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!

Week After Greece...

On wed (10/12) Anjie and I went to the IWA meeting in the morning, Anjie picked me up. This time it wasn’t as helpful- not as many people or as many willing to talk and socialize as the first meeting. Like less than half of the original number. But they told us about the stuff they were planning on doing this week and are trying to get organized (Christmas Party, Shoe Shopping at a factory trip, next year’s fundraiser, dinners).  I have volunteered to try to help with the Christmas Bazarr- it seems fun! And bought a cookbook. Then it was back to the apartment to try to rest up, organize the blog and my pictures and try to contact some NGOS. I called one, who will not be mentioned, when I asked them about my email they went “Oh yes, we got it.” And then “Oh we are so sorry! We will get back to you soon.”

Face palm. Really? REALLY? You get the email and read it and see that I am just asking for an hour or two of your time to talk to you about your work! I figured you would want that.

On Thursday (10/13) I contacted Gazmend and said that I couldn’t reach any NGOs and that my institute had basically abandoned me in helping. He gave me a list of NGOs that the US Embassy has funded in the past two years, and emailed 3 NGOS directly (with me CC’d). Within 2 days I had four meetings set-up, including one on Friday (arranged on the same day! WOW!). And as an update (10/20) I have about 4 other meetings set-up and 3 of them are willing to let me volunteer! Life is sweet! I love it!

And I will be updating you on a few of the meetings that I have had and will be having!

See you around the globe!