Wrapping up the School Year

Two weeks left!!!  It doesn't matter where you are in the world, if you are a teacher you still count down to the last day of school.

Even though school does not officially end until June 8th, all the students and some of the teachers have more or less mentally checked-out for the summer.  It also doesn't help that they will be collecting the textbooks on Monday even though we have to teach the rest of the week.  And some of the teachers still have tests planned to give that week.  It doesn't make any sense to me or Irena, but oh well.  So since we won't have any textbooks, we are planning some review activities and possibly do a short play with our older students.

As for the summer, the word that sums it all up is TRAVEL!!!  I have about 22 vacation days that I need to use before August 25th and I plan to use every single one of them.  Right now I have one trip planned and another in the works.  The first is a tour of the Balkans.  Myself and another volunteer are planning on seeing Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and coming back to Macedonia through Albania.  It's going to be a great trip and we are planning to leave right when school gets out. The trip that is in the works is to Hungry and Romania.  I have heard from other volunteers that Budapest, Hungry is more beautiful than Paris.  And like Istanbul, Budapest was on my list of places I definitely wanted to see before leaving.  After seeing Budapest, I plan to make my way over to Romania to Bucharest and the Transylvania area to hang out with Dracula.  So I am really looking forward to these upcoming trips.

Besides travelling, I have GLOW to look forward to.  It has been taking up most of my time; but it will be definitely worth it when the girls arrive and they have a great week at camp.  That is about it for now.  But I will leave you with a clip from the Eurovision competition.  It is very popular over here and EVERYONE is talking about it.  Each country sends a music group/artist to represent their country.  Macedonia sent over one of its famous singers.  Of course, everyone was hoping that Macedonia would win, but a group from Russia was also very popular.

Singing Babas at Eurovision

Who does not like singing Babas (aka Grandmothers)? I think everyone's favorite is the smallest one.
So enjoy and remember "Party for Everybody"!!! (You will get it once you watch the clip)

Some R&R in Venice

A week ago, myself and two other PC Volunteers went to Venice for a few days.  There are cheap flights from Skopje to Venice so we decided to take full advantage. Venice is exactly as you see it in pictures, canals everywhere with boats and gondolas.

 This was just after we arrived.  Proof that I was in Venice, Italy standing on top of the Rialto Bridge looking out onto the canal.

 The Rialto Bridge.

 After walking though the maze of streets and alley ways, you enter into Saint Marco's Square.  At the end, you can see the Basilica.  In the evening, the restaurants and coffee shops have live bands playing and it a nice place to sit with a cup of coffee and relax.

 The Basilica, and as you can see there are tourists everywhere.

 Tourists playing with the pigeons.

 Gondolas and Carnival masks, the two things people think about when they hear the word Venice.  .

But when you hear the work Italy you think about . . .

 . . .THE FOOD!!!!  Even though Venice is not know for its Italian cooking,  I still enjoyed eating a lot of pizza and......

Gelato!!!

I know I have been writing mostly about my travels, but for the next few months that is what I will be mostly doing.  Since PC only gives us two days a month; and I did not travel a lot during my first year, I have many vacation days that I need to use up before I leave.  But don't worry, I am still working. School is starting to slow down, ever since the beginning of May the students have been acting like it is summer. GLOW  (Girls Leading Our world) camp is starting to pick up and has been taking up most of my time.  The camp, that I am one of the organizers for, is starting to come together and will be held at the beginning of July.  So for the next two months my time will be spent working on GLOW and traveling. 

The Adventure to Snake Island

Resen is about 20 km from Prespa Lake.  In the middle of the lake is an island called Golem Grad, also known as Snake Island.  Last week I had some other PCVolunteers visit because they wanted to see Golem Grad before they left Macedonia.  There is only one way to get to Golem Grad.  You have to go to the small and isolated village of Konjsko and find someone with a boat to take you out there.

