Krusevo (updated!)

Me at the "Makadonium" monument



Inside the monument


The Town of Krucevo (see the Makadonium monument on the hill?)


The Macedonian flag


The nearby hills & site of battle for independence


I went to Krusevo for a week long conference, an In Service Training (IST) from April 17th-20th. Krusevo is an interesting little town in the mountains, (32 km from Prilep). At 1,250 meters, it is the highest point in the Balkans. It also has a very important historical significance because it was the location of the famous Ilinden Uprising, on August 2nd, 1903. This is when the Macedonians and Vlachs (ethnic groups) fought for independence from the Ottoman Empire (The Turks, who ruled them for 500 years). It was a fierce battle which liberated Krusevo, created the Republic of Krusevo and were independent for 10 days. Then the Turks came back with reinforcements and the republic was no more. The rebel leaders are today regarded as heros, and their names are sung in the national anthem… August 2nd is a big holiday in Macedonia (called Ilinden) and it is like the equivalent to the 4th of July in the US.

The strange white monument "Makadonium" houses the tomb of Nikola Karaev, one of the rebel leaders and president to the Republic of Krusevo and is also an interesting museum. Krusevo also has very traditional architecture of old churches and houses and it was fun to just stroll around the town and do some hiking in the hills nearby (as well as see the ski lifts from the heart of the town heading up to the hills).

Chreken Veligden! Happy Easter!

Orthodox Easter is today, May 23rd, and the Holy Week is observed here, starting on Thursday the 20th. On Saturday, the 22nd I went to the church in town because I had heard that there is a bed at the altar that young and old people walk under. This bed symbolizes the bed of Jesus Christ when he was triumphant over death and by walking under the bed, people are under His protection. At the church I followed the other young people in front of me, two of which happened to be my students. I just copied what they did; put some small bills on the “bed”, which was more like a tall table covered in a intricately designed plush blanket with golden needlework. I leaned over to walk under the bed, and on the other side found a priest who was dispensing small handfuls of flowers. Another priest stood next to a wooden cross and insisted that I “cross” myself (which always feels a little awkward to me, seeing as how I’m Protestant and never grew up with this practice).

Saturday eve just before midnight I again returned to the church and bought a tall thin candle. It was incredibly crowded; people were pushing each other to get up to the church, past many other people who were standing around the church yard with their candles lit, listening to the lovely singing. It reminded me of a time in Ecuador where it is a custom for devout Catholics to visit seven churches in one night and I found many a persistent crowd pushing into each other. The singing was haunting, sung by male priests. It was too crowded to see the singing priests, due to the hundreds of people all around. I saw a number of my students and recognized a few people from the community. At midnight the head priest said “Hristos Voskrese!” (Christ is risen!) and everyone replied “Voistinu Voskrese!” (Indeed he is risen). Then my students presented Easter eggs dyed red (hard boiled). The color red is to symbolize the coming happiness in the resurrection. Each holding an egg, we hit the eggs together, whosever egg doesn’t crack has good luck all year. After that everyone proceeded home, trying to keep the candle lit the entire way. I have heard that the sight of hundreds of people walking with lit candles down the hill from the church is very beautiful. The candle is to remain lit all night (until it burns out) for happiness to abound all year.

The next day is Easter Monday and no businesses (or school) are open. Yay!

My Visitors and side trip to Greece!

Gold Death Mask from Thessaloniki Museum

March 24th I planned to take the evening train from Skopje to Thessoloniki (aka Solon) in Greece to meet up with my sister Heidi and friend Maki, who had flown in Athens a week before and were touring Greece before visiting me in Macedonia. It was a happy reunion at the train station when I saw Heidi and Maki, as we hadn’t seen each other in 6 months. March 25th was Greek Independence Day, so many shops and businesses were closed. My brief visit to Northern Greece was low key, although we did visit the Archeological Museum in Solon, as well as the beautiful waterfront and the White Tower. The next day we were planning to take the night train back to Macedonia, but were given the incorrect time (maybe due to the difference in military time and miscommunication between languages), so we missed that train and had to spend an extra night there. I wasn’t thrilled, as Greece is a lot more expensive, especially for one on the Peace Corps budget! (Greece I believe is more touristy and expensive than it was 9 years ago, largely, I believe, to converting to the Euro as well as having hosted the Olympics).

