a bus ride

I’ve only taken the buses here 4 or 5 times, but I genuinely enjoy the experience. Sitting on a bus (usually not very crowded), listening to Albanian music, and hearing mothers and daughters or bus buddies chit-chatting is quite lovely. And then yesterday happened…

I was in Skopje and wanted to get the bus to Ferizaj and then another to Gjilan. I never saw the info for Ferizaj come up on the departure screen (and I really couldn’t make heads or tails out of my ticket to investigate). I finally decided to stop pacing and ask and found out that I needed to get on the bus for Prishtina, which was pulling out of the lot. I had to chase it down, and a nice gent gave me his seat.

The border was the longest I’ve seen, and we waited for over an hour. Being on a bus, however, meant that we could go in a special line for buses, so I think we actually may have beat some of the cars. But the bus wouldn’t start again. Several dozen times now, I’ve seen people start standard cars by pushing them. Yet I was very surprised that they’d do that with a bus (basically a greyhound-type bus without the toilet) with 50+ people on board. Eight or nine gents pushed it until it started and jumped back on…but the bus with all of its lurching couldn’t get out of first gear. The same men pushed it again, and it started! …but 2 of the men couldn’t run fast enough to catch up with the bus, so we stopped again. Third time was the charm (with new meat pushing and running), and we made it to Ferizaj without needing to stop again (although there were a couple of close calls and a lot of honking).

The best thing about this was how people reacted. People didn’t complain. Some people even laughed (including myself) when we had to stop the second time. And a lot of people applauded the pushing champs and driver. No one appeared overly agitated and demanded a refund. Although I was eager to get back to Gjilan, it was a genuinely hilarious and educational time. (that said, it could've easily been less fun if people weren't so friendly and if my schedule wasn't so flexible).

The bus dropped 6 or 8 of us at a gas station near Ferizaj and called for taxis to take us to the station (the bus paid for the taxis). We pushed the bus out of the lot (I pretended like I was pushing…I just wanted to be in on the action), and hopped in the taxis. Three of us were headed to Gjilan (yay…bc it was getting dark and I was so thankful for Gjilan company to figure out the rest of the process). We had a great chat in the taxi, and then spotted a bus from Ferizaj to Gjilan. The taxi driver stopped in the middle of the road and honked like crazy. The 3 of us ran after the bus flailing our arms and looking rather ridiculous.

The rest of the trip was uneventful but lovely. I sat next to a lady who spoke a bit of English, and we talked a lot. It was her birthday, so I sang happy birthday to her (and thought that random people would sing along...but they didn't). We hopefully will meet up again for coffee or a meal. Her brother and his wife picked her up at the bus station and offered to take me home.

Maybe in a year this experience wouldn't have been as enjoyable (although I hope so!). I know for certain it wouldn't have been fun at all 6 months ago with less language and such. But meeting people, seeing resourcefulness, and chasing down buses with luggage is a pretty good time to me!