Independence Day- 20 years for Macedonia and 1 year for me

Yesterday, September 8th, Macedonia celebrated its 20th year of independence.  There was a huge celebration in the center of Skopje and everyone was invited, and over one hundred thousand people attended.  Municipalities from all the cities offered free transportation to anyone that wanted to attend.  So, of course, Irena, Maria, and Maria's boyfriend Vasko, and I took full advantage.  The 4 buses and 1 combi (van) left Resen around noon and we arrived in Skopje around 4 pm.  It was my first time being on a bus that went straight to Skopje, not making stops in each city on the way up. But still it would be not a bus ride in Macedonia with out the pauzas, aka coffee and smoking breaks.  Normally we just stop once, but for some reason this time we stopped twice. When we arrived in the center, Irena and I met up with another volunteer, Austin, and his counterpart, Tode.  After recovering from the bus ride with a quick bite and a beer we made our way back to the center.  The first event was a parade.  There was a path roped off for the political figures and other participants to make their way through the crowd to the main stage.  Unfortunately, because of all the people, this was how Irena and I had to watch the parade....

Tode, who is very tall, was video taping it. So Irena and I stood underneath him and watched the parade on his little video camera.  After the parade, there were some performances on the main stage and then the prime minister gave his 7 points speech which took over an hour and a half.  We were all waiting for the 2 big events: a famous singer that was "rumored" to drop down from a helicopter and land on top of the new and large Alexander the Great statue with a dress made out of 350 meters of silk, and the grande revealing of the Alexander the Great statue and fountain.

The singer did perform in a 350 meter silk dress, but sadly she did not drop from a helicopter. She was raised above the crowd on a lift instead.

And then finally, there was a water show around the new fountain.

 During the grande finale.

Alexander in his full glory.  The first time I saw it I had to laugh because the statue is not proportionally correct.  First, Alexander and the horse are about the same size; and second, you have this huge man on his huge horse holding this little tiny sword.  But all in all it is still a very impressive statue.

There were also other statues reveled since Skopje is going through a "face-lift" which is suppose to be finished in 2014.  Besides adding statues, they are also building 3 new museums.  The museum of history also had their grande opening that evening.

From what I could see on the big TV screens in the center, it is very pretty both inside and out; and I can't wait to go and see inside.

The evening ended with a BANG.....literally.

Beautiful fireworks filled the sky over the Vardar River to celebrate Macedonia's 20th birthday.  Then it was back to the buses around 11 pm; and we finally arrived back in Resen around 2:30am.  (Luckily they did not stop at all on the way home. Everyone was exhausted and slept the whole way back.)

Celebrating Macedonia's 20th birthday was a wonderful way to end my first year of service.  On Sunday, the new group of Peace Corps volunteers, the MAK 16s, will be arriving.  It is strange to think that a year ago today I was in Philly about to begin this new adventure.  And now year later, I am living happily in a beautiful town, working at a wonderful school, meet amazing people that are now my friends, and about to start my second year which I know will be full of wonderful experiences and adventures.  

The End of Summer and the Beginning of a New School Year

The summer is finally winding down, but sadly the temperatures have been rising.  For the past few weeks I have been relaxing and enjoying doing nothing, with my fan going full blast, before school starts and the new volunteers arrive. I did not do any big international trips this summer, trying to save up my days to do some nice trips next year.  I did go to Stenje, a little village around the Prespa Lake, for a few days with Irena. Her family has a summer house there and we spent the days on the beach and the evenings on the porch.  It was a nice getaway.  It was very similar to a vacation with my family. We woke up and went from pj's to swim suits, stayed on the beach till lunch time, came back for a little break, and then went back to the beach until the sun went down.  In the evenings, we would sit on the porch. Listen to some music, snoop on the neighbors (people watching is a very popular pastime in Macedonia), and read. It was very quiet and relaxing.

 The beach. The beaches around Prespa are where you can find sandy beaches. The ones around Ohrid are very rocky.  There were not many people there; but it was still interesting to find that people from other countries like to come and spend their vacation here also.

 Irena's family's summer home. We spent alot of time on the top porch because from there you have a nice view and you can look out onto the lake.

View from the porch. I took this right after it had rained. You can see a rainbow above the yellow house.

School starts on Thursday. Every year school always starts on September 1st; it does not matter what day of the week it is. Last week and this week Irena, Maria and I have been working on getting the Resource Room ready.  Our goal is to have it ready to open on the 5th since the first 2 days of school are probably going to be a bit crazy. The kids are all excited to be back and sadly the teachers do not even have their schedules yet. So those first 2 days will be spent still getting everything in order.  We painted the walls a nice light creamy white color and then painted the bookcases and the windows brown.  Maria, who is a very talented artist, even painted some pictures on the walls.

 Maria painting the walls.

 Irena painting the bookcases.

 Working on the tree house. This will be behind the desk, which will house the computer and printer.

 The finish product. Isn't it amazing? It only took her 2 days and she did it all free hand.

 There was some water damage by the floor boards so Maria had the idea to add some more images to help cover it up.

After Week 1.  Its getting there.

Since then we have added a rug, some tables and chairs, and have been working on organizing the books.  A company from the states, Darrin Book Aide, will send a box of donated books to volunteers and international schools in need.  Irena and I both requested a box, not knowing the other one had done so, so in the end we received 2 boxes filled with picture books, young adult chapter books, classics, and even textbooks.

You will just have to check back next week to see the finished product!!!

