Sunday, September 27, 2009

Life as a Trainee

My first week of classes is over, so at least now I can say "I like [fill in the blank with limited vocabulary words], I don't like [X], I have [X], and I don't have [X]" in addition to introductions and greetings. We meet for 4 hours in the mornings for language school, then we have other trainings like medical and vocational sessions most afternoons. Homework has a whole new meaning when your life depends on it--I think I've never been so diligent about my homework and that says something coming from studious me. This week we'll also start spending time visiting local nonprofits and municipalities to see how these types of Macedonian institutions approach their work.

Part of my training, besides being a good classroom student, is to take in as much as possible in the community. One way I did so this week was to assist in making a Macedonian specialty, Ajvar. Ajvar is a delicious red pepper spread that many households make themselves. For my host family, this started with me, my host sister Katerina, her son Mario, and Katerina's grandparents going to the open-air market for red peppers and other ingredients. The number of peppers is AMAZING. I think we bought about 20 pounds worth. Then we took the peppers and other ingredients home and began removing the stems and seeds. Next Baba (grandma) blackened the peppers on a wood fired stove on the patio. Then we worked on removing the skins before they were chopped up. If this sounds easy, it's not. I think this part of the cooking process took about 5 hours. The next day, they mixed up all the ingredients (I missed this part, which I think was part of keeping the secret recipe in Macedonia) and started cooking on the wood stove again. The ajvar is continously stirred with a big wooden paddle for probably about 3 hours. Apparently my stirring techinique needs some work. Then the finished product is put into jars and presto, 8 hours later you have ajvar. Certainly you can see that when it comes to food, Macedonians do not cut corners. I took copious pictures of the shopping and cooking that I hope to get up next week.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Macedonian Hospitality

After an intense week of initial language training and guidance on Peace Corps policies, I moved in on Friday with my new host family. I'm living with a very nice couple, Victoria and Lasto, in the town of Sveti Nikole about 30 minutes from the capital. I have my own room with a pull-out sofa bed and storage for all of my belongings that I hauled halfway around the world. Right now I'm writing from my host sister Katerina's house. She's a few years younger than me and has been married to her husband Panche for 4 years. They have a 3 year old son, Mario, who already knows more Macedonian than I do. There are a handful of other Peace Corps trainees (we're not volunteers officially until we finish training and are sworn in) going to language school here and every other week or so, we'll meet up with the other trainees for trainings together. My host family is incredibly nice, even though I can't say much and I don't understand 99% of what they say to me. I'm carrying around a Macedonian-English dictionary and I'm lucky that Katerina knows a lot of English. I must not be making a terrible impression because already they suggested I date and marry a Macedonian.

After arriving here, we did a tour of the town and stopped at each of the host family's houses. In Macedonia, it is polite to offer guests food and drink and for guests to partake of said food and drink. This means that we ate from 11 am to 4 pm on Saturday, 7 stops plus lunch afterwards with my host family. As I said before, the food is very good because everyone makes fresh baked goods, pepper spreads, etc. I have gone running a few times but I think I'll need to go more. Running is not a very popular sport here, especially in comparison to soccer and handball, but maybe I'll help bring it into vogue.

It may be awhile before I can post photos because of my limited internet access and rampant computer viruses in Macedonia, but I'll get some up as soon as I can.

Monday, September 14, 2009

In Macedonia

I'm here! All my big bags arrived. Peace Corps is taking very good care of us. So far I can say "My name is Katie, I'm from America, nice to meet you." My internet access is very limited this week (and maybe for the whole training) but I'm happy to be able to tell you I arrived. Macedonia has beautiful countryside (kind of looks like Nebraska) and good food, so I think this will be a nice place to spend the next two years.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Gruesse aus Wien

That's right, greetings from Vienna! Our group is sitting on the floor at the Vienna airport during our five hour layover, forming a semicircle of Americans on laptops taking advantage of the free wi-fi. The trip here went relatively smoothly, though we had to put bags in the aisle of our tour bus to the airport because we had more baggage than the luggage compartment could handle. We have a 1.5 hour flight from Vienna to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, getting us in about 3:30 pm.

I think there are 37 people in my group, nicknamed MAK 14 (14th group in Macedonia). There are folks as young as 22 and as old as 70-something. At yesterday's staging, we spent time starting to get to know one another and go over basic Peace Corps policies and goals. In the evening, I got to have one last spicy Indian meal and mango lassi. I also got in one final run in DC and a bagel breakfast. Other than being sleep deprived right now, I'm feeling good and am excited to get to Macedonia!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Annual going away party

Last night my friends reminded me that when we got together a little over year ago, it was my going away party for my move from DC to Portland. As much as I've moved around over the last 10 years--Colorado, Nebraska, Germany, Nebraska, North Carolina, Colorado, DC, Oregon, Colorado, and now Macedonia--I really have been having going away celebrations on an almost annual basis. On the plus side, I do treasure the opportunities they provide to catch up with people if only briefly. Plus, moving presents a chance to make new friends too. Staging starts today and I'll be leaving from Sharyn and Nick's place soon for our convening hotel. All along I've been pretty excited (but there's definitely some nervous anticipation too).

My last few days stateside have been spent in DC, a greatest hits tour of my favorite people and places. I'm also filling up on cuisines like Thai that might be scarce in Macedonia. Seeing friends here and having them wish me well is a good way to depart, so thank you to everyone who's helped send me off!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Carrying around my body weight

I returned from Costa Rica on Tuesday and have spent most of the last week packing. My parents have been very indulgent about having my belongings strewn across the upstairs hallway as I struggled to pick 100 pounds of clothing, shoes, electronics, and other "necessities" that would fit in two duffel bags (plus a carry on and personal item). Below are photos of me with my obscene resulting baggage which my parents assure me is legitimate for 2 years but still feels excessive when strapped to my person. There's also the photo of everything I tried to shove in those bags (and while it didn't all fit, you'd be surprised what I got in there thanks to the magic of ziploc bags). On the subject of photos, I posted a few from my trip to Costa Rica as well. There should be a link to a Picasa album on the right hand side of this blog.

Tomorrow I take off for DC and I'm so excited to catch up with many of my friends there. My orientation (Staging in Peace Corps parlance) starts on Friday, we leave for Macedonia on Saturday, and arrive on Sunday. After the first week, I'll be placed with a host family that I'll live with for the 3 months that I'm in language school. I don't think I'll have regular email access while I'm living with the family, but I'll try to post here as I'm able from an internet cafe. Hopefully when I'm placed in my permanent site, I'll be able to get home internet access. I'd love to hear from folks while I'm gone but just bear with me if it takes me awhile to respond to you. I am happy to say that you should also be able to reach me on Skype (for the uninitiated, Skype is a free online phone / video phone service). I also got a phone number through Skype that you can dial just like a regular phone number but I answer it on my computer. The cost for the call is whatever you are normally charged for a call to a 202 area code. Pretty nifty, huh? I'll send out the numbers via email, I don't want to post it online but if I miss someone, drop me a line.