We took the train the next morning and benefited from seeing the beautiful views, including the Demir Kapija Canyon. First stop was visiting my host family in a village near Veles. We spent our entire time visiting with friends and family and it was a wonderful visit (although it got tiring after 8 straight hours of it!). People really aren’t used to seeing people from Asia (as Maki is from Japan), so they had lots of questions and at one house, Maki showed us how to make Origami Elephants!

From there, we went to Kochani. It was great to show Maki and Heidi my home town. They got to see where I live, meet my friends, fellow teachers and kitten and tour around town. I had a meeting to attend in Skopje on Friday, March 31st, so I brought Heidi and Maki along. While I was in my meeting they did some sightseeing and shopping. For the weekend, we went to Gostivar, a city in the West where I have PCV friends living. I wanted Heidi and Maki to see the west, as it is comparatively different to the East, where I live. We walked around town, visited a Turkish café, drank Turkish coffee, met some Albanian friends of my PCV’s and heard the call to prayer at the nearby mosques, which sounds like beautiful haunting chants.

Heidi and I said goodbye to Maki in Skopje on April 2nd and then headed down to Lake Ohrid in the south where we met up with a few other PCV friends of mine. I’d seen pictures, but was still very much impressed with the beauty of the Lake and now understand why many Macedonians flock there for their summer vacations! Heidi and I then returned to Kochani for a few more days, attended my school football tournament (we won!) and school concert. We returned to Skopje the next day and I said goodbye to my sister on the 9th. It was a wonderful visit and I was sorry to see her go.

Now I’m already getting excited about my parents who plan to visit me Spring 2007!


Maki, Me and Heidi in Solon

Heidi and Maki at the Waterfront in Solon, White Tower in distance

Demir Kapija Canyon from the train

Gostivar Mosque

Heidi and I in Kochani

Jesse, Baba Booba & Heidi

At Lake Ohrid; Jesse, Shauna and Heidi

Sveti Jovan's Church--Lake Ohrid

The Road Not Taken

I went to a performance recently of the highschool students, which consisted of music, drama and a poetry reading. One student recited this poem by heart (in English) and it has always struck a chord with me and how I try to live my life...

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that, the passing there
had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
in leaves no feet had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference

Congratulations Heidi and Rick Bagnall!

Woo-hoo! My sister Heidi and her boyfriend Rick have just gotten engaged! Yaaaaaaaaaay! Heidi called me the other night to give me the great news, which I’m absolutely thrilled about. They are planning their wedding to be in January 2007 and, of course, I’ll return home (Seattle) for the event and to be her maid of honor! So, Congratulations to them both! I'm pysched to have a brother-in-law!

I announced the news to my fellow teachers at school the next day and we had a little party to celebrate. After giving me their congratulations, of course, the most common response was for them to say to me "You're next!". Ha ha.

If that wasn't enough great news, Heidi and friend Maki are coming to visit me in Macedonia soon. They will first arrive in Greece and next week I'll meet them in Thessaloniki (about 6 hours by train). From there I'll bring them into Macedonia where we will visit my host family, my town of Kochani and perhaps go to a few other placs to sightsee and visit other volunteers.

As of today I've been at site for 3 weeks and the travel ban has been lifted. A PC policy, volunteers are not allowed to travel outside of country for the first 6 months. Reason being, they want you to be committed to your site, to get connected to your community and be focused on work. Peace Corps is definately NOT a two year vacation!

Happy Birthday Peace Corps and other exciting events

Happy Birthday Peace Corps!

