Med Evacuated

It has suddenly come up that I need to return to the US for medical reasons. Nothing life threatening, I’ll have a simple surgery and the PC is sending me to Washington DC this summer for a month to six weeks. It isn’t that uncommon that a volunteer needs to be “medically evacuated” from their country, and apparently I am the next lucky candidate! Assuming that everything goes as planned, I should be returning to Macedonia later on this summer (I’ve been telling people August). Unfortunately this means I will most likely miss the English summer camp that I’ve been working on for the last several months (however, they can still really use your financial support and I have some students who will attend).

Anyway, health is a higher priority, so I am fortunate that the PC is taking care of me. I will be staying at a hotel in Washington DC. Once I check in and have a room number, I can have mail sent to me. Let me know if you’d like the address and/or phone number.

Thanks for all of your prayers, moral support, kind words, good energy and thoughts. I am very honored to serve and represent our country with the Peace Corps and appreciate all of the encouragement and support I’ve gotten from everyone.

First National Essay Contest

Since January of this year I've been working on a project with a couple other volunteers. We were coordinators for the First National Essay Contest in Macedonia. This was part of this years events to honor the Peace Corps 45 year anniversary. So, the topic was about volunteering:

"What does the word 'volunteer' mean to you and what is the importance of volunteering? What have you done in the past as a volunteer? What volunteering opportunities do you see in your future?

Students grades 7-12 all over the country participated, and the essays were written in English. There were workshops on writing and about volunteering, since it is not a very familiar concept in this culture. We had a good turn out, considering this was our first year.

We had judges who picked 5 regional winners. Two of my students at my school were regional winners and they got certificates. I was very proud of them and so were their English teachers that I teach with.

Then we had a National Awards Ceremony on June 2nd. This was a big day. We had 3 National Winners that were invited to the awards ceremony at the Peace Corps office in Skopje. The US Ambassador, Gillian Milovanovic was there to present the awards. We had prizes donated and our winners got a very nice brand new mobile phone, a 2 night stay at a classy hotel at Lake Ohrid, a very nice English-Macedonian dictionary, a World Almanac and a framed certificate.

A few local Macedonian newspapers wrote about the Awards Ceremony and Essay Contest and we even made the US embassy (in Skopje)'s website!

http://skopje.usembassy.gov/outstanding_essays.html

This was a lot of hard work that really paid off. We hope that this will become an annual event!



US Ambassador Gillian Milovanovic with the three essay contest winners.

Yoda Speak

I've been meeting with a Macedonian tutor since March, been in country for 8 months and just recently learned that I've been using "Yoda Speak" in my new language all this time.

I've been saying "Expensive it is" and "Cold it is".

Cute huh?

Graduation

May 22nd was the day of the highschool graduation in town. My friend and former PCV Leanne, who was in this town as a volunteer prior to me came to visit. She had worked at the highschool and came to see her students graduate.

It was fun to go and see. Many folks from town come to the highschool to see the 4th year students (seniors). They get all dressed up and come to the school entrance like it's the Oscars. Everyone clapps and cheers and hollars while they walk past and they go inside the school. Leanne told me it's tradition that they go to the school, meet their home room teacher, and give them a gift. Then when it's all over they leave and they went to a nearby restaurant on a lake and partied the night away.

Leanne was visiting for a week and she stayed with me. It was nice to have her company here and I was sad to see her go. It also made me realize how much of an impact you make as a volunteer and how much of an impact Macedonia makes on you after two years. Wow.

My Birthday

May 19th was my 32nd birthday. I decided to have a birthday party in my English club and give my students a chance to experience what a kid’s birthday party is like in the U.S. I had decorations (including cone hats), noise makers, a banner saying “Happy Birthday”, sweets and soda. I didn’t have time or funds for a real birthday cake so I bought some brownies, we lit the candles and the kids sang “Happy Birthday” to me. Then we played some games, the highlight was “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” (a new game for them, and they loved it). The winner got a prize of a mini stuffed football. Then my students totally surprised me by giving me some gifts, a jumbo chocolate bar AND the funniest stuffed animal frog I’ve ever seen. He is a cartoon character here called “Crazy Frog” that is an advertising gimmick for a phone company. But he also has his own song and sounds similar to the Tasmanian Devil, with a jibberish spiel.
Crazy Frog, my stuffed animal is a copy of this.

That weekend I also got together with some of my fellow PCV friends in Negotino where I was treated to pizza and coffee. It was low-key, but we had a good time.

What do Macedonians do on birthdays? They have a big party and young people will go out dancing afterwards. They also buy a box of chocolates or sweets and hand them out to their friends, colleagues or classmates (which I did as well). One of my fellow teachers gave me a small elephant figurine that is supposed to be good luck for the house. If you’re a young, unmarried woman like me than after the birthday wishes they will ask you when you will have a boyfriend and get married?

P.S. My digital camera is currently broken, unfortunately. I don't know how long it will take to get it fixed. A friend let me borrow her camera for the birthday party, so if I can, I will later post the pics. But it'll be awhile before I have pics of my own.

Sofia, Bulgaria

May 1st and 2nd were Macedonian holidays. So a friend and fellow PCV and I went to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, for three days. It was about a 6 hour bus ride away from my town (and departs at midnight!), including an hour wait at the border.

Sofia is a beautiful city with lots of charm, and cool, really old buildings and churches. Skopje might have become like this if it hadn’t had a terrible earthquake in the 60’s and most of the buildings were replaced with communist-era concrete structures. We were also hoping to meet up with some Bulgarian PCV’s, but it was not in the cards, not this visit anyway.

I also discovered that things in Bulgaria are cheaper than in Macedonia, generally speaking. We did some sightseeing and did some shopping (I spent all my money) and I went to Dunkin’ Donuts almost every day and had American filter coffee.

Also, the Bulgarian language is very similar to Macedonian (as is Serbian and other Cyrillic languages), so Cheryl and I were able to get by with our Macedonian. However, we found that a lot of people also knew English, such as all the employees at the hostel we stayed at.

One of the highlights was Aleksander Nevski Church, a must-see with beautiful massive gold-domes, built between 1892 & 1912. We lucked out in that there was a service going on inside with a choir and orthodox priests swinging their incense holders and blessing us. The music was haunting as it echoed inside the huge room filled with ancient icon paintings and religious art.

I definately plan to return to Bulgaria, hopefully this summer. I hear that the beaches on the Black Sea are fantastic!

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...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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).