Goce Delcev Primary School

    Today was my first day of schoool (as mom would say)!!!!  My new schools name is Goce Delcev Primary School; it has students from Kindergarten to 8^th grade.  Irena and I were the first ones to arrive since it was her day to watch the students that arrive early from the villages.  I was introduced to the other teachers and the director.  I went with Irena to her 5^th grade and 4^th grade classes and I also went with the other English teacher to the other 5^th grade class.  Irena does not have her own classroom so she has to take all of her materials with her.  All of the students were excited to see me, but shy to ask me questions in English.  I told and showed them that my Macedonian is not good hoping that would break the ice, but it is going to take some time. The younger grades have one teacher for all of the subjects, except English, and the older grades have a different teacher for each subject.  There are 3 English teachers total at the school and around 400 students.

    We finished up around 11, yes I know that is early, since we had to meet my landlord in order to register me at the police station.  This is something that each foreign has to do when they travel in Macedonia.  When I was staying at the hotel, the hotel registered me as their guest, but when I was staying with Lydia she had to register me at the closes police station to Lozovo saying that I was staying with them.  I am not sure the exact cause of it, but it seems like a good idea.  The consequence for not registering with the police is that both (the person who did not register and the person who was not registered) get a large fine.  Something I have heard has happened to some volunteers when family and friends have come to visit.

    After the trip to the police station, Irena and I went back to school for a teachers meeting.  Today was the beginning of a new schedule at the school.  There is a village school that is getting some construction work done.  So the students and teachers from the village school will be using our school until June.  All of the schools in Macedonia work in shifts, there are 2 shifts in a day (1^st shift 8-1 and 2^nd shift 1-5).  In the larger Primary schools they have the older students in the morning and the younger students in the afternoon, but since my school only has 400 students they only need one shift, so the village school will use the school during the 2^nd shift.  This change in schedule through off all of the teachers because they and not used to having other teachers using their classrooms.  Today was full of surprises, visiting school and a new teacher from America.

   Now its time for dinner, and I am working on some “make shift” tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes and onions, since finding tomato sauce in the grocery store is rare and if you do find it expensive.  I also do not have a lot of ingredients in my kitchen right now.  Oh well, “Ima Vreme” – In English, “there is time”.