4 cities in 4 days

The beginning of the week was slow but confusing.  Schedules were getting changed and there was some miscommunication on when the English classes were being offered.  It was because of two things: first sometime in March people from the ministry will be coming and looking over the administrative paper work.  I believe this happens every year, or every other, it is not something out of the blue.  The teachers have been trying to get all their paperwork together; and also making sure that each teacher has the same things because if one teacher has something that another doesn't the ministry will expect all the teachers to have it.  So that has gotten many of the teachers flustered and messed-up schedules because they have been trying to get it all completed.

The ministry also told the teachers, all the teachers, that this year they need a specific number of classes for each subject that need sto be completed by the end of the school year.  In the past, they had given the teachers a range, but this year the want a specific number; so that means schedules need to be moved around to accommodate the missed classes in order to reach the specific number.  For English, I think the number of classes needed is 92, or somewhere in the 90s.  So Irena, Maria, and Snesha have to make sure that each of their English classes have received 92 classes by the end of the school year.  Sounds simple, but when you have your year planned out and the ministry did not eliminate the days for national or religious holidays, so those classes need to be made up, now they have to go back and make sure that they have enough.

The second reason why things have been confusing, is because all of the teachers have to go to the doctor once a year to get a physical and what not, and this week is the time for the teachers in my school to go.  Today, there were 15 teachers that were out because they were at the doctor.  This is something that the government requires for all employees.  When I first came for the weekend to check out Resen, Irena was telling me that her mother had to work on Saturday because the government was requiring their employees to get physicals.  When her mom finally came home, she said that she saw around 72 people that day.  She said the line seemed to never end.  Irena's mom is not a doctor, I believe that she is either a nurse or administers some kind of test in a doctor's office in Bitola.  They do not have appointments, they just go on the day they are told and wait in line to be seen, so it can take the whole day.  They also do not have substitutes or a substitute system set up here in Macedonia; so because there were 15 teachers out,  they only had 3 classes.  I taught Maria's classes today because she was in Skopje getting her certificate for teaching; we had talked about this earlier and she had given me everything for the lessons. The kindergarten classes went well and smoothly; but then I heard about the change in schedule and that today there would only be 3 classes, so I had both 2nd grade classes at one time, in one room, around 30-40 kids, in order for them to both have the class, so Maria won't have to make it up and so that the students could go home on time and not miss their kombies (like a small bus that brings in the students that live in the surrounding villages).  It was a mess.

Now the reason for the title of this blog was because of the end of last week I had a lot of traveling to do for different reasons.  I have provided you all with a map so you can see my travels.  I have also color coded the travel for each day (yes I know I am a dork -- Jennifer -- my sister -- always calls me that).

It all started on Thursday (the red lines). I had a GLOW meeting in Gostivar, a city located on the west side of the country.  I had never traveled up the west side so it was new adventure for me.  From Resen, I had to take a bus to Ohrid and then catch a bus there that goes up the west side and they always end in Skopje.  When I got to Ohrid I found out that not all of the buses go into Gostivar and Tetovo, they normally drop people off on the highway outside of the city.  There are some buses that go into those cities, but the bus I was waiting for did not and the next bus that did go into Gostivar was not for 5 more hours and I would have missed my meeting, so outside of the city worked for me.  When I left Resen that morning it was cold and that was all.  But when traveling up the west side of Macedonia through the mountains that border Albania and Macedonia there was snow.  LOTS OF SNOW!!!!  It was pretty to look at but it was coming down pretty hard as well.  Did I forget to mention that these are windy mountains.  The bus drivers in Macedonia are very good, they know the roads like the back of their hands, because they drive on them everyday and normally the same route.  So I just dropped my head and let the bus driver do his thing in the intensely falling snow.  As we got closer to Gostivar, I was not sure were to get off.  I saw the signs for the exit and luckily there was someone else getting off at Gostivar too, so she and the bus driver helped me out.  I followed her into the city, we literally walked up the off ramp from the highway into the city.  She did not know English so we tried to have a conversation in Macedonia.  It would have gone well, but she was asking specific questions that I really did not have the answers too, like "why are you are going to the bus station?" (because that was were I was going to meet the GLOW girls, since I had not been to the city before and did not know were the coffee shop was), "who are you meeting?" (I said the names, but obviously she is not going to know the Americans that I am meeting and I did not know the last names of the Macedonians I was meeting).  She was very nice and trying to be helpful, in her head I believe she must have been thinking "crazy American" but I made my way through the city to the other side where the bus station was.  I met up with the GLOW girls and we had our meeting.  We were working on the camp manual that was used last year and we are updating it, since there were a lot of lessons that needed to be changed and some that were repetitive.  I was surprised at how much we got accomplished in 3 hours.  That evening I slept at a fellow volunteer's place that lived in Gostivar.  Friday morning,  the girl I am shadowing at GLOW and myself went to another volunteer's place for pancakes with real maple syrup and Dunkin Donuts coffee.  It was delicious!!!!!

