Last week was my first as a capital-V Peace Corps Volunteer after moving to my permanent site, Bitola. The swearing-in ceremony on Thanksgiving was a nice affair. The American ambassador to Macedonia performed the swearing-in (they really do have us say a pledge) and there was a moving speech in Macedonian and Albanian delivered by two of the volunteers from my group. As you can imagine, it's not easy to deliver a speech in a language you have been speaking for 3 months in front of almost 200 people! As good as it felt to finally be a volunteer, the highlight was the Thanksgiving feast. There was a plethora of American and Macedonian dishes, including turkeys flown in from America. For some reason, turkey isn't really eaten here so it was the annual opportunity for turkey. Peace Corps intended the turkeys on the buffet table to be decorative with plates of carved meat brought out later but instead at our buffet table, one host dad helped all of us clamoring for turkey by essentially tearing it apart with his bare hands and serving it to people. My biggest score was some apple pie but unfortunately there was no green bean casserole--I'll see if I can't doctor some up for next year. If you go to the Picasa web albums on the right side of my blog, there's a new album with photos from swearing-in and Bitola.
The day after swearing-in, I hauled my 3 ginormous bags to Bitola by bus. Thankfully I had help getting to and from the bus station but it's a relief not to have to pack my life into 3 bags again for about two years. After I arrived my landlady, Lubica, showed me around the bazaar and called the internet installers for me. The bazaar is an outdoor affair open during daylight hours and is for all intents the only place in town for fruits and vegetables. On the plus side, most things at the bazaar are really affordable and fresh. As for the internet installation, the installers were supposed to come on Sunday. In reality this meant the following the following Saturday, 6 days later. And I thought American installation windows were long! Not only do I have internet now, I also have cable TV. I suspect Peace Corps volunteers in other countries would look at me in distain (and possibly envy) for these luxuries, but this is where the program sent me so I might as well have internet and TV if Macedonians do.
Setting up shop in my new apartment is an ongoing affair. I'm making almost daily trips to buy food as well as odds and ends like a laundry drying rack, hangers, etc. My splurge item was a scale so I can keep track of losing the 5 pounds I gained during training. I also have my eye on getting a mixer and blender so I don't have to do things like make hummus with a potato masher like I did last night. The hummus really was a project--cooking from scratch is basically the only option here. That means to make hummus I bought dried garbanzo beans, soaked them overnight, cooked them for two hours, peeled them, and them used them in my recipes. I will never take canned garbanzo beans for granted again.
And lest I forget, I did start work. My "primary site" (in Peace Corps lingo) is Pelister National Park. The office is just off the main pedestrian mall only about 10 minutes from my apartment. My counterpart, Aleksandra (Sashka), is the main person that I will work with at the park. She and the director have been very good about giving me time to get settled. I think our first project together will be to apply for European Union (EU) funds available to countries like Macedonia that want to join the EU; the funds would go towards initiatives outlined in the Park's management plan. When I'm not at work, I'm taking Macedonian lessons from my new tutor, Biljana, meeting people in my new hometown, and checking things out on runs. Nothing is happening at a breakneck pace but my days are pretty full, so I expect the next 103 weeks will go by before I know it.
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