December 12: Kumanovo on strictly business- so no sight-seeing. Must go back later! If nothing else for the seasoned fries at the Irish pub!

 December 14^th: Taught a class on Advanced English learners at the university so they could hear a native speaker. Mira Beaker, a former Fulbrighter to the US, had met up with us a few weeks ago and asked me to present a topic to her class. We met on Monday to discuss the topic, and the I prepared to teach. I was kinda terrified, to be perfectly honest. But it all went smoothly.  I literally followed the examples in the book and had them do a popcorn reading of the text they were supposed to read. Jen would be a better resource than I am, but college is really different in MK than in the US. Classes are a lot easier, they have almost no concept of homework or outside preparation. But, they only have one or two exams in the class and if you don’t pass that you get two more chances. If you don’t pass by then, you have to take the course over again.

Dec 16^th: I met with an NGO contact in the morning. Then I went to an American Corner event: A Christmas workshop where we attempted to make German Christmas stars. I failed at the workshop, but it was a huge turnout and that was awesome! It was more than anyone expected! Then Nicola (sp?) the Peace Corps volunteer that taught the workshop stayed at my apartment overnight. But before that, we and another Peace Corps Volunteer (Lillian, who is leaving Dec 24^th) went out to eat at Mecho’s. I had been told it was a pizza joint, but it isn’t! It is traditional Macedonian food. Lillian ordered frog legs, while Nicola and I ordered Tavche Grache. Yup, frog legs. Apparently they are a specialty in Eastern MK. Nicola and I enjoyed hanging out and trying the stars again at my apartment later that night. It was refreshing to talk to a Peace Corps Volunteer that doesn’t hate the country and want to leave ASAP!

Dec 18^th: First train ride in MK! I went to Bitola, because I had two appointments with NGOs on the 19^st.  The train was pretty crowded, but cheap! I got a student discount that made the price 150 MKD or $3.17 USD. Yup for a 3.5-4 hour ride across a country. I met his really nice lady that helped me figure out which train to get on, and where to go. The train pretty much emptied out after Prilep, and I figured that the next stop would be Bitola. Well the next stop where most people got off (p.s. it was). Some pictures of Bitola decorated for Christmas!

Dec 19^st: Met with two different NGOs. One went really well, the other only sort of well. I ate lunch as a restaurant in the center of Bitola, but it was horrible food. The spaghetti sauce was basically sweet ketchup, ugh. I Couldn’t even finish ¼ of the food! I took the bus back to Skopje that afternoon. It was crowded, uncomfy and 450 MKD. I will try my hardest to plan around a train schedule to go back to Bitola. I do NOT want to take the bus again if I can help it. I even managed to aggravate someone. When people were getting off, I had to switch seats to let someone off, and then when people started coming back on, I went back to my original seat…but some lady thought she was supposed to sit there with her friend. Then when they realized that I didn’t speak Macedonian (it’s a great ploy even when you understand some of what they were saying). Turns out that it was ok, the girl just sat up front next to the bus driver. Then at the stop, when I tried to switch with her, the Bus driver thought I was crazy and then found me a seat somewhere up front (not next to him- apparently some one had gotten off, so there was a free seat). And the people in the front kept saying something about the Foreigner. The bus driver said something to the guy that he found the seat next to about me being English of French or something and I didn’t understand anything. I’m sorry- but I don’t understand all the social rules for riding a bus, we don’t really have that form of transportation in the US! I just keep smiling and hoping it will be ok.

More Bitola for Christmas!

Dec 20^th: First snow in Skopje!!!

Dec 21^st: I went and had coffee with the International Women’s Association (well hot chocolate). Then I went to a doctor. I will write a separate post on that soon- but the end result is I am fine, but getting over a virus. That night, I had Conversation Hour at the American Corner. We discussed Holiday Traditions (New Year and Christmas), vegetarian lifestyle (did ya’ know that children NEED meat to function?), and a few other random topics. I kind of like not having a real plan, it makes the conversation more free flowing.

Dec 22^nd: Off to Tetovo again! I seem to always catch the same combi driver. We pulled forward to a little bakery so the mom and kid also riding with us, could grab a bite to eat, and the driver turns around and goes “Sthul?” (the university that Jen works at).  Then he proceeds to ask me if I go over every day- now you know you take him combi too often! This guy is super nice and friendly however. I was going to Tetovo to see the Deputy Prime Minister of the Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA) give a talk. Apparently SEEU had complied a book about the 10 years since OFA. The OFA ended the conflict in 2001. See this previous blog post for a summary of the OFA. The speech he gave was only about 20 minutes, but still worth going to see. He said some interesting things that I thought were poignant.

