#PeaceCorps MAK24: A Weekend in Bitola

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This weekend I went to visit a fellow volunteer at her site in Bitola. It is a much bigger city than mine, and more than that, it is solidly Macedonian, even though it’s not very far from Greece. It was decked out for Christmas (which is celebrated on the 7th of January, as this is an Orthodox country) and I only heard Macedonian. I am still studying both, but my Albanian is stronger by a mile. I really enjoyed my time there. I stayed in my training city, which is a blessing in many ways: there’s no new readjustment period and I know my way around pretty well. On the other hand getting to know a new place might have been interesting. Also, I’m the only volunteer in my city proper (there’s one about 40 minutes away) so it does get lonely sometimes.

I also visited Tetovo to meet with my Albanian tutor. As the holidays stretch out before me (work does not begin until the 21st of January) I know I will have to fill my days with things to do. Breaks were much shorter and busier in America, so having more time to myself is much nicer but challenging. I am hoping for more winter weather and the opportunity to travel with my extended host family.

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions because I feel guilty about not keeping up with them, but obviously there are goals in mind. I hope to become better in Albanian (and try to improve my Macedonian); I want to set up new programmes and clubs at the school where I work; I would like to do some travelling around the Balkans and southern Europe. I’m also thinking about the future (it’s so far, I know) but I’ve already started researching PhD programmes and future work possibilities. I don’t like blank spots, I guess you could say.

#PeaceCorps MAK24: On Celebrations Abroad

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I turned 34 yesterday! I have celebrated birthdays in other countries before, but this one was quite exuberant. There was cake, one of my cohort visited me, and I even got gifts. (Even my mother called me!) I felt incredibly special. Thirty-four is going to be a very interesting year.

Tonight is New Year’s Eve, and I’ve been invited to a concert and other festivities. My usual New Year’s Eve plans are much more low-key than this (there are usually fireworks and watching the ball drop on CNN) so I am feeling quite popular, even though I have the speaking skills of an eight year old. It seems as though people celebrate the coming of the New Year just as most people do: surrounded by friends and family, with loud music and fireworks.

I’ve only been in N Macedonia since September. In that time, I have met countless members of both host families, been to an Albanian wedding, travelled around the western part of the country and started learning two very distinct languages. I still have no idea where this Peace Corps path will lead me, but I know that it will be worthwhile.

(In actual work news: since there was a changing of principals yesterday when I wasn’t at work, there was no school today and I just had twenty minutes of watching how finalising the semester grades worked. Every school setting is a bureaucracy, but it was a very nice surprise not to have to teach lessons today.)

#PeaceCorps MAK24: Constant Observation

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I’ve devised this little game that I play while I’m walking around my city. I give two points to every car that comes from another city in Macedonia (according to its license plate); five points for every car that comes from another Eastern European country and ten points for every Western European country. I don’t always keep score, though I should. The reason I do this is because during PST a car from France was parked in front of the house I was living in. I had never seen one from France, and I excitedly took a picture of the plate. The owner happened to be standing near it and we had a lively conversation in French, confusing the other Volunteer that was with me. Nowadays, most of the cars I see have plates from Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia, with visitors from the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Germany. Because of the movement of Macedonian workers to these countries, it’s not surprising that they buy cars there. They do spend most of their time in these countries, as well. My city is also seemingly wealthier than most, with Mercedes, Porsches and other luxury cars driving around. I say seemingly wealthier because it’s hard to know what people’s incomes are like, or even where they come from.

Politics is a popular topic of conversation everywhere. Ethnic Albanians have a generally very positive view of Americans, because of our interventions in Kosovo. Bill Clinton is still intensely well-liked. I was asked about the current president recently, which is always dicey, because what you say could become the standard line of ‘what Americans think’, especially since you may be the only American the person will meet for a while. I went with “Some people like him, and some people don’t. Most people think he is running the country like a businessman.” We aren’t diplomats in any way, shape or form, but finding diplomatic answers to difficult questions is something that we need to do in the Peace Corps.

