Groups of teenagers strolling the pedestrian mall or drinking coffee in the outdoor cafes is a very common sight in Bitola and they have the seemingly universal teenage trait of being (or at least trying to be) cool. In the last week, I had several opportunities to engage with Bitola teens and fortunately those cool exteriors seem to house some terrific youth.
The first opportunity was when I faciliated a talk on American families at the American Corner resource center. The audience was comprised of very bright high school sophomores who in fact summed up their free-time hobbies as "drinking coffee." And while American teens typically love a good cup of coffee, it usually comes between a soccer practice and a piano lesson and many (probably too many) other scheduled activities. Do teens in Macedonia want to go beyond coffee?
They claim to but I was left wondering when on Saturday, fellow volunteer Ashley and I held a first meeting for the Young Mens' Leadership Project (YMLP). YMLP, as the name implies, teaches 13-18 year old guys leadership skills through activities like a summer camp and a community service project. We had 16 guys sign up as interested in the camp but only 4 showed up for the informational meeting. Luckily those 4 are fantastic and my favorite part of the meeting was when we were doing a game about surviving a nuclear holocaust and what 3 people the boys would choose to survive. They picked a doctor to help with injuries and a scientist to help grow food--and a lawyer to manage even distribution of the supplies! They have a strong sense of equity, that's for sure.
Finally, yesterday was Day of the Trees, a holiday held 2-3 times per year so people can go plant trees and a busload of teens from the agricultural high school pitched in under the guidance of my national park coworkers. The way it works is there's a stick for punching a hole in the ground, then you insert a seedling and push the soil around it with your feet. I posted some photos of the process on Picasa. The kids made quick work of seeding an area that had been burned by a forest fire about a year ago. Sure, they probably went to drink coffee afterwards, but my faith was restored that these kids want to make a positive difference and can put down the espresso for a good cause.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Snow Way!
Although my Peace Corps assignment is with Pelister National Park, until this weekend I'd only been there once. Luckily my neighbor/fellow volunteer Heather introduced me to Pepo, a local who runs a mountain hut in the park and he invited me to hike up to the hut which is located next to a lake called Golemo Ezero (Big Lake). We began our hike at 6:30 AM on Saturday, a 4 hour uphill climb through mostly snowy terrain. Pepo and I had started out with two 18 year old boys but I only kept up with them for the first third of the hike. Despite growing up in Colorado, I'd never really hiked through snow and particularly not with a 20 pound backpack so for me it was tough. That said, it was well worth the effort. I posted pictures on Picasa and yeah, it was pretty spectacular. The lake is visible literally on the last step and completely frozen over now, but what really blew me away were the mountain tops we viewed when we hiked a little way past the lake. During World War I, there was a great deal of fighting throughout this area and apparently you can see the trench remnants during the summer months.
In the evening, we were joined by Pepo's best friend who hiked up another way which took 13 hours and left him feeling like he'd been beaten up. Although the hut has several rooms, I was happy to sleep in the room with the wood stove and it was very comfortable. Probably the main downside to being there in the winter was the lack of a functional outhouse and I minded Pepo's advice to pay attention to the wind direction.
On Sunday, several day hikers came up and we sat around drinking a Macedonian specialty called Mountain Tea. They make it with dried herbs and it's really delicious. I followed the conversations as best I could, chatting a bit in my still rough Macedonian. We left around noon for the hike down, which took half as long as going up. You would think that means the way down was easier and I think overall it was, but I do have sore calves today from plunging down a snow covered mountainside where my footsteps sometimes sank down until the snow was up to my knees. Let's just say it was a good thing that Pepo loaned me a snow ax or I might have just slid back down.
The fun and outdoors over for now, I have a full week juggling several projects including trying to organize something for Earth Day, prepping for a SPA (small project assistance) committee meeting, revising an agenda for a proposed environmental leadership camp, talking to a potential grant partner for the park, reviewing suggestions for the park's new visitors center, and getting ready for a meeting about the summer young men's leadership camp. I'm busy but it's a varied, good busy.