March 1st, 1961 was the day of Peace Corps’s inception by John F. Kennedy. Now it is 45 years later, and we are celebrating the anniversary of Peace Corps all year. As the kick off event, volunteers in Macedonia all held “birthday parties” at their sites. I made oatmeal cookies and brought soda to my school, with signs in Macedonian saying “Happy Birthday Peace Corps” and a brief description of what PC is (a lot of Macedonians don’t know, it sounds a little militaristic doesn’t it?). We had a little party in the teachers lounge, and they loved it. All the cookies got eaten up and all the soda was drank. I took some pics too.





Strumica and Women’s Day

March 7th was Carnival, held in the city of Strumica, south of Kochani. A bunch of us PCV’s congregated there and took part in the festivities by being in the parade! Also, as a part of celebrating the 45th anniversary, we had a sign, flags of both Macedonia and the US, had our face painted and/or wore masks. It was a lot of fun, despite the fact that it was snowing, at night and cold. I met some jugglers from Belgrade (Serbia Montenegro) and they let me borrow their clubs, so I also juggled in the parade. During the parade they also had fireworks. Afterwards we all had dinner and then went out dancing at various clubs until 3am. Much merrymaking was to be had.

As if that wasn’t enough, March 8th is Women’s Day. I took a morning bus from Strumica to Kochani so I could get back in time for the celebration of Women’s Day. The teachers at my school went to a celebration at a nearby hotel. There was a nice dinner and lots of oro dancing, which was great. That night I returned home exhausted!

Tonight I went to a concert of “The Greatest Gypsy Singer” named ECMA who came to Kochani on her tour around the country. She was very cool! I loved her outfits, the music was mystical and a little mesmerizing. To my unskilled ears and knowledge, it sounds Turkish or Indian. She also had a band with a trumpet, bongo drums, accordion, bass guitar, and clarinet. The energy in the room was amazing. I am so glad that I went.

My New Roommate

Two weeks ago I was taking the garbage out to the dumpsters next to my apartment. It was after dark and I was on the way to my friend’s for coffee. I was surprised to discover next to the dumpster a dead cat and next to it was a little kitten that was crying. They had similar markings, so I believe the dead cat was the kitty’s mother. I shone my pocket light on the cats and debated what to do. I couldn’t help but pet the kitten, but then turned and walked away. The kitten followed me for about 20 yards before I turned around and she ran away. I went to my friend’s house for coffee. Four hours later, at about 11pm, I stopped by the dumpsters when I got home. Sure enough the kitten was still there. So I brought her home with me and resolved to try to find a home for her. The next day at school I asked the Macedonian teachers if anyone wanted a kitten. Their reply was “Good Luck”, nobody wanted a flea-infested virus-carrying animal in their house. The concept of pets and animal treatment tends to be very different in other countries, including Macedonia (most people don’t have animals in their homes, for example). Needless to say, it soon became apparent that the kitten was here to stay. I gave her a flea bath and took her to the vet, where she got her needed vaccinations. The vet says she’s four months old, but she must be small and undernourished for her age. I decided to call her “Miloyka”, which means ‘cute’.

I know that it is common for PCV’s to have pets and Miloyka has turned out to be a nice companion to have around.

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!

Freezing

It has been a biting bitter cold lately, so cold that when I walk to school in the morning tears come to my eyes in the wind. Yesterday I guessed it was about 0 degrees Celsius outside (32 F). Today I took my pocket thermometer and put it outside the kitchen’s window ledge. I was surprised to discover I misjudged…it’s more like -5 C, or 23 F. And that’s without the wind chill factor. I’m no expert on detecting how many mph wind travels, but if it’s at least 10mph that makes it 9 F! and that’s during the middle of the day. At night it gets down to -10 C or 15 F! I ‘d been reminded of Alaska’s winters here and now I know why! It really is as cold as Anchorage was in March! It’s colder outside than in the fridge. Not only that but my apartment has very little insulation, the windows in the kitchen and bedroom both have cold drafts. I’m pretty much dragging my portable PC heater around the apartment with me now, and it’s making me more sedimentary too. I can’t wait for Spring!