After our bellies were all full, we went on a field trip to the "amazing" cheese store in Gostivar (someone else 's words, not mine).  In Macedonia, you can get 2 kinds of cheese: kashkaval (yellow cheese) and cirenje (white cheese).  Occasionally and at the larger supermarkets you can find Gouda, but normally its just kashkavl and cirenje.  This "amazing" cheese store in Gostivar has fresh mozzarella, ricotta, a spicy cheese kind of like a pepper jack, one with truffles in it, and pekareno.  Real cheese.  I did not buy any, even though I was tempted, since I knew I still had a lot of traveling ahead of me and would be leaving for Greece next week.  Not enough time to eat all the cheese I wanted to buy; but I will be going back to Gostivar for more GLOW meetings over the next 2 years, so plenty of time to have some really good amazing cheese.

After the field trip, I got on a bus to Skopje (the blue line on the map). I needed to go to the PCorps office to get a water filter and I got one!!!   You can see why I needed one.  Delicious isn't it?

I have been filtering water all day and after each time this is what I find, white stuff.  It was clean and silver when I started, now it has a chalky and clumpy layer.  I have been told it is calcium and sediments.  So from now on only filtered water for me.

After getting the filter from the PCorps office, I met up with 3 other volunteers, Jenny, Debbie, and Karen, at the Chinese restaurant. I was still full from the big American breakfast I had so I waited for them.  After that we traveled down to Veles and stayed the night at Karen's.

Saturday, Debbie made us pancakes for breakfast, 2 days in a row, I was a happy girl.  This time no real maple syrup, but honey and powdered sugar tasted just as good.  Later that afternoon it was off to Shtip (green line on the map) for a fellow volunteer's birthday.  It was special celebration since his birthday falls on Leap year and on Tuesday  the Peace Corps will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary and Peace Corps Macedonia will be celebrating their 15th Anniversary.  Sunday, after a big breakfast at the Irish Pub in Shtip -- because all cities need an Irish Pub - even the cities in Macedonia,  I made my way home, back to Resen to my nice warm and cozy apartment after a long, fun, and accomplished 4 cities in 4 days trip.  That is it for now, next week I will be writing from Greece!!!!  I leave Friday to meet mom, dad, and Jenny in Athens for 8 days.  I'm excited!!!!  But have a lot to do in order to get ready: laundry, exchange money, etc.

Looks like a slooooow week

I am sorry to say that I really do not have much to report, some weeks are just slow.  At school there was nothing exciting to report.  Irena and I were asked to look up information to get grant money for our school.  Since we received the new doors, the director asked us to find money to paint the hallways, since they are looking a bit shabby.  Irena also had the idea of creating an English Library in the school.  There is a room on the 3rd floor that use to be a library, still has some old books on the bookcases; and we are going to see if the director and the school would be interested in turning that into a place were students can get and read English books.  This is a project that other volunteers have done in their schools; and it would be a good addition to our school as well.

My only out day was to Bitola at the American Corner for Game Night.  It was my first time doing this event and it went well.  Over 22 kids showed up to socialize and play games, more than normal, it might have had something to do with it being a nice night and some of the parents see it as an hour of free babysitting.  But as long as the kids have fun and there are plenty of games to go around....the more the merrier.  I have been keeping it local lately since the next 2 weeks are packed full with travel- one big trip for GLOW and the other to Greece to meet the family.

