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After all the drinks and cigarettes they offer me I’m still clean! Actually I’m pretty healthy: jogging in the mountains, eating biological food. Talking about the food… we have every day paprika. It’s the local specialty. And since the summer is the ultimate season for paprika everyone‘s ‘surprising’ us with paprika. The whole fridge is full of it. But we are so creative: steamed paprika, fried paprika, paprika salad, pasta with paprika, rice with paprika, paprika mousse, flambéed paprika… What ever dish has paprika in it, we’ve tried it for sure! After all I'm still not fed up with the paprika's. To the contrary! I like it a lot. In wintertime we’ll get massive bags of white beans I guess… the other Prespa specialty… Fortunately my housemates are good cooks (French cooking is amazing) so that won’t be a problem. Right now we have a lot of nice food in our own garden… fresh tomatoes, apples, walnuts, carrots, courgette, PAPRIKA!! Not too bad.

I really enjoy my time here. Enduring the week I work most of the time in the library, which is also our office here. And in the evenings I’m having a nice time with my housemates and people who just come over to our house. One week ago - Saturday - I went with Mathilde, my roommate, for a long walk to the island of Agios Achillios . After 2 ½ hours walking we arrived at the Agios Achillios and there we met a Bulgarian professor who told us about the history of the island, showed us around, teaching us about the artworks and icons, and offered us a great tea time in the local restaurant. Afterwards we went on top of a mountain at the foot of a massive white cross where we could see the point were Macedonia , Albania and Greece come together. It was amazing, and so quiet. You could really hear the silence.

When we – pretty exhausted – started our walk back home, we were picked up by a Greek in a huge truck. Perfect hitchhiking here! There’s always somebody to offer you a lift. Halfway we were picked up by a Greek in a huge truck. So we hopped in the car and took a ride. 't Was very nice, untill he started a conversation and made some movements with his hands. Because we didn't want to be unpolite and thought we actually understood what he was talking about we just said it was OK. Than he turned his car from the road, and drove through the rough fields. Mathilde and me looked at each other, not knowing where this would end. Suddenly he stopped the car. We looked at each other not knowing what to do. I prepared myself for a fantastic fightingposition... when we heard some noise in the woods. There was a huge herd of sheep and goats running to our place. He was just about to milk his entire herd. We were just standing there gazing at all the sheep and goats, and taking pictures. Now we know where the nice Greek feta comes from =) It was incredible how fast he did the milking! Afterwards he drove us all the way to Agios Germanos.

And Sunday I went to the local church here. There's only Greek Orthodox churches in the neighbourhood and I can tell you, it was interesting but nice. I didn't had a clue of what it was all about, but still it was a nice experience. The church is full of saints and so colourful. It's almost kitsch. The service starts at 8.00 and ends around 10.30. But you can come in or out any time. So I'm used to get there at 9.45 to join the service and afterwards I stay there for a while to spend some more time there (my private sunday service =) . The priest appears to be a very nice man, with a good voice. Enduring the service two or three people are singing continiously a kind of Gregorian liturgy. Last week I spoke with the sacristan, who spend some time in Germany. He noticed I was a protestant - haha I was the only one not making crosses all the time -. And he told me a little more about the church and tradition here.

When I came back home, my housemates were already wating for me. We went with Christos to the fields to gather walnuts. We hopped in the back of his blue pick up with the eight of us and had a great time there. Afterwards we drove to the lake for a lunch and had a waterfight. Life is good. It's siega, siega: Prespa's got me!