A Macedonian Easter

Easter is just like Christmas, the holiday is very traditional and religious-based.  There is no Easter bunny, no egg hunts, no jelly beans, just family time and traditions.  The Easter celebration actually started alot earlier than I expected.  The teachers at my school have been making crafts and decorations for weeks, then on Wednesday they started painting eggs.  The students got very creative and painted some beautiful eggs.

 Some of the crafts that the kids at my school made.

 Painting the eggs.  They use regular paint and put designs on them.

 One of the teachers gave Maria, one of the English teachers, some eggs to paint and decorate.  Maria is an amazing artist so she did a great job on the eggs.  When she brought them in, she first told the other teacher that she forgot them and the other teacher almost had a heart attack because they needed them for the next day. Then Maria pulled out her beautifully painted eggs and the other teacher laughed, knowing that she had been fooled.  At my school it is a big competition to see which teacher can come up with the most interesting craft to sell and who has the prettiest table.  The teachers hide everything until the day of the Thursday Bazaar so that none of the other teachers will see.  Its a friendly rivalry.

They tend to celebrate Easter more than they do Christmas.  The teachers and students sell their crafts plus baked goods in the Center of the town the Thursday before Easter.  The money that they get goes to their class, for either supplies, a trip, etc.  Here are some pictures from the center.  Each class gets their own table to sell and children from both primary schools and the high school were there selling things.  It is events like this when everyone is in the Center and all the coffee shops are full that I finally see how many people actually live in Resen.

 2nd grade class- Yes this teacher made aprons with eggs on it for her students to wear.  She is very crafty.

 1st grade class

3rd grade class

On Friday, it was beautiful day so Irena and I went for a walk.  She showed me where the women's monastery of Jankovec is located.  When I first looked up Resen in my Macedonian travel guide the only thing I could find was that there is a women's monastery in the village right outside/more like next to Resen.  "It is the first women's monastery to be brought back to life after several decades of neglect during  communist times.  Sister Kirana, who heads the best group of fresco painters alive today in Macedonia, brought the nuns to the rundown 16th century monastery in 1998.  They have done alot of work to it since then and their skills as fresco artists are in high demand throughout Macedonia."

Irena said that right now there is only one woman who lives there.  The day we went we could not get inside, but now that I know where it is I will go back and try to take more pictures.

On Saturday, I went to the pazar in the morning and there was a lady selling pansies.  I bought 7 pansies plants for 100 denar, a little over $2. She had them in a box;  they were not in little plastic containers like you would normally find at Home Depot or Lowes, they were just sitting there in their own dirt.  She picked out 7 for me and then put them in a plastic bag and that is how I got to carry them home.  I also had to go and buy a hanging flower box to put over my balcony and a bag of dirt because I knew they had to be planted today.

I now have a nice place to sit outside and put my feet up to read a book or just look at the view.

Saturday evening, a little before midnight, everyone goes to church to celebrate the holiday.  I arrived a little after 11pm and everyone was standing outside with lit candles.  It was a pretty sight to see.  Then there was some music and at midnight everyone cracks eggs. Families color eggs red, to represent Christ's blood, and then they crack them tip to tip.  If your egg breaks you have to give it to the other person.  It symbolizes luck and good health for the rest of the year.

I could not get a picture of people cracking their eggs, but this is a poster that someone painted at the municipality for the Easter celebration in the center.

I had a nice and quiet Easter day at home and I got to Skype the family while they were down at the river visiting Nana and Grandaddy.  Now it is back to school tomorrow to start a busy week after a quiet and relaxing 4 day weekend.

The 3 Babas

When I arrived back to school on Monday after the week-long training in Ohird, Irena was ready to go.  She had already placed boxes in some of the classrooms to start collecting bottle caps.  One of the PCVolunteers came up with the idea of using bottle caps as an interactive way to help the students practice their alphabet, their verbs, opposites, etc.  Here are some of the pictures that he took to give you an idea of what I am talking about:

 He used one color for the consonants and another for the vowels.  And he used egg cartons to hold them all and put a cute label on them. After one week, and 4 classes collecting, I have around 200 bottle caps in a box in my kitchen.  The next step is to wash them, in my washing machine , and then Irena and I will start putting together kits based off of what each grade needs.  The kids have been asking us what we will be doing with the bottle caps, but we are leaving it as a surprise.