Things with GLOW are starting to pick up.  This weekend I was reading over last year's manual because changes need to be made in some areas and Sarah, the Programming Coordinator (the one I am shadowing this year and the position I will have next year) wants everyone to come to the meeting with ideas.  So this weekend I have been doing my research in preparation to participate at the meeting.  One main component that she would like to add to this year's camp curriculum is adding more critical thinking.  It is evident in the classrooms.  I had to watch one of the 5th grade classes awhile ago and I had them do an exercise "writing a letter to a student in the states."  I wrote some topics on the board that I wanted them to address in their letters (based on the vocabulary they had been learning).  I bullet-pointed these items and halfway through the class I noticed that most of the students had just copied down what I had wrote and put their answers beside it.  There was no letter format at all.  I knew that the students had understood the directions because I had said "write a letter" to them in both English and Macedonian; and I had one of the students that understood what I had said in English, and repeat all of the directions in Macedonian.  But even then, they still just copied everything down from the board and thought that was it.  I have seen it before in other classes too, the students just copy down what the teacher writes and that is it.  They do not take it a step further and they do not think outside of the box.  So even though critical thinking skills are sometimes hard to incorporate into American lessons, they still need to be added; even if it's just one exercise, into Macedonian lessons. Otherwise these students will not be able to fully think for themselves, they will stay in their own little box.

Next weekend is my GLOW meeting; and then the following Thursday I leave for Greece to see Mom, Dad and Jen.  I'll be in touch when I can!!! 

"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!!!

Things that I use to take for granted

This week as I look at my calendar the upcoming weeks are slow.  The only news from this week was that on Friday after school the parents and teachers were there to help take out the old doors because we were getting new ones from USAID this weekend.  I will see the new ones on Monday.  I went just because I wanted to see.  I knew I would not be much help and when I got there it was a typical social interaction.  The woman were sitting, talking and drinking coffee and the men were taking out the doors.

 They took out everything, even the frame.  These men were like machines.  In an hour that had done 2 floors, 12 rooms, and were working on the 3rd floor.

 Carrying the frame out and smoking a cigarette the same time..... now that is talent.

The end result... the art classroom.

Other news that has not exactly happened yet is that the washing machine comes on Monday. YAY!!!!  My landlord and I went to pick it out on Saturday and they will deliver it on Monday.  So that means that the big pile of clothes that I have will start getting smaller soon.  I have needed to do laundry but knowing that the washing machine would be coming I wanted to wait and save my arms the work.  Not having a washing machine has made me realize the things that I used to take for granted.
Another one is not having a dishwasher and now I am the dishwasher.  I never knew how many dishes I went through and how many dishes you get dirty cooking one meal.  Just to make breakfast this morning I had the frying pan (that I cooked eggs in), a bowl (to mix the eggs), a fork (to do the mixing), a wooden spoon (to cook the eggs), a mug (for coffee), the coffee pot (to boil the water), a spoon (to stir the coffee and add sugar and milk), a grater (to add cheese to my eggs) and a plate and fork (to eat it all with).  The total was 10 items that I had to wash just after making a simple meal like eggs.  Take that times 3 meals and snacks (mostly fruit that has to be chopped).  I spend most of my time in the kitchen washing dishes and missing a dishwasher.

I have also noticed that I have been tired lately.  It caught me by surprise because I have been eating right, taking my vitamins, and do not feel sick.  I learned this weekend that previous volunteers experienced the same thing and that it was from drinking the water.  Other volunteers have water distillers since in some areas the water is not good to drink from the tap.  I was told that Resen's water is safe.  What I forgot was that the water here has a lot of calcium in it and that was what was making the other volunteers tired, along with a few other symptoms, and that might be what is making me feel this way.  I emailed the doctors and hopefully I will get a water distiller this week or I might just have to take a trip up to Skopje to pick it up.  Until then its bottled water for me.

On Friday, when the doors were getting removed I noticed a lady in the school that I had never seen before.  She seemed to know all the teachers.  I started to think of the people that typically work at a school and noticed  that I had not yet seen  a school nurse.  It seems typical to have a nurse in a school, at least in the states.  When I asked Irena if our school had a nurse it seemed to her to be a a silly question, but I am still learning and am curious.  She told me no.  I asked what happened if a students gets hurt; is there any medical supplies and what happens if a students gets really hurt at school.  She said that the younger grade teachers have supplies and if a child is really hurt there is a doctors office or a small hospital right across the street and someone would just take the child over there.  Another thing that came to mind is what if the child got sick at school, which tends to happen often, at least at the schools that I have been at.  Since everything is so close and that all the students live walking distance to school if a child does become ill at school they would just walk home.  Here they do not need the parents to come and sign the child out of school, the students are responsible for themselves.  Its small things that I have become so used to that it seems strange when I do not see them here.  Some days living in Macedonia does not seem any different than living in the states, but then these moments come up when small things that I used to take for granted aren't here and I realize how different life here really is.  That's it until next week.

