Wild for Wildflowers

After what Heather told me was "unseasonably cool" weather, summer seemed to arrive this week with high temperatures approaching 90 degrees. In the last few weeks though, I took advantage of the pleasant weather to slather on my sunscreen and see more of Macedonia's beautiful scenery.

I took a weekend trip with the Pelister Hiking Club to do an annual hike. We left on a Saturday morning for a bus ride punctuated by 2 coffee breaks and a stop at the market for provisions. I'm still frankly perplexed by how groups in Macedonia decide how to get food for hiking trips. It seems to involve each person randomly buying what the want, including lots of vegetables, and then everyone puts their stuff together and making seemingly bottomless salads. We stayed at a hotel in a village, eating said salads and drinking rakija. Lots of other hikers descended and we spent the evening chatting and dancing oro--the hand-holding, going-around-in-a-circle dance done at most celebrations here.

On Sunday, the hike began at 6:30 am and I think this is the time to note that when people say hiking here, they really mean mountain climbing. In fact, the word for "hiking" comes from the word for "mountain." This isn't surprising I guess, considering 80% of Macedonia is covered by hills and mountains (according to Wikipedia), but suffice to say every hike here seems to start up an incline. In fact, we hiked more or less uphill for 4 hours and then 3 hours back down. The scenery was incredible and well worth the inclines, occasional blustery wind, and a bit of rain. I especially liked the wildflowers, seeing all the people who participated, and taking photos at the top. Also I had a lot of fun getting to know the Pelister Hiking Club folks who put up with my shaky Macedonian and made sure I had a good time. There are pictures on Picasa in the Hiking with Pelister Mtn Club album.

The next day provided a whole slew of new beautiful scenery in and around Struga, a lakeside town in the far southwest corner of Macedonia. In Struga I reunited with the rest of the volunteers from my group for a week of language training. Before things kicked off though, I took an incredibly lovely walk with Kerry and Zach to two villages near Struga. Our destination was several cave churches, dating back to the 13th and 15th centuries. The churches were definitely incredible, tucked up into these rock cliffs right along the lake, but the journey itself was just as enjoyable as we took in more great wildflowers and watched people tending lakeside gardens. The third church, dedicated to the Archangel Michael, was my favorite, not the least of which because you have to pick up the key to it at a restaurant below it and there was just something funny about being given a church key with an angel keychain. Look on Picasa under the Struga Language IST album for the pics.

Full up on natural beauty, I threw myself in to trying to pick up some new words and phrases. Although I took many interesting courses like animals, stereotypes, basic Albanian, women's talk, and men's talk, it seems like the words that stuck in my brain best were the slang--things like how to say something is really boring and that pretty girls are not "hot chicks" here but rather "good fish."

Now I'm back in Bitola and spent a good share of the week on grants. I'm helping Pelister National Park to write a grant application and for the Small Project Assistance (SPA) Committee that I'm on, I "championed" an application with fellow volunteer Lillian. As a champion, I provide feedback to Lillian as she puts together a SPA grant application and when the SPA committee meets to evaluate the applications, I present the application. I put an album on Picasa of some summer scenes from Bitola, so you can see why focusing on grant applications can be tough.

Advanced Placement

Volunteers in Macedonia do some amazing stuff and perhaps nowhere more so than in the kitchen. Peace Corps Macedonia has earned the moniker "Advanced Placement Home Ec" because of the lengths we will go to in order to recreate our favorite dishes from home. In the last month, I've made apple pie from scratch (including peeling the apples and making the crust), made Tom Kah Gai Thai chicken curry soup after hauling canned coconut milk from the capital city because we were out in Bitola (I know, I know, I'm really roughing it here), and prepared a pesto pizza with homemade crust and non-pre-shredded cheese (pre-shredded cheese being my go-to back home). Usually people want to know what I'm doing here and honestly cooking is often the answer, especially if you factor in shopping time at the market for ingredients.