Another exciting change is that Irena and I have FINALLY gotten the kids to quietly raise their hand, stop yelling out the answer, and stop saying "JAC" every time they want to answer something.  "Jac" literally translated means "I", but when taken non-literally the kids are actually saying "Me! Pick me!"  and that gets very annoying very quickly.  At the beginning of each class, Irena told them, in Macedonian, that this was going to be a new rule and that if anyone yelled out an answer or yelled out "Jac" that they would not be able to talk for the rest of class. I know that might seem a bit extreme right now, since we do want the kids to ask questions and to talk in order to practice their English, but right now its just to get the point across, and so far it is working.  The day we introduced the new rule in one of the 3rd grade classes it was going well, then Irena asked a question and both Martin and Phillip raised their hand and yelled out "Jac".  Right after they had said it they both realized what they did and dropped their hands to their foreheads.  Irena looked at them and smiled and I tisked and waved my finger, in a playful matter, and we just kept on teaching.  The next day, in the same class I was picking students to read a paragraph in their books and I was calling on students with nice quiet hands.  After I had called on a few Martin looked at me and said, in Macedonian, "Teacher, can I please read next?  I did not get to talk last class."  I chuckled and told him to wait and that his turn would come.  There will always be the student that forgets, since they have been doing this since they started school, and English class is the only one where they can't yell out, but some are starting to remember and classes are running alot quieter and smoother.

The other English teacher, Maria, has actually made a pack with her 2nd grade students that there will be no Macedonian during English class.  Those students do understand alot and they liked the idea; but since they don't know everything, Maria does have to explain a few things in Macedonian.  It's a step and for 2nd graders that is a big step.

I was interviewed by the 5th grades as well.  One of their lessons for History/Government was to talk to a international visitor, and who did they think of.....me.  They asked the questions in Macedonian and Irena was my translator.  Some of the questions were ones that they asked when I first arrived "where are you from", "what is in your town", "what do you think of Macedonia", etc.  But there were other questions that were very good:  they asked about what we do for the 4th of July and Halloween (2 holidays that they don't have), and my favorite question "what are some school rules in America?"  I was surprised by this question and so was Irena, but she was interested to hear as well.  I told them that kids in America raise their hand and do not yell out;  they do not talk when the teacher or another student is talking; and when they are in the halls they do not run or yell.  They walk quietly.  I was more or less emphasizing the things that I have seen at the school.  It was fun to be interviewed and the kids came up with good questions.  Afterwards, one of the 5th grade teachers came back in to see if we were finished and she also had a question for me.  It is the typical question that every PCVolunteer is asked..."Are you interested in finding a Macedonian spouse?"  Some volunteers have made up imaginary relationships with people in the states to avoid being set up, but most of the time even that does not work.  When I was in Lozovo, they tried to marry me off 3 times: the dentist who was 40, a nephew who had a girlfriend, and a neighbor who spent all his time at the betting place......no thank you.  Luckily here in Resen I have only been asked a few times if I want to marry a Macedonian, and they normally leave it at that. So as you can see everything on the school front is going well. Soon Irena and I will start writing up a grant for the English Resource Center/Library that she would like in the school.  So after a slow start this winter, Spring has come in and it means business.

Speaking of Spring, now it is time for the story of the 3 Babas.  Irena was reminded of this story last week by some of the other teachers when the weather automatically went from nice back to cold and raw. Supposedly during the first few weeks of Spring, there are 3 days where the weather changes back to cold, and those 3 days are known as the "3 Babas".  This year it was April 12-14th.  On the first day, the weather was good, little windy, but nothing too bad.  This means that Baba #1 could make up her mind, she knew that she wanted Spring to continue.  Day #2, still pretty good, maybe a little colder, but all in all a nice day.  Baba #2 also knew that she wanted Spring to continue.  Day #3, cold and raw.  The type of day where you want to come home and eat soup and curl up in a blanket, not a nice Spring day.  Baba # 3 had no idea what was going on, she did not know that it was Springtime and thought that it was still winter so that was why it was so cold.  Well Baba #3 still has not fully made up her mind because the weather has been cold for a few days now, but it seems that she is starting to get on the same page as the other babas because today it was not as cold has it has been.  Just another interesting folktale, just like Promaja.

This weekend I was in Skopje for Camp GLOW training.  All of the PCVolunteers and the girls that will be counselors and CITs (counselor in training) came to meet each other and start working on their lessons for camp. It went from 11-4 on Saturday and by the end I think that everyone felt good knowing what they will be teaching and having a plan in mind.  The rest of the weekend was spent exploring more of Skopje and eating "American" food.  I definitely needed to go to aerobics yesterday to work all this off.  I ate:  falafel sandwich, Chinese food, had a coffee to go!!! (my favorite), Mexican food and margaritas, and McDonalds.  All the comforts of home in one weekend.  I don't get up to Skopje often and normally when I do its only for a day and I have lots of meetings and things planned.  So it was nice to take my time and not rush to the bus station.  Next time, I plan on taking my time as well and exploring more of the sights, and of course hitting a few of those restaurants again as well.