Missing “Catholic” (as opposed to Orthodox) Christmas is going to be very difficult. It’s my favourite season, and I’m especially going to miss Christmas crackers, Weißwurst and pretzels with herring salad and a traditional Christmas dinner. I’m going to miss my mum and our cosy Christmas decorations. I will especially miss putting up our crèche, which is as old as I am. It will be hard to do two Christmases without my mum, just as I’m sure she will have a difficult time without me. Working might make it easier, although I’m doing a Christmas presentation on Christmas Day, so I might feel a bit maudlin.

I’m still in observation mode, although students recognise me in the street and servers in restaurants; it’s also become obvious that I go to certain stalls in the пазар because they nearly always have what I want (that is, really nice bananas). I don’t feel incredibly integrated yet, but I’m sure that will take more than the three months that I’ve been here.

#PeaceCorps MAK24: A Different Sort of Holiday Season

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We’ve started working in our schools, organisations and daily centres. Back in America, my former co-workers and teachers are counting down to their winter breaks. Here, however, winter break starts at the end of December and goes through January, so my countdown is a little different. On the plus side, I don’t have work on my birthday, continuing the tradition of never having worked/gone to school on my birthday…so far.

Living with a Muslim family means I won’t be celebrating Christmas, either the Catholic one (25 December) or the Orthodox one (7 January). I’m so confused by not celebrating Christmas; it’s the highlight of the year. However, I will be doing a Christmas lesson with my students on the 25th of December, so I will try and bring some Christmas cheer into the classroom. I found an Adventskalendar here in N Macedonia, so I’ve been quietly celebrating my favourite holiday here.

This past week, I observed fourth year classes and helped out a bit with lessons. This coming week, I’ll be heading the lessons, working with my Albanian counterpart teacher. She teaches exclusively fourth year. After the end of the 2019-2020 school year, she’ll start again with first years. Starting in 2020, I’ll also be working with a Macedonian counterpart teacher. It means I’ll have to be okay in both Macedonian and Albanian…easier said than done. These languages are both so different that it’s always a struggle to study one and then the other. I have set up tutoring sessions with both of my tutors. Let’s see if I can also be good about self-studying. Learning a foreign language is difficult, let alone trying to learn two. I think this helps me understand my students, though.

I’ve met tons of new family members. The families that have hosted me happen to be enormous, so meeting cousins and nieces and nephews is sort of exhausting. I went on a mysafir for seven hours on Saturday: from 315 to 1030 PM! It was nice to chat and be surrounded by so much company, but also exhausting. I was successful in bonding with the little ones though, which is always fun. I met a grandfather who had lived in Australia for five years in his twenties, and that was very interesting to hear about. I still have no skill with family situations, but I’m learning. And that’s the most important thing I could say.

#PeaceCorps MAK24: It’s Official!

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On the 6th of December, the 24th group of Peace Corps Trainees became volunteers officially. The ceremony was very, very official, and we were all beautifully done up, and our host families were there. It was all quite overwhelming, especially the official pledge. Pro-tip for anyone reciting a pledge: please break it up into more manageable bits for us. Coming back to the training site was a little bit sad: first, the other volunteers were leaving, and I would be by all myself. Also, leaving my host mum hurt a lot. She’s leaving for Germany for three months, but the other compound members will be there for me to visit, which I appreciate.

My host family that I mentioned in a previous entry was changed by Peace Corps, so I’m with another family. It is another Albanian family; my city is majority Albanian. I love it here so much. It’s such a warm, inviting place that once again has all sorts of quirks like an entire working kitchen that is never used and random empty rooms. It’s next to a mosque so the adhan (call to prayer) is very loud but I don’t really mind. They also have an alarm system that I did accidentally trip this morning because I forgot to turn it off. There are obviously things that I have to get used to in the house.

There are three weeks of work before the official end of the semester, and then I have a very long winter break, wherein I will have to definitely continue my language studying. Having two different counterparts, one Albanian and one Macedonian, means that I will have to stay pretty equally good in both languages, and I need to concentrate on Macedonian especially. My plan is to finish the trainee handbook and then spring off from there.

There’s not much winter going on here; it’s cold, but not cold enough. Mostly it’s just chilly and dreary, with grey skies and drizzly, annoying rain. I can’t wait until January, when apparently the real winter comes and snow will be a frequent thing, according to my host family. Winter is absolutely my favourite season. I’ve never really thought about why, but I enjoy the cold and the crispness of the air and cosy blankets.