First Week Back to School

Things are starting to pick up which is good.  I came home today after school hoping to relax and take a nap and I get online and had a bunch of things to do for GLOW and tutoring with Despina and 5 hours later I am finished and writing this blog while making mac and cheese!!!

So whats new?
School started back up on Monday.  It was nice to get back in the classroom and see all the kids.  I now have a schedule with the 3 English teachers and I will be going to each class (only grades K-6) at least once a week.  Some classes see me more than once.  Monday after school my bookcase was delivered!!! It is soooo nice having a home for all my food and getting it off the floor.

 The before shot.  All the food on the floor.  Do you see now why I need a bookcase!!!

 Right after the guys brought it in.  They had to carry it up 4 flights of steps, cause I live on the top floor.  When they brought it in and asked where I wanted it they gave me a strange look when I brought them into the kitchen.  I later explained it was really for food and not books.  За храна, не киниги.

 The after shot!!!!  With all my food.  I posted it on facebook when it came and the other volunteers commented on all my American food.  You can take the girl out of American but you cant take American out of the girl.  Mac and cheese and peanut butter are here to stay!!!

I did some baking this week.  My treat was buying a hand mixer, remember when my treat was buying a coach purse?!  After about my 3rd batch of cookies I got sick of trying to cream sugar and butter together with a fork.  I made orange peel bread and groundhog cookies.  I made the cookies for Kids Club.  I told them the story about groundhog day and what happens, they made groundhog puppets and I showed them a podcast from 2009 Groundhog Day.  The ladies at the American Corner take pictures during each event and they have not posted them up on facebook yet, when they do I will add them to the blog, but I do have a picture of the cookies.

They have corn flakes, oats, almonds (the recipe called for sliced almond, but your not going to find those in Macedonia, you buy whole ones and grab a knife and start chopping) and then you add 2 raisins as eyes.  The kids did not seem to like them, the recipe makes 4 dozen and each kid only had 1, some did not even finish their first one.  I took the rest to my GLOW meeting the next day and the volunteers finished them off for me, cause I did not want to bring the cookies home.

I taught one of the kindergarten classes this week by myself.  Maria had to go to the other primary school in Resen to work on a Macedonian test.  They told her to be there at 10:30, and she had a class to teach them.  Instead of pushing it to another time I took it.  It is very strange how they view and run schools here.  They have no problem pulling a teacher out of their lesson to go to a meeting or send them to do something else.  They also do not have a substitute system in place, so if a teacher is out they can ask the other teachers for help to fill the time or the kids just have a free time.  School here seems to be over looked and it does not take precedence like it does back in the states. Teaching a kindergarten class by myself was interesting and I was actually nervous about teaching it.  It was strange since I have taught before and I have NEVER felt nervous about teaching, but image walking into a room with 20 6 year old's there is no classroom management system set up and they speak another language.  It would be different if I was teaching the older students since they know more English and we could, after a view tries, start understanding each other.  But the kindergartens only know the vocabulary words that they are learning.  I had to use some of my Macedonia.  The class ended up going well. I had to teach them some vocabulary, toys: doll, ball, yo-yo, robot, and car. I had flashcards with a picture of each object on it and then I would say it in English and they would repeat. I also had them say it in a sentence "This is a ball."  "This is a doll."  Each kid had a turn and before I knew it the 40 mins was up and class was over.  The kids were well behaved, some of them, there is always that one that wants to talk and be funny, and how are you suppose to get them back on track when you cant fully speak their language?  You give them the teacher stare, and they shut their little mouths and get right back to work.....it works every time and in any country.

