The Last

Today is my last day in Bitola, which I cannot believe no matter how empty my apartment gets as I give away anything that will not fit in my travel backpack which, believe me, does not hold nearly enough.  Really this is just one of many "last's" this month, such as my last...

Visit to Gostivar / Running Race in Macedonia
At the Harvest Festival 5K run planned initiated by Peace Corps Volunteer Candy and her counterpart Luli, I defended my title as the fastest lady over 20 years old--wahoo! 

Peace Corps Runners, courtesy of Phil Lampron

Clean sweep by the Americans--me, Kerry, & Joany, courtesy of Phil Lampron

Also I drank my last one of these drinks, salep. 

It's a hot drink from Turkey made from orchid root and I hope someday it finds its way to an American coffee chain near me--we non-coffee drinkers should have some options too.

 "Na Gosti (Visit)" With My Host Family
I made one final visit to Sveti Nikole and bid farewell to my awesome host family.  Now at the end of my service, I can really appreciate how fortunate I was to have them take me in.  They helped me get a solid base in the language and they always welcomed me back with open arms.  My baba (grandma) knit me a pair of slippers practically overnight, worried as she was that I didn't have adequate footwear for the winter.  Finally, now that he's 5 years old, I can talk with my host nephew and we understand each other and his little sis is more darling all the time.  My host dad called the other night just to check in, which seems like no better sign that we're really family.

Baba Genka working on my slippers

My "niece" Kijara wearing my running medal and her big bro, Mario

 American Corner Events
It's sad knowing that soon things like playing kickball, overseeing pin-the-wart-on-the-witch, and teaching line dancing can no longer be considered "work."  Then again, I'm still job hunting, so maybe...

Kickball in the city park

With the boys, awesome fall colors in the backdrop

Pin the Wart on the Witch

The Four Seasons--Michelle, Lauren, Helene, and me

Awesome costumes of kids from my sports club

Lauren teaching the moves, courtesy of American Corner Bitola

Cotton eye joe-ing, courtesy of American Corner Bitola

Ana from the American Corner and me with the poster everybody signed for me

Time Mopping My Bathroom
A common quirk here, my entire bathroom floods after every shower.  I will not miss mopping it up every morning.

Appearance on Live Macedonian Television / YMCA Training
My counterpart at YMCA, Viktor, and I were invited to be an hour-long, live TV program to discuss a training we put together on my favorite subject, projects.  Only unlike last time, on this program I had to speak in Macedonian.  People here are pretty straightforward and the consensus from friends who watched the program is yeah, my Macedonian is still rough but it's understandable.  Even better though was that 28 people came to our training, literally filling every seat available.  Happily YMCA is getting new Peace Corps volunteer from the new group, Karli, and her visit coincided with all this excitement.  During my last weekly YMCA meeting, I brought American treats and the tortilla pinwheels were a surprise hit--my job is clearly done. 

In the TV studio which was freezing!

Viktor & me at the training, courtesy of Karli Reyes

Listening closely at the training, courtesy of Karli Reyes

 Coffees
"Having a coffee" is what it's all about here and in this aspect, to use Peace Corps parlance, I've "fully integrated."  Luckily the weather here has been mostly sunny, allowing me to do most of my coffee dates sitting out on the Shirok Sokak pedestrian street, staring at the passersby just like a real Bitolchaka. 

Introducing Karli to drinking coffee on the Shirok Sokak with Viktor

Strolling the Shirok Sokak with my friend Ivona and her daughter

 In addition to the goodbyes with my local friends, I also have bid adieu (or here, ajde ciao) to my volunteer buddies.  They are, I must say, crazy like me--they will sacrifice two years of income for something they believe in, will crash on the floor just to visit a new place, and laugh when others might cry--and it is hard to have them dispersing near and far.  I know I'll see some folks back in America which will surely be fun but different without Macedonia as our backdrop. 

Macedonian Meals
The Macedonians, they know their roasted peppers and grilled meats, among other deliciousness.  Pretty soon my hamburgers won't look like this, with the fries right on the burger (then again, my burger will also probably be 100% beef and that is something to look forward to).

Yum Yum

Days as a Celebrity
Bitola is not a huge place and when I'm out, especially on my runs, I see people I know who wave, stop to talk, give me a high-five, etc.  One of the YMCA members attended our training not in small part because she loves my accent, which I told her will definitely be under-appreciated back home.  Soon I will not be "the American," just "an American." 

