"Nastavnichki Nastavnichki!"

In Macedonian it would be "Hаставнички -  Hаставнички!" In English it means "teacher -  teacher!".  This is what I hear everyday.  When I walk into school "Good morning teacher."  Leaving school "Good-bye teacher." And in the classroom "teacher -  teacher - teacher."   Some of the older students say "teacher" but all the younger students say "Hаставнички."  I am starting to feel at home in my school.  All of the students and other teachers are very nice.  I only wish that I still did not have the huge language barrier separating us so that I could get to know all of them better and they could get to know me better.  But the English classes are going well and I feel good when I leave school at the end of the day.

On Monday, Irena and I sat down and planned out the week.  We are taking it slow, going with the topics in the book and then over the summer we will start coming up with new ideas for activities to replace the book activities with.  It was nice to sit down and plan it out because then I came into class knowing what we were would doing; and if something came up, I knew what was going on and could continue on with the class.  It was helpful this week because there were a few times that Irena got called out of a class to help with something and I was able to continue on with the lesson so that one class would not fall behind the other.  In one case I had to teach one of the 1st grade classes by myself.  It always comes down to me teaching the little ones by myself.  Again, I was a little nervous teaching it, with the younger students again there is a language barrier. Also in this class there is Nikola.

Nikola is a boy and he lives in one of the villages around Resen where there aren't that many children his age.  So when he comes to school he lets ALL of his energy out...and he has A LOT of energy!!!! Nikola loves attention and loves to talk.  Irena is always saying his name during lessons because he is always doing something he is not suppose to.  On Tuesday he was really acting up while Irena was teaching so I took a chair and sat down right next to him.  He smiled and laughed a little but when he realized that I was helping him follow along with the book he quieted down and started paying attention.  At the end of class I told him "добро ден" which literally translated means "good day."  What I was telling him was that he did good today and that I was very proud of him and he gave me a high 5.  After what happened on Tuesday with little Nikola,  I was curious how he would act when it was just me teaching the class by myself on Thursday.  I walked in and there was Nikola, smiling and talking loudly like he normally does. Their regular teacher left and I started passing out their books and practicing the phrases that they had learned the week before.  Me saying - " Here you are."  They responding -  "Thank you".  Basic stuff right?  But it shows them how they can use that phrase in real life and not just sing out it repeatedly like they had been doing. I started teaching what Irena and I had talked about and reviewing what they had been learning.  We took it slow and I was surprised on how much English these little 6-7 year olds could understand and I was very impressed.  They understood the directions I was giving and they wanted to help me translate with the other students that did not understand.  Now I did not forget about Nikola!!  He was perfect for me!!!   I did not have to say his name once!!!  I am keeping my fingers crossed that this coming week he will be the same.

On Wednesday, I arrived at school and Irena found me.  She said there was a man there and he wanted to talk to me.  I followed her into the director's office and he was there talking to the director.  He worked at a Crisis Management Agency in Resen.  There are other Crisis Agencies throughout Macedonia and he had heard from them that Peace Corps volunteers can teach English classes for Adults.  When he found out that there was a volunteer in Resen, he came looking for me.  He wanted to know if I would be interested in teaching the 5 people that work at the agency.  He said he understood if I could not, but that they would be honored to have me.  They were flexible and would love any time that I had available.   Looking at my calendar I think I will start teaching them in March, 2x a week for 1-1.5 hours each time, until the end of the school year; and then depending on schedules, keep going in the summer or take a break for a few months. When I got to site I first had to go looking for things to do, but now they are coming to me.

On Thursday, I went with Marija to a village outside of Resen, down by Prespia Lake.  We were checking out a camp/vacation site there for the GLOW summer camp.  It was my first time driving along the lake and I saw many sandy beaches that I want to check out further this summer.  The Lake is about 15-20km from Resen and there are many public beaches along it.  This vacation site was called Auto-Camp Krani.  It has a combination of privatly-owned homes and bungalows that people can rent out.  The owners walked us around and I took pictures while Marija talked to them and asked all the questions.  I found it interesting to see where Macedonians and Europeans in general would go on a summer vacation.  It was very different from where my family goes when we go to the beach for summer vacation.

 These were the bungalows that we were looking at.  This is where the girls would stay for camp. Each bungalow has 2 bedrooms (each with 2 beds), a bathroom, and a small kitchen (burners, sink, and some cabinets).

 The view from the bungalows. You can see the path down to the beach, the lake and the mountains in the distance.  It was a nice sunny day when we went and the water looked so tempting.  It would be too tempting to the girls; and we would not be able to go and use the lake because there are no lifeguards and that would be required if we did camp things at the lake.

This was the surprising part.  Right next to the bungalows were these trailers.  These are the privately owned property.  Each one was tiny and probably could only fit 2 people.  They stay there all year long and each one has its own personal touches, porches, places to sit, grills, a frame build around the whole thing to make the whole thing covered, and some even had what looked like bathrooms built next to them.  This would be equivalent to owning a beach house at a popular beach vacation spot.  I am not sure if their owners just come down for the weekend or spend the whole summer living there.  It reminded me of camping instead of beaching it.

Yesterday, I was in Bitola for a GLOW workshop.  Myself and Katie, another volunteer, presented a workshop to 7 girls and 1 guy on Computer Skills and Blogging.  It went well, they enjoyed the information and the activities that went along with it.  Afterwards, I grabbed a bite to eat with Ashley and Lauren, walked around for awhile and then headed back home. I was exhausted afterwards; it was a 9 hour day.  So that is why I spent today resting, made some banana bread, cleaned, and did some laundry with my new washing machine!!!  I have been washing everything, today I started on the rugs, but I can only do a few loads because then my drying rack is full and I can't hang things anywhere else.  That is it for this week!!!