Is cooking volunteer work? Tonight it was because Sam, our soon-departing Fulbrighter, gave a presentation on American Food and Drink. It's really something to be in a room with people who don't recognize a picture of a burrito, don't know guacamole or what it is used for, and have never seen a tater tot, let alone in a Midwestern casserole. To complement the presentation, we made a sampling of American dishes. My contributions were oatmeal M&M cookies and PB&J sandwiches. The cookies were a big hit, the sandwiches less so. Ranch dip may have been the most popular contribution--people were loving it on potato chips. What I scarfed down as much of as possible was sushi made by one of the American Corner members of Macedonian-Polish heritage who learned sushi-making from his aunt. Sushi hadn't crossed my lips at all in the last 9 months and I had to make up for lost time.

Ingredient substitutions build character, or at least creativity, this much I know is true. Below you'll find some photos of my recent creations.

In Other News

You have read a lot about what I'm up to, my impressions of Macedonia, yadda yadda yadda and since I don't have anything particularly new and thrilling to share, I thought I'd point you towards some other takes on Macedonia. First up is Pauza, Peace Corps Macedonia's quarterly newsletter written by volunteers: http://macedonia.peacecorps.gov/resources/pauza/Pauza_Winter2010.pdf. I particularly recommend "Momentous Occasions" on page 5, Macedonia hotspots on pages 8-9, and the article by yours truly on page 11.

Also, CNN recently did a series on Macedonia that can be found at: http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010/ilist/. My recommended top features are "Name Squabble," "Future of Education," and "A New Napa Valley."

Finally, if you aren't getting enough of volunteers blogging about Macedonia then you can find my comrades' blogs at http://www.peacecorpsjournals.com/?showcountryinfo,mk. As much as I'd like to think that I've got the market cornered on funny stories and cultural insights, I must admit there's other great stuff out there in the blogosphere to check out--but come back!

Whose stupid idea was that? Oh yeah, mine.

Sunday was the Skopje Marathon and I ran it in 3 hours, 52 minutes, 37 seconds. If you asked me at 3 hours, 53 minutes, I'd say choosing to run the Skopje Marathon was one of the stupidest things I'd ever done. I went out too fast, I started walking in the second half, and the heat was a lot more noticable as I went a second time around the exact same course. However, I can say that I finished in the Top 10--okay, it's true there were only 8 women in the marathon and I came in 6th. And to add insult to injury, if I'd come in 5th place then I would have won 150 Euros. But still, I was the top--well, only--women's marathoner from the U.S. and I had a fantastic group cheering me on. There were about 10 Peace Corps volunteers (most of whom did the half marathon or 5K) cheering me on and another 5 or so language instructors from our training who were rooting for me. I've never had so many people on a race course shouting my name, it was really awesome. I posted some photos from the official photos and from fellow volunteer Kerry on Picasa. Will I do the marathon again next year? No. The half marathon? Maybe.

We interrupt our usual programming...

for this short commercial announcement. As you surely sensed from my last entry, I think the youth in Macedonia are terrific. Further, I believe they are the key to improving their society and the world at large. That's why I want to shamelessly plug an opportunity for you (yes, YOU!) to donate to Macedonia's Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World).

[I admit I took much of the following from the camp organizers, great girls that they are].

Camp GLOW is an 8 day multi-ethnic leadership summer camp that brings together 80 high school-aged girls from all over Macedonia, including Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Roma, Serbian and Vlach young women. The goal of the camp is to empower young women from Macedonia to become active leaders in their communities by providing them with leadership opportunities, and information and training not found in traditional educational environments. The camp curriculum focuses on 8 different thematic components: CIVIL SOCIETY, WOMEN'S STUDIES, LIFE CHOICES, THE WORLD AROUND ME, LEADERSHIP, ARTISTIC EXPRESSION, RECREATION and TEAM BUILDING.