#PeaceCorps MAK24: Vertigo

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Winter has arrived in N Macedonia. There is slushy rain. Soon, I’m sure the snow will stick. Also, I have been re-diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, which means I have had to have multiple tests run to rule out other things. This is sort of a scary situation, as it doesn’t really have a cure. However, it tends to fade away after a while, so perhaps there’s nothing really to do but wait and see how it settles. (Also, having an MRI and EKG, along with other medical procedures done in a foreign country is always a little nerve-wracking. But every professional I came into contact with was amazing.)

This Friday is our swearing-in ceremony and Saturday we all move to our sites. Since I’m staying in my training site, I feel like I will be losing friends that I have made over these three months. I’m sure there will be a period of adjustment for all of us as we meet new families, learn new routines, and basically settle into our two years here in N Macedonia.

One of the things that I’m learning here is that ethnicity and national pride are sometimes very separate things. My training site, the dual language community, is stable and the friction amongst ethnicities is fairly low. This has not always been the case, but there have been moves in government as well as in other places to bring these ethnicities together. My school is Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish. I don’t know how well the population of students mix. I’m excited to learn.

#PeaceCorps MAK24: Conditions of Hardship

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What is hardship? What would be a hardship for you? Living far from home, or not having hot water whenever you wanted it? Is a squat toilet a hardship, or having to eat food you don’t like? The third core expectation of the Peace Corps is “Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service.”

People don’t usually picture a European country as a place with conditions of hardship. North Macedonia is probably not as difficult a service location as say, Mongolia or rural Senegal. But there are still hardships: a conservative, insular culture; political and ethnic tensions that feel familiar, yet alien and sometimes frightening; language difficulties that make you feel stupid (currently, I have the vocabulary of an eight year old in Albanian and Macedonian). With those hardships come opportunities, though: N Macedonia is such a friendly, warm place. This is the first year my city has hosted trainees, and families are hosting strangers in their house, and I have never felt unwelcome. My host family is impressed by how much I try and speak Albanian, and many other people have applauded my efforts. I am understood at the пазар (open-air market), whether speaking Albanian or Macedonian. I can read text messages/snaps from my Albanian host family, and I can answer them.

A Facebook friend mentioned Lysgaard’s Curve to me. It’s the idea that people have a period of adjustment that usually comes with negative reactions to their new culture. I have felt this dip a few times, and know it will probably continue. Honestly, though, as a third culture child, I’ve never really felt at home anywhere, so why not make a home here?

Things on my mind:

  • Cultural achievement, unlocked: fussing at one of the women in the compound because she wasn’t wearing socks.
  • Liking the taste of the latte macchiato at my favourite café, but only that. Coffee is still vile to me.
  • Using Spanish, a language I’ve only recently learnt, on my practice LPI (Language Proficiency Interview).
  • Meeting the mayor of my city and ending up on the local news, and then being recognised by people at the пазар.
  • Having the assistant director of my school compliment me to my Macedonian LCF (Language/Cultural Facilitator).

Additionally: there was a massive earthquake that hit Albania early this morning. We felt the tremors here on the west side of N Macedonia, once when the earthquake hit, and once more a few hours later. Peace Corps has volunteers in Albania, and my host mother’s younger son is there as well. Showing solidarity with our neighbours and ethnic family there, as well as the volunteers.

#PeaceCorps MAK24: A New Home

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All of us have gone to visit our next sites where we will be living for the next two years after swearing in. As I mentioned last time, I’ll be staying in the same city where I have been training, so I won’t be learning anything new. The only difference is that I will be staying with a new host family in a different part of the city.

As a TEFL volunteer, I will be co-teaching with one or two English teachers in a high school. It’s the same high school in which I did my practicum sessions, and I have already met my counterparts. Counterparts are Host Country Nationals (HCNs) who will let us into their worksites to help and create new development opportunities.

My new host family is also Albanian. There is a father, a mother and a daughter. One of the other trainees is already here for the training session, so it seems very strange to occupy her space. She has photos of all her friends and family, which is quite comforting, even though they’re strangers to me. It seems odd to be in a family for three days and then be away for a fortnight, but I can see why Peace Corps does this.