In the evening, we were joined by Pepo's best friend who hiked up another way which took 13 hours and left him feeling like he'd been beaten up. Although the hut has several rooms, I was happy to sleep in the room with the wood stove and it was very comfortable. Probably the main downside to being there in the winter was the lack of a functional outhouse and I minded Pepo's advice to pay attention to the wind direction.
On Sunday, several day hikers came up and we sat around drinking a Macedonian specialty called Mountain Tea. They make it with dried herbs and it's really delicious. I followed the conversations as best I could, chatting a bit in my still rough Macedonian. We left around noon for the hike down, which took half as long as going up. You would think that means the way down was easier and I think overall it was, but I do have sore calves today from plunging down a snow covered mountainside where my footsteps sometimes sank down until the snow was up to my knees. Let's just say it was a good thing that Pepo loaned me a snow ax or I might have just slid back down.
The fun and outdoors over for now, I have a full week juggling several projects including trying to organize something for Earth Day, prepping for a SPA (small project assistance) committee meeting, revising an agenda for a proposed environmental leadership camp, talking to a potential grant partner for the park, reviewing suggestions for the park's new visitors center, and getting ready for a meeting about the summer young men's leadership camp. I'm busy but it's a varied, good busy.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
6 Down
I didn't want to do another numeric blog title but the type-A in me loves to count and I'm now have 6 months down in Macedonia, 21 left to go. That second part still sounds like a lifetime yet but really, I feel like having been here half a year is significant. In six months I learned the basics of a new language, visited a half-dozen new cities, made many new friends, and started to get the hang of this whole volunteer thing. There have been a lot of highs but also some lows. Usually I try to focus on the good things about being here but when something frustrating happens, it is easy to think about what I miss about being in America. The best remedy for such nostalgia can be thinking about what I don't miss. Here's a sampling from both lists:
What I Miss:
Indian food, runners, burritos, happy hours, fresh cilantro and basil, going to the movies, my other clothes and shoes, comprehending office chit-chat, Thai tea, my iPhone, microbrews, not overthinking spending more than $15, pizza with tomato sauce, my queen size bed, choir, sidewalks, bagels, showers with automatic hot water, potstickers, recycling.
What I Don't Miss:
8 hour days at a desk, not knowing what ajvar and rakija are, American political bickering on TV, overcast Portland days, vegetables that aren't tasty but are expensive, people walking around with headphones like the rest of the world doesn't exist, shopping at a grocery store that's not playing the "Glee" soundtrack, paying rent.
What I Miss:
Indian food, runners, burritos, happy hours, fresh cilantro and basil, going to the movies, my other clothes and shoes, comprehending office chit-chat, Thai tea, my iPhone, microbrews, not overthinking spending more than $15, pizza with tomato sauce, my queen size bed, choir, sidewalks, bagels, showers with automatic hot water, potstickers, recycling.
What I Don't Miss:
8 hour days at a desk, not knowing what ajvar and rakija are, American political bickering on TV, overcast Portland days, vegetables that aren't tasty but are expensive, people walking around with headphones like the rest of the world doesn't exist, shopping at a grocery store that's not playing the "Glee" soundtrack, paying rent.
Friday, March 5, 2010
30 Days
Morgan Spurlock is the guy who made the movie "Supersize Me" about eating McDonalds exclusively for 30 days, which then spun off into a show "30 Days" about people doing unlikely things for 30 days like making New Yorkers live in an organic commune or having a Christian live with a Muslim family. I was thinking that if someone were assigned to be a Peace Corps volunteer for 30 days, it would be a pretty good episode--exotic local, sticky situations, and funny dialogue. It's been about 30 days since my last posting, which there are good reasons for, like traveling 4 weekends in a row, and bad reasons for, namely my addiction to watching "Glee" online. But here's a brief recap of my "30 Days," captured in pictures in the "Gostivar, Demir Kapija, Negotino, Prilep, Sveti Nikole, and Bitola" photo album through the Picasa link.