Another thing that was interesting at school was when I was in class with the 6th graders.  Their teacher, Snesha, asked them what they wanted to be when they got older.  I was curious to see what Macedonian children would say, since the typical answers in the states would be: a model, an athlete, a doctor, or anything that pays a lot of money. She called on a few kids and every single one of them shrugged their shoulders and said "I don't know".  I was floored, how can a child not have a dream of what they want to be when they grow up.  I asked Snesha if in and when in school they learn about professions.  In the states they learn about them in kindergarten and it comes up more through out their education.  She told me they learn the English names in 5th grade, I said no, when do they learn about profession, not in English, just in general.  She did not know and asked one of the students as they were walking out the door.  The student said that they did not learn about professions and was kind of surprised about the question. As Snesha and I were leaving the classroom we talked about it a little more.  If students do not know what types of jobs are out there then how will they know what they want to study later on?  Snesha replied their parents help them pick classes that will give them the skills for certain jobs which at the time have a high rate of employment.  I am assuming that there are kids that study and get a job they want, but most study and get a job just to get the job.  I understand that getting a job is important, but every kid should at least have a dream of what they want to be when they grow up. 

Thursday I had coffee with the Country Director and his wife.  Our country director, Stephen Kutzy, makes the rounds to see each volunteer to get to know them better and see how they are doing.  He also said that later he would return when school was in session to see the teachers and to make sure they are utilizing me as a volunteer.  The picked me up in the Peace Corps car, its always nice to ride in a car!!  We went to the museum in Resen, the Versille of Macedonia, and walked around.  They have driven through Resen a bunch of times but never stopped to see the city.  In the museum we met a man and he explained some of the ceramic pieces.

The 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps is March 1st and PC Macedonia is getting an exhibit ready to celebrate.  Stephen and his wife thought of the idea of having me pose with the gentleman and submit it to the exhibit.  We will see if it gets put in the show.  After we walked around the museum, we went and sat and had a cup of coffee.  They got to know me better and I got to know them better.  Stephen asked how I am liking Resen and how it compares to the first place they were going to put me, Injevo.  His wife looked confused and then it clicked and she said "ohhh your the one!"  lol I hear that every time Injevo comes up.  She said that it was good and brave of me to speak up and say what I did about my the environment of my first location and I agree.  I am very happy here in Resen and looking back I don't think I would have made it this far if I stayed in Injevo.

Saturday I had a GLOW meeting in Skopje.  I took the bus up and Karen and Elena, the other Jr Coordinators, got on in Veles and we road the rest of the way together.  When we arrived it was still a little early and we were going to meet the others in front of the Holiday Inn, yes they have a Holiday Inn in Skopje.  Karen, Elena and I went and sat in the lobby.  It reminded us of home.

Everyone that was coming in and out of the lobby was speaking English.  There were even 2 gentleman sitting near us talking to another man.  They were here on business and we got to talking.  We told them that we lived here and they looked surprised until we told them we were with the Peace Corps.  They were both from Boston and they asked where home was for us and what we were doing here.  After we meet the others outside and went to the Coffee Shop!!!  It is a good thing that I don't live in Skopje or close to it cause I would be in the Coffee Shop everyday.  It is just like Starbucks, they have all the fun, special drinks, they have treats and food and you can sit and have a conversation or work on something.  This is the one place in Skopje that has coffee to-go and every time I am in Skopje I go and get my coffee to-go, my Americanized treat.  I could not get it to go since that was were our meeting was, but I did get a golemo cappuccino. And when I say golemo, which is big in Macedonian, I mean golemo!!!!

 I drank the whole thing!!!!  And it was glorious.  Our meeting lasted 4 hours and by that time we were all starving.  Another good thing about not living in Skopje is that I am not tempted to eat at the different restaurant that Skopje has, buts its nice when I come in once a month for GLOW meetings.  There is one Mexican restaurant in Skopje, that I have not been to yet, and there are some Chinese restaurants as well.  We went for Chinese.  On the main strip there is a Chinese restaurant with paper lanterns and everything, but that is not the good one.  The good one is down a dark street across from the Russian embassy, figure that.  I had a BIG plate of chicken and peanuts, soooo good!!!  I left Skopje full, tired, and happy.  I spent the night in Veles since going back to Resen that night would have taken forever.  Sunday I had coffee in Veles with my language tutor Despina.  She was my language tutor in Lozovo and we continue doing lesson over Skype. Recently I have been learning the names of Macedonian foods.  Because every time PCVs go to a restaurant we always order the same thing since that is all we know.  I want to be able to try Macedonian food and know that I am not ordering brains (yes its on the menus) or other organs that I can live with out trying.  We sat and talked about, non-language lesson things, it was nice to catch up and learn more about her.

Ok, I think this is the longest blog so far and I have caught you all up on the events here in Macedonia and also I have finished eating my mac and cheese.  Now it is time to relax and possible watch a movie.  I will write again next Sunday!!!

