I've been surprised at what people know about Maceodonia, the land of Phillip and Alexander the Great as well as Mother Teresa's birthplace. It's also mentioned in the Bible as a place where Paul preached. It has a Cyrillic alphabet, it's langage is more like Bulgarian or Russian than Greek. In the past Peace Corps volunteers were known to live in mud huts with dirt floors and no electricity and plumbing and no other English speaking person for many miles around. I guess people are imagining I'm gonna go live in a village like "Fiddler on the Roof" back at the turn of the century or something. But times have changed. Eastern Europe is jokingly called "The Posh Corps" in PC circles, apparently having a higher than average standard of living than other regions the PC goes to.
In the past before going to a country, I get a lot of questions. Sometimes they are interesting, funny and downright stupid. For everyone's amusement, I am keeping a list of questions that I get asked. I will try to have it prioritized by listing them by frequency (the first question gets asked the most, etc). And then when I arrive in Macedonia, I'll have a follow-up list of questions that they ask me about the United States. For example, when I was in Ecuador one of my good friends asked me what kind of music is played on the buses in the US? I had to stop laughing before I could answer her :D
So, after telling someone that I am going to Macedonia with the Peace Corps, here are their questions (and my answers):
1. Where's that? (in Eastern Europe, North of Greece)
2. What language do they speak? (Macedonian & Albanian)
3. Is that like Greek? (Macedonian is a Cyrillic language, similar to Russian & Bulgarian. It uses symbols similar to Russian and Greek)
4. Do you speak Macedonian? (Not yet, I'm learning a few basic words right now. I'll be learning it during training)
5. Is it safe? (Depends on how you define "safe". Is New York City "safe"? Is Seattle "safe"? The point is, be aware of your surroundings and you're fine. I don't walk around downtown Seattle by myself in the middle of the night. Or I could get hit by a car crossing the street in front of my house, it's not gonna stop me from leaving my house.)
6. What is the country like? (Varied, beautiful, mountainous. I recently learned that the country converges on three tectonic plates!)
7. What is the climate like? (More varied than the Pacific Northwest: hot summers, cool winters, average temp is 50F)
8. Who lives there? (Macedonians)
9. What do your parents/family think of all this? (They are very supportive and understanding.)10. Where in Macedonia will you be serving? (I don't know yet).
11. Where in Macedonia will you be living? (I'll live with a host family during training, the first three months. After that, I'll be placed in a city or village to serve my two years and live with either a host family, or hopefully get my own apartment.)
12. What is their currency? (Denar)
13. What are the people like? (I hear that they are friendly and hospitable, I'll let you know when I get there).
14. What percentage of them speak English? (I don't know).
15. Do they have a president? (Yes, they have a president).
16. What kind of government do they have? (a Republic; parliamentary democracy)
17. Is it a part of the European Union? (Not yet, but it is in the process of joining).
18. Is it a poor country? (Compared to the US, yes. The Peace Corps works in developing countries)
19. Are the people there black, like they are in, say Ethiopia? (no, I think they are more like the Greeks).
20. What do they eat over there? (A lot of meat, fish, lamb, vegetables, and coffee--yay!)
21. Are you gonna take your cat with you? (No, my parents will take care of him while I'm gone).
22. Are you gonna take your cell phone with you? (No.)
23. Do they have electricity? (Yes. They also have plumbing!)
24. Aren't they all Muslims over there? (No, the predominant religion is Eastern Orthodox. However, about 20% are Muslim, most of them also Albanian).
25. Is it a backwards country? (Well, it's a developing country, so it's not as advanced as the US, but I don't think they'd like to be thought of as backwards. I mean, they have things like electricity, plumbing, roads and internet cafes.)
26. Is it a primitive country? (Well, they have plumbing and electricity and CD's and most things that you can buy here, so, no I don't think so. But perhaps there are some villages that don't have all the things that we do. The issue will be more about availability and how affordable they are.)
27. Is it a civilized country? (No, they are cannibals who eat the brains of their enemies).
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