My Mailing Address and other triumphs

Success at last! Preservation has won out! I finally got a PO Box! So, if y'all want to mail me something (hint, hint), either post here or e-mail me and I'll send it to you!

Funny thing, I got the key to my box, but it is the master key. I have to go make a copy of it and then return the master back to the post office. Sometimes ya just gotta laugh about these little annoyances. We take so many conveniences back home for granted. I know that in the states I could get a PO box immediately at any post office. I'm just glad to finally have it! It's been like a month that I've been trying (it took longer partly due to the fact that it was during the holidays).

AND my landlord finally came over and hooked up my washing machine last week, it needed a new hose to connect to my sink. Now whenever I want to do laundry, I can. I just have to make sure that it doesn't rattle around too much and that the second hose properly expells the water back into the sink. That and I can't use more than one appliance at a time. However, there's no complaining from me! Tthere are many of my fellow PCV's that have the joy of handwashing their clothes for their entire two years of service. For more details about this particular challenge, check out my friend Dennis' blog: http://mac10dennis.blogspot.com/ and read his humerous post, "Doing landry in 13 easy steps." (Dec 29th,05)

As another triumph, I am actually cooking. Yes, you read it right. Cooking! Me! Although I still don't exactly enjoy it, it is going well so far and I'm really appreciating having an oven (something I didn't have in Ecuador) and the PCV cookbook we got at the end of training. The first meal I made was meatballs. Yum.

Today was the first day of school after the holidays and it went well. One of my co-workers gave me two jars of homemade aijvar. With the aijvar my host family gave me, I'm set for at least a couple months! :)

Vodici, the Last January Holiday

Thursday, January 19th, was another holiday here in Macedonia called “Vodici”. But my PC friends call it "The Cross Toss”. On this day in every village and town everyone goes to the river or lake where a priest will bless the water. Then he blesses a cross (usually wooden) that can easily be held in your hand. He then throws the cross in the water and a few local men jump in to retrieve it. Whoever gets it first is then blessed for the following year. He also usually wins a prize (like a new TV set) and everyone in town gives him money. I went to see this event at a nearby village (see photo above) where a married PC couple, Sean and Jennifer live. They are the closest PCV’s to me, I call them my neighbors. It was fun to watch the Cross Toss event. The water was so cold there was some ice floating in it. Before the priest throws the cross in the water he sings and chants. The men were really anxious to get going (there were eleven of them) and at one point the priest stopped singing and said, “Get out of the water, it’s too early” and everybody laughed. You could tell it was freezing, some of the men were shivering as they waited for the priest to finish his blessing. This is the last major holiday in Macedonia, for a holiday period of about 5 weeks. This village is incredibly beautiful with nearby snow-topped mountains. I’ve seen photos of it in spring and it is as prettier than a Hallmark greeting card.

(Note: in one of the above photos, you can see a red flag with the yellow 16-pointed star of Alexander, this was the first flag of Macedonia ('92-95), but created so much controversy with Greece that they modified it to the current flag. I'll post a photo of the current flag in another post soon).

Also, classes start up again on Monday the 23rd, wish me luck!

Holiday Photos

Here are some pics of the recent holidays!















New Years Eve with fellow PCV's in Skopje















Goofing around with kids in Shauna's host family.















Eating sausages cooked in the fire with a local friend.















Oro dancing in the neighborhood on Baneek (Jan 5th).

May the "Seelah" be with you!

I had a pleasant surprise the other day when I purchased two of the original "Star Wars" movies on DVD. I discovered they have Macedonian subtitles! What a great way to learn the language than by watching some great classic films!

The Holidays

Have I mentioned that there are so many holidays this month that January is almost it's own holiday?