Last Week of the Winter Holiday

I bet most of you are wondering why I have not been writing about school and just writing about all the festivals and events that I have been going to. The past 3 weeks have been the winter holiday, their Christmas break.  The teachers have been coming to school some days, most of them (during the first week) were working on grades and report cards. While some teachers worked the other teachers that do not have to write out report cards just hang around and socialize.  It is something new to me and I still really do not understand it, in the states if the teachers have to be in school they are preparing lesson and spending all of the time in their classrooms. Here the teachers spend the time in the teachers lounge talking about non-related school topics and drink coffee.  This week I went to school on Monday and Friday for a few hours, sat and listened to the other teachers talk.  Tuesday only the teachers from grades K-4th had to come in and since they did not have anything to work on I heard that a few were planning on not coming in.  Same thing with Thursday, it was only for the teachers of grades 5-8th.  Wednesday was a religious holiday, Vodici, and non of the teachers had to come in and the municipality, mayors office, was closed as well.

Vodici, (also know as the Epiphany) it celebrate the baptism of Jesus.  People gather around a local body of water, I went to Ohrid Lake, a priest carries a blessed cross and after signing a few songs he throws it into the water.  Local men dive into the water and try to retrieve the cross.  The man who gets the cross is considered blessed and lucky for the rest of the year.  I met a few other volunteers done at Ohrid because I want to see the events and Ohrid has the biggest celebration.  There were 5 volunteers that decided that they were going to jump in the water too.  They were not allowed to go try and get the cross because A they are not Macedonian and B you have to sign up and register in order to attempt to get the cross.  I decided just to watch this year since seeing frost of the grass on the bus ride there turned me off to jumping into the lake in the middle of January.  The dive started at 10am and there were tons of people hanging around the lake.  At events in Macedonia they serve free alcohol, which is definitely a bonus, and in the winter it is hot rakia.  Rakia is similar to brandy and it is made from grapes.  They heat it up and add some sugar to it.  There were stands all around the lake of people passing out hot rakia.  I believe it is not just for the social atmosphere but also drinking it warms you up and it probably takes off some of the chill when you jump into the coooold lake.   After the dive and the 5 volunteers had dried off we all went looking for a place to eat.  All of the restaurants looked crowded.  This was my 3 time in Ohrid and I had never seen it sooo crowded.  They 14s said that it looks this way in the summer and that you have a hard time finding a place to sit.  Point taken: plan for LOTS of crowds and people in the summer.

This is the closest that I got to the lake.  There were vendors selling decorated bottles for you to put the "holy" lake water into.  A few of us got them for keepsakes and decoration.  I got a small one that has a picture of Ohrid Lake on it.  Now it is in my apartment, full of holy water, to bring me luck this year.  When I go to Vodici next year I will have to bring it and refill it to get another year of luck.

Here are some more pictures from Vodici:

 The volunteers swimming back.  They had a race between all of them to see who could make it to the boat first.

 The cold troopers!!!!

Yesterday, I went to Kavadarci with a 7 other volunteers (5 were PC and the other 2 were European volunteers).  Kavadarci is located in the wine region and is the home of the Tikves winery, the biggest winery in the Balkans.  We had a tour of the winery and also a wine tasting: 6 different bottles of wine, 1 type of rakia, and a meat and cheese plate for 600 MKD about $12, not bad!!!  We had a lot of fun talking about the different types of wines and acting like we knew what we were talking about, since non of us were real winos.  But I did take some notes, our waiter had interesting things to say about each one and there were definitely a few that I really liked and will have to buy some bottles and bring them home.Oh did I mention that our tour and tasting started at 10am.  Cant think of a better way to start the day!!!

 The entrance to the winery.  This is where our tour started.

 This building is where they make the rakia.  I believe that they cook it to help the grapes ferment more and to get a higher alcohol content.

 These were some of the tanks where they are keeping the white wine from the grapes that they picked in the fall.  This will be the 2010 wine that will come out next year.

 During the tour we were taking down to the cellar.  The barrels behind me are fulled with the new line of wines they are making that are mixed wines made by French wine makers.

 This is our tour guy and waiter Alexander.  The first glass that we got to taste was from the huge barrels outside the restaurant.  They were filled with one of the classic red table wines that they make.