The view from Konjsko. Only about 50 people live in Konjsko. It's just houses and the closest mini market is about a 20 minute drive on a windy, bumpy, dirt road on the side of the mountain.

 Approaching Golem Grad.

 Since it was a warm and sunny day, I was terrified of running into any of the snakes that live on the island.  But surprisingly, I saw more turtles than snakes.  Everywhere we walked we saw turtles and occasionally a few rabbits as well.  I think my stomping around did the job and kept the snakes away.

 The church of St. Peter.  The only building that still exists on the island.

 The ruins of an old church.

 The ruins of an old Basilica.

 The ruins of an old Sistern. There use to be a Roman settlement living on the island and there were some ruins of old houses on the island too.  We had a great time and spent about two hours walking around the whole island.

Heading back. This was the man that took us out to the island on his boat.  When we got back he let us sit in his yard and offered us rakija and coffee until our taxi arrived to take us back to Resen. 

Istanbul- Part 2

We went to the Topkapi Palace, Turkey's #1 tourist attraction.  It was a beautiful day and we walked around looking at all the rooms that the Sultans use to live in and then visited the Harem. We learned that at one point over 300 women lived in the Sultan's Harem.

 The entrance to the Palace.

 Part of the Harem

All of us at the Palace overlooking the Bosphorus Straight.

After the Palace, we made our way over to the Spice Bazaar.  It was a lot smaller than the Grand Bazaar, but filled with spices, dried fruits, sweets, and teas.

 Dried pepper, eggplants, and some other items. They dry their pepper just like the do in Macedonia.

 When you walk around all you see is piles and piles of spices.

Different kinds of teas.

After the Spice Bazaar, we head towards the water and took a ferry cruise up the Bosphorus.

 All ready for our two-hour cruise.

 On the water.  This is a famous bridge, Faith Bridge, that connects the European side of Turkey with the Asian side.

 Enjoying my Turkish tea on the boat. It got a little cold and windy.

 Afterwards, we grabbed some fish sandwiches.  There are three boats that sell fresh fish sandwiches.

Since it was windy, every time the boat rocked towards the pier the chef threw a sandwich to the waiter.

I could keep going on and on about my trip to Istanbul, but that would take a week of blogging. These were just some of the highlights. We also went to some museums and experienced a Hamam, the traditional Turkish bath.  The women and men go to separate areas and get "washed" and then a massage.  I can say it was an interesting experience; and I can cross that one off the list. 

Istanbul- Part 1

During the Orthodox (Macedonian) Easter, April 15, myself and three other volunteers went to Istanbul, Turkey for a mini-vacation. I have always wanted to see Istanbul; and over the past year many of the other PC volunteers went and looking at their pictures made me what to go even more.

We flew, because there was no way I was going to survive 12+ hours on a bus (one way), and arrived late the first night. We stayed at the Big Apple Hostel, which was perfectly located in the Sultanahmet area. The hostel is run by a family and they were all very nice.

The next day we got up and went to go see the main sites:

Our first stop was Aya Sofia, also called the Church of Divine Wisdom. Its one of the world's greatest buildings.

Inside Aya Sofia.

Making a wish on the "wishing pillar". Hopefully, my wish will come true and I can return to Istanbul one day.

After enjoying some delicious Turkish food: chicken kebabs, pita with humus, and traditional Turkish lentil soup. Our next stop was the famous Blue Mosque.

It's called that because its covered in blue titles. It is the most photographed mosque.

Inside the Blue Mosque. It was not prayer time; so we did not have to cover our heads, but like all mosques....

we had to take off our shoes.

Then it was time for some SHOPPING!!! And there is no better place than the Grand Bazaar.

The Grand Bazaar is HUGE!!! You could get lost in there for days. We felt like we were walking around in circles, but we did not mind. There was too much to see and buy.

Pottery.

Scarves.

