The Winter Olympics

In the US we take it for granted that we will have Olympic winners. But for smaller countries, just being able to compete in the Olympics is an honor. For example, in 1996 one athlete from Ecuador, Jefferson Perez, won the first Gold medal for his country (in speed walking, of all sports). The entire country erupted in celebrations for many weeks to follow.

Macedonia sent three athletes to this years Olympics: Darko Damjanovski in Men's cross country, Ivana Ivcevska (Women's Alpine Skiing) and Gjorgi Markovski in Men's Alpine Skiing.
There were no hopes for medals, (maybe some day)...

By comparison, our neighbors Albania had one athlete, Bulgaria had 22 (with a Silver Medal in Women's 500 Meter), Bosnia and Herzegovina had 7, Serbia and Montenegro had 6, Slovenia had 43, Romania had 33.

The US had 216 athletes.

Superbowl, Sprains and Websites

I finally got cable TV last Thursday, just in time for the Superbowl! I was happily surprised that the Superbowl (Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers) was televised over here! I'm not a fan of American football, but since this is the first time my hometeam has ever gone to the SB and I'd never actually watched the event before I decided to watch the game. It was televised live from midnight to 4AM. It was disappointing the Hawks didn't win...

Last weekend I went to Tetovo, a city about 45 minutes west of Skopje. I met up with a bunch of other PCV's for a joint birthday/skiing party. Not only were their about half of the current PCV's in Macedonia(35 of 65), there was also 7 volunteers from Albania. And guess what? One of them is from Olympia, WA! What a trip! It was fun to meet them, hang out and make comparisons. It's obvious that life in Albania is more rugged than here. I'd like to visit them this summer.

There's a ski resort outside of Tetovo and a bunch of us went there Saturday morning. My plan was to snowboard, but the conditions and equipment were horrible and I had no luck, so I swapped my board for a sled, went on a couple runs and then managed to hit an embankment zipping down a steep slope and sprained my ankle! And here I was nervous about injuring myself with snowboarding (the last time I went was 3 years ago and badly sprained my wrist).

I've included a photo from the birthday party after hitting the slopes with me, my sprained ankle and fellow friends/PCV's of Macedonia. Don't we look cute?

A former PCV of Macedonia has posted pictures of last summers IST (In-Service Training), which also includes photos of his trip to Albania. Here's the website:
http://web.mac.com/s009009009/iWeb/PC/IST.html

Training Accomplishments

I finished training almost 6 weeks ago, and I wrote the following document soon after swearing in. I came across this yesterday and realized I forgot to put it in my blog. So, here it is...

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Training Accomplishments for MAC 10 and Me. :)

Training lasted 12 weeks (keep in mind I was also sick one week)

125 Hours of Language Learning (approx)
35 Hours of Student Teaching/Practicum
12 Hours of TEFL technical training
Cultural Discussions and journal assignments
Safety and Security Meetings
Panel discussions (workplace issues, racial discussions, homestay issues, etc)
3 Hub Days (meeting days at hub city of Veles where things like safety & security, medical sessions, cultural and workplace issues were discussed)
Got vaccinations
5 Medical sessions (discussions on food, water, alcohol, illnesses, health concerns)
Training Assessments
Administration meetings
A Resource Day in Skopje
NGO (Non-Government Organization) fair in Skopje
Community visits- 2 Saturdays
Halloween party and Thanksgiving Dinner
Organized and arranged for MAC 10 T-shirt order
Site placement Interview
Site visit of 3.5 days (Kochani)
Counterpart Conference in Veles
Project Management Workshop
Attended the First Annual Ultimate MAK Field Competition, PC volunteers and trainees
11 weeks living with a host family in the community of Bashino Selo near Veles
Passing the LPI language test: Language Proficiency Interview
Becoming an official Peace Corps Volunteer!