 The restaurant is 2 stories. One the bottom level there is a large fire place and a nice bar, picture below, upstairs there is another bar and tables.  That was were we have our tasting.  The bottom floor was being set up for a large party of 100 people that were coming in after us.

 When we picked the meat and cheese tasting we all assumed that they would put out big plates for the table to share...oooh no. Each person got their own plate: 3 types of cheese, 4 types of meat, and some nuts. They also gave us bread, delicious soft bread.

These were the wines that we tasted.  We got them in the order from right to left.  My favorites where the Limited Edition Chardonnay, the black bottle with the gold label, the Alexandra, the rosy next to it, and the rakia, the furthest on the left.  The 2 bottles with the colorful labels are from the new collection of wines that they are making.  Each bottle is a mix of two wines and they are made by the French wine makers.  When our tasting was all over and the wine was all gone we left fully and happy volunteers.

Tomorrow school starts up again.  I was able to sit down with 2 of the English teachers and start talking about what they want me to help with, but I need to sit down with the director of my school and ask him the same question since he was the one that wanted a volunteer.  I will be nice to get back to a normal routine and back in the classrooms. I have my schedule set up so I got to grades K-6th and I can meet with each of the English teachers once a week so we can start planning together.  I also am hoping to get working on an English teachers club/meeting.  So once a month the English teachers that live around Resen can meet up, talk about strategies and have workshops to learn new ones.

I was going through my pictures and forgot that I had these. They are from the schools holiday Christmas lunch that we had at the end of December.  So now you can put faces to the names of the English teachers that I will be working with.

 Irena, my counterpart, me, Snesha, and Maria.

We went to one of the restaurants in Resen.  This was actually my first time eating at one of the restaurants we have.  I normally cook at home, but it was nice to have some authentic Macedonia food.  These are some of the other teachers.  The gentleman in the suit located on the right is the director of my school.

I will post next week and will have more pictures!!!

Vevcani Craziness!!!

This week has been more eventful then last week.  Monday, Maria (one of the English teachers) helped me find a man that is building me a bookcase.  So now my food will have a home and be off the floor!!!  They said it would be ready by Friday, but by the time I got home it was late so I am waiting until Monday to go and get it.  I also wanted to wait for when Maria is free because I might need help asking if they will help me bring it to my apartment.  I ordered it all by myself, but this part is a bit more tricky.  After ordering the bookcase on Monday I was on a high.

Tuesday went well too.  I had Adult Conversation hour at the American Corner and we played "never have I ever".  Each person had to say something that they have never done before. For example, I said that I had never made ajvar (the red pepper spread).  Those that had made it got a jelly bean (Jelly Bellys that I had brought with me).  At the end, the person with the most jelly beans was the most adventurous.  Macedonians love sweets so it was fun to see their reaction to the different flavored jelly beans.  As I was leaving the American Corner and walking to the bus station I thought to myself this week could not get any better.  Well I jinxed it.  I got to the bus station and as I was waiting for my usual bus a boy standing by the ticket counter told me, that there was no bus tonight. Of course I froze.  I called Ana who works at the American Corner and she called the bus station to see what was going on.  The boy was right.  They had cancelled the bus and they had nothing planned for those of us waiting for the bus.  Transportation here in Macedonia is interesting.  Most people rely on the buses, but there is no reliable organization system.  Each city has their own bus schedule. I later learned that they cancelled the bus because of the tobacco strikes and roadblocks that have been happening on the main route from Skopje to Bitola. Peace Corps has been keeping us updated on the protests, but it was interesting how it effects everything.  There were 4 boys waiting for the same bus as me and they were all going to Ohrid.  They bargained with a taxi driver and were able to find a way to get to Ohrid.  I was out of luck, being the only one going to Resen and 5 people cant go in a taxi.  Thank goodness there are Peace Corps volunteers all over Macedonia because I was able to spend the night at one of the volunteers apartments in Bitola.  It was no big deal since I was suppose to be coming into Bitola the next day anyways for a workshop with Maria.  So really it saved me a trip on the bus, but definitely got me thinking that now I have to plan for anything (meaning now I have a small overnight kit in my purse if something like this happens again).  Got to be prepared for the unexpected over here.

