American Corner Camp in Pretor

Summer has officially begun and so have the camps!!!

This past week I was in Pretor, one of the villages around Resen located on the lake, for a camp hosted by the American Corner.  It was for kids from Bitola and was a 4 day camp on Creative Writing and Leadership.  Everyday the kids had a workshop on Creative Writing and then in the afternoon they had presentations on negotiation, leadership and volunteerism.  The camp was held at a campsite located in Pretor.  It is a typical campsite with bungalows and the bathroom separate from the rooms, but the kids still had a very good time.  My role was the activities coordinator.  One night we played Scrabble, which is probably going to be the game that I am known for by the time I leave, and another night we played Jeopardy.  I also helped wherever I was needed; but most of the time you could find me sitting reading a book.  The kids had a great time and it was also a rewarding and relaxing time for the coordinators involved.

 The kids hard at work in their Creative Writing workshops.  The room that we used we called the cage because instead of walls it had wire screens.

 Scrabble!!!!  We had a mini tournament and whichever pair had the most points won.  The winning team was a pair of younger boys and they had around 90 points.  The beat the high school kids.

 Jeopardy Night.  It took a few tries to get the kids to answer in the form of a question.  They had never seen or heard of this game before that evening.

 When they were not in workshops or watching presentations, the kids played games and sang songs.  The song "Wonderwall" was always playing from someone's cell phone.  The two most popular songs/chants -- "bananas of the world unite" and  "baby shark," were energizers; and they definitely got the kids excited.  The kids liked them so much they wanted to sing them every day and would randomly start singing them on their own.  At the end of camp one of the American Corner interns, Vlade, had the idea of having the staff do a performance of the song "Wonderwall".  When he told me this, I suggested we change some of the lyrics to add elements of  the camp.  He got all excited; so for an hour the two of us, with help from others, came up with "Wondercamp," highlighting the funny moments aka the banana and shark chant and Ivana blowing her whistle.  This simple idea grew; and by the end, the kids made a music video.

Check it out!!! Vlade is really playing the guitar and yes that is her real voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXd8Oge833k
 

 We also went on a excursion to the village of Kurbinovo to visit a one of a kind church.  It is the only one that has paintings of Jesus.

 Normally they ask you not to take pictures in the churches so not to ruin the frescoes, but we were with a historian from the area and she said that it would be all right.

 We also made smores!!!  I was in charge of toasting the marshmallows and everyone came out perfectly if I do say so myself!

 Since the concept of a line is foreign in Macedonia and we did not want the kids to be pushing each other to get the smores, I thought of the idea of having the kids form a train.  It's fun and orderly!!!

 The American Corner Bitola Camp Staff!!! (From left to right: Bile, one of the photographer kids, Vlade, Anna, Ivana, Me, Ivan, Lauren, Roseta, Phebe, Stephen (the other photographer, and Zlatko)

The group shot!!!  Everyone all happy and looking snazzy in their camp shirts!

Tomorrow I am off to go see the village/town of Krushevo that I hear is very pretty, then spending one day in  Prilep for the Pivo Festival (beer festival); then it is off to another camp, Camp GLOW (Girls Leading our World).    I won't be able to write this weekend or next because of the camp, but will have plenty of stories when I return.

English Resource Room

Great news!!!!  The Peace Corps grant that Irena and I wrote was approved; so we are now starting to put together the English Language Resource Room.  It has already begun.  On Monday when I went in, Irena and Maria were talking about what they wanted to do and Maria was thinking about what she wanted to paint on the walls.  Our goal this week is to clean out the room so that the maintenance staff could start painting.   When Irena asked one of the maintenance ladies if there were some boxes and trash bags we could use, she asked why; and when Irena told her about the project, she called all seven of the maintenance workers together and in less than an hour the room was cleared out.  They told Irena and Maria to go downstairs with the other teachers and have some coffee while they did the work; they would not let them help.  But Irena said that she and Maria snuck back in and helped move one thing each.

By the time I arrived ready to work and clean, they told me that it was already done!  

 The room is all cleaned out and ready to be painted.  When I got there I was trying to think about what we could do with the floors, because the titles are old, some are missing, and some were not attached anymore. 

So we decided to take them up.  Most of them came up really easy.  Now Irena is thinking of something cheap we can put down because we did not think about this part when we were making the budget for the grant.  Later that day, Maria and I were looking for Irena and one of the teachers said that they saw her going upstairs with a broom.  We found her sweeping up the floor for the second time!!  Maria and I just laughed, and said we are probably never going to get her out!  She is just so thrilled that the school is getting a resource room.   It's a nice thing to see.  Irena and Maria are very excited about this project and are dedicated to it; so I know it will be a sustainable asset to the school.

The next step is to paint the walls.  Irena and Maria want to paint them white and paint the bookcases brown.  They also have a creative idea to cover up the bottom windows.  The windows look out into the roof of the gym, but the top windows do bring in some light.  They want to add curtains above those windows.  Maria is thinking about painting a picture of a bookcase with books along the wall to the left of the bookcases.  She is going to write the names of famous books and authors. We are going to add a table and some chairs and put a computer and a printer there so the teachers will have a place to make things.  The same person who made my bookcase, in the kitchen, is going to make a cabinet, like a file cabinet. The teachers will now have a place to keep materials and not have to bring them back and forth from home like they have been doing.  This room will also be a library for the students to come and get English books and also a place for the teachers to make and keep materials. 

We have already received an email from Darren Books. They are a company in Connecticut that sends free books to schools and places where Peace Corps volunteers work. So our box of books will be arriving in about 2 weeks. We also got some money to go and buy new books.  It's still the beginning but it looks pretty good so far.  I will keep you posted on the progress!!!