·        We should leave the OFA and the past 10 years to history and move forward to a new direction

·        The future of MK is the country of all parities with no one party better than another.

·        One of the goals was the protection of citizen’s ethnic identity and culture.

·        The implementation WAS hard (I liked how he used the past tense, implying that it had been implemented)

·        The implementation was an investment into the future of MK.

·        The OFA is a process, not just an agreement on paper. It is important for the democratization of MK. It was a goal for opening and strengthening the state institutions.

After the talk, he and the rector and editor gave a press conference while Jen and I picked up the book that they published. I have it in Albanian, Macedonian, and English. I look forward to reading it and then possibly donating it to FAU’s library. Then I went back to Jen's office and worked on my research blog while Jen went to her class that she teaches. After she got back we went to a 3:30pm linner with Vesna, who leaves for the US and her PhD program on the 28th! Linner (lunch-dinner, like brunch) was pretty good. I had pizzia because that was one of like 3 things I could order off the menu!

Dec 23^rd: I started a mini exercise program in my apartment, after realizing that I needed to get in better health and that finding a gym that wasn’t out of my price range would be hard. (I have a hard time spending over $40 for a one month membership, but maybe I will break down and do it in Feb…). I also just realized that I never told you about aqua aerobics in MK- see future blog post… I had a meeting with another NGO in the afternoon. But the guy stood me up. He thought that we hadn't confirmed the meeting, or he never recieved the email about confirmation. I also started private tutoring in Macedonian. It took this long to find a class or private tutor that I could afford. No one gave me any ideas for where to look for classes until mid-November! And then I found a wonderful lady at Lumina Lingua! She has VERY reasonable prices and is super super nice!

First Week of December

To show you how far behind I am in posting, I give you dates!

December 3^rd: When I went to leave in the morning, my lovely $80 purse broke. You remember, the one that is supposed to be pickpocket proof? Yea seriously disappointed. But this meant I had to go buy another purse before we went to Ohrid, because I only brought over one purse! Erin had recommended this little shop in the Old Town, so after the IWA Christmas Bazaar, I headed over there. I walked into the store and basically only saw black and white purses. I’m a color girl- I really don’t do just black and white. I’m just not good with looking that depressed. So, I pulled one down that was more white than black, and as I was doing so noticed one with bright (really really small) dots of color and started looking at that one, figuring I would get that over just black and white.  When the guy held up his finger (as in one minute please) went to the window display and pulled out a beautiful blue and white stripped purse! I smiled really big and said “Good, yes!” I don’t remember exactly how much it was, but it was under $10. You might have seen it appear in my Ohrid pictures.

December 5^th: I was supposed to meet with my official affiliation partner today, but they did not show up and it was the final straw. I now claim I am “freelance.” I will just focus on my research and blog and not work with any official institution of education. I will continue to work with Florozon one day a week, because they are AWESOME!!!

 December 6^th: I attended a presentation at the American Corner on “The US Military, Media, and Public Inforamtion: On the Job.” This is how the American Corner summarized it:

American Corner Skopje had the honor to host Lieutenant Jennifer Franco and members of the U.S. European Command's Public Affairs staff on December 6.

LTC Franco talked about her experience working with the media and implementing public information practices in Afghanistan and other operations. She shared with the audience information about media trainings conducted as well her experiences in working both with the American and local journalists.

LTC Franco pointed that during the current election cycle, the biggest question of the U.S. public is “What are we still doing in Afghanistan” which is why it is important to account to the U.S. taxpayer about every single dollar spent there. A good practice for this has been inviting the US media to learn about Afghanistan, in order to provide broader concept and see the changes for themselves. On the other hand, working with the local journalist there are different challenges to be faced. However, the established “Media Center” does provide the journalist with internet access and needed resources.

Present in the audience were also Rebecca M. Wriggle, Deputy Director of Strategic Communication for the United States European Command, John V. Tomassi, Deputy Director for U.S. European Command Public Affairs and Benjamin A. Benson, Strategic Communication Advisor at U.S. European Command’s Strategic Communication Directorate (ECSC). They answered the audiences questions about advice for the Macedonian mission in Afghanistan which does not have a Public Affairs team, EUCOM’s Social Media strategy as well as general questions about the European Command’s operations.

December 7^th: Surprise (well two day notice) presentation to children (turns out to be 8^th grade) at the American Corner on Big Cities in the US. They were super cool and wanted to just learn about the US. I was glad I was able to shuffle my schedule and meet with them.