Wednesday was the workshop in Bitola.  It was on Learning Styles and was presented by the British Council of Macedonia.  It was very interested and I was surprised on how many English teachers attended.  The classroom was packed!!!  I was the only volunteer and everyone in the room was whispering and trying to figure out who I was after we had gone around the room and introduced ourselves, since they could tell by my accent that I was not Macedonia.  I sat with other English teachers who lived in Resen, that I did not know existed.  After the workshop the presenters were talking about the English teacher's night that is held once a month at the American Corner in Bitola because they were trying to get people to attend.  The Resen teachers started talking about how there is nothing in Resen like that for them. LIGHT-BULB!!!  My new goal is to try and contact all the English teacher in Resen and help them set up a English teacher's night here.  Once a month, a place where they can all meet and talk and host workshops.  I hope I can get this started because it is something that I think is needed here, something that they want, and something that I have a background in (all those SVEA workshops have paid off). Cross your figures for me!!  When I got back to Resen that night I had Karen and Jori staying with me.  I made them mom's famous potato soup and we talked and watched movies.  They had come down because we were all going to Vevcani the next morning.

Thursday morning we got up, caught the bus to Struga and then caught a taxi to Vevcani, a town located on the mountains separating Macedonia from Albania and where this crazy festival is held.  We arrived their early and found a place to eat by the springs.

The village was very pretty and they had walking trails along these fresh water springs.  The girls and I hung around up there for awhile while we waited for the carnival festivities to start.  At 2:30pm the parade started.  We walked down to the center of town and ran into other groups of volunteers and tourists from all over Europe.  This is a very popular event.  Everyone lined the main streets and watched the parade. The people of Vevcani, mostly the men, dress in crazy costumes, get drunk, and celebrate the Old New Year.  This carnival represents the "evil" coming in and the next day, New Years, the burn the costumes from the day before to represent the cleansing in order to have a good clean new year.  Here are some pictures from the parade:

 This was a bunch of older man.  They all wore suite and these funny masks and each had an instrument that they were playing very badly.

 The drunk who started off the parade.

 Children dress up for the carnival too.  But their costumes are more like what you would see on Halloween, cute, instead of the disgusting and scary costumes that the other people wear.

 Debbie, with the spider.  The coolest costume I saw during the parade.

 This was a big dome of sticks that a bunch of men were carrying around.  They occasionally stopped and pretended to climb out of it, you can see one of them in the middle. On Friday, the stick dome was used to fuel the fire were they burned the costumes to bring in the clean new year.

The next photo requires a WARNING.  Please move all children, adults, and animals out of the room!!!

Now when I said there were disgusting costumes this is what I meant.  This one took the cake.  A bunch of guys dressed up a babas (grandmothers, a very popular costume).  They made a bed out of wood and corn stocks.  Another guy was lying on the bed pretending to be a woman giving birth.  The baldy, who is smoking a cigarette, was the baby.  There costume was representing woman in villages and the hardship that they have to go through giving birth, but they definitely took it a little too far.

The rest of the afternoon was full of partying and celebration.  Later that night there was a concert in the center and the day ended with a fireworks show.  Some of the volunteers only came for the day, but a group of us stayed the night in Vevcani.  Since this is such a popular tourist attraction the people of Vevcani rent out their houses.  Myself and a group of 7 other girls had a very nice house where we only spend $10 per person for one night.  Cant beat that!!

Friday was the day that they burned the costumes from the day before.  Everyone came to the center of town and all those in costumes parade towards us.  They lite a fire and those in costumes started throwing masks, parts of their costumes, anything they had into it.

You can see the sticks from the dome was the main fuel for the fire and the devil next to it just makes the photo even better.

The center of town was packed and those in costumes were dancing the oro, popular dance here, around the fire.  There were no ropes or any barrier separating the spectators from the dancers so there was a lot of pushing, shoving, and falling since most of the people dancing were still drunk from the night before.  I want to see the fire and the parade better so I held my ground and stayed right in front. It was a good idea in theory until some guys started swinging around a dead pig carcass and I got pig juice on my pants.  I was done after that.  It carnival was the craziest thing I have EVER seen!!!  I have not decided if I will go back next year, but if I do I might only go for the first day.  2 days was plenty, and I left tried and smelling like dead pig.  I can cross Vevcani carnival off of the list of things to see in Macedonia, because by-gaully I saw it!!!

If you want to read more about the history of the carnival in order to understand it better here is a website I  found: http://www.struga.org/eng/vevcani_carnival.htm.