Macedonia July 2003
Hospitality is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as " Cordial and generous reception of or disposition toward guests. 2. An instance of cordial and generous treatment of guests." I think a new definition might be Macedonia, specifically the WTKO Chief Instructor of Macedonia Dr. Jovan Ivcev his wife Dr. Nada Ivceva and their beautiful children, students and friends. They epitomized the word hospitality.
This was my second trip to Macedonia in the same year and the first for my associate WTKO Chairman Fredrick Serricchio. It is difficult to decide where to begin. I guess the beginning is the best place. The flight to Macedonia was long with a few stops on the way. I had opted for a circuitous route to keep the fare reasonable, this being peak travel season, something that I won't do next time. Definitely the nicest part of the flight was Malev Airlines, excellent service, clean new planes and a courteous staff. When we arrived in Macedonia our host, Dr. Jovan Ivcev, met us at the airport and took us to our hotel. The hotel is a private hotel in an exclusive section and one of the more delightful surprises of the trip. Both Fred and myself had luxury accommodations and we were told that we had pretty much Carte Blanch. We began the week with two seminars a day for Saturday and Sunday concluding with a training Monday morning and grading and competition in the evening. Quite a grueling schedule as we had to be up very early and on the go all day, with the temperature at 100 degrees (40 degrees centigrade) to boot. The saving grace was the hotel in the evening, peaceful and extremely comfortable.
After the weekend seminars were concluded and as we were staying we were asked to conduct some classes in a neighboring town of Velez, which I had visited on my previous trip. In addition to some specialized training in the evenings for the local instructors. The participants to the seminars showed great enthusiasm and willingness to work hard. This is a talented group which boasted the 2003 European Kumite Team Champions, and a number of World and European Champions.
We had a day off and were taken cross country to the city of Ohrid, the best way to describe this city is WOW. It is the birth place of Philip of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great. It has been described as the cradle of civilization. It has an old world charm and the conveniences of a modern city.
 |
 |
| Small cobble stone street. | Fantastic View of the lake and thousand year old monastery of St. John. |
 |
 |
| Streets that invite exploration and a camera. | A dreamy lake shoreline. |
In addition to the training seminars we were interviewed by Macedonian Television and a national martial arts magazine. We received an invitation to meet with an advisor to the president of the assembly, whom we met in the congressmen's club for coffee. A delightful man with a lifetime of experience in government and a wide interest in world affairs, including the up coming 2004 WTKO World Championship in Macedonia. At every turn we were treated with great respect and dignity, following the class in Velez we had dinner at a fine local restaurant, one just can eat and drink so much. On the day before we left Macedonia we once again visited my favorite place, the Bovin Winery. If any one reading this ever visits Macedonia put Bovin Winery on the top of your list as a must see. George the owner was as gracious and attentive as I remembered him, we had a lovely lunch, great wine and perfect hospitality. I look forward to my next trip to Macedonia in October of 2004 for the WTKO/SKDUN World Championship.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Dr. Jovan Ivcev | Dr. Nada Ivceva | Zoran Pejov | John Mullin and Local Instructor |
 |
|||
| Some of the participants of one of the training sessions. | |||