on earth to see the stars. this is probably the oldest stars observatory after Stonehenge, but the advantage is that you have open horizon and its on 1000m above the sea level. just camp there, and enjoy in the stars!

Now probably you have mapped places in the world that you wanna go ( i have 19 and visited 3 till now and my plan is to visit them till i am 40), so maybe you can put this on your check list :)

Enjoy!

Like in a movie!

I was waiting for my friend to show up tonight in front of a cafe. I was looking at my watch noticing that she is late, when i heard a scream from across the street! At first i thought that its a couple fighting or teasing each other, but after a moment i realized that a lady is being robbed. Her purse was getting stolen from a guy with something that looked like skiing mask.

She started calling for help. We were couple of random guys standing on the street, and after we realized what is going on we started pursuing the guy who stole the purse. We were quite far behind so the plan was not to lose him, probably he is a junkie who cant run more than us. The alleys were really dark, its not a place where at night people go to. When we almost caught up on him, from the dark, people with guns ran in and started shouting.

Everyone, hands in the air! Police!

Standing with my hands up, being a little dizzy and trying to catch a breath, with flashlight in my head - i realized that it was the special unit for preventing street crime. They are always in civil clothes. Got so relieved and full with adrenaline. I was smiling so much, almost laughing :) How the f**k they got here so fast??? the whole thing lasted like 2-3 min tops! No one was even calling the police.

Impressive!

And then say that police is never there when you need it!

A true fighter!!!

Peyton Manning

WOW...what a game. what a player...Payton Mannning is a quarterback for Indianapolis Colts in the NFL. he has been twice MVP in the last two years(most valuable player) during the season, but in the playoffs he always sucked, loosing poorly in the last couple of seasons. All stats say that he is the weakest QB when playing in the playoffs...The experts were saying that he will never play in the finals, that doesnt have what it takes to get there.

This season everyone was hoping that he will play better, but secretly fearing that he will fall upon the huge pressure that the media and the whole world are making on him. And as opponent again he has Brady and the Patriots, Paytons nightmare. Brady is the QB that is the best in the playoffs with 12-1 stats, while Payton has 5-6. Colts lost from Brady and his gang in the two previous years, and not only that, but they were destroyed.

Last night he started playing really poor again...in the first half they were loosing 21-3 to the one of the best teams in the league. And not only that, but he had one interception, couple of sacks and he was looking weak, so the whole team was getting beaten up hard. So sad, his face expression was saying that. He will never take the Colts in the finals. He was deep down in the mud.

But i wonder what happened on the half time. Maybe Al Pacino was there and he held a speech :) ( take a look at this). something happened. when things looked impossible to do.

what i think, is that he didnt gave up. he got frustrated and pissed enough, so he can say, its was enough. Colts scored 15 in 10 minutes and tied the game. the whole defence gathered up around him and protected him the best. in return he was playing with the whole team and surprised everyone, the big and slow guys scored two times, not the fast ones cause they were really covered, he simply found another way to win. And Colts won 38-34 with Brady being intercepted in the last run of the game.

I got reminded about somethings out of this game and this man. that even when everything is going against you and you are deep down in the mud, even when the universe conspires against you(they had really bad luck), even when the world is falling on your shoulders, and noone believes in you and you have the biggest pressure in the world, you should believe in your self and never give up.

That you should go out and find a way to reach your goal. doesnt matter if its a football game, a project at work, AIESEC local committee, relationship with your friend, or being ill by some tough disease. Cause in those tough moments great leaders are born. not leaders that can be clapped in front of audience, shareholders or TV.

but leaders that will represent something. leaders that doesnt neccessarely have to save the world, but that have beaten cancer, or have great values, or that are an example for the rest, or have a fighters attitude, or have their own uniqueness, or won a battle that everyday life brings.

cause in those tough moments, you shape your character so much, cause you are reaching deep down into your very existence and soul, you are being frustrated and not satisfied so much, that something is moved or touched. something is changed. and you are never ever the same.

that is what we should teach on LDSs. that is what we should show and teach our kids and friends. how to reach the leadership and a fighter spirit within ourselves. how to push the barriers of our personal limitations. people that will inspire them selves first, and then the rest of the world.

i have few friends and family that are great people and have won 'battles' like this or simular, and thats why i love them. they inspire me and remind me to go on and fight. every next time when i feel that i cant do it anymore and its time to quit.

Christmas!

Christmas in Orthodox Christian Church is celebrated on 7th of January. The first difference that it is with the Catolic one is that is two weeks later. This is becauуse the both Churches are using different calendars, so one has the old calendar and one has the new one.

The celebration starts with the fast of 40 days. Long time ago its beliеved that its sacrиfice to God. Now, i beliеve that its an universal rule that its helping the organism to clean from its toxins. However, only the most dedicated people do that, i did it only once, couple of years ago.

The third day before Christmas - 5th of January, is the aнnouncement day. In the neigborhoods people are gathering and they are making big fires, drink rakija(alcohol), and dance. Its the first day when they are announcing that Christ will be born.

On the next morning, if you live in Macedonia, you will be woken up by little kids that are going from door to door, and singing songs. They are representing the angels that are announcing that that night Christ will be born. The host is thanking them with presents, usually that's fruits, candy, nuts, coin money.

During that day at least one member of the family goes to the church. The priest is giving the people from the sacred tree, holy water, and blessing the person. Also its an opportunity to light up some candles, to pray, and to leave some money to the church.
When you get back home, you are burning parts of the sacred blessed tree, so the smoke can chase off the evil spirits that are in the home. You spray from the holy water around and on everyone in the family. with my family we are always making jokes and pranks out of this:) and you leave it on your door, decorate the table, the rooms, the Christmas tree etc etc.

The Christmas dish is very diverse, but without milk, milk products, meat, anything from animal. Only fish can be on the table, and vegetables. And the most important is the bread. There is a home made bread that you put a coin in it before baking it. On the dinner you separate the bread on pieces and each member gets a piece. Only the closest family is there.

The one who gets the coin, is considered to be the lucky one, and that will have successful year, filled with love, happiness, and health. Then the feast can start.

And from midnight is Christmas. That day the whole family gathers and baking a turkey. Lots of laughter, jokes, hanging around etc.

If you are around for Christmas next year, drop me a note, and visit me. The tradition is to open the doors for your friends and not to save on money or time. I bet you will eat so much, that you will need diet afterwards. I know i need it ;)

Christian Orthodox History

Most of my friends around the world have never heard or knew about Christian Orthodox tradition and customs. They were quite surprised when i said that we are celebrating Christmas one week after new year. Why is that? please explain! - was the comment of one.

Well, here are some facts!

The separation between the two churches happened in 1054, when the misunderstandings between the two wings, the Roman in Rome (Italy) and Constantinople as a part of the Byzantine empire, that was actually the old Roman capital (today's Istanbul http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople#Religious) . The ancient Roman empire collapsed and was separated in Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire.

To read more about the separation of the churches you can visit Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East-West_Schism.



In today's world Orthodox Christianity is spread all over the world, in all continents, but mostly in Eastern Europe and has around 400 Mill. people with that religion. Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Kazaxstan, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Belarus, Cyprus, Georgia, and some other where is minority.

In the next post i am going to gather some pictures and customs that we have during these 3 days of celebration of Christmas. What we do, why we do it, and what does it represents.