December 8^th: Stay tuned for a separate post! J

December 9^th: I returned from Tetovo in the morning, and attended the National Assembly with Florozon to see a presentation on Waste Batteries in Macedonia. It was really interesting and I was glad I was able to attend!

 The guy with the purple tie is the Chairman of the Committee on Transport, Communications and Environment

Kiril (NGO Florozon) supporting the campaign.

Then I rushed off to attend a workshop on the “Impact of Volunteering on Community Development” hosted by an NGO I was to interview the following week. It was really interesting and informative. More info will later be found on my research blog (much later unfortunately…I stink at updating stuff.)

Later that night, Lizzie, Justin, Jen, and Mary (Kosovo Fulbright English Teacher) arrived and we attended Daniel’s club at the American Corner; stay tuned for a separate post.

December 10^th: Once again, stay tuned. Don’t ya love how I don’t even give you any hints?

ok fine-- ONE hint!

Settling into a Routine (kinda)

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I presented at the second English class at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. It would have been on Wednesday, but Wednesday was declared Tree Day. No really there was a national holiday for a tree. Well technically 2.2 million trees, but still. Apparently back in (a few years ago) the decided to take a day to go plant 2.2 million trees in one day to represent the people of Macedonia. And now they do it about twice a year. We want to participate next spring. So classes were rescheduled to SATURDAY!!!! Icky!

After the class we went out to meet a former Fulbrighter to America, Mira, at this little cozy cafe. Turns out the cafe was reserved, but we decided to go to Ginos. Where we had yummy lunch with dessert and just talked. It was nice. I am going to talk at one of her classes in a few weeks.

I also started volunteering at my NGO. They are a lot of fun, and more will be posted on my research blog.

On Tuesday morning (at 1am) I was supposed to have a TFA meeting, but failed to set my alarm correctly. So instead of waking up 12:30 am, I woke up at 3:54 am. YIKES!!!!! I immediately emailed the person running the meeting profusely apologizing for my unprofessionalness. He emailed me back said he like my dedication for trying to wake up then and that "we would get along". Phew!

On Wednesday, I met with Naum to just chit chat and for him to give me some contacts and suggestions for dealing with cultural differences, since he is from MK originally. It was a great talk! And he helped me understand so much.

Later that day, Daniel (other Fulbrighter in Skopje) is starting a class at the American Corner about American Political Thought that will run about once a week that I decided to sit in on. We actually have homework. lol

Thursday deserves it's own special post, so check back later.

On Saturday, I helped out at the International Women's Association Christmas Bazaar. They raised about 400 Euros to donate to their charities. But they had a craft fair, bake sale, and kids bouncy house area. It was a lot of fun- and I won a free night at Casa la Kola for entering the raffle. Lots of fun expectations ahead!

Then I came over to Tetovo to hang with Jen and go to Ohrid with Vesna. See separate post coming later!

See you around the globe!

To Tetovo (again) with a Purpose!

On Monday (10/24) I headed to Tetovo to visit Jen and to go to an NGO there called LOJA. When I arrived we went to Evergreen, which is located at the entrance to her campus. She had a yummy sandwich and I had “vegetable soup.” It turned out to be mainly carrots and (wait for it) NEON ORANGE! But it was warm and delicious and came with bread! After lunch we went back to the dorm to drop off some stuff and then headed down to the American Corner to watch MLK Jr’s son give a talk via the internet.

On the way we stopped off at this yarn store because Jen is going to teach me to crochet! I got some bright colored yarn to learn later this night. When we made it down to the American Corner, we were told that the electricity was out and so they couldn’t show the talk! We then asked if they knew where we could find some gloves, and this boy called someone. He then proceeded to walk us to this store where they might have gloves, but they didn’t. Then we wandered through this mall type thing just to look, grabbed some milk at the store and took a taxi back to Jen’s dorm.

Once we were at the dorm, we did normal American stuff- checking emails, watching TV, learning to crochet! Once we got hungry for dinner we tried to go to Peagasus, a small restaurant that supposedly had good food across the street from the entrance to her campus. However, they were only serving about 4 items on their 5 page menu and they were all meat! So Jen ordered something and I went back to Evergreen to get a cheese pizza (and a hot chocolate while it was cooking).

Then I learned to crochet, well, basically I can only make a blanket, or a scarf, but hey- it works! Then we began to crochet and watch American TV. We had two computers up and running so we could download one show and watch another one!

See you around the globe!