Camp GLOW- Girls Leading Our World

This blog is a few days overdue  because I have been recovering from my 10-day adventure which is known as Camp GLOW.  GLOW stands for Girls Leading Our World and in Macedonia we have  local clubs and a camp.  This year I was the Jr. Programming Coordinator and next year I will be THE Programming Coordinator, the big guy, the boss.  Lucky me!!!  GLOW is more like a primary project, it takes the whole year to plan and it ends up taking up most of your time the closer camp comes.  This summer the camp was in Pelister, located in between Bitola and Resen, which was very convenient for me.  We have older Macedonian girls, ages 15-21, that are our CITs (counselors in training) and Counselors; along with PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) who are both counselors and instructors.  Eighty girls from all over Macedonia attend the camp, improve their English, and had a wonderful time.  Every day they woke up bright and early and we had a morning meeting, then breakfast, and then their classes began.  Each class was taught by a PCV and a Macedonian and the campers had 8 classes a day.  The topics of the classes were Womens' Studies, Civil Society, Environment, Life Choices, and Artistic Expression.  Each day the girls also had recreation; some of the classes were yoga, kickboxing, soccer, and basketball.  In the evenings the girls were able to attend an elective that was created by the PCVs.  Some of the classes were pop culture (where they had karaoke), improv, beauty parlor, and Chinese.  We also had special events throughout the week. We had a Red Cross Day where members of the Red Cross in Skopje came and taught the girls the basics of First Aide and CPR; then there were scenarios where we the staff were the victims and they had to take care of us.  We also had a pirate-themed field day where the girls competed against the other groups while wearing pirate outfits and speaking like a pirate.  There was a disco night where all the girls dressed up in their nice outfits and danced; and we had a big delicious cake to celebrate.  And at the end, there was the closing ceremony. Everyone sits in a circle and each person has a candle; and after they light it, they say something that they enjoyed about their week at camp.  It was a very emotional time for the girls and there was a lot of crying.  But by the end, all of the girls made many new friends, were all glad that they came, and were sad to leave.  So far it has definitely been my most rewarding experience.

Now after reading that beautiful summary, you  will want to see some pictures.  The problem is I have 10 CDs FULL of pictures from the week and there is NO WAY to capture the camp fully.  So I pulled a few just to give you an idea and to see the smiles and joy on all the girls faces.

 I got the task of meeting all the campers at the bus station.  It was very easy until the last 30 minutes when we are getting 80 girls onto a bus and a combi with all their luggage. Elena, another coordinator, and I were trying to tell the bus driver to wait 10 more minutes to see if any other girls were on the next bus coming in.  He obviously had something else he wanted to do because the next thing we knew we were getting yelled at in Macedonia.  A cultural experience I will never forget -- haha.

 Everyone else, all the counselors, CITs, instructors, and staff were waiting at the hotel ready to greet the girls with hugs and a song when they arrived.

 Every morning, during the morning meeting each group had to perform their chant.  A good way to get them and everyone else excited and ready to go early in the morning.

 The instructors, also known as the others, had their own chant.

 As well as the CITs. They came up with a new chant/lyrics (about camp) to a different popular song every day.  This was on the last day where they all turned around and sadly said that they did not want to go home. CITs were all campers that had attended last year; and they were all very excited to come back for another year. They taught classes and helped out with things around the camp.

 For breakfast and lunch the girls had to sit in their groups with their counselors, but at dinner they were allowed to go and sit with their friends.

 Headquarters, as we referred to it. Where all the behind the scenes stuff took place. This is where you could find me when I was not walking around checking out the classes.

 The kind words wall. Everyone had an envelope and anyone could write something nice about that person thoughout the week. By the end, all the envelopes were full and the girls were very excited to read what others had written.

 During our first day there before the girls arrived, we all prepared our lessons and made posters to give the place a more camp like atmosphere.  We had some very talented and creative counselors and CITs that made beautiful posters to decorate the halls, the community rooms, the classrooms and signs for the girls doors.

 The main building where we all slept and ate and had some classes.

 Where the morning meeting took place.

 The other building where the rest of the classes took place.

 Some of the campers working on a task in the self-esteem class.

 Yoga in the afternoon with Jane and Debbie.

 AAAAGGGG. Pirate Field Day!!! One of the groups all pirated out and ready to kick some bootie.

 Even the PCVs got into it  --lol.  They were some very scary pirate captains.

 Disco Night!!!  The campers all wore their best outfits while the PCVs got a little more creative.  As you can see by Lauren in the toga and Jane to her right in her 70s inspired workout attire.

 Lovely isn't it?  This was from the Red Cross day.  They brought make-up to make our "injuries" look real.  We had skin burns, dog bites, chopped off fingers, and broken bones coming out of the skin.  And they all looked realistic.  The girls came around, in their groups, and had to "save us" using the First Aide and CPR skills that they had learned earlier that day.  It was a lot of fun; and everyone enjoyed acting out their injuries and being very dramatic. Even me........

 OOOOHH NO!!!! What happened to poor Michelle?!?!?!?!?  It looks like she is not a very good housekeeper and while going to plug something in stepped in a bucket of water and electrocuted herself!!!!!!

The girls had to do CPR, on the manikin of course, in order to save me and then wrap the burn on my hand.

 I had to make it look realistic!!!

We also had a few visitors throughout the week.  Ladies from the US Embassy came; they wanted to check out the camp, since that is where we got our money from.  Also people from Peace Corps showed up. This was taken when our Country Director brought guests from Washington to see the camp.

 The final camp group shot!!!

Now that I have fully recovered after what you can see was a long week, I will be going to Stenje, a village near Resen and by the lake for the rest of the week to stay with Irena and her parents at their summer house.  Then the beginning of next week I will be going to Thessolaniki, Greece for a day.  Just for some shopping, some gooood eatting, and Starbucks!!! with some friends.  I won't be able to blog until after the l0th.   

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!!!