When it comes to finding certain things in Macedonia one word is very common "домашно" (domashno) or "home-made." This word is normally associated with wine "домашно вино" or rakia "домашно ракиа" and even ajvar "домашно ајвар" since these are the items that most Macedonians make. But Peace Corps volunteers also use this word; we use it when we can't find something that was very accessible back home. I have heard of many volunteers making their own tomato sauce or Alfredo sauce from scratch since in some places you can't find it in a jar; and to be honest it does not taste the same. I have heard of others making pasta from scratch, brewing their own beer, and even one volunteer who made his own peanut butter. These are the items that volunteers try to recreate so that they taste similar to what they are use to. There are plenty of foods that we miss and that we can't find here; so instead we have to make it from scratch. For example, I have recently been craving cottage cheese. Something so simple that you can find at any grocery store, but not in Macedonia. I even bought something that from the picture looked like it could be cottage cheese; and I was sadly disappointed. So when it comes down to that moment where I can't fight the cravings, I do have a recipe for "домашно" cottage cheese.
Items that we would not think twice about running to the store to buy, you can't buy here and you just have to find another way around it. Another place where the word "домашно" is commonly used by volunteers is when it comes to making things for school. As you remember from the previous blog with the bottle caps, we use whatever is around to make resources for school. Well I have just spent this last weekend making another "домашно" product. Once a month I go into Bitola to do "Game Night" at The American Corner. They have been advertising each month that we would be playing Scrabble since all 5 of the American Corners throughout Macedonia want to have a Scrabble tournament. Each Corner has 2 Scrabble games and has a team of high schoolers. The only problem is that they do not have a separate night for them to come and play Scrabble; they only have one night: Game Night, which is open to everyone. So on Game Nights I have other kids coming in ready to play Scrabble since that was what was on the calendar. It started out fine, you have kids playing in pairs and instead of 4 per board you have 8. So what do you do for the long term?
You do it........................................Домашно style baby!!!!
My home-made Scrabble board with tiles and tile holders. Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.
I tried to make it as authentic as possible, since some of the other kids will be playing on regular Scrabble boards. It is a standard 15x15 board and it has the same placement of the spaces and the same colors. All it took was a poster board (30 denar), a cardboard box (free), some duck tape (courtesy of Auntie Carol) a ruler, pencil, black marker, and some colored pencils (all items that every teacher normally carries around with them anyway).
The Scrabble tiles on the holder. I even wrote the point value on each one since it is important to keep score and it does not say it anywhere else. I cut up old food boxes (blueberry muffin mix and mac and cheese; again, thank you Auntie Carol) into 2cm by 2cm squares and then just wrote the letter and point value on each. The holders are made of leftover poster board (got to use every bit up) and it was just folded to stand up and an extra fold to hold the letters.
This weekend I made 2 sets of Scrabble boards; and on Wednesday I will be taking them to the American Corner for the kids to play with; will post pictures afterwards so you can see the boards in use. This was my first домашно game project, but there will probably be more to come since at school Irena and I are in the process of writing a grant to start an English Resource Center/Library at our school and games like Scrabble, Uno, and Memory are easy to make and are good for students learning English.
So I will leave you with my new motto: "Keep it Simple, Keep it Easy, Keep it Домашно".
Items that we would not think twice about running to the store to buy, you can't buy here and you just have to find another way around it. Another place where the word "домашно" is commonly used by volunteers is when it comes to making things for school. As you remember from the previous blog with the bottle caps, we use whatever is around to make resources for school. Well I have just spent this last weekend making another "домашно" product. Once a month I go into Bitola to do "Game Night" at The American Corner. They have been advertising each month that we would be playing Scrabble since all 5 of the American Corners throughout Macedonia want to have a Scrabble tournament. Each Corner has 2 Scrabble games and has a team of high schoolers. The only problem is that they do not have a separate night for them to come and play Scrabble; they only have one night: Game Night, which is open to everyone. So on Game Nights I have other kids coming in ready to play Scrabble since that was what was on the calendar. It started out fine, you have kids playing in pairs and instead of 4 per board you have 8. So what do you do for the long term?
You do it........................................Домашно style baby!!!!
This weekend I made 2 sets of Scrabble boards; and on Wednesday I will be taking them to the American Corner for the kids to play with; will post pictures afterwards so you can see the boards in use. This was my first домашно game project, but there will probably be more to come since at school Irena and I are in the process of writing a grant to start an English Resource Center/Library at our school and games like Scrabble, Uno, and Memory are easy to make and are good for students learning English.
So I will leave you with my new motto: "Keep it Simple, Keep it Easy, Keep it Домашно".
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