Shayne's Crazy Makdo Life

Fun Times on the Train

Last night a big group of us went to the Skopje Jazz Festival. I was pretty excited because I love jazz and have missed this festival the past 2 years, and this was my last chance. While the two performers weren't the type of jazz any of us were expecting, it was still entertaining. Afterwards, we all went to a friend's apartment to partake in some wine that some of us won through a wine promotion at the festival. And when I say some of us, I mean everyone besides Vanessa and I- we just got sad faces on our scratch-off cards. Anyways, there's a 3:25 am train that goes back through Veles on it's way to Thesolliniki from Skopje every night, so of course we decided it'd be a great idea to hang out in Skopje till 3 am and then take the train home. Kendra and I already have some experience with this train, but it's still always a surprise. This time around, the conductor tried to charge us 160 denars (roughly 3 dollars) for a ticket, when it's usually only 80 denars. Kendra got pissed and started telling him that he was ripping us off, and while that was happening, the other conductor came by and I started talking with him. He actually showed me the price charts and everything, and somehow he was right- the tickets really were 160 denars for some crazy reason. Now, I may have had some Skopje Jazz Festival Special Edition red wine in me, but I still understood it all and it was all legit- the tickets actually were 160 denars and we were totally in the wrong for thinking we were being ripped off. But, my conductor was considerably more laid back than the one Kendra was dealing with, so I looked at him, flashed a bright smile and said, "Well, what are we gonna do?" My conductor caught my drift and told me to just give 300 denars total for all 5 of us and call it even. So, I interrupted Kendra and her conductor, who were still discussing the price of the ticket, and told him that the other conductor told us that 300 denars was just fine. Kendra's conductor conceded, took the 300 denars, and told us to keep it on the DL. So, in the end, we all had to pay just 60 denars each, which is even less than if we were paying what we thought was the real price! Score! Below is a picture of Vanessa, me and Kendra in our train cart on our way back to Veles.

posted by Shayne @ 11:14 PM