Scene 1: Gostivar
Okay, so actually this was more than 30 days ago but I spent a weekend in the town of Gostivar where 3 volunteers from my group live, helping to celebrate some volunteer winter birthdays. Gostivar is one of the towns in Macedonia with a significant Albanian population, so these brave volunteers took on not only learning Macedonian but Albanian too. Albanians represent 20-30% of Macedonia's population but unfortunately are not always well received as citizens. There has been controversy here of late about what language Albanian children should learn in. Unlike in Canada where citizens learn both French and English, Albanians are expected to know Macedonian but not vice versa. In some ways I think that makes the Peace Corps volunteers teaching English even more valuable because English is a second language for both groups. At any rate, Gostivar was my first visit to an Albanian community and it was interesting to see many signs in Macedonian, Albanian, and Turkish (another minority group in Macedonia). Also, it was lovely to see the snow covered city and drink my first salep, a root drink kind of like white hot chocolate.
Scene 2: Skopje
With a weekend bookended by a committee meeting and doctor appointments, I spent a weekend in Macedonia's capital, Skopje. My stomach enjoyed the McDonalds (twice), gelato (50 cents a cone, also twice), Chinese food, and a valiant but disappointing attempt at Mexican food by an Irish restaurant then redeemed by the Irish breakfast at another Irish establishment. I also got see where some of the Skopje volunteers live, which for two of them are Roma neighborhoods. The Roma, maybe better known in the world as gypsies, are another minority group in Macedonia and struggle to be well received, especially when it comes to education and jobs but despite the hardships, the volunteers that work with the Roma have mentioned their zest for life.
Scene 3: Demir Kapija
Here's where we get into what seemed like a true Peace Corps experience, with fellow volunteer John and I on a crowded, decrepit bus for 3 hours to the town of Demir Kapija. And when I say crowded, I mean people standing up and down the aisle and a woman asking the 5 of us sitting in the back to allow her to squeeze in, so there are 6 of us sitting on 5 seats. There was also a terrible engine sound, leading other people to comment that they thought there would be an explosion. Sometimes there are words I wish I didn't know in Macedonian--explosion might be one of them. The good news is that once we arrived in Demir Kapija, we had a lovely time. We stayed with Zach, one of the volunteers from my training community and it was like a mini Sveti Nikole reunion because Justin, Sarah, and my language instructor Despina were also there. Zach is lucky enough to live in wine country and a friend of his led us on a hike, complete with a wine break in the middle furnished by the Dutch guys staying at the winery who joined us on the hike. The other hike highlights were 1) the church we went into, one of those "you have to know the villager that keeps the key" places with these fantastic murals like a devil standing over a sleeping couple indicating "don't oversleep, go to church" and 2) the elderly couple who invited us in for coffee and rakija and showed us their baby goats. After the hike, we ate our weight in salad and ribs at a Demir Kapija establishment, ordering like locals--sans menus, just asking what they have in the pantry.
Scene 4: Negotino
The same weekend another volunteer, Tracy, had a big birthday blowout complete with a dance party in her apartment. This coincided with a festival in her town, Negotino, for the cutting of the grape vines indicating the start of the growing season. The festival, Sveti Trifon, includes the vineyards dispensing free wine in the city center and if there is anywhere you will find volunteers, it's where there is free stuff. Even the president of Macedonia was there sampling the wares.
Scene 5: Prilep
Still the same weekend--exhausting, isn't it? I stopped in Prilep on my way home, about a 45 minute bus ride from Bitola for one reason--to eat Thai food. Prilep has, I believe, the only Thai restaurant in the entire country and I MISS Thai food. It also happened that there was a festival wrapping up as we arrived, so we got to see some of the folks in costume as snow was coming down. Eventually Thai food was consumed--green curry, spring rolls, and ice cream--and it was delicious. Unfortunately the service was slow and the snow was coming down pretty hard, so I unexpectedly stayed the night with fellow volunteer Kaylee (and her cat, Freckles) and returned to Bitola the next morning.