In Macedonia, as in many other parts of the world, there are significant challenges facing women including discrimination, under representation of women in government, unequal opportunities for women in education and employment, women’s rights struggles, domestic abuse and violence, human trafficking, and inadequate women’s health education. Camp GLOW addresses these challenges by educating and empowering young women in a safe and productive learning environment. The Camp GLOW curriculum and activities are taught by young women from Macedonia with assistance from Peace Corps volunteers. The staff from Macedonia is comprised of exceptional young women-leaders who have previously attended the camp as participants and are now in leadership positions such as Instructors, Junior Counselors, Senior Counselors and Administrative and Program Leaders.

Since 2004, Camp GLOW has directly educated over 380 young women and indirectly impacted the lives of many more women through peer to peer education and dissemination of knowledge. Camp GLOW has a very reputable name and is growing in demand and need every year. Girls return to their communities from camp and not only educate their friends about what they have learned but energize new girls to consider applying the next year. Currently they have established 5 GLOW clubs where they interact with others in their communities. Many girls leave the camp feeling a sense of power and new self-worth. Providing young women with this opportunity positively impacts the quality of life and the future of Macedonia.

If you would like to see a video of last year's camp check this out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8hzQCvIAis

Every year it is a struggle to finance the camp. However, each year, with much perseverance, creativity, and new individual sponsors and funders dedicated to the mission, the camp has continued. The majority of the cost for the camp is food and lodging for 7 nights for 80 girls. The camp is held in the mountains at a camp site far away from the distractions of everyday life. This environment really enables the girls to focus on the sessions and immerse themselves. Because we do not want the socio-economic status of any of the campers to prevent them from attending, we only ask girls to contribute by paying a participation fee of about $10 and providing for their own bus transportation to and from the large city closest to the camp site. This enables a wider audience of girls to partake in the program.

Please consider sponsoring a camper for the entire camp for only $100.00. In doing so you will be providing a young woman with an opportunity that may change her future. If you cannot help at that level, any financial support would be greatly appreciated! Please make your donation by June 30, 2010. We have only 2 months to raise $4050! And remember, your contribution is tax deductible.

It is very simple and fast to make a donation! Here is how:

1. Visit the Peace Corps web site at (just copy and paste the link): https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors
2. Search for Camp GLOW Macedonia by entering the project number: 249-035 and clicking "Search"
3. On the page it directs you to, scroll down and click on the project name Camp GLOW to direct you to our fundraising page
4. Make a secure online donation by entering an amount and click “DONATE”
5. Accept our heartfelt thanks for supporting Camp GLOW 2010!

Although I was not selected to be a counselor or instructor for Camp GLOW (because Peace Corps Macedonia has a lot of stellar women who outshine even yours truly), empowering girls is a matter near and dear to my heart and if you are able to offer support to this great cause, I would really appreciate it. I helped Ashley interview girls from Bitola for camp and I'm happy to say that we are sending three phenomenal girls. One girl professed her love for math, another for science. One young lady is doing HIV/AIDS education in the schools. And all of them expressed excitement at getting to know girls from across Macedonia and from different backgrounds from their own. What more can I say--bust our your credits and please make a donation on the Peace Corps website!

E-A-R-T-H D-A-Y

Last week the youth of Macedonia were out in full force for a couple events that I helped with, Earth Day and Bitola's Regional Spelling Bee. For Earth Day, fellow volunteer Ashley and I worked with the Children and Youth English Conversation Groups that meet at the American Corner Bitola on Fridays. We actually did two weeks of green activities, starting first with the kids reading and discussing a poem entitled "In Tune With Mother Nature." Leave it to Ashley, actually being a teacher and all, to work in the fact that it is poetry month with teaching about the environment. The event was also televised as part of a feature on the American Corner shown on a local TV station. If anyone wants to watch the show, it's online at http://www.tera.mk/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=104&video_id=859. There is a bit at the beginning in English and an interview with Ashley about 15-20 minutes in but otherwise everything is in Macedonian. Maybe for my non-Macedonian-speaking readers you'll enjoy getting a flavor for the language that I attempt to speak and understand.