Spring Time in Macedonia

Life in Macedonia changes in the Spring.  You will now see more people in the center of town talking and drinking coffee.  The kids are playing outside more and ice cream is back!!!  You might think that it's to early in the year to see people walking around eating their ice cream cones......but its never too early for ice cream.

April 1st in Macedonia is known as Април лили, April lili.  It is just like April Fools.  The kids try and trick the teachers and the teachers try to trick the kids.  "Ok, sit down.  Pull out a piece of paper and a pencil;  you are having a pop quiz today."  "WHAT?!"  "April lili"   The only difference is the younger students dress up.  I am not sure what the reasoning is behind it, but as you walk around the center it looks like Halloween; but the kids here do not go around and collect candy.

 Nikola!!!!  He chose the perfect costume, even though he is normally the one to disrupt the peace instead of keep the peace.

 Irena with one of the 1st grade classes.

 Sarah was a bunny and Angela was a clown.  Angela's mom works at the store in town where I bought all my pots and pans and essentials for my apartment.

 My 5th grade boys.  The boys were soccer players and the girls were.......

cheerleaders.  They had a dance routine that they performed in front of the municipality after school.  All of the kids in Resen, including both elementary schools,  gathered there and each class performed something.

The other 5th grade class.  Same idea, boys soccer players and girls were cheerleaders.  

Another indication that Spring is here is that more people go walking.  For a PCorps volunteer's birthday, she organized a hike through Pelister National Park, located outside of Bitola.  The trail we planned on taking would take us to churches and monasteries located in towns around the park.  The only thing was that these "trails" probably had not been used in years; so what was once a path ended up being an overgrown area.  There were times we had to make our own path up the mountains.

Pelister National Park.  It was a perfect day of hiking.  It started out sunny, then there was some rain, then sun, then hail.....yes hail, about the size of rain drops, and then sun again.  Mother Nature could not make up her mind; but we kept on going.  I made granola bars for the hike and during a break they were a big hit.  By the time the bag got back to me there were none left.  Good thing I had saved one back at my apartment, but from the comments and looks on people's faces they turned out very good.

 As we were walking through one of the towns, we saw a man and his sheep.  When we stopped to take a picture of the herd, he started to move out of the way; but then we told the man that we wanted him in the picture too.  As we were walking away we could hear his buddy yelling "Did they take your picture too?"  The man responded with "Yep!" and started to laugh.

 One of the churches on our hike.

Our tour guide!!!  We met up with this dog on the hike and he followed us the whole way.  At the end we had to leave him at one of the villages.  I hope he found his way back home because he went quite a way with us.  

The reason behind the delay in this week's blog was because I was in Ohrid for a technical training session.  It was a conference for us and our counterparts.  We stayed at a very nice hotel called Hotel Belvedere, http://hotelbelvedere.com.mk/Home.html.   Every night after we were finished with the training sessions and dinner you could find me, and others, sitting by the fire with a glass of wine.  It was the perfect place to unwind after a long day. After the conference, many of the volunteers stayed in Ohrid for a mini-vacation.  On Friday, I just walked around and window shopped.  On Saturday, we all went out on a boat to Svet. Naum.  It has a monastery and is a popular attraction.  It was a beautiful day; and we brought snacks (wine, cheese, and crackers) and sunbathed on the front of the boat.  As one of the volunteers said "Life in Macedonia is just rough isn't it?"  (can you hear the sarcasm?)

There were about 15 of us that went on the trip, so we had to take 2 boats. 

 This was the summer house of the President of Yugoslavia.

The monastery, we were able to walk around the property.  There is a restaurant and hotel there too. 

 The church located inside the monastery.

 All over the grounds of the monastery there were peacocks.  I had never seen so many and have never been so close to one.  Also, I found out they can fly.  I learned this as one was flying over my head down to the ground from where it was perch on a branch of a tree.

 There was a smaller and newer church located outside of the monastery grounds and I was able to watch a man paint the fresco.

As you can see, alot has been happening and things are starting to pick up now that Spring is here.  I have a busy weekend coming up with GLOW, so expect the next blog to be on Monday.

Колку?

"Колку е?"  A common phrase heard on pazar or market day here in Macedonia.  As I walk around the pazar seeing what seasonal fruits and vegetables I want to buy to use in this week's meals, I point to the mound of spinach and ask one of the venders ""Колку е едно кило?" or "How much is a kilo?"   He responds with 40 denar.  No bad for a big amount of spinach, which will work in a few of my meals this week.  By the end of the day I have a kilo of spinach, a kilo of kiwi, a half kilo of oranges, a small bundle of green onions, and a kilo of tomatoes.  A grand total of 270 denar, around $5.