Scene 6: Sveti Nikole
New weekend, new festival--this time I was in my old training community for their 10th festival of traditional folklore, Todorica. I stayed with my host family and was relieved when they said my Macedonian has improved a little since I'd been there a month ago. The festival included folk dancing and I must say, I've seen folk dancing every month since I arrived here and I think that may hold the whole 27 months. I enjoyed these performances though because it wasn't just Macedonian dance but also Albanian, Turkish, and whatever it is when men jump around wearing humongous cow bells attached to their waists. Tied into the festival is a large marketplace and my favorite item on sale was "Scheherazade" sweaters, named after the main character on the most popular TV program here.
Scene 7: Bitola
Last weekend I was relieved to be home (and I really do think of Bitola that way now) but not one to sit around all weekend, I decided to hike up to a monument on a hill near town. As it turns out, the monument is to the 3,400 German soldiers who died here during World War I. There was actually a lot of warfare in the park where I work, a major hardship on the villages during the war. At the monument, a woman there struck up a conversation with me and invited me to her house for coffee. Since she was with 4 little kids, it seemed safe enough and as depicted in Scene 3, random strangers inviting me in for coffee seems sort of normal now. The youngest kid, one year old, was wearing a hoodie that said "Portland" and I got a kick out of that and told them that's where I lived before coming to Macedonia. As usual, I got wonderful guests treatment with drinks, cookies, and apples. In fact, they insisted I eat a second apple because it was from their yard. They invited me to come back again and I plan to because they are lovely people and I'm so happy when I make friends with the locals.
Scene 8: Katie's Apartment in Bitola
So now you're caught up to me, typing this in my apartment with Serbian MTV on in the background. The next 30 days are my last in my 20s and I can't believe I'll be 30 soon but it helps to know that there are many exciting episodes yet to come so I won't have time to think about being older.
Scene 1: Gostivar
Okay, so actually this was more than 30 days ago but I spent a weekend in the town of Gostivar where 3 volunteers from my group live, helping to celebrate some volunteer winter birthdays. Gostivar is one of the towns in Macedonia with a significant Albanian population, so these brave volunteers took on not only learning Macedonian but Albanian too. Albanians represent 20-30% of Macedonia's population but unfortunately are not always well received as citizens. There has been controversy here of late about what language Albanian children should learn in. Unlike in Canada where citizens learn both French and English, Albanians are expected to know Macedonian but not vice versa. In some ways I think that makes the Peace Corps volunteers teaching English even more valuable because English is a second language for both groups. At any rate, Gostivar was my first visit to an Albanian community and it was interesting to see many signs in Macedonian, Albanian, and Turkish (another minority group in Macedonia). Also, it was lovely to see the snow covered city and drink my first salep, a root drink kind of like white hot chocolate.
Scene 2: Skopje
With a weekend bookended by a committee meeting and doctor appointments, I spent a weekend in Macedonia's capital, Skopje. My stomach enjoyed the McDonalds (twice), gelato (50 cents a cone, also twice), Chinese food, and a valiant but disappointing attempt at Mexican food by an Irish restaurant then redeemed by the Irish breakfast at another Irish establishment. I also got see where some of the Skopje volunteers live, which for two of them are Roma neighborhoods. The Roma, maybe better known in the world as gypsies, are another minority group in Macedonia and struggle to be well received, especially when it comes to education and jobs but despite the hardships, the volunteers that work with the Roma have mentioned their zest for life.