Well, not that I'm complaining. This season I'm getting two Christmases and two New Years. Because the majority of Macedonians are Orthodox, they go by a different calandar, so Christmas is on Jan 7th. And also according to a different calandar (not sure if it's Orthodox or not), New Years was originally on Jan 14th, so they call it "Old New Years".

But backing up...for New Years (Dec 31st), despite having a cold, I went to a fellow PC volunteer's party in the capital city of Skopje. There was a small group of us who got together and then went to the city center where there was music and dancing going on, as well as plenty of crazy teenage kids goofing around and lighting firecrackers, which made me nervous. At midnight there was an excellent fireworks display and our group celebrated with sparklers and dancing. It was loads fun, except that being out in the cold for several hours made my cold worse. I got pretty sick for a few days after that, even met with the PC doctor who gave me some meds.

On Jan 5th, it was the eve of Christmas eve, also called "Badneek", and people in Macedonia celebrate it by having a big party and lighting a tree on fire. My counterpart, Ljubica, invited me to the party in her neighborhood and it was a blast. There was a bonfire of tree branches, constant loud music, food, drink and fun. After the fire burned down they cooked sausages and when it was a pile of ashes the little kids jumped over it for good luck.

Jan 6th was Christmas eve and again Ljubica had me over for dinner with her family. It was very nice. Part of the tradition here is for a loaf of bread to be cooked with a small metal coin inside. At dinner the bread is broken and the pieces divided out. Whoever gets the piece with the coin has good luck for the next year, which was Ljubica this time.

Jan 7th I went to Bashino Selo to visit my host family (despite still having a cough). It was a nice visit, and another one of my PCV friends, Shauna, was visiting there as well, so we hung out for a bit which was fun. She's now near Ohrid, on the other side of the country, a few hours away, so I hadn't seen her since we all moved to site almost 3 weeks prior. I also got to meet my other host brother, Ljubche, for the first time. He is studying at a university in Holland, speaks English and was home visiting his family for the holidays too.

Friday Jan 13th is the Old New Years Eve. This is a big festival in Vevchani, a village near Ohrid, where another one of my PCV friends is. I was planning to go. But unfortunately this week I've been sick again. This time it hit me hard, so all this week I've not gone to work (fortunately there are no classes) and just stayed at home and rested and I'm getting better now.

Tonight there was a celebration in the parking lot of my apartment building, so I went to check it out for just a short time. It was a little like the tree lighting, there was a small bon fire, a few people playing instruments (accordion, drum, tuba), people drinking and eating and a few people dancing oro. It was nice. And I saw my landlord too and spoke with him briefly. So I may finally get my washing machine hooked up this weekend! Yippee!

Introducing Stanley

So I realized that I hadn't posted pictures of my new apartment...aptly named "Stanley" because the word for 'Apartment' in Macedonian is "Stan"...

Peace Corps was right...it is small, but it's cute and given some time I'll soon make it mine once I get some posters/shelves up on the wall and add to some of the 80's decor...

The bathroom is so small I can't really get a decent picture of it, but rest assured there's a shower and a western toilet.

Stanley is on the 4th floor (3rd in Europe) and there's no elevator. No matter, I'll get some exercise...

Oh, and since taking these shots I now have a TV (that'll work once I get cable) and a washing machine (that'll work once it gets installed...)

Mail and the Holidays

I'm still working on sorting out my mailing address for those of you who would like to send me something (It's been about 2 months now that my folks have been patiently waiting to send me a package!)

After the director of my school opened my mail (yes, I'm sure it was an accident, as it has happened to other PCV's too), I decided to have personal mail sent to my apartment. So I gave some folks my address and the next day asked my landlord where the mailboxes were. He pointed to a small metal box with several doors, one of which was opened with a broken door. All the mail to the apartment building goes to the one with the broken door.

So, plan B sent me to the post office to find out about renting a PO Box. The good news is that it's only $13 a year. The bad news is that I have to try to track down the person who will register one to me. I went two days in a row and got the run around, finally they told me to come back after New Years. This may take awhile as almost the entire month of January is a holiday...