One of the questions that I remember asking the current volunteers here when I was getting ready to leave for Macedonia was how much things cost so that I could compare how much things were in the states.  When the current volunteers said that a cup of coffee at a local shop is around 60 denar, a loaf of bread 30 denar, 1 liter of milk 49 denar, even using a conversion calculator and seeing that the cup of coffee is a little over $1,  loaf of bread $0.50,  and the liter of milk a little more than that,  still did not give me a full idea about where most of my Peace Corps monthly allowance would be going.  Now 6 months in, approaching 7, I find myself still converting the price of items here from denar to dollars.  Even though it is not exact, I always use the conversion 50 denar = $1.  This past weekend I was working on a Living Allowance Survey that the Peace Corps asked all the volunteers to fill out.  Since the problems with the economy has begun, prices have started to rise everywhere and the Peace Corps wanted to know how much things would cost in our towns so they could see if prices in Macedonia have risen enough to give us an increase in our monthly living allowances.  I always seem to have enough and some months have a little extra;  but then some months are more expensive than others, just like back at home.  I have only eaten out in a restaurant once in Resen, but I do meet people for coffee at least once a week and have a drink when I go out with friends on the weekends.  I tend to buy what I need and get a few items that I want (i.e., a bar of chocolate and a bottle of wine) and still I am never waiting for the next monthly allowance to come.  There are some other volunteers that by the end of the month are either broke or getting there, waiting for the email saying that the next month's allowance has been deposited in their accounts.  I have cut back on a few things at the end of the month, when I see my bank account getting lower and I know that I have another week or a few more days to go; but once the next month's money gets deposited, I realize that I had plenty and that I really did not need to cut anything out.

I have referred to this before that Peace Corps Macedonia is sometimes referred to as the "Posh Corps" since not all volunteers are as fortunate as we are to have certain amenities that we do (i.e washing machines, TVs, etc) but even with those items we still have to live modestly.  So get ready......here comes the Math......just to paint you a picture on how much things cost here in Macedonia.

1st- The BIG bills
Rent- 24,000 den = $550 (and this is not just for 1 month, but for 3 months) paid by the Peace Corps
Water - is paid by my landlord
Electricity- is paid by Peace Corps, but my bill is around 5,000 den each month = $100
(Electricity is very expensive and that is where many Macedonian try to cut back.  They use wood burning stoves to cook and heat up their homes because it is cheaper to buy wood then run a heater.  They also turn the water boilers on during parts of the day when the electricity is cheaper  1-4pm and 10pm-7am.
Internet- 550 den = $11 a month (I pay for this)
Cable - 320 den = $6-6.50 a month (and since my TV is old and does not get all the chanels I never turn it on, but my landlord kept it going and if I stop it and he wants to turn it back on it would be a 1000 den = $20 fee) I pay for this

2nd- Transportation
The only form of transportation that I use is the bus.
One way ticket to Bitola- which is 39.2 km (30 min drive by car, buses go slower) is 130 den = less than $2.50
One way to Ohrid- which is 36.4 km is 160 den = little over $2.50
One way to Skopje- 198km (which should take a little over 2 hours by car and takes 4 hours on the bus......you see the difference?)  is 500 den = $10
Going to Skopje is the most expensive, unless I travel to the east and then I have to get off in Veles and pay for another ticket to where I am going in the east.  That is more expensive.

Now I don't know how much a car here costs,  because I have no need to be shopping for one;  but I can tell you the price of gas.  Gas is the same as electricity; they are expensive and that is why many people rely on public transportation. The  last time I looked, gas prices where around 77 den = around $1.50.....wait for it.....a liter!!!!

Here comes the Math part:
1 gallon = 4 liters
$1.50 x 4 = $6 a gallon

Now I have heard that gas prices in the states are around $4 a gallon, at least in NOVA, but $6 can you imagine!!  Hopefully, gas prices will not get that high by the time I get back or I will be traveling by bus for the rest of my life....probably not haha.

Now I could sit here and list every item in the grocery store and the price, but then this blog would be about 5 pages long and no one would want to read it.  So just to give you an idea:  When I go to the grocery store and get the basics and a few extra items that I need each week, I normally spend around (probably a little more than )1000 den = $20.  Again some weeks are more expensive then others;  but normally that is what I spend.  The Peace Corps has budgeted that we spend around 300-400 denar = $6-8 a day on food.  When I go out to eat, I end up dropping around 300 on one meal;  hence why I don't eat out a lot.  When I am away from Resen, visiting other parts of Macedonia, I do go out and eat and I treat myself to whatever I am in the mood for.  So living the modest Peace Corps life in Macedonia is not to bad.....not too bad at all.