Scene 3: Demir Kapija
Here's where we get into what seemed like a true Peace Corps experience, with fellow volunteer John and I on a crowded, decrepit bus for 3 hours to the town of Demir Kapija. And when I say crowded, I mean people standing up and down the aisle and a woman asking the 5 of us sitting in the back to allow her to squeeze in, so there are 6 of us sitting on 5 seats. There was also a terrible engine sound, leading other people to comment that they thought there would be an explosion. Sometimes there are words I wish I didn't know in Macedonian--explosion might be one of them. The good news is that once we arrived in Demir Kapija, we had a lovely time. We stayed with Zach, one of the volunteers from my training community and it was like a mini Sveti Nikole reunion because Justin, Sarah, and my language instructor Despina were also there. Zach is lucky enough to live in wine country and a friend of his led us on a hike, complete with a wine break in the middle furnished by the Dutch guys staying at the winery who joined us on the hike. The other hike highlights were 1) the church we went into, one of those "you have to know the villager that keeps the key" places with these fantastic murals like a devil standing over a sleeping couple indicating "don't oversleep, go to church" and 2) the elderly couple who invited us in for coffee and rakija and showed us their baby goats. After the hike, we ate our weight in salad and ribs at a Demir Kapija establishment, ordering like locals--sans menus, just asking what they have in the pantry.
Scene 4: Negotino
The same weekend another volunteer, Tracy, had a big birthday blowout complete with a dance party in her apartment. This coincided with a festival in her town, Negotino, for the cutting of the grape vines indicating the start of the growing season. The festival, Sveti Trifon, includes the vineyards dispensing free wine in the city center and if there is anywhere you will find volunteers, it's where there is free stuff. Even the president of Macedonia was there sampling the wares.
Scene 5: Prilep
Still the same weekend--exhausting, isn't it? I stopped in Prilep on my way home, about a 45 minute bus ride from Bitola for one reason--to eat Thai food. Prilep has, I believe, the only Thai restaurant in the entire country and I MISS Thai food. It also happened that there was a festival wrapping up as we arrived, so we got to see some of the folks in costume as snow was coming down. Eventually Thai food was consumed--green curry, spring rolls, and ice cream--and it was delicious. Unfortunately the service was slow and the snow was coming down pretty hard, so I unexpectedly stayed the night with fellow volunteer Kaylee (and her cat, Freckles) and returned to Bitola the next morning.
Scene 6: Sveti Nikole
New weekend, new festival--this time I was in my old training community for their 10th festival of traditional folklore, Todorica. I stayed with my host family and was relieved when they said my Macedonian has improved a little since I'd been there a month ago. The festival included folk dancing and I must say, I've seen folk dancing every month since I arrived here and I think that may hold the whole 27 months. I enjoyed these performances though because it wasn't just Macedonian dance but also Albanian, Turkish, and whatever it is when men jump around wearing humongous cow bells attached to their waists. Tied into the festival is a large marketplace and my favorite item on sale was "Scheherazade" sweaters, named after the main character on the most popular TV program here.
Scene 7: Bitola
Last weekend I was relieved to be home (and I really do think of Bitola that way now) but not one to sit around all weekend, I decided to hike up to a monument on a hill near town. As it turns out, the monument is to the 3,400 German soldiers who died here during World War I. There was actually a lot of warfare in the park where I work, a major hardship on the villages during the war. At the monument, a woman there struck up a conversation with me and invited me to her house for coffee. Since she was with 4 little kids, it seemed safe enough and as depicted in Scene 3, random strangers inviting me in for coffee seems sort of normal now. The youngest kid, one year old, was wearing a hoodie that said "Portland" and I got a kick out of that and told them that's where I lived before coming to Macedonia. As usual, I got wonderful guests treatment with drinks, cookies, and apples. In fact, they insisted I eat a second apple because it was from their yard. They invited me to come back again and I plan to because they are lovely people and I'm so happy when I make friends with the locals.
Scene 8: Katie's Apartment in Bitola
So now you're caught up to me, typing this in my apartment with Serbian MTV on in the background. The next 30 days are my last in my 20s and I can't believe I'll be 30 soon but it helps to know that there are many exciting episodes yet to come so I won't have time to think about being older.
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