On the drive back from Skopje, my counterpart and I talked about life in the Balkans, which is/was quite enlightening–Balkan history isn’t something that’s focussed on in the West, unless you go out of your way to study it. It is a quite tumultuous and sometimes sad history. We must remember that unlike us in the West, who have not seen much intense internal warfare (though conflict may be a different story), that people who suffered this are still alive, and most are just in their 30s and 40s. Some were internally displaced, some were made refugees. What effects on society, especially a young one, does this have? We must keep it in mind as we bring development and educational opportunities to this country.

I can’t wait to see what these days bring, and what the rest of my time brings. I’m sure there will be some hardships, but I know this will be fruitful for everyone involved.

#PeaceCorps MAK24: This is My City

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This past Friday, we were given our permanent sites. Permanent sites are where PCVs spend the remaining 24 months of their service. And I have been chosen to remain in my training site! Everything I could have asked for, really. It’s big enough with lots of things to see and do, close to nature and with very good transport links to all over N Macedonia. I’ll be working at a school at which I’ve been doing my practicum, with people who I have already met. I’m lucky that my transition won’t be as difficult as some others.

Speaking of practicum, I will be doing solo teaching on Thursday and Friday. I have been busy writing lesson plans that are engaging enough and still fitting with the really important curriculum. It will be interesting to meet Macedonian students and have them doing things in class that they’re probably not used to. It will be a good introduction to students that I will be seeing often.

Honestly, I can’t wait to really dig into this town and become a “fixture”. I love that I will seen my current host family often, that I will get a new family and new contacts. I’m happy I’ll be able to travel easily to the capital city and visiting the new friends I’ve made. I know that I will definitely discover some difficulties, but I’m feeling great about this placement already. Optimism abounds!

#PeaceCorps MAK24: It’s all happening now

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It’s week seven of PST (Pre-Service Training) and now everything is getting quite serious. Peer teaching is happening this Thursday, and Friday we receive our permanent sites: that is, where we will be for the next two years. Rumours, speculation and wild betting are definitely occurring as we all wait with nervous anticipation. I am definitely quite anxious. We can make some guesses: as I have been learning Albanian along with Macedonian, I will probably be placed somewhere in the western part of the country, possibly either in a majority Albanian or majority Macedonian place, or one that is fifty-fifty like my current training site. Otherwise, I have no clue.

Peer teaching is where two PCT (Peace Corps Trainees) co-teach some classes, whilst the counterpart observes us and gives us feedback. Next week, we will be solo teaching. I’m excited about both things, but as I have never co-taught, I am looking forward to balancing the classroom. The classes that I’ll be co-teaching are all final year students who are preparing for the ending exam called the Matura, and just like any final year of secondary school, they may be more than a little cynical and unwilling to play along. We shall see.

Autumn has FINALLY come upon us, and with it beautiful yellows and oranges. There was a hint of cold weather, but the 20s are still sticking around (20s = ~70 deg Farenheit). With the cold weather came all the wood burning stoves and a rise in air pollution. Living in a valley means that it settles on top of us like a smothering blanket. The rain has chased most of it away. Yesterday, on the 4th of November, our little valley experienced a 2.9 magnitude earthquake. Nothing was damaged: light fixtures shook and the metal blinds rattled. N Macedonia has a history of earthquake activity. Hopefully they all remain small and innocuous.

Small things of note:

  • The pizza here is delicious. When I think of pizza cultures, trust me that I never would have thought of N Macedonia.
  • Many of the grocery stores are run by Macedonians, even in majority Albanian parts of the city. Language switching throughout the day is exhausting, but ultimately rewarding.
  • Most Macedonians that I have observed do not frequent Albanian restaurants or cafés, and Albanians do not frequent Macedonian ones. There being a distinct ethnic divide doesn’t really surprise me as a biracial person, but trying to navigate it with poor-ish language skills and a weak cultural grasp can be frustrating. My host family takes me to Albanian places, but many of the other PCTs have introduced me to Macedonian places. As a small rule of thumb that is not necessarily followed everywhere, Albanian places generally do not serve alcohol, whilst Macedonian ones do.
  • I am learning standard Albanian and dialect Albanian at the same time. The grammar stays the same, but pronunciation can vary wildly. I don’t always remember the standard when I’m speaking in class.