A few more last's are yet to come, including my last visit to Skopje, last language exam, and last Macedonian pizza with the side of ketchup topping.  After that, I'm off to Kosovo, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, India, Thailand (flooding permitting), and Laos!  My sunscreen is indeed packed, so dispatches on these adventures coming soon. 

"Business" Trip to Nymfaio, Greece

Facebook, through some magical time warp sidebar, reminded me that 2 years ago today I was fending off raccoons on a beach in Costa Rica, two weeks before my departure to Macedonia. Flash forward to this afternoon, with me sewing up yet another tear in my pants, trying to get them to last a few more months until I'm finished in Macedonia. I can't believe this journey has come and practically gone already. Still, I'm trying to wring the most out of these final moments, which this weekend included some "official business leave" in Greece.

How sad it will be when I can't consider going to a summer camp in Greece "work." I traveled with 10 Macedonians to a YMCA camp held near a village called Nymfaio in northern Greece. Relations between Macedonia and Greece are strained, illustrated by the fact that Greece actually refuses to stamp a passport that says "Macedonia" and instead stamps a separate document with a country name more to their liking, but the camp for many years has brought the two nations together as friends. One of the highlights was the campers making games and putting on a carnival for the village kids.

Village kids fishing for candy

Playing Twister in the center of Nymfaio

Also, there was a 5K race where I placed first for the women, third overall. Below is a photo of me with a valedictory laurel wreath and cat face paint, something surely never to be replicated.

Me and the other top women, all from Bulgaria

I also learned this weekend that the saying, "It's just like riding a bike," does indeed hold true--you can not ride a bike for two years and pick it right back up. I am cautiously optimistic that other skills which have not been a part of my life during Peace Corps, e.g. wearing business attire, driving, showing up places on time, grocery store self check-out, using a microwave, etc, will come back just as easily.

Macedonians & me (2nd from left), ready to roll (photo taken by Maja, YMCA Bitola member)

YMCA Program Fair in Ukraine

Every other year, YMCAs from throughout the Balkans (reminder: I work with YMCA Bitola) gather together for what they call a program fair to share ideas, learn about the many cultures represented, and have fun. Ukraine hosted for the first time this go around, in a nice wooded facility on the outskirts of Kiev. For me, one of the most memorable parts will be the bus trip to and from Kiev, which lasted nearly 48 hours each way (less for me on the way out because I got picked up in Serbia from my vacation). We'd all been expecting a long trip but more in the neighborhood of 24 hours. As it turns out, Ukraine is a really big place and also, never try to transport a rock band's equipment across international borders.

Getting to socialize with the YMCA Bitola members outside our weekly meetings was a terrific benefit of the fair for me; I feel like I know them much better now and vice versa. Meeting folks from other countries and learning about how their YMCAs work was another positive aspect. I also appreciated the effort the Ukrainians expended to share their traditional culture with us, everything from singing to food to art. For instance, I took a class on making the beautiful decorated eggs that regions in and around Ukraine are known for. You can see the process and my egg here, as well as other photos from the week. When I wasn't taking art classes, I helped my Bitola Y produce a daily news bulletin about all the fair happenings. I must admit that the fair was at times frustrating--seemingly nothing started on time, the schedule had quite a bit of repetition and downtime, and so on--but for a first time effort I think it went reasonably well.

On Saturday, we got to go into Kiev itself and I liked it a great deal. The city is aesthetically pleasing, especially the colorful churches and many green parks. In the parks, I must have seen over 20 bridal couples taking wedding photos, it was fantastic. I also visited a fascinating place called Pechersk Lavra or Monastery of the Caves, where mummified saints and monks are wrapped in tapestries and kept in glass coffins in the caves located under the monastery. It was surreal to wander around the dimly lit corridors and watch people praying over the bodies and even kissing the coffins. On a much lighter note, I must add that I appreciated Kiev's abundance of sushi restaurants which provided me with my first avocado roll since Slovenia in May.

The bus ride home was longer but better because 1) we knew what we were getting ourselves into and 2) we took a 4 hour break in Budapest, Hungary. My last visit to Budapest was just over 10 years ago and it was interesting to see how it has evolved. Sad to say perhaps but one highlight was discovering Cherry Coke and ginger ale and buying some to enjoy at my leisure.

With some relief I say that I'm back "home" in Macedonia, rejoicing in having my own bed and bathroom again and digging on all the delicious peaches and watermelon at the market. Also, I believe I've purged my wallet of the 7 currencies that I used during my recent travels. Happily my country count is now up to 42 which begs the question--can I make it to 50 countries before I return stateside?

