Pre-gaming

I truly don't know where to begin--I'm currently on Day 16 of 25 straight days on the road. Right now I'm in Novi Sad, Serbia as the tail end of what I dubbed the "Kosovo Doughnut" tour, all the countries bordering Kosovo but not including Kosovo because until literally days ago, Peace Corps forbid volunteers from going there. Now, in their infinite wisdom, they've changed the policy just as I've run out of vacation days...oh well, I'm going there when I'm released from the clenches of their control in November anyway, a time when vacation days will no longer tie me down!

There's lots to say about the Doughnut but for now, I want to catch up on the "pre-game" in Macedonia, getting me psyched up for vacation. First we had another baseball session with the American Sports Club, where we managed to have fun despite the searing heat on our now completely brown field.

Next came Pivofest, aka Beer Fest, in Prilep. Of the new beers I tried, the Czech beer Staropramen stood out above the rest. Mostly Pivofest is a fun excuse to catch up with friends but over grilled meats and, of course, beers.

Last but not least I traveled to Gostivar for Sheep Day which is exactly what it sounds like, a day devoted to sheep. The many facets of sheep were represented, from milking and shearing to cheeses. My favorite part though was the traditional wresting, where shirtless men literally poured sunflower oil all over themselves and then wrestled. Before the matches, they did some pumping up exercises which you can watch here.




After Sheep Day, the Doughnut began. I'd like to say that I'll write about that trip soon but at dawn tomorrow I am being picked up by YMCA en route to the Ukraine for a week-long festival, 300 young people from throughout Europe converging near Kiev. Yeah, the next installment might not be for awhile...

We Lead You Follow - YMLP 2011 Camp

I do not command
I use democracy now
I am a leader
- Marko

The haiku above was written during a poetry elective at the 2011 Young Men's Leadership Project summer camp and that teenage boys would voluntarily choose to learn poetry tells a great deal about the caliber of guys attending this year's camp. One thing that made camp this summer even better than the last was that with only 40 campers in attendance, I could really get to know the guys on a personal level. Around the campfire in the evenings, we could discuss everything from the music of Kid Rock to which of the 6 languages a camper speaks is the easiest and which the hardest. Relaxation time around the campfire was well earned by campers, instructors, and counselors alike because we jammed a ton into each and every day...

The boys would line up at 8:00 for breakfast, including any teams who camped out the night before. Two of the 5 teams would sleep out every night, camping with our volunteers from the West Kent YMCA in England. The Brits drove 3 days straight to be there and run the camping out, not to mention the extremely popular archery range. Then classes started at 9:00, with subjects in democracy, health, film-making (taught by my super YMCA Bitola colleague Jovce), project design and management, and of course the best, my environment class. As if that weren't enough for a full day, then we had electives, dinner, and more electives. Electives covered everything from languages like German, Korean, and Spanish to fun topics like American Slang, the Evolution of Rock Music, and origami to sports like baseball, flag football, and ultimate Frisbee.

At times, I was afraid that the environmental lessons were not sinking in but then on the last day of camp we had a sort-of mock United Nations where each team represented a country and negotiated a set of protocols for managing a lake bordered by all the countries. Suddenly the guys were objecting to the use of dynamite for fishing because the lake was an ecosystem and damaging one part affected the rest of the lake. They were worried about sustainable fishing practices to ensure their livelihoods and wanted measures to protect water quality so tourism would continue to flourish on the lake. I was all smiles because they got, it they really got it!

I have a hard time putting the whole week into a few simple paragraphs, there were just too many great things--like how the guys started pointing out to me every cool beetle and butterfly they saw; how one camper, upon trying a smore for the first time, declared it "the best American food ever"; how another camper taught an elective on the local sport of handball, patiently teaching us what turns out to be a really fun sport combining elements of water polo, basketball, and floor hockey; how we had to take traffic breaks during 4 Square because we played on the road and tractors kept driving by; how we celebrated 4th of July by singing the American anthem and lighting sparklers (and teasing the Brits about how we would go dump some tea in the river); how everyone at camp, including the lunch ladies, learned how to dance the Bernie (for those unfamiliar with the Bernie, you can watch the campers Bernie-ing here).

To get the full effect, please check out these photos. They show lots of grinning guys, learning and playing together. It may be surprising for my friends from home, but it is a rarity to have young men from the various ethnic groups here interacting like that. Generally, students are educated in their native tongue (be it Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, etc) and they socialize mostly with people from their own ethnic groups. Seeing inter-ethnic friendships form and grow at camp definitely feeds my optimism about Macedonia becoming a more stable and successful country as these teens become national leaders. Already, through the project design class at camp, the campers made plans to lead projects to improve their hometowns. I cannot wait to see what they all do next. Thank you to again to everyone who donated money for camp and made such strides possible. Here's one more haiku about what you imparted to the boys...

Teamwork always makes
Dreamwork. Good leaders include
followers' ideas.
- Georgi

Yes, it's another blog about hiking

If you're thinking to yourself, "Are you kidding? Another post from Katie about hiking? I can't be bothered," then go ahead and stop reading now. So, recently I got to go hiking in two new areas, each different but with their own charms. First, I did a weekend trip to a village near Struga in southwestern Macedonia near the Albanian border. Jane's friend Irena invited her and told her she could bring a friend--lucky me! Irena is an amazingly talented photographer who is usually accompanied by her sidekick, Chica the dog. The picture above is from Irena and you can see more of her incredible work here. Irena's nephew hiked with us the first day and his parents were our hosts, kindly feeding us all weekend at their cute village house.

Our first hike that weekend was 6 hours up to a church perched way, way high on a mountainside. In my photos here (with some more from Irena too), you'll see its crooked cross which was about all Jane saw last time she was there when there was snow up to the roof. Ironically, and completely accidentally, Jane and I wore almost identical outfits. Maybe we've spent too much time together...

The second day, we arose at 4:30 AM with the sun and started hiking up, up, up, as hikes here tend to begin. The wildflowers were incredible, such great hues, and I guess that makes up for the pesky pollinating insects that we dealt with. We encountered a curious shepherd who abandoned his flock to lay down and watch us ascend one of the mountains and otherwise saw nobody else. Except for panicking Irena a bit when we got separated and the aforementioned insects, it was an exquisite day of hiking--nothing like finishing an 8 hour hike by 1 PM. I felt really fortunate that Irena invited us, it's an area that I never would have seen otherwise.

One thing I will definitely miss about Peace Corps is saying hey, let's go hiking on a Thursday and getting 7 friends to come along. About a week ago, we did just that and surprisingly we began hiking from the capitol, Skopje, taking the brand-new gondola up to a huge metal cross on Mt. Vodno and then walking a ridge to Matka, an artificial lake. For most of the 5 hour hike we were in the sun, so it felt great to plunge quickly--really quickly--into the icy river and then have some beer at a lakeside cafe. Then the cherry on top of a great day was eating at the Mexican restaurant afterwards. It's no Chipotle, mind you, but I'll take what I can get.