So I'll keep you informed about the mailing address...

Also, a reminder that if you are sending me a package, make sure that the contents are not valued above $60 US (or at least that you don't claim that it is worthmore than such). Otherwise customs intervenes and charges ridiculous fines. Besides, the shipping costs to Macedonia alone are crazy. In addition to your shipping costs I have to pay postal fees for every package I get (regardless of it's value). Yes, it's bureacracy and red tape at its worst, I know. Thanks for your cooperation, patience and above all else, your generosity!

And, as a further update, Christmas (Dec 25th) was very low key, but still I had a nice time visiting my host family and friends. (Christmas here is on Jan 7th) This weekend I plan to again visit my host family, and then attend a party by a fellow volunteer in the capital of Skopje, a couple hours away by bus. I'm looking forward to it! (And the 3 weeks of vacation after that!)

Thanks for all your love, support, prayers and best wishes. I'm thinking of you all and hope your holiday season is wonderful and warm!

Why Macedonia?

I've been published! The following is an article that I wrote a few months ago and submitted to the Peace Corps Macedonia magazine, "Pauza". It was published this month...enjoy!

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"Why Macedonia" by Jesse Warner (MAC 10)

“Why did you come to Macedonia?” My host cousin asked me (in English). I hesitated. “That’s a big question.” I said, preparing my standard reply to why I joined the Peace Corps (e.g.; to help people, to teach English and have an adventure abroad). “No, it’s not,” she replied. “Why didn’t you go somewhere like France?” I then explained a bit about the process from applying to getting sent to a PC country.

This question “Why Macedonia?” is one that I believe I’ll be asked many times during my service. In fact, given the time and opportunity, I suspect that many more locals would ask me this question. I feel it burning behind their stares as I walk down the street, as if silently asking me, “Why are you here?”

People are often surprised to learn that I didn’t decide where the Peace Corps would send me. Not only that, I had requested and was nominated for Asia.

Why Asia? I’ve always enjoyed going to new places and it’s a part of the world I haven’t really explored (yet). When given the choice, I’ve always preferred to go to a new place, rather than return to a previous location, despite having friends and fantastic experiences there. I thought I already knew Europe, I’d already “been there”, including Greece. Close enough, I erroneously thought. I’d quickly dismissed the region, as if three days each in Paris, Rome, Athens and Brussels was a sufficient illustration of Europe.

My first impression is that Macedonia is like a weird and wonderful combination of South America and Greece, especially in terms of physical characteristics. The red tile roofs, pockmarked asymmetrical sidewalks, street vendors and ubiquitous taxi cabs zipping around remind me of the place I called home for a year in Ecuador. Some of the food, the village babas, donkey-pulling carts and some traditional dances and music remind me of Greece. But this is not Greece, or Ecuador, or Paris, or some time-warped town in the US either. Three minutes in language class is one potent reminder of this. Or biting into a tasty ajvar sandwich. Or the fact that, at times, I am reminded that this is an “adolescent” nation. I think it’s pretty exciting that this may well be the only time in our lives we’ll be living in a country this young and personally witness its “growing pains” as it matures.

There’s more unique art, music, history, language and culture of Macedonia that I could mention, but much of it I still have yet to discover, having just been here for a month now. I know that during my service I’ll discover even more wonderful, interesting and surprising uniquenesses that Macedonia has to offer. And this will be even more fuel to the fire of how I will answer the inevitable question…

Why Macedonia? Why not?

For Further Reading

If you're interested in reading about another adventure of mine, check out my blog about my adventures teaching English in Ecuador and traveling around South America...(2002-2003)

http://azureus.diaryland.com

Once there, you can click on "Older Entries" and Dive In!

(I must warn you that parts of it are incomplete and unfortunately there are no photos...it's still a work in progress, but then again, many things in life are...)