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

Retaking the field

"You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough in the second half you give what's left."--Yogi Berra

This week, I participated in what Peace Corps calls our mid-service conference but in fact I am 17 months into the 27 month commitment, so well past the halfway point. I would say that my group of volunteers has in fact given 100% in the first half, leaving our tanks somewhat empty for the second half. The conference was intended to recharge our batteries and well, they tried...luckily we are a determined, awesome bunch and will not be satisfied until we make a good dent in our long project lists before we depart Macedonia.

My game has changed a bit, for the better. As mentioned in earlier posts, working with the local national park, my "job" if you will, was not going smoothly because I struggled to get my coworkers involved in any projects with me. I brought my concerns to Peace Corps and the staff supported me in changing jobs. My new job is with the YMCA in Bitola. YMCA Bitola works with youth on developing leadership skills, leading healthy lives, and exploring the arts through comics and movies. The name YMCA may conjure images of children and rec centers so let me clarify. First, youth in Macedonia means 15-30 year olds (yes, I still make the cut, barely) and second, our only facilities are a small room in an office building.

I have actually been working with my YMCA Bitola coworkers, Viktor and Jovce, since March. They asked me to help them develop their first strategic plan, a three year plan outlining their goals and how they intend to achieve them. Believe me, thinking much more than a month into the future is unusual for organizations here so YMCA Bitola is taking a big step to make themselves better and stronger. My rapport with Viktor and Jovce is great, lots of sharing of ideas and I appreciate their openness to trying new things. Finishing the strategic plan has been one of my biggest accomplishments as a volunteer, so now I'm looking forward to taking a larger role in its implementation too. Game on!

Me and Viktor (far right) with the U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia

Me and Jovce at the YMCA Bitola Office

Boy oh boys

Spending last week in the woods with 86 teenage boys from cities and villages throughout Macedonia at boys camp (aka the Young Men's Leadership Project) turned out to be one of my favorite experiences here thus far. The boys represented the various ethnic groups from Macedonia but their shared enthusiasm, intelligence, and spirit united them into successful teams. Every day the boys had lessons on leadership, civil society, personal development, health, teamwork, and my class--outdoors. After class there were 4 hours of electives ranging from ultimate Frisbee to mosaics to hip hop. Anyone with any energy left after those 10 hours was free to play ping pong, watch a movie, or do origami.

Each team also got to spend a night camping outside with the West Kent YMCA from England that drove all the way to Macedonia just to help with camp. They brought archery equipment and the Americans taught everyone to make s'mores, which are apparently unique to the USA because nobody else had ever heard of them. The camp was truly an international collaboration with the Red Cross of Macedonia doing a workshop on how the boys could plan community volunteer projects, as well as teaching first aid and CPR.

I was an Outdoors instructor with fellow Peace Corps volunteers Jim and Natty. Jim spent his whole career in the military and taught outdoor survival there, so he was perfectly suited for our subject matter and Natty is from the wilds of Massachusetts and also well versed in outdoor survival. They developed lessons on fire-building and knot tying, map and compass reading, and edible plants and animals, while I wrote lessons on decomposition (using timelines to guess how long different items take to disintegrate) and the 3 R's (reducing, reusing, recycling) and plant and animal identification (plus a web of life exercise). I think the boys surprised themselves with how many ways they came up with to reuse a plastic bottle and there was more interest in the plant and animal scavenger hunt than I expected. The weather was less than ideal the first few days, i.e. pea soup fog and intermittent rain, but the boys hung in quite well and I felt like they really enjoyed our class. Pictures from camp are up on Picasa.

Camp closed with a mini Olympics and team skits, including a scathing yet hilarious parody of camp staff. I shared the sentiment of most of the boys that I didn't want camp to end--I was having too much fun playing forest battles (aka capture the flag in the woods), catching up with the other volunteers, and playing more games of Scattergories than I can count, not to mention being free of email and the internet for a week. Alas, it was destined to end but the group of boys from Bitola that Ashley and I have been mentoring seemed to take all the lessons to heart. They want to do a project in Bitola and start an American Sports Club for American football, baseball (the camp's home run derby champ is from Bitola!), etc. We are having a meeting this Friday so they can strategize.

Already the guys are asking me if I will extend my volunteer service and it is wonderful to have them saying that they don't want me to go. I am looking forward to helping them launch the sports club but truthfully I think that through the combination of what they learned at camp and their innate greatness, they could do it all by themselves.