Pictures from Lozovo

Today the school has internet. YAY!!! Its one of those funny things, some day it does and the others it does not.  So while it is working I am going to post the pictures that I had gotten of Lozovo.  For those of you that are of my generation you will appreciate this when I say that I am "literally" in the movie Borat.  I am not kidding you. I was talking to some of the current volunteers and they said that we need to watch that movie because you will be able to find your neighbors house, figuratively speaking of course. There are goats and chickens everywhere and you better watch your step on the main roads or you will bring a "piece of them" home with you.  It finally dawned on my way they do not wear or bring their shoes inside there homes.  For those of you that have not seen the movie or have no idea when I am talking about I have pictures for you.

This is typical Lozovo.  There are chickens and goats everywhere.  These chickens are in a pen, but there are a bunch by my house that just walk around free as a bird.  There they are used for eggs but there are some that are meant for eating and they are definitely "fresh".  These are the goats that hang out by the playground.  There owners leave them there during the day so they can eat and socialize with the other goats.  Sometimes their owners come and get them at the end of the day but normally they walk themselves home.

This is the front of the school in Lozovo.  This is where I take Macedonian language classes every day, Monday through Friday 4 hours a day.  I have gotten pretty good at it. I think it helps that they use a different alphabet then we do.  Once I figure out how I can get my computer to type in the Cyrillic alphabet I will show you all how good my Macedonian is.  I am now able to communicate better with my host family which is nice but there are still the awkward silent moments too, I am no where near being close to fluent yet lol.

I past this everyday on my way to and from school.  This is on the main road that splits the main part of Lozovo from the part where Link and I live.  There is a small market on the bottom right of the building.  Most of the items in the market are behind the counter, because it is small.  So when ever I go in there I usually just point at what I want and the lady rings me up.  This is also where I got to put credit onto my phone so I can call mom and give her all the details about what I am doing.  There is also a  restaurant on the left. I have been there once for some drinks, ever eaten there though.  They have live music at night and you can hear the lady singer all over town.  I am not sure what is up with the top of the building.  The owner of the building might have two sons and that might be there future home when they get married or they could have started building and stopped because of a lack of funds.  Not sure which exactly, I will ask some of the locals and find out.  But this is a typical site, there are many unfinished buildings around Macedonian, most are because they are working on a place for their son and his family to live.  Like I said before the family stays together.

This is the post office here in Lozovo.  My mail does not come through here, it comes through the Peace Corps, but the current volunteer Ricky gets his mail here.  I have not been inside, but its right across from the school.  According to Ricky there are 2 ways of sending a letter to the states. You can either send it by plane which is like 40-50 dinar or you can send it by boat for about 15 dinar, but if I send something by boat it will probably get to the states the same time I do, in two years lol.

This is the playground across from the school.  There is also a basketball court/soccer field (on the asphalt).  There are a few swings, Melanie and I tried them out this past weekend, and some se-saws.  That is Lydia and Melanie when we went to the park.  There we a bunch of local kids there too and they laughed at me when I was taking Lydia and Melanie's picture because I said 1-2-3 in Macedonian.  I said it correctly, but boys will be boys.

All of the house here have gardens.  Everyone has peppers, (which are gone now cause the ajvar season is over), tomatoes, leeks, and cabbage.  There are other house that have fruit trees, apples, figs, some combination of a pear and an apple, peach, and I have even seen a pomegranate tree.  Nut trees are also popular.  Also the season just ended for grapes (they are now making wine!!!) and tobacco. In this small town they are very self-sufficient and eat everything that they grow.  My family is more modern, where they buy either from the big cities around or get their produce from other people, so this is what I have seen and heard from others.  I missed out on making ajvar because I think Lydia made hers before I came or she got hers from others in the town.  That is something I will have to learn when I get to my site.

Ok that is all I have time for now.  That is not all of Lozovo, even though it is small, I have not had time to go out and take all the pictures to give you all the "full" effect.  Also I want to leave you all wanting more lol.  I will leave you with the informal Macedonian "good-bye" since I can not type the formal......."Chao".