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.