One of the first questions locals ask us when we meet them for the first time is "so, how long are you staying in Macedonia?" Usually they expect us to say that we are just visiting or that we are only planning to live here for a year. On more than one occasion we have had people say to us in hush tones "if someone is keeping you here against your will, just tell me and I will call the police." After assuring them that we are here by our own free will we explain that we desire to stay for as long as we can, that we want to learn their languages and their culture, to raise our son here...to really live life here.
