The ministry also told the teachers, all the teachers, that this year they need a specific number of classes for each subject that need sto be completed by the end of the school year. In the past, they had given the teachers a range, but this year the want a specific number; so that means schedules need to be moved around to accommodate the missed classes in order to reach the specific number. For English, I think the number of classes needed is 92, or somewhere in the 90s. So Irena, Maria, and Snesha have to make sure that each of their English classes have received 92 classes by the end of the school year. Sounds simple, but when you have your year planned out and the ministry did not eliminate the days for national or religious holidays, so those classes need to be made up, now they have to go back and make sure that they have enough.
The second reason why things have been confusing, is because all of the teachers have to go to the doctor once a year to get a physical and what not, and this week is the time for the teachers in my school to go. Today, there were 15 teachers that were out because they were at the doctor. This is something that the government requires for all employees. When I first came for the weekend to check out Resen, Irena was telling me that her mother had to work on Saturday because the government was requiring their employees to get physicals. When her mom finally came home, she said that she saw around 72 people that day. She said the line seemed to never end. Irena's mom is not a doctor, I believe that she is either a nurse or administers some kind of test in a doctor's office in Bitola. They do not have appointments, they just go on the day they are told and wait in line to be seen, so it can take the whole day. They also do not have substitutes or a substitute system set up here in Macedonia; so because there were 15 teachers out, they only had 3 classes. I taught Maria's classes today because she was in Skopje getting her certificate for teaching; we had talked about this earlier and she had given me everything for the lessons. The kindergarten classes went well and smoothly; but then I heard about the change in schedule and that today there would only be 3 classes, so I had both 2nd grade classes at one time, in one room, around 30-40 kids, in order for them to both have the class, so Maria won't have to make it up and so that the students could go home on time and not miss their kombies (like a small bus that brings in the students that live in the surrounding villages). It was a mess.
Now the reason for the title of this blog was because of the end of last week I had a lot of traveling to do for different reasons. I have provided you all with a map so you can see my travels. I have also color coded the travel for each day (yes I know I am a dork -- Jennifer -- my sister -- always calls me that).
It all started on Thursday (the red lines). I had a GLOW meeting in Gostivar, a city located on the west side of the country. I had never traveled up the west side so it was new adventure for me. From Resen, I had to take a bus to Ohrid and then catch a bus there that goes up the west side and they always end in Skopje. When I got to Ohrid I found out that not all of the buses go into Gostivar and Tetovo, they normally drop people off on the highway outside of the city. There are some buses that go into those cities, but the bus I was waiting for did not and the next bus that did go into Gostivar was not for 5 more hours and I would have missed my meeting, so outside of the city worked for me. When I left Resen that morning it was cold and that was all. But when traveling up the west side of Macedonia through the mountains that border Albania and Macedonia there was snow. LOTS OF SNOW!!!! It was pretty to look at but it was coming down pretty hard as well. Did I forget to mention that these are windy mountains. The bus drivers in Macedonia are very good, they know the roads like the back of their hands, because they drive on them everyday and normally the same route. So I just dropped my head and let the bus driver do his thing in the intensely falling snow. As we got closer to Gostivar, I was not sure were to get off. I saw the signs for the exit and luckily there was someone else getting off at Gostivar too, so she and the bus driver helped me out. I followed her into the city, we literally walked up the off ramp from the highway into the city. She did not know English so we tried to have a conversation in Macedonia. It would have gone well, but she was asking specific questions that I really did not have the answers too, like "why are you are going to the bus station?" (because that was were I was going to meet the GLOW girls, since I had not been to the city before and did not know were the coffee shop was), "who are you meeting?" (I said the names, but obviously she is not going to know the Americans that I am meeting and I did not know the last names of the Macedonians I was meeting). She was very nice and trying to be helpful, in her head I believe she must have been thinking "crazy American" but I made my way through the city to the other side where the bus station was. I met up with the GLOW girls and we had our meeting. We were working on the camp manual that was used last year and we are updating it, since there were a lot of lessons that needed to be changed and some that were repetitive. I was surprised at how much we got accomplished in 3 hours. That evening I slept at a fellow volunteer's place that lived in Gostivar. Friday morning, the girl I am shadowing at GLOW and myself went to another volunteer's place for pancakes with real maple syrup and Dunkin Donuts coffee. It was delicious!!!!!
After our bellies were all full, we went on a field trip to the "amazing" cheese store in Gostivar (someone else 's words, not mine). In Macedonia, you can get 2 kinds of cheese: kashkaval (yellow cheese) and cirenje (white cheese). Occasionally and at the larger supermarkets you can find Gouda, but normally its just kashkavl and cirenje. This "amazing" cheese store in Gostivar has fresh mozzarella, ricotta, a spicy cheese kind of like a pepper jack, one with truffles in it, and pekareno. Real cheese. I did not buy any, even though I was tempted, since I knew I still had a lot of traveling ahead of me and would be leaving for Greece next week. Not enough time to eat all the cheese I wanted to buy; but I will be going back to Gostivar for more GLOW meetings over the next 2 years, so plenty of time to have some really good amazing cheese.
After the field trip, I got on a bus to Skopje (the blue line on the map). I needed to go to the PCorps office to get a water filter and I got one!!! You can see why I needed one. Delicious isn't it?
After getting the filter from the PCorps office, I met up with 3 other volunteers, Jenny, Debbie, and Karen, at the Chinese restaurant. I was still full from the big American breakfast I had so I waited for them. After that we traveled down to Veles and stayed the night at Karen's.
Saturday, Debbie made us pancakes for breakfast, 2 days in a row, I was a happy girl. This time no real maple syrup, but honey and powdered sugar tasted just as good. Later that afternoon it was off to Shtip (green line on the map) for a fellow volunteer's birthday. It was special celebration since his birthday falls on Leap year and on Tuesday the Peace Corps will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary and Peace Corps Macedonia will be celebrating their 15th Anniversary. Sunday, after a big breakfast at the Irish Pub in Shtip -- because all cities need an Irish Pub - even the cities in Macedonia, I made my way home, back to Resen to my nice warm and cozy apartment after a long, fun, and accomplished 4 cities in 4 days trip. That is it for now, next week I will be writing from Greece!!!! I leave Friday to meet mom, dad, and Jenny in Athens for 8 days. I'm excited!!!! But have a lot to do in order to get ready: laundry, exchange money, etc.
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