And of course belly dancing outfits. No I did not buy one. The interesting thing about shopping in Istanbul is that the merchants do not put prices on their items. Part of the experience is bargaining. At the beginning I was a bit hesitant, but after walking around for awhile and seeing how others did it, I got the hang of it. The trick is to know how much you are willing to pay for the item; and slowly work your way down to that price and then stick to your guns.  If you keep saying the same price, the merchant will see you really want the item; and if it's not ridiculously low, he will normally give it to you at the price you are asking.

Stay tuned for the rest of my Istanbul trip!!!

National Spelling Bee 2012

On April 7th, Irena, Maria, and I took thirteen of our students up to Skopje for the National Spelling Bee.  This was the first time we were bringing students to the Spelling Bee; last year I went just to go check it out.  Our students had been practicing for weeks and they were excited to compete and meet other students from around Macedonia.  In total around 800-900 kids from grades 5-12 came from all over Macedonia to compete.  It was a full day event.  Irena, myself and the students left Resen at around 5am and we did not get back to Resen until around 8pm.

On top of helping Irena with our students, I was also volunteering at the Bee.  Based on last year, they "created" a position for me.......Hallway Monitor.  Last year all the students were in the hallways waiting for their turn to spell and it tended to get a little noisy.  So my "teacher voice" came out a few times.  I wanted to be in the hallways again this year, because I could help out at the Bee and also watch my students compete at the same time.  All our kids did a great job.  They had to stand in line and when it was their turn, they had to write the word instead of the traditional way of "spelling" the word out loud.  Most of our Resen students made it to the finals and two of them got very far along in the finals.

When I met up with all of them at the end of the day, I was expecting them to be tired and cranky, since it was a VERY full day.  But it was just the opposite.  When I entered "their room" (they had claimed it so all the kids knew where Irena and Maria were) I was greeted with a loud "HEY!"  They were still full of energy and talking and laughing about what had happened during the bees.  A big reason why everyone was still in good spirits was because one of our students, Vojo (5th grade), aka the class clown, was acting out scenes from Turkish soap operas and telling jokes.  Even during the three hour combi ride back, he was still joking and making everyone laugh.  Irena and I have already decided that he "HAS" to go again next year, since he is now our Spelling Bee Cheerleader. 

Congressional Procession in Macedonia

A lot has happened in the past few weeks, so this is the first of a few blogs.  About two weeks ago I was called up to Skopje because a few Congressmen were here visitng, and one of them was Congressman Gerry Connolly from Virginia.   In total there were five Congressmen:  Virginia, Washington, North Carolina, California, and Minnesota.  For most of them it was their first trip to Macedonia, for the Congressman from California it was either his fourth or fifth time.  They visited five countries in five days and Macedonia was their last stop.  This "procession" as they call it is something they do about four times a year.  They come and meet with the political leaders in each country and give guidance.  It was a lot of fun getting to meet them all and telling them about Macedonia, the culture, the people, the food, and also what we are doing here as volunteers.  But I think the best part for us volunteers was raiding the American food that they brought with them!!!  Root beer, Dr. Pepper (my favorite), Oreos, Cheese-its, the list goes on and on. We, meaning the volunteers, had planned to go out to dinner afterwards, but most of us filled up on all the goodies. And of course you know we left with some of the food too..... doggie bags!!!

 Myself, along with other volunteers, and our Country Director (the gentleman in the suit and tie) talking with one of the Congressmen (Gerry Connelly) at the fancy Holiday Inn in Skopje.

 All of us, plus our Country Director, with VA Congressman Gerry Connolly and the American Ambassador (center).

Myself and a fellow Virginia volunteer, Jason, with Congressman Gerry Connolly.

As we were getting ready to leave we ran into the Congressman from Washington. He had just gotten back from buying a Macedonian soccer jersey and he put it on to take a picture with us.

It was a great time and it was an honor to be able to sit and talk to the Congressmen about Macedonia and what I am doing here.