During our second event with the kids, they talked about their favorite things in nature inspired by some gorgeous Earth Day posters displayed in the American Corner. Then we watched the Dr. Seuss classic "The Lorax" and discussed the environmental themes shown in the film and how they relate to their own community. Finally, the kids designed their own Earth Day posters, staying overtime to complete their amazing designs which touched on everything from deforestation and emissions to wildlife and healthy waterways. The posters are now on display to encourage environmental awareness amongst the people of Bitola. The effort the kids put into the posters was really phenomenal and they included some good likenesses of the Lorax that I particularly enjoyed.

Earth Day Part 3 for me involved a trip up to Skopje to volunteer at a gathering of Macedonia's Green Schools. U.S. AID (Agency for International Development) sponsors the Green Schools program to help encourage green practices and environmental education. Each school developed educational materials to display at the Earth Day festival. At the booth where I was helping, there was an intricate "earth in distress" and a wind turbine. I was impressed when, on the spot, the kids with the wind turbine jerry rigged it to run on a cell phone battery when they found out there was no electrical outlet available (jerry rig, by the way, is also called "doing a MacGyver" according to Urban Dictionary). Sure it would have been cool if the turbine was actually wind powered but it did rotate well and watching them improvise with the cell phone batteries was pretty incredible. So far there are not any wind turbines in Macedonia but I've heard that some are under consideration east of where I live. Anyway, there are nice photos from Earth Day Bitola and Skopje under the Picasa link.

Between all the Earth Day celebrations, I was a judge for Bitola's regional spelling bee. Macedonian is a phonetic language but English is all over the map with tricky bits like silent letters and double letters, hence Peace Corps and the American Corners Macedonia working together to host an English language spelling bee. For two Saturdays we hosted prep sessions where we went through the rules and let the kids practice. Kids from 5th-12th grade were eligible to participate. Rather than spelling aloud, the kids wrote the words one-by-one. If they got 10 words right, they advanced to the national spelling bee in Skopje. The Americans and Macedonians had a few discussions about penmanship to sort out before the competition because there is a pretty interesting way some kids are taught to write the letter "r" here--it's no "r" that I'd ever seen before. We decided that as long as the students could name the letter that was in question, they were fine. The turnout for our regional bee was amazing--270 kids, sometimes having to wait in the rain, came to compete. The reactions when kids advanced were great--big smiles, cheers, and sometimes a jump for joy. You can see for yourself in the Picasa photos taken by fellow volunteer and professional photographer, Phil. It was difficult to tell kids when they messed up, especially if it was on the first or last word, but the elation of the successful competitors made it all worthwhile. After over 7 hours of spelling, over 100 Bitola youth qualified for the national competition so I think Bitola has a good chance of having a national winner!

IST, lakeside in spring, because life isn't fair

Last week Peace Corps Macedonia put on the first of two In-Service Trainings (IST) designed for my group of volunteers, MAK 14 (14th volunteer group in Macedonia). The Technical IST focused primarily on work-related subjects intended to help us accomplish more in our various communities. My actual work counterpart was not able to attend the IST with me because she had an exam but another coworker Pece came instead. Pece and I had some good dialogue about work at the national park prompted by the sessions, so I think attending was beneficial. The best part of the IST was having the MAK 14s reunited for the first time since we were sworn in as volunteers on Thanksgiving--and the desserts at the conference site, really good, a close second.

Peace Corps selects this time to conduct the Technical IST because historically (according to a graph they've shown us), this is a low point in most volunteer's service. Frankly, I think they were about 2 months late but April is a much nicer time to go to the lakeside town of Ohrid, so who am I to complain? We did a walking tour of the city and I finally got to see the Sveti Jovan church, probably the most photographed place in Macedonia. There are pictures through the Picasa link. As you can imagine from seeing the photos, I quite enjoyed doing my morning runs along the lake, even if it did rain on me every morning. One morning a guy on a bike asked me where I was going, in Macedonian, to which I responded, "straight," in Macedonian. Then he asked me, in German, if I speak German, to which I replied, "a little," in German. Then he asked me more questions in Macedonian.